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DESTINATIONS WINTER SUN | MALTA


stay WHERE TO


PORT VIEW, MARSAXLOKK Bright, breezily decorated rooms make up this guesthouse, located just steps away from the harbour. Doubles from £70. portview.com


HOTEL TA’ CENC & SPA, GOZO This tucked-away spa hotel has stylish rooms and an outdoor pool, while still being an easy drive from Gozo’s attractions. Doubles from £130. tacenc.com


THE SAINT JOHN, VALLETTA In the heart of the capital, this AX Hotels property has a chic vintage vibe. Rooms are decorated in muted shades and with rich, layered textures. Doubles from £170.


thesaintjohnmalta.com


CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Marsaxlokk; St John’s Co-Cathedral, Valletta; Upper Barrakka Gardens, Valletta; Hotel Ta’ Cenc & Spa, Gozo PICTURES: Shutterstock; Rossignau.com


around Sliema, a waterfront resort town, or spend a couple of days pottering around the 16th-century fortress city of Valletta. Yet this compact island – the largest of the Maltese


BOOK IT


Prestige Holidays offers five nights’ B&B in a Superior Room at The Phoenicia, which overlooks the Grand Harbour in Valletta, from £699. The price includes flights to Malta, departing from Stansted on March 7, 2020, and private transfers. prestigeholidays.co.uk


EasyJet flies direct to Malta from Gatwick, Southend, Newcastle and Manchester, with return fares from £49. easyjet.com


56 7 NOVEMBER 2019


archipelago, which includes Gozo and Comino – is easy to explore by car or public bus. And spending time away from the touristy areas might just surprise and challenge those with preconceptions about package holidays and partying.


FISH OF THE DAY Marsaxlokk is a great place to start. Seafood restaurants have outdoor tables teetering right at the water’s edge, while fishermen touch up their boats’ paintwork or dry their nets in the sun. Stallholders set up daily to sell Maltese honey, leather goods and magnets emblazoned with the Maltese cross. The place explodes with life on Sundays, when locals haggle loudly at the weekly fish market and often stay for lunch. Just driving around the island is eye-opening. Away


from the coast, roads wind down rural lanes with higgledy-piggledy dry limestone walls, passing parcels of land with olive trees, pear cacti and rows of potatoes. There are hillsides etched with terraces, a little like the


vineyards of Portugal’s Douro Valley. And there’s wine here, too: small but prized plantings include cabernet,


33Marsaxlokk explodes with life on Sundays, when locals haggle loudly at the weekly fish market and often stay for lunch


chardonnay and girgentina, an indigenous grape that produces a crisp and delicate straw-coloured wine. Land is scarce here and there are only around 2,000


acres of vines across Malta and Gozo. If anything, though, the wine tastes even better for its rarity. Happily, it goes perfectly with the cuisine, too, from hobz biz- zejt – chewy Maltese bread rubbed with juicy tomatoes and drizzled with peppery olive oil – to lampuki fish (mahi-mahi), in season between August and December. That’s the best way to really get to know Malta: one bite at a time. The food is glorious, infused with North African and Sicilian influences, and soaked in Mediterranean sunshine. Rabbit feasts, known as fenkata nights, are a popular way to celebrate special occasions or just the fact it’s the weekend, bringing together families and sometimes ²


travelweekly.co.uk


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