Our Trip to Malta Part 1
As this blog is not a worldwide travel guide is is just the things we did or saw or found out from others on our tour. Again this blog is more about living in Serbia than what to do in Barcelona or Malta. We bought a package from a Serbia Travel agent for our trip so is going to preclude most of you from using some of this information. Travel agencies in Serbia are still a thing much more than in the US and put together these trips to a variety of destinations. You get the best airline prices often they are chartered just for the travel agencies and particular trips and then offer several options on hotels. They provide the boarding passes and provide transportation to and from the hotel. You can participate in the tours which cost extra, which include a local guide and a translator or go your own way.
We had a couple of options Abu Dhabi was one of the possibilities but since the ocean was not warm enough to swim there I was not sure just looking at a bunch of glass buildings and shopping was going to keep us interested. So the other option was Malta. I had heard of Malta but knew nothing about the country. Malta is one of the smallest countries in Europe (EU) located in the Mediterranean between Sicily and North Africa. Ruled by a long series of powers including the Greeks, Scicillain, Knights of Malta, Ottomans, French, and British and is now an independent country, part of the British Empire. You will find a number of Catholic Churches, a mixture of old and new architecture and a number of fortresses and walls meant to keep the Ottomans out. English and Maltese are the languages so you will have no trouble with communication and the Euro is used as currency.
We chose the Intercontinental Hotel which I would highly recommend if you come in the summer. It has it’s own beach in a small bay, an infinity pool on the roof deck, another outdoor pool, both of these have bars and snack bars for burgers and the likes, and an indoor heated pool. There are two spas a sauna, bar, and two restaurants, one-off sight that his highly rated by Trip Advisor for seafood that is next to their private beach. The hotel is near all the bus lines and public transportation is easy to manage, including paying in cash on the bus or buying a pass for a specific number of trips. It was unseasonably cold when we went over the New Years so other than the indoor pool we did not get to take advantage of the amenities. It was still a pretty good hotel though if your thing is shopping and dining out there are better options that others in our group recommended.
The Hilton and the Hotel Cavalieri were both hotel options that our Travel Agency provided that people we talked with stayed. They both have a number of pools including indoor pools and the Hotel Cavalieri was cheaper than the others, still, a four-star hotel which provided for upgrades to sea views for an additional fee. One thing I have to get over here in Europe is accepting that there are hotels that do not have US connections that are going to be great. We only looked at the Intercontinental and the Hilton because of my prejudice. Having been in the area of the two hotels to pick up other guests for the tours the dining options and shopping are more upscale. There are a number of hotels and short term rentals in the area but these are the options we know.
Part 2 with things to do and some notes on restaurants coming soon