Malta: The Wild

Here's the amazing thing about Malta that we didn't really grasp until we were actually driving on the opposite of the road...it is a super small island. This means that everything is within a very short driving distance. We couldn't get over it. Within fifteen to thirty minutes we were able to travel through quaint towns, go around a couple of round abouts, and end up at a beautiful hiking spot. And that's pretty much what we did. We hiked every afternoon that we were in Malta.

On our first day we traveled back in time and hiked around the temple sites of Hagar Qim and Mnajdra . Taking in the striking vista, I can see why those temples were built there, but good grief, how did they do it?  On our second day we ventured (via short ferry trip)to the island of Gozo where we scrambled up and down a rocky cliff path surrounding the sandy, red beach of Ramla Bay. And on our third day we were treated to a dramatic sunset over the clay slopes of Ghajn Tuffieha Bay.

For such a small place, Malta has a surprising number of wild and wonderful spots and we can't wait to return for more. On future trips to Malta we'll be sure to print out a few of these walking guides. We'll get in contact with Malta Outdoors and perhaps get even more adventurous. And we'll also be bringing along this fabulous little book. We bought it while visiting Gozo and it turns out that it is actually a wonderful resource for Sicily, too, since we have many of the same plants and wildlife. And here's one more "wild" place we enjoyed visiting while in Malta: The Malta Falconry Centre. It's a small, but well maintained facility and the birds are amazing. We essentially had a private tour on the morning of our visit. We got to check out some baby hawks, see some of the larger birds in action, and even hold a beautiful barn owl. Be sure to call ahead to confirm the hours of the daily demonstrations.