Malta is wonderful, and we love it here. It is also very densely populated. The latest figure is 475,000 in the space of 122 sq miles. Contrast that with Winneshiek County, where we live in Iowa, which has 21,000 people in the space of 690 sq miles. As much as we love being in a big city, it’s nice to get out into the country.

As it turns out, the western part of the island is much more rural, with some stunning scenery and actual space to roam. We headed today to Golden Bay, which had been recommended to us by someone at the university. Even in February, with the temperature barely hitting 60, people were on the beach and in the water. Keegan and Kyle worked on a sand fort.

After lunch, we explored a little further down the coast and found two more even more stunning beaches, with fewer people and less obvious signs of development. We are already making plans to come back soon—though we only traveled about 10 miles from Sliema, it felt like a different world.

Sand fort

Riviera Beach

At the top of a clay dune, looking down toward Gnejna Bay.