I May Love Malta Most Following Repeat Visits Over Past Year

Days 114-115, 2025 European Odyssey

Monday and Tuesday, Oct. 20-21, 2025; Valletta, Malta, and Tunis, Tunisia.

Of the 146 port calls I’ve made in the last year of cruising (110 if I eliminate duplicate visits), I think my favorite may have been Malta.

I can’t quite put my finger on why, but this small island country – with its deep history, majestic buildings and busy harbor – has left a deep impression. I guess it’s good that I’ve spent six days here during the past year.

On this, my final visit until late 2026, I spent a few hours mostly sketching in Mdina, a fortified city that from ancient times through the medieval ages was Malta’s capital. About 30 minutes from Valletta, its walls rise high above the surroundings. Viewers of HBO’s Game of Thrones may recognize it, as Mdina served as the filming location of the fictional capital city of King’s Landing.

After entering through the main gate, I worked my way through the crowds of tourists walking down the narrow lanes. (It would get worse as the day wore on.)

Mdina is called the “quiet city,” in part because cars are forbidden – except those of residents, delivery companies, motorcycles and horse-drawn carriages. The latter are everywhere, even in lanes so narrow that pedestrians must stand on door stoops as they pass.

While I love the large, imposing stone buildings, churches, palaces and fortifications of Malta’s architecture, it’s not easy for me to sketch. I don’t have the patience for the intricate details of the Baroque style typical here, and many scenes look the same. So when I saw an interesting courtyard, I was delighted to see I could sit there and enjoy a latte while I sketched.

During my two hours in Mdina (I booked the ship’s transfer), I admired the magnificent views of the surrounding countryside from the high walls opposite the main gate. As I worked my way back, the crowds kept growing, but I finally found a quiet corner to sketch the roofline of St. Agatha’s chapel. (Later I would experiment with non-realistic paint colors to mixed and somewhat muddy results.)

Back in Valletta I returned once more to the city center, stopping for a late lunch of fried Brie and wine at the same sidewalk café I visited a few weeks ago. At the pier, the floating “paper boat” once again reminded me of my mother. In 2003 on the Zuiderdam, she loved the painting on her cabin wall of shipbuilders folding huge sheets of paper to create new boats. I searched unsuccessfully for years to find a replica for her.

In Tunisia, my attempt to return to the resort city of Sidi Bou Saïd didn’t work out. I fell in in love with this blue and white town last fall and wanted to return for a day of sketching and painting. But I wasn’t comfortable just hiring a taxi alone at the pier in Tunis’ port of La Goulette and couldn’t find anyone else to join me. Of course, I hope that everyone who hadn’t been to Tunis before opted to visit Carthage.

Instead, I booked one of the last available ship tours, to the Bardo Museum and souk in Tunis. It ended up being a good alternative. The museum, housed in a former palace, has one of the largest collections of Roman mosaics in the world. My only regret was that our guide raced us through room after room, with scant time to digest all we saw.

Still, I was glad I had a guided tour, as he described the transition of mosaic themes, from gods to nature to religious icons. And he explained how more recent developments have allowed large sections of the tiny but heavy marble pieces to be moved (oversimplified: a layer of glue holds every piece in place, later removed by solvent).

The lanes of Tunisia’s covered souk twisted this way and that, but I fortunately have a good sense of direction. (If that should fail, my Pocket Earth PRO app tracks my route.)

After our guide’s brief introduction to the gold, fabric, food and other shops, I headed off on my own. Around the corner, I had just enough time to capture a quiet walkway with its yellow doors and a lone student sitting on the step.

Several school girls were intrigued by an American visitor, and bravely asked me to take our picture.