Europe
We spent a week in Paris back in April 2019. With everything that has happened since, that truly seems like a lifetime ago and a galaxy away. If you think a week in Paris is enough time to see everything on a standard first-timer’s list, think again.
Edinburgh is a relatively compact city that can be toured by foot, which is what we did. Depending on the amount of time you have in the city, your interest in walking, and how much you’re trying to see, you may prefer to look into public transportation or other options as well.
The main part of the city of Edinburgh is comprised of the West End, Old Town, and New Town, descriptive in their origins. The entirety of our time was spent in New Town and Old Town.
The island nation of Malta is roughly 122 square miles, less than half the size of New York City, and is located in the Mediterranean Sea, about 100 miles south of Sicily. The three islands of Malta, Gozo, and Comino are the largest and most often referenced in descriptions of the country; however, there are also dozens of tiny islands of varying sizes. While most of these islands are too small to be inhabited, a few others are. Cominotto is a popular tourist destination, and Manoel Island, located between Valletta and Sliema, has long been inhabited and currently features several modern day yacht clubs and also a large fort dating back to the 1700s. The formation and evolution of these islands dates to about 35 million years ago (relatively recently when you consider the dinosaurs went extinct about 60 million years ago) and are, much like the archaeological history of Malta, inexorably tied to the sea.
When we booked our trip to Malta, we did so on a whim after just about an hour doing online research. Why did we book this trip on a whim? Because we found an amazing flight deal, which is as good a reason as any, right?! But in that hour of research, what sold us that Malta was worth visiting were the number of historically and archaeologically important sites scattered around the island and the role the island itself had played in important events of history.
We fell in love with the little island of Gozo (it’s about 25 square miles). Gozo is the smaller of Malta’s two inhabitable islands (the third island can be visited but is not really inhabited) and is a great side trip to pair with a visit to the mainland. If you’re looking to do just that, check out our recommended 3-5 day Malta itinerary as well! In this blog we’ll cover some general information on Gozo, information on how to get there, and our recommendations for spots to visit to fill 2 (or more) days.
Let me start by saying that Malta is a fascinating country with enough spots to visit, restaurants to try, hikes to take, and so much more that a visitor could easily spent a week or more touring Malta’s main island. We spent a week ourselves with the majority on Malta and a couple of days on Gozo and had a wonderful time. If you only have 3-5 days to spend, here is the Valletta-based itinerary we would recommend. The best part of this is that you can stay in one place the entire time with all the spots walkable by foot or accessible via ferry or a short cab ride.
In this blog, we’ll provide an overview of what to expect when dining in Malta on both the main island of Malta and the smaller island of Gozo, information on the grocery shopping scene, tips based on our experience, and recommendations for the places where we had enjoyable meals and experiences.
With Sicily and Italy to the north, the northern Africa nations of Libya and Tunisia to the south, and a long history of varied peoples and cultures swirling across the Mediterranean, Maltese dining is varied and diverse. There are a substantial number of Italians who live on or visit the island, meaning there are plenty of Italian eateries to fill all your needs for pizza and pasta.
After a full week spent in Malta on both the mainland island of Malta plus a couple of days on the smaller island of Gozo, here are some of the tips we hope will help make your planning easier and your trip as wonderful as ours!
What is it about relatively small islands or countries that require more coordination to get around?! Malta is comprised of three islands, two of which are inhabited (mainland Malta and the smaller Gozo) plus Comino, which is a common day trip destination to swim in its Blue Lagoon. We visited Malta and Gozo, and in this blog, we’ll cover information and tips on how to get around these islands without a car . . . and why we wouldn’t recommend renting one.
The country of Malta is made up of three islands, two of which are inhabited: mainland Malta and the smaller island of Gozo. We visited both during our week in the country, and based on our experiences and research, here’s what we would recommend for your trip.
Our final day of our week-long trip to Malta and Gozo took us almost as far as was possible across the country as we traveled from Victoria, Gozo, all the way to the far end of Malta, where we ended the day dining at the water’s edge of Marsaxlokk Harbor, an important spot in history and home to the unique and beautiful Maltese fishing boats!
On our second day on the island of Gozo, we returned to the walled city of Cittadella to finish exploring the parts we hadn’t gotten to the prior day and were particularly surprised by the contents of the Shipwreck Museum. Then, wanting to spend some time along the coast, we had a wonderful harbor-side meal and 3-mile hike starting out from Xlendi Bay with exquisite views!
We started the day returning to our new favorite breakfast spot in Valletta and ended it by finding our new favorite dinner spot on Gozo. Sandwiched between those meals (pun definitely intended), we explored a final spot in Valletta - the mesmerizing St. John’s Co-Cathedral - took a cross-country car ride to the Malta to Gozo ferry, and explored the walled Cittadella, perched in the middle of Malta’s smaller island of Gozo. With two days in Gozo, we made sure to quickly get our bearings to enjoy this portion of our trip.
Our fourth day would be our last in the Valletta area before heading to the island of Gozo. We had a relatively quiet morning in Valletta before heading over to the walled medieval city of Mdina, which we fell in love with. Other than the draw of tourism, I would love to live there! Mdina is also known as the Silent City - more info below on how it got that name - and has been a filming spot for you Game of Thrones fans out there. Read below for more on our explorations of Mdina, and some great dining recommendations for both lunch and dinner.
