This week I was in Rome and Malta. Two big bucket list places that I can’t believe I got to successfully check off the list. I spent a week in the 2,773 year old Eternal City with beautiful weather, delicious food and rich history every day. As we all know, Rome wasn’t built in a day, and it definitely isn’t toured in one either. There is honestly an overwhelming amount of things to do and see in Rome, I felt crunched for time to see it all and I had a week.
After Rome I flew to Malta and met up with Nicole and Jenirae, two of my friends from NYC. Malta was such a dream destination to visit and I still can’t believe how magical the experience was. I’m going to be completely honest, Malta was not on my radar until Nicole and Jenirae decided to plan a week long trip this Fall… and looking back I am so grateful that they did. Naturally, when I heard that my friends were coming to Europe I immediately decided to tag along without any planning or research and I’m so happy that I did. Visiting Malta in October meant that the temperature was in the mid 70s and the beaches were empty of Summer tourists. It was truly the the best backdrop for hours of laughing, feminist rants and bottles of wine with friends. Nicole and Jenirae, thank you for choosing Malta, doing all of the research and planning a truly perfect vacation!
LIVING OUT MY LIZZIE MCGUIRE DREAMS
My desire to visit Rome started around the same time as most other people born in the 90s… the Lizzie McGuire movie. In fact, when I told my best friend that I was visiting Rome, her only response back was… PAOLO! After getting my first glimpse of Rome through the eyes of Disney, I continued my obsession through my interest in archeology. One of the first job occupations I ever dreamt of being wasn’t a princess or a doctor, it was an archeologist. I wanted to dig through the dirt, uncover history and walk through the past. Naturally, Rome’s long and well documented history became an increasing interest for me. As I got older I shifted away from my archeologist passions, but continued to study Roman history in college through history classes focused on the birth and death of Rome. I think those classes are where my passion for Roman history burnt out, but after having to memorize speeches from Cicero and passages from Livy… can you really blame me?
Fast forward to today and my most recent trip to Rome. My love for the city and Roman history has been rejuvenated! Each morning I biked around the city listening to Dan Carlen’s Hardcore History. I saw the Colosseum, Palatine Hill and the Roman Forum while listening to the Rick Steve’s walking tours. I even booked a VIP early morning tour to see the Sistine Chapel before it opened! I am so happy with how much of Rome I got to see and I feel like my brain is overflowing with fun history facts.
I loved my week in Rome and after throwing three coins in the Trevi Fountain, I expect to go back.
To see the entire Rome post, click here.
COLOSSEUM, SISTINE CHAPEL, TREVI FOUNTAIN AND SO MUCH MORE
My first major tourist stop was at the Trevi Fountain and, like I said in my introduction to this post, if you look at this fountain and don’t immediately think Lizzie McGuire… we had different childhoods. I did a lot of research on what to visit during my time in Rome, but the Trevi fountain was one of the key monuments I knew I had to visit. I decided to wake up extra early and bike to the fountain at sunrise to beat the crowds. My plan worked perfectly and I was able to toss my three coins into the fountain in peace.
In my opinion, the most classic symbol of tourism in Rome is the Colosseum! I visited the Colosseum at sunset and surprisingly there were very few people in the arena. I had heard that Rome tourist spots were always overflowing with people, but visiting in the Fall meant that I got to skip out on the long Summer queues and crowds. While I was in the Colosseum I also Facetimed my brother and we walked through the history of the ancient killing arena together. One of the craziest facts that I learned about the Colosseum is that in addition to Gladiator fights to the death, the arena was also flooded and used to reenact naval battles and mythological sea tales.
Across all of the different tourist activities I squeezed in during my time, the Sistine Chapel may take the cake as my favorite. The ceiling of the Sistine Chapel is one of the most iconic paintings of all time and so naturally as an art lover, it was a top bucket list item for me. I decided to book an early morning tour of the Sistine Chapel that started an hour before the museum even opened. The tour was called “Prime Experience – Vatican Museums” and I highly recommend this option to anyone planning to visit the Vatican. You can book your tickets through the museum here, but make sure to book them far in advance before they sell out. The extra early wake up and chilly morning bike ride to the Vatican were all worth it when I finally got to enter the almost empty Sistine Chapel. Before entering the room I was worried that it would be underwhelming compared to the years of praise these paintings have received, but honestly the experience matched the hype. The paintings were breathtaking and better than I could have imagined.
MORNING BIKE RIDES
Each morning I woke up extra early to bike and walk around the city before everyone else was awake. Sometimes I listened to music, but most often I turned on one of my three favorite walking tour podcasts. The biggest and best tip I received before visiting Rome was to download audio walking tours and wander around the streets with my headphones and a slice of pizza. I did exactly that during a majority of my time in Rome and I highly recommend this approach of viewing the city to anyone. My favorite podcasts and walking tours were: An Audio Guide to Ancient Rome, Rick Steve’s Audio Europe and Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History. They were all available on Spotify and included maps and pictures to accompany the audio guides. My favorite walking tours were through the Audio Guide to Ancient Rome, which has a useful website and Google map that you can download direct onto your phone. The Dan Carlin podcast series, Death Throes of the Republic, was perfect for biking around Rome because it gave an overview on the rise and fall of Rome.
