Adventures in Europe: Valletta, Malta

Yesterday afternoon, after driving back to Bologna from San Marino, Diana and I flew Ryanair to Malta.  We had a nice view of the island as we came into land.

From the airport we took the public bus into Valletta, and were quite impressed as we walked through the city gates.

We checked in at our lovely little guesthouse, the Casa Asti, where our host was a wonderful little old lady.

Once settled, we headed out into the Maltese night for dinner.

We sat on a patio and enjoyed a unique and delicious pizza, with local sausage and potatoes on it.

As I looked outside this morning I had this wonderful view of our street, including the colourful balconies Valletta is known for.

We began our day by walking through the Upper Barrakka Gardens . . .

. . . to the Barrakka lift, a massive outdoor elevator that brought us to the foot of the cliff in a few seconds.

A little walk along the water brought us to the ferry which would take us across the Grand Harbour.

Our only motivation to cross the harbour was to be able to enjoy the view, and it was indeed lovely to sit out in the open air of what was already a very warm morning.

The ferry only takes a few minutes to cross the harbour, and on the other side we just kept our seats and waited for the return trip.

Back in Valletta, we sat at a cafe in the Upper Barrakka Gardens and drank coffees, then spent the rest of the morning and into the afternoon exploring the peninsula.  Of course, exploring included a stop for lunch at the wonderful Is-Suq Tal-Belt, an old building renovated into a beautiful food markert and food court (where I ate a plate of rabbit, apparently a Maltese favourite); and two more patio stops for drinks.

We only had 24 hours total in Malta, but we really enjoyed Valletta, and the idyllic Mediterranean weather meant we had a perfect day for exploring and enjoying the old city.

With our day in the Maltese capital done, we are now flying onward to Tunis, Tunisia.