This third day of our trip was the first time we ventured outside of the capital city of Valletta, and we managed to pack a lot into the day! In a way, we spent the day time traveling. We started the day by visiting two UNESCO World Heritage sites: Ħal Saflieni Hypogeum, an underground Neolithic necropolis that pre-dates the Pyramids, and visited Tarxien Temples, a megalithic site that dates back almost as far. From there we headed to the Medieval Era by exploring the quaint streets and Inquisitor’s Palace in Vittoriosa (also known as Birgu), caught the ferry across the bay and entered the modern era with the long elevator ride up the Barrakka Lift and then an evening watching Malta’s Independence Day Military Tattoo event from an rooftop terrace restaurant.
September 21st is Malta’s Independence Day to commemorate when it gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1964. It also just so happened to coincide with our visit. We had looked into any special events that would be taking place, and the main one is a 3-day (Fri-Sun) Military Tattoo evening performance in St. George’s Square in the central part of Valletta. Walking into town we passed right by the square with the temporary bleachers set up.
Our travel to and first day in Malta’s capital city of Valletta was a whirlwind of new sights and sounds. We spent time getting oriented to our new surroundings and getting a taste of Malta’s flavor.
For a country we had really never heard of prior to booking our trip, Malta was awash with so many of the things that appeal to us about traveling. We had a wonderful week-long trip to this three-island nation and managed to enjoy a wide array of activities.
In this blog, we will share how we ended up booking a trip to Malta in the first place, will provide an overview of the country (from language to culture to history to transportation), will share an overview of our itinerary and how we spent the week, and share our thoughts on whether we would return again (spoiler alert: we would) and what we’d do differently in retrospect.
Here are some tips that we picked up in advance of and while on our trip that will hopefully help you plan yours! Read more about car rentals, tickets to purchase in advance, and packing tips.
During 10 days in Scotland, we had the opportunity to check out quite a lot of the food and drink scene - everywhere from big cities to small towns! In this blog, we’ll provide our perspective on what you can expect, provide tips for what to order as you eat and drink your way through Scotland, and offer a few of our favorite restaurants as recommendations.
Scotland is a diverse country - from bustling cities to popular rural outposts and small towns. In planning our 10-day road trip through the Highlands and Isle of Skye, we realized we couldn’t take a one-size-fits-all approach to the five different locations where we needed to book overnight accommodations. Because we have only been to this portion of the country, we cannot speak to accommodation options outside of this region.
Located in the charming Cairngorms National Park, tucked away in the Scottish Highlands is an absolutely fantastic bed and breakfast. We’ve stayed in countless B&Bs over the years and while many are memorable for different reasons, a much smaller number make it to our list of the top places we have stayed. Firhall Highland Bed and Breakfast is one of those special places. We kind of wish we could move in. Permanently. Is that an option?
Wanting to stay near town and avoid a lot of driving before our long flight and trek home the following day, we spoke with the B&B’s owners to get some recommendations on local hikes. We decided on Bracklinn Falls hike, which begins just a little over a mile outside of the town of Callander.
The ninth day of our road trip took us out of the Corpach/Fort William area, through Glencoe Valley, to the village of Luss on Loch Lomond in the Trossachs National Park and finally to the adorable town of Callander, the last stop of our trip and where we would stay for two nights.
Along the route, which is 42 miles out, the train passes over Glenfinnan Viaduct, makes a short stop at the Glenfinnan station, and then passes through Arisaig and culminates in Mallaig, the end of the line and a cute coastal town. Glenfinnan, in addition to being home to the picturesque viaduct, is also where Bonnie Prince Charlie raised his standard in Scotland, the start to his march to retake his throne that would crash down a mere eight months later at Culloden Battlefield, which we had visited earlier on this trip.
We had seen many people recommending this site online, and it is clearly very popular with visitors. The owners of the land have set up a large, extensive mountainside gravel parking lot which is the only real place to park. I don’t recall the exact price - it wasn’t cheap but wasn’t astronomical either. Some people try parking alongside the road to avoid paying, which given the windy nature of the roads is not the safest (in my opinion), and honestly, if this private land is being used as Scottish law permits, I think the owners should have every right to profit off of it given the significant crowds.
Our plan for the day involved taking a roughly two hour loop road around one of the peninsulas of the Isle of Skye and doing short hikes to places of interest. This loop road around the isle that can get fairly crowded at times, and there are concerns in the area of over-tourism. In our experience, there was not anything like the traffic we have heard about, but this was certainly a fairly popular area and more populated than other parts of our trip.
Today involved a long car ride punctuated by several stops at some amazing places; the neolithic burial mounds at Clava Cairns, Culloden Battlefield for a slice of British and Jacobite history, and Loch Ness’s famous Urquhart Castle. Looking back I can’t believe we managed to pack all of this and a four hour car ride into one day!
We left Edinburgh first thing in the morning and drove about 45 minutes west of town to Linlithgow Palace, situated about a block up the street from the main downtown of the small town of Linlithgow. This palace is definitely one of the top highlights of our trip. After our stop there, we visited a fascinating living history museum as we entered Cairngorms National Park.
In the summer of 2019 we spent 10 days in Scotland on an amazing trek from Edinburgh through the Highlands and to Skye.
We stayed at several great bed and breakfasts along the way, and one of them - Firhall Bed & Breakfast started each morning off with a bowl of porridge before delectable breakfast entrees. Their porridge was amazing with just the right amount of heartiness and texture to avoid the risk that always accompanies the meal: mush. They kindly shared a few tips with us about the couple of types of oats and the tip that they soak one overnight.