Malta: The Perfect Romantic Getaway

Malta International Airport is 8km from Valletta. The capital city — built by the Knights of St. John on a narrow peninsula between two grand harbors following the Great Siege of 1565 — is entirely a 16th and 17th-century Baroque creation, making it unique in Europe: a complete Renaissance city plan executed in creamy golden limestone that glows at sunset. The street grid is laid out on the slope of the peninsula so that all roads run straight (the Knights specifically designed streets with a breeze to cool armored soldiers). St. John's Co-Cathedral, completed in 1578, has the most extraordinary Baroque interior in the Mediterranean: every inch of the nave floor composed of the burial slabs of the Knights, the ceiling painted by Mattia Preti, and Caravaggio's largest painting (The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist) hanging in the Oratory. Walk the Upper Barrakka Gardens for the classic Grand Harbour panorama at sunset.

• ✦ Valletta — entirely 16th-century Baroque, built by the Knights of St. John
• ✦ St. John's Co-Cathedral — Caravaggio's largest painting and Knight burial slabs
• ✦ Upper Barrakka Gardens — the Grand Harbour panorama at sunset
• ✦ First Maltese dinner — bragioli, rabbit stew, ftira bread

The Grand Harbour is the largest natural harbor in the Mediterranean and one of the greatest working harbors in the world — the Knights' fortifications, built after the Great Siege of 1565, are some of the finest military architecture in European history. Take the traditional dgħajsa (water taxi) from Valletta Waterfront across the harbor to the Three Cities (Birgu, Senglea, and Cospicua) — the oldest settled part of Malta, where the Knights first established their headquarters. Birgu's Fort St. Angelo, built on a promontory between two inlets of the Grand Harbour, was the command center of the 1565 siege; the Museum of the Inquisition in Birgu's Auberge is one of Malta's most extraordinary. Return by water taxi and visit Fort St. Elmo at the tip of the Valletta peninsula — completely destroyed by the Ottomans in 1565 and immediately rebuilt, with a war museum that conveys the extraordinary ferocity of the siege. Evening at one of Valletta's excellent restaurants: Noni, Under Grain, or Palazzo Preca for creative Maltese cuisine.

• ✦ Grand Harbour water taxi (dgħajsa) to the Three Cities
• ✦ Birgu and Fort St. Angelo — command center of the Great Siege
• ✦ Museum of the Inquisition in Birgu
• ✦ Fort St. Elmo war museum

Malta's most extraordinary claim is that it contains the world's oldest freestanding stone structures — the megalithic temples that predate Stonehenge by a thousand years and the Great Pyramid by 500. The Ħaġar Qim complex on a cliff above the sea in southern Malta (3600–3200 BC) and the nearby Mnajdra temples (whose interior aligns with solstice sunrise) are two of the seven Maltese megalithic temples on the UNESCO World Heritage list. The Ħal Saflieni Hypogeum in Paola is even more extraordinary: an underground neolithic necropolis carved 12 meters into the living rock, with chambers, corridors, and a corbeled ceiling of extraordinary acoustic properties where the human voice produces a resonance unlike anything experienced above ground. Entry is strictly limited to 80 visitors daily and must be booked months in advance. An afternoon in the south of Malta: Marsaxlokk fishing village (Sunday market, traditional luzzu fishing boats painted in primary colors) and the Blue Grotto sea caves.

• ✦ Ħaġar Qim megalithic temples (3600 BC) — older than Stonehenge
• ✦ Ħal Saflieni Hypogeum — underground necropolis (book months ahead)
• ✦ Marsaxlokk fishing village and luzzu boats
• ✦ Blue Grotto sea caves by motorboat

Mdina, the ancient walled capital of Malta in the center of the island, is known as the Silent City — because only a handful of aristocratic families still live within its walls and motor vehicles are entirely banned. The city was the capital of Malta from Roman times until 1530 when the Knights moved to Birgu on the Grand Harbour. Walking its narrow streets of Norman-Baroque palaces on a weekday morning, when the tour buses haven't yet arrived, feels like entering a city from another age. The Cathedral of Saint Paul (built on the site where, according to tradition, the Apostle Paul met the Roman Governor Publius after his shipwreck on Malta in 60 AD) is a magnificent Baroque interior. The Palazzo Falson Historic House Museum is a medieval palace filled with the collections of an eccentric 20th-century owner — extraordinary silver, maps, weapons, and furniture in situ. Afternoon at the neighboring town of Rabat and the Catacombs of St. Paul and St. Agatha.

