April Break to Malta

We left Amsterdam Saturday for the Mediterranean Island nation of Malta. My mom suggested I show maps of the places we go, so I'll start now, as even I didn't learn where Malta was until around 5 years ago when a patient in Brooklyn said that she was Maltese. My boss and I looked up the location and despite the amazing description by this patient, I thought, "there is no way I'll ever end up there." And here we are! 

Pete was reluctant to go to another beachy destination off season after some misses in the past, but was convinced when I shared some of the history and archaeological sites on the island. Some ISA friends have been and also had good things to say. 

We traveled on Maeve's 11th month b-day, but I sadly forgot the sticker in our packing or any formal photo shoot for that matter. This cute one will do. This is her 10th country to visit (Pete says 11 if we count Belgium, which we drove through). Girl is packing it in! 

We left grey Amsterdam and 3 hours later, arrived in warm, sunny Malta! Not wanting to waste the sunshine, we changed and headed for the "beach." The island is tiny so you are never far from the coast, but most of the coast is rocky and there are only a few true sandy beaches on the island. A few blocks from our AirBnB is a lovely water front promenade with the occasional stair case down to the rocky shore. And most importantly, a sweet playground overlooking the green blue sea (very good trip planning on my part). 

So clear!

The beautifully-situated playgrounds of Europe tour continues... 

A walk with Maeve, some playtime with Jude and we were ready for our first al fresco meal of the trip.  The proximity to Italy (Sicily) means that menus are stacked with pizzas and pastas. Malta was under British rule for many years so there are a lot of British influences as well- mostly seen in the stores around (Marks and Spencers, Top Shop, Next). Cheddar cheese and mint chocolate chip ice cream are in abundance and I am one happy girl :) Malta is also known for its fish and rabbit.

Dinner view

The best smiles we get these days are when we get him to laugh

She is all about pointing 

I am loving the architecture of the buildings in town. Orange/yellow stone dominates, but then the older buildings have these great 2nd floor rectangular bay windows in bright colors that match their downstairs doors and window trim. I haven't seen anything like this. I love that about traveling!