Malta
Boom! Me and my girlfriend Felicia stepped out of the plane on the island of Malta and the heat detonated like a bomb at us. I had never felt such heat before and here I was wearing black jeans since I came from what we call Swedish summer. I had thought of Malta as being something that would remind me of Italy but it was more like the northern Arabian parts of Africa, I would have to guess since I haven't been to Africa yet.
This was our first real trip as a couple so it was a special one, and we went to celebrate our birthdays but also to try and find a new country for us to move to since we were bored of Sweden. We knew we wanted beaches and sunshine and we also thought of the more practical aspects like that we have to know the language where we would move to be able to get a job. After a lot of searching Malta came up as the best suggestion since it ticked all the boxes since they also speak English.
We choose not to stay in the city center of the capital Valletta, instead we choose a hotel by the sea in an area called Sliema which isn't far away from the capital. This turned out to be a great choice since Sliema was the best part of Malta, where you could enjoy long romantic walks along the sea, and at the same time just be a ferry away from the densley built-up capital.
We would be in Malta for 2 weeks and since it's one of Europe's smallest countries we would be able to see it all. After a good nights sleep we started the day by getting lost while we tried to go to a big mall. We were hungry and I suggested we would eat ftira for breakfast to eat like the locals, even though it just seemed like the Maltese version of a baguette. While we were lost in some residential area, suddenly we saw a small shop where we could get ftira, but this place looked worn down and all warning signs were turned on. "Don't eat here" all my brain cells screamed, and then we ate there. We got an ftira with feta cheese (which I don't like), capers (which I had never tasted before), and some pickled peppers and weirdly enough they served it with potato crisps at the side. It was the best thing I had ever eaten and we would make sure to "get lost" again to go back to this place and eat it again! When we finally found the mall we saw some padlocks hanging over the sea on our way there. It was couples who had put their names on them, threwed away the keys in the sea and made a promise to always be together by locking up their love. We did it too, and it turned out one of us made a true promise, and the other one didn't. So feel free to cut it down if you ever go to Malta.
The (former) music television channel MTV were arranging a big festival while we were there called Isle Of MTV. Even though it seemed like the artists usually playing there was too commerical for us, they also had artists like Snoop Dogg come visit the small island. So I still had some hope until they revealed the artists that would play the year we went. It was a horrible line up and we left almost immediately after arriving since most of the crowd were wearing stuff like t-shirts that said "The Man" with an arrow pointing up at the guy and "The Legend" and an arrow pointing down at his dick. We weren't ready for Ibiza yet.
We went on a boat trip to see the small island of Comino which is famous for The Blue Lagoon. It was a paradise if all the annoying tourists would just be gone. The crystal clear waters made me don't give a shit if a shark would eat me or not and I jumped right in. Maybe it took us about 1 hour to get to the island by boat but then they had made such a stupid decision to take us all around the island to get back, instead of taking the way we had arrived by. This took 3 hours and all the tourists were just laying around trying to sleep because it was so boring. The boat staff said stuff like "on the left side you see this and this and this" but you couldn't see anything since we were too far from everything. I guess they just figured we would buy more stuff in their café and bar if we got stuck on the boat a long time with them.
One of the things we had already booked in advance was too swim with dolphins on my birthday, it was a lifelong dream of mine! When it turned out I could go for free on my birthday at a water adventure park called Splash 'N' Fun we switched the date for the swimming with the dolphins so that we could go swimming for two days in a row. So first we went swimming with the dolphins the day before my birthday and we were so excited! It turned out to be awful, we felt sorry for the trapped animals in the worn down place and the staff was horrible. They were rude to the people who had come to enjoy the day by fulfilling a dream to swim with dolphins. The funniest thing I remember from it was when one of the staff members got angry because one of the tourists didn't understand that he should kiss the dolphin. "Kiss the dolphin! Kiss the dolphin!" she yelled at him angry to get a picture that she could sell him for too much money afterwards, it was strictly forbidden to take pictures ourselves. I had thought of dolphins as something you could cuddle but they were actually quite hard and sharp, so I think I stick to dogs in the future. Other than that it was amazing to interact with the animal, to make us do tricks together, but I couldn't get rid of the feeling that the animals were trapped and should be out in the ocean instead.
The next day it was time for my 30th birthday and I guess the staff member at Splash 'N' Fun was surprised to see me spend this "life-changing day" at a water park like I was a kid, but that's just how I roll. I don't care what's expected of me, I just do whatever I like. I wish we never went though because the place was totally worn down and the only thing I enjoyed was slowly floating around in a stream in a circle around the place, holding hands with my one true love. So it was a perfect birthday anyway, especially when Felicia gave me one of the best gifts ever, to go on a cruise to the island Sicily of Italy while we were on Malta.
