Living in Malta – An introduction to Our short-term house

We’ve been travelling the world for practically 8 years, however somehow we’re the worst at planning. We always leave whatever up until the last minute – whether it’s booking our accommodation, choosing on which city to go to next, or even which country we want to travel to!

Even though it can be a bit stressful, aggravating as well as costly leaving whatever up until the last minute, we have to admit that we like the spontaneity of this method of travel.

We were sitting in our hotel space in Florence, with just 6 days left in Italy. without any even more plans for our European adventure, we weren’t sure where to go next. Again, last minute planning at its finest.

We had withstood the -10 degree temperatures in Macedonia, we had experienced sufficient rain to last a lifetime in Croatia as well as Montenegro, as well as even though it was sunny in Rome, Florence as well as Venice, it was still truly cold in the evenings.

Even though Italy had lovely weather, it was winter-coat using temps at times!

It was time for a change! The tropical traveller in us was craving some sunshine.

We thought about heading east to Southeast Asia, as well as in particular, the islands of Indonesia. Yes, I’m serious. We were prepared to travel practically 12,000 kilometers to seek out some sun as well as beaches!

After believing about it for a couple of days, we realized that perhaps we were going just a bit overboard, as well as that we didn’t really requirement to travel such a excellent distance to discover sunny weather.

In fact, we just needed to head south for a simple 1,000 kilometers…to Malta.

Indonesia? Nope…Malta!
You may be wondering where Malta is, what it has to offer as well as why you’ve never heard of it – or at least that’s exactly how we felt before choosing to find here!

The little island nation of Malta is comprised of 3 islands – Malta, Gozo as well as Comino, all of which are surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea. Malta is found south of Sicily, north of Libya, as well as east of Tunisia, as well as is understood for its wonderful year-round climate (300 days of sun!).

The islands have an interesting mix of cultures as well as people, an amazing history, as well as distinct architecture. The British occupied Malta for 164 years (from 1800 – 1964), as well as since of this, the English language is spoken interchangeably with the regional Maltese language (plus, there are red phone boxes, fish n’ chips as well as other “Englishy” influences).

A bright red phone box, with red balconies in Valletta
On top of the culture, history, design as well as English influence, the water activities right here are endless. The diving diving in Malta is world-class (Nick was offered after reading that!), island hopping as well as sailing trips are possible, plus, there are some fantastic kayaking trips on offer.

The diving diving in Malta is amazing! Nick dove the blue hole as well as liked it.
We understood this was the ideal area for our temporary home!

Except for 1 short article (which I glanced at over a year ago), we hadn’t checked out a single thing about Malta. however there we were, pressing the “buy now” button on our Ryan Air flights from Rome, as well as renting an house in an area of the island that we understood next to nothing about.

This mysterious location would be our house for the next two months.

We rented ourselves an house online, as well as although it costs much more than we have spent in the past, we are extremely delighted with it.

What to do when we check-in to our new apartment? Silly poses, of course

It’s spacious as well as bright with white beams running across the ceiling, conventional tiles on the floor, as well as a Maltese balcony. The restroom is significant as well as is fitted with a bathtub as well as laundry device (double yes!). The couches are comfy as well as the TV has familiar channels. There is great deals of wardrobe area as well as a bit deck for drying our laundry in the sunshine.

This may not noise all that interesting to you, however for us living out of our backpacks, having a laundry device as well as somewhere to hang our clothes is a huge deal!

It’s good to unpack our packs every when in a while
We’ve bought rosemary, sage, basil, thyme as well as mint plants, as well as have made this bit location our own. We’ve been enjoying going to the grocery store to purchase components for our healthy meals that we’ve been preparing (after eating our method with Italy, we requirement to get our health and wellness on!).It’s good to be able to cook for ourselves, rather than always eating out at a restaurant.

The fresh fish shop is excellent – like making sushi at home!

We’re living in the city of Sliema, and although this is a hectic part of the island, we are enjoying being so well-connected to everything. We’re just steps from the ferry-boat to cross the harbour to Valletta, as well as are near to the major bus stops as well.

Drone’s eye view from Valletta looking across the harbour to Sliema

Just up the road we have a significant supermarket, tons of restaurants, numerous bars, fruit & vegetable vendors as well as fresh fish stores.

The sea is just steps from our door, as well as looking across the harbour, we have amazing views of the UNESCO listed city of Valletta. There’s likewise a long seaside promenade which is excellent for evening strolls with gelato in hand.

We’ve discovered an outstanding sunset spot right on the rocks, as well as have found some excellent sunbathing areas and natural pools. For walks, we’ve found an fantastic path which we’ve dubbed the “rock walk”.

Nick enjoying our rock walk
Starting from our apartment, we walk away from the sea, up narrow lanes as well as past houses with colourful balconies. We circle around the beautiful Church of Our woman of install Carmel, before reaching some stairs leading down to the rocks.

Following the shoreline on unequal limestone rocks, we round a few headlands before zig-zagging around some lovely man-made swimming holes! These rock-cut pools were produced by the English in the 1600s , however they utilized to have canopies covering them to ensure that women might bathe in private.

Rock-cut pools on our “rock walk”

The entire loop is about 3 kilometers as well as we absolutely like it!

It seems impossible to us, however we have been living in Malta for practically 2 months already. Our time right here has been full of interesting activities, checking out all 3 islands as well as of course, catching up on work.

Michelle as well as Nikki, our new Maltese friends!
We’ve went to wineries, explored underground tombs as well as walked with the countryside. We’ve dined on tasty food, satisfied some fantastic people, as well as saw conventional dancing. We’ve viewed the symphony, seen the fireworks festival, as well as explored historical cities.

Malta truly has it all.

Firework celebration in Malta
Our preferred part of Malta so far has been satisfying our new Maltese good friends Michelle & Nikki (pictured above) as well as their fun group of friends. It’s so much fun hanging out with them, seeing different parts of the island that only the locals understand about as well as discovering about the culture here. They even took us to a barbeque celebration in a cave! exactly how great is that?

Cave BBQ
Making the decision to online in Malta shown to be the very best option for us. We have really been pleased here, as well as are thrilled to share whatever about this island nation with you! We’ve produced 4 videos so far, however we will be writing many articles in the coming weeks so stay tuned…

The colourful Maltese balconies are beautiful in Sliema
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