GOING TO GOZO
After my week in Italy I flew over to Malta and met Nicole and Jenirae at the Gozo Fast Ferry station for a quick trip over to Gozo Island. The country of Malta is a collection of islands and the main islands to visit are Malta, Gozo and Comino. During our vacation in paradise we got to see all three of these islands in style. We lounged at Ramala Bay, spent all night with the chef of Maldonado for a wine tasting and home cooked meal, took the Jade boat to Comino island, swam across the Blue Lagoon, had sandwiches by the seaside, explored caves and blue holes, feasted on noodles and seafood by the ocean, and got lost in a maze of narrow streets and alleys.
While we were in Gozo we stayed at a Farmhouse called Dar Ghax-Xemx and it was breathtaking. You can check out the Airbnb listing here. The front of the Airbnb had an electric blue door and when you walk inside it opened up to a two bedroom, two story home with a spiral staircase and private roof. I didn’t have any preconceived ideas about what the Airbnb would look like, because Nicole and Jenirae planned everything, so when we showed up to the house I was shocked by how amazing it was. Needless to say, I ran up the spiral staircase and down the outside staircase several times admiring the beautiful Farmhouse.
To read more about my entire time in Gozo, check out my Malta post here.
MDINA
After exploring Gozo for a few days we took the ferry back over to Malta and stayed in the town of Mdina. Mdina is a fortified city that was originally the capital of Malta during Medieval times. It is also one of the oldest cities in Malta and it was first mentioned in history during the Bronze Age when the Phoenicians colonized Malta. Nowadays, Mdina is one of the most popular destinations in Malta and it was the backdrop for many scenes in Game of Thrones. The town gained it’s nickname as the Silent City after the capital of Malta was transferred from Mdina to Valletta. The removal of it’s status as the capital game with an exodus of people from Mdina to Valletta, leaving the town a silent ghost town…the Silent City.
To read more about my entire time in Mdina, check out my Malta post here.
VALLETTA AND THE THREE CITIES
After visiting the old capital of Malta, I decided to pop over to the current capital and main city in Malta… Valletta. Valletta is the capital of Malta and it is a maze of small shops, cafes, restaurants and gift shops. The main streets to wander around for souvenir shopping are Republic and Merchant. I spent a couple hours wandering around the little shops and finding my favorite postcards to send home to friends and family. The streets were fairly empty when I started out my day, but by the end of the day the narrow roads are packed full of people.
Next to Valletta are the Three Cities of Malta – Vittoriosa, Senglea and Cospicua. The cities are fortified neighborhoods and among some of the oldest parts of Malta. They are actively preserved to keep their history alive and they are a great glimpse of Malta’s roots.
To read more about my entire time in Valletta, check out my Malta post here.
HAGAR QUIM
Visiting Ħaġar Qim and the Mnajdra temples was one of my favorite parts of my time in Malta. The megalithic temples are from the Ġgantija phase, which started 3600 BC. The temples are among the most ancient religious sites on Earth and you can actually walk through them. It was surreal to visit something so old and walk across thousands of years of history. The temples are on the southern side of Malta and look out over the ocean in the direction of Tunisia. In fact, Tunisia is only 398 KM south of Malta, so this was the closest I’ve ever been to Africa!
As you look out over the Mediterranean sea from Ħaġar Qim you can see Filfla island, which is a popular great white breeding ground. Thankfully I learned this fun fact after I had swam in the ocean and across the Blue Lagoon…
sketchy flight out of malta
After getting beautiful blue skies for every day of my time in Malta, it only seemed fair that my flight out of the country would be delayed due to bad weather. Bad weather honestly sounds less bad than what it actually was. The weather and flight out of Malta was simply sketch. We boarded the plan and pulled away from the airport on time, but after sitting on the tarmac for 30 minutes the pilot let us know that it was unsafe to fly. On top of the delay, it was also a thousand degrees in the tiny metal plane. Luckily, after an hour delay they opened up the windows to let in a slight breeze. Funnily enough, while I was bored on the plane I checked my costar horoscope and it told me that I was “obscured by a thick fog.” I looked out of my airplane window and realized that it was probably the most accurate horoscope I’ll ever receive.
On the bright side of the delay, the extra time gave me the opportunity to start chatting with my seat neighbor and it turned into a beautiful small world moment. After chatting for a few minutes we quickly realized that we both graduated from the same college, we were in the same honors fraternity and we had a ton of mutual friends… including my younger sibling! I didn’t imagine I would be killing time on a delayed flight out of Malta with a fellow Tarheel, but I guess that’s the Carolina way.
