Des Teufels Beitrag.

Chillen am Strand, die Seele baumeln lassen, Gozo - Malta

Two whole days in Malta, plus a day to travel there and a day to travel home. In this case, the SWISS was, in the truest sense of the word, our shuttle . How to plan our agenda? Quite simple – Day 1: Sun, beach, and sea. Day 2 was dedicated to the historic capital city.

Day 1

How could I best decide where to go, which beach, which little spot on the island of Malta? In the past, I might have proverbially flown my finger over a map, but today I do it with Google Maps. No sooner said than done. It’s even easier than it sounds. Within 15 minutes, our whole first day in Malta was planned down to the delicacies and little stopping places.

The result: a visit to the “San Blas Bay” and its beach of the same name, and then the (probably) world famous “Azure Window”. I confess that I first learned about it from Google.

The San Blas bay is a small but lovely beach. You can’t drive directly to it, and apparently, it counts as a secret tip. Because you certainly couldn’t call it overcrowded – even though it was a Saturday! From the closest parking place or bus station, it’s about 10-15 minutes by foot downhill, and when going back up under the hot sun, you should plan for 20-30 minutes and have a little water with you. Once there, you’re not lying like sardines, one next to the next as on many Italian beaches- instead, everything is very relaxed. You can put your umbrella and lounger wherever you like in the sand.

After splashing in the water a little, swimming closer to one yacht or another anchored there, and playing on the sand, an optimistic mood is irresistible. However, we also wanted to see the Azure Window, since we were already on Malta. So, we had a taxi bring us to our rental car and drove to the northwest end of Gozo Island, which is, of course, a part of Malta.

Incidentally, the San Blas bay is in the north of Gozo Island. If our planet wasn’t curved and your sight was crystal clear, you could see Sicily from here.

Arriving at the Azure Window on Gozo Island in the northwest, it wasn’t hard to see that this was a popularly photographed attraction. It wasn’t at all easy to take one photo or another without getting other tourists in the background. But see for yourself. It’s definitely worth it to be one of the many tourists at least once in the future.

The conclusion after a lovely day under the sun and miraculously without a sunburn: Malta is drawing us back with near certainty. Whether in the next weeks or the next years, we’ll definitely return.

Devilish Tip: Pay attention to product placement.
This short trip was supported by SWISS

27. October 2015 0 comment

Tourism & Hotels

Gazing at the Sea in the Hilton Malta

written by Christoph Teufel

How do I find my hotels? They have to have a good location, with a good view, can’t be the sort of sleazy hotel where you can look at the bed and still see the imprint of the person who was there before you. A little luxury is nice, though not necessary. In any case, the room shouldn’t cost € 1,000 a night. So, I chose the Hilton Malta for our stay.

After we arrived at the Malta airport, it was time to get a rental car and go to our hotel. It was high time for dinner. In the hotel, it was pleasantly cool: as soon as we had left the airplane for the bus on the runway, the temperature had struck us like a blow (it was very warm!) By the way, Swiss International Air Lines has very recently added Malta, along with many other new short haul destinations to its program – also directly bookable.

Room number 956-wonderful, almost right at the top. Open the door and you can already see the sea. We didn’t just have an amazing view of the sea from the balcony, but also from the bathroom, so we opened its wooden window. Therefore, my personal recommendation for anyone traveling to Malta: Hilton, 5th story or higher, facing the sea. Because we were visiting the island’s beaches during our first day on Malta, we saved the hotel pool for the second day. Even the hotel’s pool has its own beach. Naturally, it’s a mixture of sand and gravel, arranged to make it feel as real as possible. A visit to the beach-pool bar can’t be missed, but I was a little disappointed that classics like a Coconut Kiss and similar weren’t on the menu. Instead, and apparently much more important, pizza or burgers by the pool – help, I think I’m going to be sick…made it clear that the hotel belonged to an American chain. If I had my way, that could definitely change.

Nonetheless, the Malta Hilton is a top hotel. At breakfast in the main restaurant, you are even seated by a waiter. I always asked for a place on the terrace, with the pool in the background. Already warm, of course, and with the morning sun in my face. Truly reasons to get up early. That began as soon as the early morning sun peeked over the horizon and shone into my room.

In addition to the impressing play of colors in the early morning, there was a no less impressive view in the evening, which offered a beautiful play of colors. Together, they made for a perfect stay.

P.S. In the Malta Hilton, when you are, for example, a guest in an executive room on the 9th floor, you also have free entrance to the Executive Lounge, a handsome work space with individual PCs, a television for news and so on, as well as copiers and fax machines. Truly cause for respect! Must also exist in other properties in the Hilton hotel chain.