The last couple of years I’ve had a couple of friends ask me for recommendations and tips for a visit to Malta. This is the latest I’ve written. I figured other people might find it useful so here it is.
Hi Michael, How’s London in October? Rainy, I’m guessing?
Anyway, as I told you when you were in Prague, me and my girlfriend will be visiting Malta about ten days from now.
Could you give us some tips perhaps? Myself I’m mainly and mostly interested in food. The local thing would be what we are looking for. for example, in Italy, by chance we walked into this place, which looked like a czech jidelna – like a snackbar – but turned out to bto have great, simple traditional food.
Do you know any of such places? or how to recognize the average traditional diner? we are staying in Valetta, Marsalforn (Gozo) and Qawra. Perhaps for S you could advise some sightseeing tips.
London get’s it fair share of rain but I think people have a disproportionate impression of how much rain we get 
Malta got a bit of rain last week as well as you can see in the video below.
Malta weather in November can be tricky. With clouds, storms and lots of rainfall or bright sunny days not too warm not too cold.
Anyways on to the food! The Maltese people love food so I think you will find some compatriots there. The Maltese kitchen is related to Italian/Sicilian in many ways but with their own particular twist to it. Culturally the island has had influences from most of the big empires of the Mediterranean so the Phoenicians, Romans, Arabs, Sicilian has had an impact on the language, culture and food. Wikipedia has a very comprehensive list of dishes and their Maltese names.
A local soft drink that you should most definitely try is Kinnie. Made with bitter orange it’s refreshing without being super sweet and great for a hot day. Local beers are Cisk Lager and Hopleaf Pale Ale – the latter being my favorite.
The snack of Malta is the Pastizzi as shown above. It’s a flaky pastry made with either mushy pea or ricotta (cheese) filling. Another variation is the Qassatat. You can buy pastizzi and other fresh-made snacks at small corner bars or pastizzeria as they are sometime called. As the place you found in Italy the front wont give away a good place like Crystal Palace here which supposedly is the best in Rabat/Mdina.
You can also find pastizzi in band clubs. These institutions started as community projects and today each band club will have a bar at a central location of the villages. They might not have the best pastizzi but you get to experience the enthusiastic (to say the least) conversation culture of Malta often executed by elderly men. In the village where Ann is from there are two band clubs across from each other and when we walked by it I always heard shouting coming from inside. At first I just thought it was a once-off drunken row but after hearing it a couple of times I asked Ann what they were fighting about and she said; “They are not fighting they are just discussing.” Without understanding the language it’s still interesting to go to a band club and see a real Mediterranean discourse unfold while having a Kinnie or Hopleaf. You find them at the center of towns, just go after the noise. Here’s the band club in Birgu:
I really like the local bakeries. Also very unassuming from the outside when you walk in you walk straight into the actual bakery where the oven might still be on and churning out fresh bread. The big round Maltese bread is called Ftira and the typical way at Ann’s house is to get it as a sandwich with tuna, capers, gbejnet (goat cheese) and kunserva. You can make that yourself if you want a lunch on the cheap.
However on Gozo the Ftira is an open sandwich more like a pizza and Maxokk Bakery in Nadur, Gozo is one of the best places to get one of these.
Being an island seafood is relatively cheap, fresh and very good. Apart from that a typical local dishes are rabbit stew (which is good), snails (I tried it once – nothing too exciting) and apparently horse meat (I’ve never noticed it on menus or been offered it at home). Apart from these “exotic” things you can get great pasta, pizza and risotto in most respectable places. My favorite is Ann’s aunts’ homemade ravjul.
When I’m there we mostly eat at home so I don’t know of any “hidden, secret” restaurants. I would do as in Prague – if you want food that locals eat go for a walk and get away from areas where there are too many tourists.
One of Ann’s aunt has a place in Marsalforn, Gozo and whenever we or someone goes up to Gozo we always have to bring back some honey rings. The place they buy them from is a confectionary more or less opposite the bus station in Victoria, Gozo. I think you can get them all over the islands but their family has a special affection for exactly the ones from this place. And they are really good.
There are other Maltese seasonal sweets like the Prinjolata before Carnival or the Christmas Pudina tal-Ħobż but both are too sweet for my taste.
My favorite cake place has to be Fontanella’s in Mdina.
I would highly recommend making the trip into the Hypogeum – an ancient underground temple. Really fascinating place but because of the conditions of the place only 10 people are allowed in per hour so you should book tickets online before you go to Malta.
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There are loads of other historic sites and museums but since that doesn’t sound like you are too interested in that I’ll leave out the rest apart from my favorite museums which are Norman House in Mdina, St. John’s Co-cathedral in Valletta and the knights museum in the Infermeria in Valletta.
I’d recommend you go for a walk in Mdina preferably early morning or late evening as it is best experienced without hords of tourists when it lives up to it’s name The Silent City. It’s the old capital and really a charming place.
For things to do I would check out the salute at noon from Upper Barrakka Gardens in Valletta and see if there is a reenactment on at St. Elmo. Just walking in the streets of Valletta is amazing. Although the main Republic Street is a bit boring with mostly have the same shops as any other European country.
Just two streets away from Republic Street is a “forgotten” street. The narrow Strait Street that was the bar and brothel street when the British servicemen where in Malta up til the independence in 1964. Walking down the street it’s like talking a walk through history as many of the old street signs still hang around slowly decaying.
A “hidden” gem in Valletta is Hastings Garden at the southwestern corner. Climbing up on top of the bastions here is the perfect make-out spot it seems as there is always a couple of couples sitting up here when I come by. If the weather is nice it’s great for watching sunset or just to take in the grand view of Manoel Island and Msida Creek.
While you are in Malta there will be a feast in Baħrija where you will be able to see a procession and ground fireworks.
Sat 13th at 6pm: mass followed by procession with statue around village. 9pm: statue ‘returns’ to church followed by a service. Then there is a band march followed by ground fireworks.
That was what I could come up with now. Let me know if you need more suggestions for places to go. Too read about the trips I’ve made to the islands see blog post about My First Time in Malta, Spring in Malta, Miniholiday in Gozo, Fireworks, Farm and Forts, Maltese Wedding, Easter in Malta, Christmas in Malta
