My Beach Vacation

We planned our trip to Malta. My family will leave our house at 10:00 PM, taking an Uber to the airport so that we do not have to deal with parking and paying for parking. We will arrive at Oakland Airport at 10:30-10:45. Then we will go through security and be in our gate at 11:30 and have enough time to go to the restroom, and/or get snacks at the airport.

We will arrive at the Malta International Airport at 9:50 AM on Thursday, August 15. We will travel to our house by an eCAB (Malta’s form of an Uber). From there we will unpack and settle down. We will then go to a store nearby our house, and make breakfast/lunch at our house, as the real adventure starts tomorrow. We will go to bed early, after a long day of travel, and be ready for Friday’s adventures.

The drive from our rental house will be about 55 minutes, so to arrive at 10:30 at Bugibba, we will leave at 9:25. We will make breakfast before we go. My family loves to go sightseeing, and usually in not the most touristy ways, such as hop on hop off buses etc., but if we are only in Malta once, we would definitely go on some sort of tour, in this case, a cruise. The cruise would bring us around the 2 islands off the North West coast of Malta, stopping at numerous places for snorkeling, to take a one hour break at Crystal Lagoon, a 3 hour stop at Mgarr, Gozo, and allow us to use the two water slides off the top of the boat. This tour would allow us to see all of the major coastal sights, and get a taste of the beauty of Malta. This is a 7 hour tour, and we would get back to out hotel by around 7.

As we are on our 3 hour stop at Mgarr, Gozo during the duration of the boat tour, we would stop at Gnejna Bay for some beach time. Whether is swimming in the crystal blue sea, or reading on the beach while tanning, everyone in the family would enjoy a relaxing few hours. The beach is 1 kilometer from Mgarr, which is close enough to walk to. Gnejna Bay is known for its cliffs, mostly made of limestone. Above the cliffs house some of Malta's final freshwater springs, allowing us to see another part of Malta's natural beauty. After about 2 hours on the bay, we would head back to the port of the boat to catch the last few hours of the tour.

St. Peter’s Pool is a natural swimming pool in Marsaxlokk, an 11 minute drive from our house. After a relaxing morning in at the house, and after our usual morning run, we will head to St. Peter’s pool via eCAB. There, we will spend a few hours at the swimming pool, which is known for its light green color. The pools are usually occupied more by the locals than tourists, which my family would enjoy a lot. The flat rocks around the pool allow for a perfect spot to rest and tan or read a book, or you can jump off the flat rocks into the pool, and go snorkeling in the clear waters. We will need to bring all towels, chairs, umbrellas, or other supplies that we will want as there are not facilities here, but we will plan to pack very light in order to make the hike home. We will pack a lunch to enjoy at the beach, and after a few hours, head back to the Xemxija Heritage Trail.

After a fun day at the beach, My family will head back to the house via the Xemxija Heritage Trail. This trail connects from the St. Peter’s Pool to Marsascala along the coast line, in a 5.25 mile long hike. It is a moderate hike, and one that my family would enjoy as it is outdoors, and not full of other people. On the hike, it is know that you can see some of the history of Malta in tack, including “burial chambers” , caves, roman baths, and old car tracks. Like I said before, if my family was to be in Malta only once, it is very interesting to see all of the history and major landmarks. People first moved to Malta in 5900 BC, but it wasn't until 218 BC that the Romans became to come and rule the island. They inhabited the island for a long time until 870 AD, which left many of the artifacts that can be seen on the Xemxija Heritage Trail. We will need to leave by 4:00 at the latest, as we do not want to be caught outside when it becomes darker.

The Barracuda Restaurant is located in Saint Julian’s, a 32 minute drive from our house by eCABS. After the hike, we will go home and get ready for the fanciest dinner of the trip, this Michelin-Star restaurant. At the edge of the sea, the beautifully, family run business is known for it amazing food, and ambiance. The Mediterranean food is locally sourced with ingredients native to Malta. We will plan to have a long dinner, and we will need to get a reservation for our table at least 1 week in advance to when we want to go there. We will plan to arrive around 7, and leave by 9 to 10. This night is one that we will never forget, with the amazing location and food, so it will be worth the cost.

The oldest building in the entire world are located in Malta, specifically the Hagar Qim and Mnajdra Temples. They are older that the Egyptian Pyramids, and other ancient structures. The history of these buildings made it into the Guiness World Record book for the oldest man made, free standing structure in the world. Upon entrance, we will be able to walk ourselves around and see all of the temples, even being able to walk into 2 or 3 of them (depending on weather etc). The temples were built by the hands of the Neotholic People in 3600 BC, almost 5700 years ago. My mom loves to visit historical places while on vacation, so this is one that is sure to make her happy and excited about. We will plan to leave our hotel at around 9 AM after a quick breakfast out, and eCAB to this spot, a 22 minute drive. We will arrive by around 9:30, 30 minutes after opening time. We will plan to leave around 10:45.

After our tour of the temples, we will eCAB over to Zurrieq reef where we will explore the Mediterranean Sea on a Snorkeling tour. After seeing the history on land, we will go under the sea for 2 hours to explore the marine life, and scenery. We will plan to get to the Zurrieq Reef site at 11:15 and start on our tour. The company, Divers Code, provide all of the snorkeling gear and supplies necessary to dive. On the tour, we can expect to see some of the fish native to the Mediterranean Sea, such as the red-back triplefin, and the spiny butterfly ray. For this part of the trip, I know that myself, my sisters, and my dad will enjoy this the most as we love snorkeling and life under the water, while my mom, who usually isn’t a fan of cold water, will also enjoy as the water is usually somewhere around 80-85 degrees farenheit in the summer. After this adventure, we will head back to Marsascala to have lunch, enjoy the town, and get ready for dinner.

As our last night in Malta, we will enjoy a more local dinner, of Italian and Mediterranean food at Skuna in Marsaxlokk. We will take a eCAB there, and have a reservation for around 7 so we will have an earlier meal to go to bed early. My family loves italian and Mediterranean food, as well as salads so we can make everyone happy at a restaurant like this.

We will be able to have almost another full day in Malta on the day of our flight, so we will have time to sleep in, have a breakfast out, walk around the town and enjoy a more low key day. We will plan to be back at out house by 3:00-3:15 in order to pack up all of our stuff and be out before the check out of our house, at 4. We will grab a quick dinner with out bags, and we will call an eCAB to take us to the airport, and we will be there by 5:30. We will go through security and plan to be in our gate by 6:30 giving us time to use restrooms and get snack before we have to leave.

During the two 8 hour layovers, we will plan to grab a meal and hang out in the airport until our next flight. It is not worth leaving the airport as we would have to go through customs and back through security etc. Once we land at Oakland Airport, we will have an Uber take us home. 

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