In the middle of our three weeks in Rome, we popped over to Malta for a couple of nights to visit our niece and her family who live there. Two days in any place is just a taste, but that taste tells us we need to return. And, for those who wish to consider a visit, English is one of the island nation’s two main languages; the other language is Maltese. For a sense of the Maltese language, see the photo Mark took of a poster — it’s at end of this post.
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We found a small studio in Birgu, near our family’s home in Kalkara — just a 10-minutes walk. Both of these are centuries-old villages on the Grand Harbor, across which is Malta’s capital city, Valletta. Because of the harbor’s size, it might take 45 minutes or longer to drive around from Birgu to Valletta, but little motorized gondolas (water taxis) that hold up to six passengers take just minutes to cross. There is also a traditional ferry, but the gondolas are more expedient and, honestly, it’s quite fun to be close to the sparkling water while dodging massive ships.
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The areas we visited — the capital city Valletta and the cities of Birgu and Kalkara — are beautiful. The narrow buildings are built of golden limestone, and reminded us of Siracusa in Sicily. This makes sense geologically as Malta is directly south of that part of Sicily. Birgu, where we stayed, is one of the most historic cities on Malta and was the capital before Valletta was built. It is home to Fort St. Angelo, the Maritime Museum, and the Inquisitor’s Palace. The latter was directly across the narrow lane from our studio apartment. As shown below, you can see that many of the streets are narrow and often consist of many steps.
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We all went to Valletta to run some errands and, while there, we had lunch and visited Saint John’s Catholic Co-Cathedral, dedicated to Saint John the Baptist. It was built in the late 1570s, designed by Girolamo Cassar, and redecorated in the 1660s in the High Baroque style by Calabrian artist Mattia Preti, who also did many of the interior paintings. The Co-Cathedral has nine chapels, eight of which are dedicated the the langues (languages) of the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, also known as the Knights Hospitaller, or the Knights of Malta. They were founded in the 11th century to provide medical care and aid to poor or sick Christian pilgrims, and this island eventually became their country. Just for fun, the various Langues are: Auvergne; Aragon; Castile, Léon, and Portugal; Anglo-Bavarian; Provence; France; Italy; and Germany. Over time, the order militarized to defend Crusader territories, ultimately operating as an influential naval force in the Mediterranean.
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If you have been following our Rome adventures, you know that Mark can sniff out a painting by Caravaggio from a thousand paces; the Co-Cathedral has two. The most important is the “Beheading of Saint John the Baptist,” painted for the oratory within the cathedral, and the only painting signed by the artist himself. The other is “Saint Jerome Writing,” downstairs in a special exhibit about Caravaggio.
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During our brief visit I saw very little street art (though there may well be more) but these two made me smile.
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And, of course, the whole reason we went to Malta was to visit family. After living there just four months, they are settled in and active, taking classes, joining local groups, and exploring everything Malta has to offer — and that is a lot. Here we are wandering through the cobbled streets.
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The food in Malta was excellent and we were treated to several delightful meals. Two restaurants that I’d highly recommend are:
Terrone, Birgu Waterfront, Fort St Angelo, Birgu
Chef Adrian Hili, who came from the River Café in London, offers a fresh, seasonal menu that changes weekly. Seating is available both indoor and waterside outdoors at the base of Fort St. Angelo, one of the area’s many towering ramparts. For our starter, we had the caponata for which eggplant was grilled and combined with fresh cherry tomatoes, golden raisins, salted capers, and pine nuts. For the main course, we had the spinach ravioli, filled with sheep ricotta, in a sauce of asparagus, fresh pea, wild garlic (ramps), lemon, and mint. We finished with the Maltese lemon tart. The food was exquisite, and the service perfectly attentive.
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Novità, Xatt Juan B. Azopardo, Senglea
In the city of Senglea, just southwest across the inlet from Birgu, Novițà sits on at the water’s edge with both indoor and waterside seating. The menu is Mediterranean, and combines local and Italian flavors. The food is quite good, as is the service. We started with the crispy octopus with burrata (their specialty), and continued with the fagotti — little pasta purses with candied pear and cheese in a cream sauce. We opted to skip dessert that evening. You can see the restaurant below behind our niece.
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Mimi Rippee
July 22, 2026 at 4:56 amOh how beautiful! And the food!!!!
David Scott Allen
July 22, 2026 at 8:56 amIt is a beautiful country, from what we saw! Definitely need a return visit.
Barb
July 22, 2026 at 6:59 amWhat a fabulous place to visit! You and Mark are fortunate to have relatives there. It looks relaxing, making it a great place to wind down at the end of your vacation while enjoying a family visit.
David Scott Allen
July 22, 2026 at 8:58 amThanks, Barb — It was really nice to visit our family as they were such wonderful tour guides and already know the country so well. But visiting our family is never a “wind down” — they love to go, go, go!