After arriving back from the detour to Sicily we went to Popeye Village in Malta. We had vaguely seen it from a distance from the boat that took forever after we had been to The Blue Lagoon. None of us were into Popeye, but I still thought the village looked cool. It was an amazing place, and I can see why it has grown from its days as a film set of the 1980 musical production Popeye into one of the major tourist attractions in Malta. Nevermind the Popeye references and just go there because of the fake village, at least if you love made up places like me. It also featured a winter wonderland and it was strange to walk around snowmen and christmas gifts in shorts and flip flops.
It was so cheap to go by bus all over Malta so we went to see everything from Blue Grotto in the south to Gozo, the northern island, to watch the Azure Window. There were warnings that said you shouldn't walk on the bridge that makes the window since it's fragile, and we listened to the warnings, which not many people did. You can call me a wimp but some years after our visit it actually collapsed, and it's a strange feeling to know that it doesn't exist anymore. It would be like the Colosseum of Rome disappearing. Instead of walking on it we took a boat trip to see it up close and it was exciting to jump on a small boat in an inland sea, then going through a cave with the boat and coming out at the raging sea to see the natural window. I guess the people who ran the boats are now unemployed because there is nothing left to see anymore.
While being on Gozo we also went to Ramla Bay to see the red sand but it was more like orange so my hair colour blended in to the sand. This was the last thing we did and I felt sad that we had to go back home to boring Sweden again, and I also felt sad that even though I enjoyed Malta I couldn't really see it as my new home either. I guess I had too much demands on it being perfect and it was probably impossible to live up to it. I wish they spoke English in Croatia though, because then I would have moved a long time ago!
* Best things about Malta – the food like ftira and pasta with Parmesan cheese at our favourite seaside restaurant called Surfside, The Blue Lagoon was amazing if you just remove all tourists before you go there and I was pleasantly surprised by Popeye Village
* Most mediocre thing about Malta – even though Malta gives you plenty of nice sea views, it comes with almost no beaches and mostly rocks and cliffs to sit on
* Worst things about Malta – even though I didn't get eaten by one, I still felt the threat of sharks, and I still feel sorry for the dolphins being trapped around idiotic staff, free them I say! It also feels like all the adventure parks in Malta was built 30 years ago and then just have been left to be worn down, and why are all the locals so grumpy, is it the heat?
This was our first real trip as a couple so it was a special one, and we went to celebrate our birthdays but also to try and find a new country for us to move to since we were bored of Sweden. We knew we wanted beaches and sunshine and we also thought of the more practical aspects like that we have to know the language where we would move to be able to get a job. After a lot of searching Malta came up as the best suggestion since it ticked all the boxes since they also speak English.
We choose not to stay in the city center of the capital Valletta, instead we choose a hotel by the sea in an area called Sliema which isn't far away from the capital. This turned out to be a great choice since Sliema was the best part of Malta, where you could enjoy long romantic walks along the sea, and at the same time just be a ferry away from the densley built-up capital.
We would be in Malta for 2 weeks and since it's one of Europe's smallest countries we would be able to see it all. After a good nights sleep we started the day by getting lost while we tried to go to a big mall. We were hungry and I suggested we would eat ftira for breakfast to eat like the locals, even though it just seemed like the Maltese version of a baguette. While we were lost in some residential area, suddenly we saw a small shop where we could get ftira, but this place looked worn down and all warning signs were turned on. "Don't eat here" all my brain cells screamed, and then we ate there. We got an ftira with feta cheese (which I don't like), capers (which I had never tasted before), and some pickled peppers and weirdly enough they served it with potato crisps at the side. It was the best thing I had ever eaten and we would make sure to "get lost" again to go back to this place and eat it again! When we finally found the mall we saw some padlocks hanging over the sea on our way there. It was couples who had put their names on them, threwed away the keys in the sea and made a promise to always be together by locking up their love. We did it too, and it turned out one of us made a true promise, and the other one didn't. So feel free to cut it down if you ever go to Malta.
Our worn down hotel didn't have a pool but we found a pool just below our hotel, down by the sea, and we still don't know if it belonged to another hotel or a restaurant or something. I don't think it was a public pool but we used it as ours and we spent all our time in it when we weren't out on adventures.
We went on a boat where we could go down below deck to see all creatures in the sea through glass windows. I was sure a shark would crash the windows and eat us but we mostly saw no actitivity at all, maybe the fishes were on vacation too.
I wasn't so sure that sharks have summer vacation though so I was so scared while swimming in the sea, even though I loved the idea of people being able to swim whenever they wanted in the harbour with water as clear as the blue skies. If you swam in the filthy waters of the harbour in Sweden you would probably die from a disease.
I wasn't so sure that sharks have summer vacation though so I was so scared while swimming in the sea, even though I loved the idea of people being able to swim whenever they wanted in the harbour with water as clear as the blue skies. If you swam in the filthy waters of the harbour in Sweden you would probably die from a disease.
