Pubs and afternoon teas

Malta ticks all the right travelling boxes, writes Shelley Emling:

No one would have mistaken us for crazy-in-love honeymooners, but at least we could pretend we were, during our one weekend a year away from the kids. I was in Malta, a Mediterranean island south of Sicily, with my husband, to celebrate our 17th wedding anniversary.

Many Americans may know Malta as the place where US President Franklin D Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill met before heading off to Yalta for their summit with Soviet leader Josef Stalin. More recently, it was where Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary in November.

And if it was good enough for the queen and her husband, it was good enough for me. As well as boasting warm weather virtually all year round, this former British colony stands out from other Mediterranean islands in the sheer number of cultural monuments it has crammed into such a small space. There are prehistoric monuments built 1000 years before the Pyramids, Roman ruins, and art by Caravaggio, one of the greatest Italian painters of the 17th century..

It’s no surprise then that even today — 44 years after independence — Malta is an island of pubs, afternoon teas and red telephone booths. The Maltese also drive on the left side of the road. We started our visit to the island with a walk through the fortified capital city of Valletta, a gorgeous honey-coloured site that Hollywood has embraced as a backdrop for a number of films. It’s not hard to see why Malta’s so popular. Street after street, the Baroque architecture of Valletta — the first city to use a grid system — is captivating..

Beyond Mdina, there were plenty of other memorable moments. I outplayed my husband at blackjack in the Dragonara Palace casino located in the lively St Julian’s Bay. We also got turned around in the labyrinth of unadorned burial chambers inside St Paul’s Catacombs in Rabat...