Day 1:
We spent four beautiful days in exotic Malta, and now all that remains are memories, pictures, and a peeling tan. We left early Saturday morning to take the train to Eindhoven, Netherlands, where our airport is located. One of “our crew” (Consisting of Girls: Jordan, Sara, Yaira, Boys: Arthur and Liam) missed the train and only barely caught the plane. Yet, alas! We all arrived at 3pm on the beautiful and hot island of Malta. There, Arthur, had been clever enough to procure us a “Gypsy” SUV-type car, stick shift, with no power steering. All the readers here probably know that Arthur loves a challenge (evidenced by his choice in girlfriend) and so he was extremely happy to contend with driving this animal of a machine on the left side of the road. He even successfully navigated the dozen or so roundabouts.
The first day we checked in at our adorable hostel (Splendid Hotel) at the end of the island in the city of Mellieha. It lived up to its name, with a very sweet and accommodating staff, and blessed air conditioning at only 6 euro per night. We immediately set off in the Gypsy to buy groceries for a picnic and find a remote, secluded beach area. While we were delighted when our trip down the side of the cliff resulted in a charming little secluded beach find, the couple we discovered at said secluded beach were slightly less delighted. Nonetheless, we settled our loud, American selves in and made sandwiches from a giant bag of blessedly cheap groceries.
That night we headed to the coast again (literally unavoidable on an island) and has a nice dinner overlooking the sea. Afterwards we walked back yawning after several of the weakest tequila shots ever seen.
Day 2:
We woke up and headed to a not-so secluded beach. We repeated the picnic experience from the day before but purchased both iced coffees and pitchers of Tequila Sunrises (which they called Riviera Sunsets). We swam and read for hours. That night we went back to the hotel, got dressed, and headed to Valletta where we searched, in vain, for a restaurant. First we decided to climb these beautiful cliff-side historic looking buildings (which turned out to be the Police Headquarters…) While walking around looking for something to eat, we were surprised by the firing of a canon. Yes, a real canon. To our dismay, this was followed by more canon fire, and what sounded like artillery fire. Turns out, this is an island way of celebrating, because before we knew it the Cathedral we were passing was swarmed by cheering locals as clergy carried around a statue of the local saint. Apparently, we accidentally took part in an annual religious holiday. Afterwards we found a restaurant which we chose based on its cleanliness. It turned out to be the first day the restaurant was open (hence the cleanliness), so the food was either amazing, or really bad depending on your meal.
We spent four beautiful days in exotic Malta, and now all that remains are memories, pictures, and a peeling tan. We left early Saturday morning to take the train to Eindhoven, Netherlands, where our airport is located. One of “our crew” (Consisting of Girls: Jordan, Sara, Yaira, Boys: Arthur and Liam) missed the train and only barely caught the plane. Yet, alas! We all arrived at 3pm on the beautiful and hot island of Malta. There, Arthur, had been clever enough to procure us a “Gypsy” SUV-type car, stick shift, with no power steering. All the readers here probably know that Arthur loves a challenge (evidenced by his choice in girlfriend) and so he was extremely happy to contend with driving this animal of a machine on the left side of the road. He even successfully navigated the dozen or so roundabouts.
The first day we checked in at our adorable hostel (Splendid Hotel) at the end of the island in the city of Mellieha. It lived up to its name, with a very sweet and accommodating staff, and blessed air conditioning at only 6 euro per night. We immediately set off in the Gypsy to buy groceries for a picnic and find a remote, secluded beach area. While we were delighted when our trip down the side of the cliff resulted in a charming little secluded beach find, the couple we discovered at said secluded beach were slightly less delighted. Nonetheless, we settled our loud, American selves in and made sandwiches from a giant bag of blessedly cheap groceries.
That night we headed to the coast again (literally unavoidable on an island) and has a nice dinner overlooking the sea. Afterwards we walked back yawning after several of the weakest tequila shots ever seen.
Day 2:
We woke up and headed to a not-so secluded beach. We repeated the picnic experience from the day before but purchased both iced coffees and pitchers of Tequila Sunrises (which they called Riviera Sunsets). We swam and read for hours. That night we went back to the hotel, got dressed, and headed to Valletta where we searched, in vain, for a restaurant. First we decided to climb these beautiful cliff-side historic looking buildings (which turned out to be the Police Headquarters…) While walking around looking for something to eat, we were surprised by the firing of a canon. Yes, a real canon. To our dismay, this was followed by more canon fire, and what sounded like artillery fire. Turns out, this is an island way of celebrating, because before we knew it the Cathedral we were passing was swarmed by cheering locals as clergy carried around a statue of the local saint. Apparently, we accidentally took part in an annual religious holiday. Afterwards we found a restaurant which we chose based on its cleanliness. It turned out to be the first day the restaurant was open (hence the cleanliness), so the food was either amazing, or really bad depending on your meal.
Afterwards, we went to a beautiful park above the city where they were hosting a wine festival. The park was covered in vineyard-type vines draped in twinkling lights framing the twilight on a cliff by the ocean. Plus, there was amazing and somewhat eerie music wafting through the festival. Interestingly, there were even hookahs inside of tents where patrons lounged on silk pillows smoking flavoured Turkish tobacco. For ten euro we purchased a crystal wine glass and got a series of coupons that could be redeemed for lots of tastings, several glasses, or a couple of bottles. We all started with tastings, but there were way too many coupons for one person to use, so each of us took back a bottle of amazing Maltese wine. We returned to our hotel and went on the roof patio to drink wine under the Mediterranean stars.
Day 3
Having (clearly) had enough of the beach, we took a cruise to the Blue Lagoon (a real place) where we swam around with goggles, snorkelling through the caves. The boat was a ton of fun, with cheap drinks and food available the whole time. The entire ship ride our party of five rode at the bow of the boat, enjoying the wind, drinking Malibu and coke, and listening to the on-board DJ sing hoarsely and off-tune over outdated songs.
That evening we returned to the town of Mellieha and had a really lovely meal consisting of an entire pizza per person. Then we returned to try to finish our wine from the wine festival on the roof of the hotel (we sadly had to leave some behind).
The next morning we left the hotel at 5a.m., took the Gypsy across the island at sunrise, boarded the plane, arrived in Eindhoven, took the 1 ½ hour train back to The Hague, and returned to work sun-kissed and exhausted.
Mellieha is just beautiful, doesn't matter its day or night. I strongly recommend Malta to those who like colors, beaches all around.
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