We spent a day in Malta on a cruise, and loved Valletta. We're thinking of a long weekend in the Sliema area - has anyone been there and tell me what it's like? Family of 4 (2 adults; 18 and 14 y/o daughters)
Malta's so small that you can base yourself pretty much anywhere and be within an easy shoot of the sites, it also has pretty good public transport links. Sliema is nice and is accessible by ferry or 20 minute car journey to Valletta. Gozo is worth the trip over too I'd say.
Excellent, have a great time.
Cheers Rob, did have a good few days. We did the usual City Break mistake of coming back probably more tired than we went (walked about 20km each day) but my partner's never been to Italy for anything other than skiing so it was good for her to see an Italian city and we enjoyed it. I'd actually say that the Vatican etc was far, far better than last time I went as with the covid restrictions, they had to keep limited numbers in there so you could actually look around, wander and enjoy the place rather than be a herded animal from one room to the next.
Italy is also a lot hotter on covid than anywhere in the UK at most points of the pandemic really, which was fairly reassuring. Every shop, bar and restaurant wanted proof of vaccination and a 'green pass' and even in outdoor public areas you were required to wear a mask (a bit annoying when in situations where absolutely no one was around, I'll admit I demasked in these scenarios). Food was decent, though not a patch on what I've had in the North and in Florence. Just a nice trip all round and gave me more confidence with travelling around covid, given it's 2 years since we'd been anywhere. If you're into your Roman history or have always wanted to visit the Sistine Chapel or the Vatican, I'd advise that now is the best time ever to go, before their restrictions ease at the end of the month.
Tried out some of my very limited Italian, picked up entirely from DuoLingo, and the locals seemed to appreciate the effort but often would then start to speak in full, rapid fire sentences and lose me very quickly. Good experience though.
Airport was a doddle, had a physical copy of each piece of documentation to show. Passport control in Manchester on the return was a shitshow. Over 45 minutes waiting to get through with seemingly about 50% of the gates not scanning people's passports properly and only one person to physically check them.