We went on a boat trip to see the small island of Comino which is famous for The Blue Lagoon. It was a paradise if all the annoying tourists would just be gone. The crystal clear waters made me don't give a shit if a shark would eat me or not and I jumped right in. Maybe it took us about 1 hour to get to the island by boat but then they had made such a stupid decision to take us all around the island to get back, instead of taking the way we had arrived by. This took 3 hours and all the tourists were just laying around trying to sleep because it was so boring. The boat staff said stuff like "on the left side you see this and this and this" but you couldn't see anything since we were too far from everything. I guess they just figured we would buy more stuff in their café and bar if we got stuck on the boat a long time with them.
One of the things we had already booked in advance was too swim with dolphins on my birthday, it was a lifelong dream of mine! When it turned out I could go for free on my birthday at a water adventure park called Splash 'N' Fun we switched the date for the swimming with the dolphins so that we could go swimming for two days in a row. So first we went swimming with the dolphins the day before my birthday and we were so excited! It turned out to be awful, we felt sorry for the trapped animals in the worn down place and the staff was horrible. They were rude to the people who had come to enjoy the day by fulfilling a dream to swim with dolphins. The funniest thing I remember from it was when one of the staff members got angry because one of the tourists didn't understand that he should kiss the dolphin. "Kiss the dolphin! Kiss the dolphin!" she yelled at him angry to get a picture that she could sell him for too much money afterwards, it was strictly forbidden to take pictures ourselves. I had thought of dolphins as something you could cuddle but they were actually quite hard and sharp, so I think I stick to dogs in the future. Other than that it was amazing to interact with the animal, to make us do tricks together, but I couldn't get rid of the feeling that the animals were trapped and should be out in the ocean instead.
The next day it was time for my 30th birthday and I guess the staff member at Splash 'N' Fun was surprised to see me spend this "life-changing day" at a water park like I was a kid, but that's just how I roll. I don't care what's expected of me, I just do whatever I like. I wish we never went though because the place was totally worn down and the only thing I enjoyed was slowly floating around in a stream in a circle around the place, holding hands with my one true love. So it was a perfect birthday anyway, especially when Felicia gave me one of the best gifts ever, to go on a cruise to the island Sicily of Italy while we were on Malta.
After arriving back from the detour to Sicily we went to Popeye Village in Malta. We had vaguely seen it from a distance from the boat that took forever after we had been to The Blue Lagoon. None of us were into Popeye, but I still thought the village looked cool. It was an amazing place, and I can see why it has grown from its days as a film set of the 1980 musical production Popeye into one of the major tourist attractions in Malta. Nevermind the Popeye references and just go there because of the fake village, at least if you love made up places like me. It also featured a winter wonderland and it was strange to walk around snowmen and christmas gifts in shorts and flip flops.
It was so cheap to go by bus all over Malta so we went to see everything from Blue Grotto in the south to Gozo, the northern island, to watch the Azure Window. There were warnings that said you shouldn't walk on the bridge that makes the window since it's fragile, and we listened to the warnings, which not many people did. You can call me a wimp but some years after our visit it actually collapsed, and it's a strange feeling to know that it doesn't exist anymore. It would be like the Colosseum of Rome disappearing. Instead of walking on it we took a boat trip to see it up close and it was exciting to jump on a small boat in an inland sea, then going through a cave with the boat and coming out at the raging sea to see the natural window. I guess the people who ran the boats are now unemployed because there is nothing left to see anymore.
While being on Gozo we also went to Ramla Bay to see the red sand but it was more like orange so my hair colour blended in to the sand. This was the last thing we did and I felt sad that we had to go back home to boring Sweden again, and I also felt sad that even though I enjoyed Malta I couldn't really see it as my new home either. I guess I had too much demands on it being perfect and it was probably impossible to live up to it. I wish they spoke English in Croatia though, because then I would have moved a long time ago!
* Best things about Malta – the food like ftira and pasta with Parmesan cheese at our favourite seaside restaurant called Surfside, The Blue Lagoon was amazing if you just remove all tourists before you go there and I was pleasantly surprised by Popeye Village
* Most mediocre thing about Malta – even though Malta gives you plenty of nice sea views, it comes with almost no beaches and mostly rocks and cliffs to sit on
* Worst things about Malta – even though I didn't get eaten by one, I still felt the threat of sharks, and I still feel sorry for the dolphins being trapped around idiotic staff, free them I say! It also feels like all the adventure parks in Malta was built 30 years ago and then just have been left to be worn down, and why are all the locals so grumpy, is it the heat?
Best countries in the world according to the nerd (will be updated with every post):
1. Croatia
2. Andorra
3. Cyprus
4. Greece
5. Italy
6. Malta
7. Iceland
8. Denmark
9. Lithuania
10. Macedonia
11. Ireland
12. Belgium
13. Estonia
14. Kosovo
15. Finland
16. Latvia
17. France
18. Bulgaria
19. Luxembourg
20. Liechtenstein
21. China
22. Bosnia And Herzegovina
23. Albania
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