3 things I didn’t know about Malta

I love visiting a place and being genuinely surprised by it. This is what happened when I landed in Malta.

The language
At the risk of sounding like a right idiot, I had assumed that everybody would speak English. How wrong was I. People speak Maltese there. Ok, now I’m writing this, I actually realise how stupid this sounds.
As a wannabe polyglot, I was fascinated by this language which to me sounded like a mix between Arabic and Italian with a few English words thrown in the middle. Although most people speak English in the shops/restaurants, you will hear the locals speak Maltese between each other which is a refreshingly different experience!

The roads
We decided to rent a car there and I’m not going to bore you with the detailed story of how I freaked out when we were going up a hill and the gearing stick came off which put me in a panic state for the rest of the day.
But, if like me, you have a weird fear of driving up hills, this is not the place to go. Most roads are decent to drive on but a lot of them are very narrow and uphill/downhill so it’s best to: either go with a good driver you can rely on or not rent a car at all.

The emptiness
Even though I visited Malta in April, I expected crowds of people in the streets of Valetta, the capital. It turns out most of the locals have now migrated to Sliema, the nearby town and Valetta remains the historical heart of the island. How relaxing though to be faced with empty streets, not having to book for a restaurant and above all no ambulance noises. Now I can’t guarantee this would be the case in the middle of August but one thing is sure, I’d recommend going off peak if you’re looking for some peaceful time and soak up some sun.