Mad Dog
July 22, 2026 at 12:49 pmFabulous! I’ve always wanted to go to Malta, the buildings and harbour look amazing. The Knights of St. John were kicked out of their original home in Acre by Islamic forces and initially settled in Cyprus and Rhodes. When defeated by Suleiman the Magnificent in 1522, they withdrew to Sicily. Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, King of Spain and Sicily offered the Knights permanent quarters in Malta and Tripoli in exchange for an annual tribute of a Maltese falcon. I bet Markipedia told you this already, though perhaps not the next bit.
The Knights of St. John had a monastery in London next to Smithfield Market and Fergus Henderson’s St. John restaurant, is on St. John Street, which runs alongside where the monastery stood.
David Scott Allen
July 23, 2026 at 8:11 amThanks Mad Dog — as you suspected, Markipedia had indeed given that information (just wasn’t sure how much my readers would want!), and you were also correct in assuming he did not know the information about the Knights if St. John Monastery. That is pretty cool. Needless to say, he was researching it all immediately! Thanks for all that!
angiesrecipes
July 22, 2026 at 8:03 pmGosh..how could one not fall in love with Malta? Absolutely gorgeous!
David Scott Allen
July 23, 2026 at 8:08 amIt was so easy to fall, Angie!
Eha Carr
July 22, 2026 at 9:36 pmThanks for the great photos and a very useful map of a place I have always wanted to visit . . . know quite a few who come from there but your photos as usual manage to be different 🙂 ! Absolutely love the Terrone restaurant position . . . and can ‘taste’ your choice of food on my palate now ( !!!).
David Scott Allen
July 23, 2026 at 8:08 amTerrone was just unreal for the setting and the food! So glad you enjoyed the photos!
Sherry
July 22, 2026 at 10:33 pmJust wondering – is your niece American? Did she need to get some sort of special visa or citizenship? I just mean in a general sense how do you get to live in Malta? I am often amazed when people say they go and live in other countries and I think how do you get visas for that? :-). I know how hard it is to get a Visa to stay in Australia. Anyway, it all looks wonderful. Love all the photos. What a fabulous little side trip you had.
Cheers
Sherry
David Scott Allen
July 23, 2026 at 8:07 amHi Sherry — yes, our niece and her family are American, but they got a family visa and are on a citizenship track. It seemed surprisingly easy compared to other countries (Australia, New Zealand, Canada).
It was a fun little trip — it was only a 1.5 hour flight from Rome and, using RyanAir, it was inexpensive!
Sherry M
July 22, 2026 at 11:48 pmcrumbs! that Maltese language!
sherry
David Scott Allen
July 23, 2026 at 8:04 amI know, Sherry! Apparently it’s a cross between Arabic and Italian!
Gerlinde de Broekert
July 23, 2026 at 2:36 amMalta is on my bucket list. I hope to visit one of these days. Right now, I’m sitting in a German train going to visit my brother.
David Scott Allen
July 23, 2026 at 8:04 amOh, how I love riding trains in Germany (Europe in general)! Have a wonderful visit with your brother — I hope the weather has improved!
Inger
July 23, 2026 at 5:40 pmHow lucky to have to pop over to Malta to visit family! It wouldn’t have been on my radar but looks like a great trip!
David Scott Allen
July 24, 2026 at 5:05 pmHonestly, Inger, it wasn’t on our list until we went to visit them. It is beautiful and definitely worthy of a trip.
CC
July 26, 2026 at 8:39 pmMalta is on my list, and has been for ages! It looks wonderful and now I want to go even more! Too many places and not enough time!
David Scott Allen
July 28, 2026 at 12:27 pmI aso agr4e, Christina — so many places and definitely not enough tiome (or money!).
Jill W Becker
July 29, 2026 at 4:39 pmBeautiful….and so interesting. thanks once again for taking us along with you on your travels. xoxo
David Scott Allen
July 31, 2026 at 8:41 amIt was fun having you along, Jill! xo
Nikita
August 7, 2026 at 10:37 amHello David! Thank you for the wonderful feedback we are so happy you enjoyed your meal at Terrone! Hopefully we can welcome you back soon!
Terrone Team
David Scott Allen
August 7, 2026 at 11:04 amHello Nikita — thank you so much for your kind comment. It was a highlight of our visit with family — and it’s their favorite place in Malta! We hope to be back soon.
Frank | Memorie di Angelina
August 7, 2026 at 1:37 pmWhat a lovely place Malta is. I just saw a video naming it as one of the best places in Europe to retire as an ex pat—provided you can deal with the island fever. I can see why! You experience of the food is intriguing. Sounds very influenced by Italian food, which makes a lot of sense, of course.
And yes, I scrolled down immediately to see if you mentioned/showed those Caravaggios. And of course you did!
David Scott Allen
August 7, 2026 at 4:09 pmIt is a really good retirement place — if you can manage the hills and staircases! There did seem to be a significan Italian feel to the food but with a nlocal feel — the caponata for example. It was a simple mélange of all the right vegetables, but everything was grilled rather than stewed.
Haha — I knew you would be looking for those Caravaggios — they were truly exquisite!