This year, we had for a long time been tempted to go somewhere warmer for a week in December. We had even decided which week we should go, the week before the Christmas chaos starts. But where to go? We were for a long time looking at the Canary Islands and especially the islands of Fuerteventura and Lanzarote. Our plans eventually wandered even further south to the islands of Cape Verde. That was before I happened to look at the cost of Ryanair flights to Malta. A short message to our friend in Marsaskala later and we had our plans settled. We were heading to Marsaskala along the eastern coast of Malta to enjoy our December holiday.
You can read more about Malta and Marsaskala here:
Why Malta?
This was actually my sixth visit to Malta and most of the time it has been about visiting friends living on the island. The first of these visits was actually already in 2011 when I went to see an old classmate, something that repeated in 2012. Susann and Little A visited Malta for the first time in 2019 when we visited the island for a week together with Susann’s parents. Even at that time, it turned out to be a few days of seeing friends as Susann’s cousin had moved to Malta.
Little A and I returned to the island in 2020 and saw how the pandemic started to affect the country. We then stayed with a friend I met while living in Bratislava and got the chance to enjoy some great and really needed father-daughter time. We revisited this friend in 2021, this time Susann also joined and had some new great adventures. So Malta has become a familiar country for us and it is one of the countries that Little A does know and talks about.
Why Marsaskala?
Little A and I first visited my friend in Marsaskala in 2020 and were so surprised about how great this small town (or actually it is a village) is when traveling with kids. There are three great playgrounds, one small beach, and a lot more relaxed and easy-going than the tourist resorts around Sliema, St. Julian’s, and Buġibba. Staying with a friend has felt safer at the time of the pandemic, but it is also a great way to get to know the area better. Always learn from the locals. Especially the center around Marsaskala Bay is great. There are a few cafes and restaurants located right next to a large playground, making it possible to sit down and still let the kids play.
Our Wishes for the Trip
Our main hope and wish when we boarded the flight to Malta was that there would be sunshine. It was at the time around 8 degrees Celcius below zero in Stockholm and quite a lot of snow. We also hoped to see a few new places and also to see the Christmas market in Valletta. Our friend had provided several very interesting suggestions, but we hadn’t really had time to look into them much as we had the bad luck of getting colds the week before going. So we were mostly happy that we had recovered in time to go and decided to do the best of it once we were there.
Read more about our trips to Malta here
Stay tuned to read more about our 2022 December Visit to Malta.
And a big THANK YOU to our friend for letting us visit you once more, you know how you are.