• ✦ Mdina — the Silent City, motor-free medieval walled capital
• ✦ Cathedral of Saint Paul — Baroque interior on the Apostle's shipwreck site
• ✦ Palazzo Falson — a medieval palace museum
• ✦ Catacombs of St. Paul and St. Agatha in Rabat

Take the 25-minute ferry from Ċirkewwa to Gozo — a smaller, more rural, more agricultural island where the pace of life slows noticeably. Victoria (Rabat) is the capital, centered on the Citadella — a 16th-century fortified hilltop enclosure where the entire Gozitan population sheltered from Ottoman raids. The view from the Citadella walls over the Gozitan countryside and out to sea is one of the finest in the Maltese archipelago. Ggantija — the most impressive of Malta's prehistoric temples, even older than Ħaġar Qim (3600–3200 BC) and the one whose scale is most stunning — is 20 minutes from Victoria. Spend the afternoon at Ramla Bay, Gozo's largest beach with distinctive red-gold sand, or at Dwejra — the inland sea and the Fungus Rock that guarded the Knights' secret pharmaceutical trade. Dinner in Victoria before the evening ferry back to Malta.

• ✦ Gozo ferry and the Citadella of Victoria
• ✦ Ggantija megalithic temples — the oldest of all, 3600 BC
• ✦ Ramla Bay — Gozo's red-gold sand beach
• ✦ Dwejra Inland Sea and Fungus Rock

Comino is a tiny island between Malta and Gozo with a permanent population of just four people and one of the most famous beaches in the Mediterranean — the Blue Lagoon. The water in the lagoon is an extraordinary shade of blue-green turquoise, completely clear, and shallow enough to see the sand bottom from 5 meters. Take the morning boat from Valletta or Ċirkewwa to arrive before the crowds descend (by 11am, the lagoon is extremely busy with day-trippers in summer). Spend the morning swimming and snorkeling in the crystal water. The Santa Maria Bay on the other side of Comino is less visited and has excellent snorkeling. Return to Malta in the afternoon and spend the remaining time in Valletta: the Lascaris War Rooms (the underground command center from which Malta's WWII defense was coordinated), the Malta Experience audiovisual show, and a final evening at the Strait Street bar district — Valletta's regenerated old sailors' quarter.

• ✦ Blue Lagoon on Comino — turquoise water, arrive early
• ✦ Santa Maria Bay snorkeling on the quiet side of Comino
• ✦ Lascaris War Rooms — WWII underground command center
• ✦ Strait Street — Valletta's bar and restaurant quarter

Malta International Airport has good European connections and is connected to Valletta by X1 express bus (30 minutes). A final morning might include the National Museum of Archaeology in Valletta — which houses the original Sleeping Lady figurine from the Ħal Saflieni Hypogeum, possibly the most beautiful object made in prehistoric Europe — and a final stroll along Republic Street to the Grand Master's Palace (the former headquarters of the Order of the Knights of St. John, now the Maltese President's palace). Maltese delicacies to bring home: bigilla (dried bean paste spread), ħobż biż-żejt (Maltese bread with oil), kaxxata (ricotta pastry), and a bottle of Marsovin Maltese wine made from Gellewza (the local red grape). Malta is one of Europe's most underrated and most rewarding destinations — a place where extraordinary history is still lived in, not just visited.

• ✦ National Museum of Archaeology — the Sleeping Lady figurine
• ✦ Grand Master's Palace on Republic Street
• ✦ Marsovin Maltese wine and Maltese food souvenirs
• ✦ X1 express bus to Malta International Airport