[redbluff]

When I was doing my 10 year work through Europe thing with my young family I think our favourite time was the 2 lots of 3 months I worked at Bank of Valletta. We lived in an apartment opposite the beach in Sliema.

The island was quiet, the people fantastic and the lifestyle amazing. Even the massive storms smashing the water over the road and ground floor apartments were incredible. We were also there when Etna went up, and had mounds of ash banked against our balcony door.

Although looking at that photo, it looks like there has been more than a little bit of development since were were there in the early 2000s. We left just as they agreed to join the Euro zone, so I suspect the lovely old buses and quaint roads may be gone.

Still, A+++, would live there again.

[lobster_johnson]

2/3 of Malta's east coast is pretty much a continuous sprawl of villages that have evolved into your typical tourist traps, exactly like what you find everywhere else in the world, with main strips lined with junk stores that sell the exact same mass-produced souvenirs, and sports bars and McDonald's and clubs and big, loud hotel complexes. (Meanwhile, a lot of shady stuff going on in the background. Crackdowns on Italian mafia have seen a lot of organized crime set up their base of operations on Malta.)

If you venture outside of these areas, Malta is beautiful. For me, Gozo (the northern island) is where it's at. Quiet, authentic-feeling, adult, not a lot of tourism. All the best diving spots are there, too. I hope it stays that way and the big developments are constrained to the main island.