We left on Thursday from the Pisa airport. I know I swore I would never take RyanAir again, but it was worth it this time. We got into Malta that evening and took a taxi to our hotel, Riu Seabank. The strangest thing we noticed on our way there was that cars had their steering wheels on the right and therefore drove on the left side of the rode. Weird! The Riu was an extremely nice four-star hotel located in Mellieha, the northwestern part of the island. We checked out our rooms, which were probably the biggest I've ever stayed in. When you walk in there is a bathroom with two showers and a toilet on the left. On the right was a room with two cots and a table. Down the hallway there was a small kitchen with a sink, burners, a refrigerator and cabinets. Before getting to the main room was a little desk set against the wall, perfect for all the Finals we would study for this weekend (NOT!) The last room was about the size of a regular hotel room with two beds and a TV. The best part of the room though was probably the balcony with a view of the beach and sea.
All this for three people, and it wasn't even that expensive. We put our stuff down then explored the hotel's options for dinner because we were pretty hungry by now. The hotel had a few different restaurant options attached inside the same building. We walked through a bar downstairs as well as a Jungle-themed restaurant before deciding on a restaurant called Le Mar. I ordered a barbecue double cheeseburger and a Budweiser (only because it was about the same price as water). The beer bottles were even smaller in Malta. Europe's sizes are about the same as America, 33cl is about 12 oz. In Malta they carried 25cl which was very tiny. The service was pretty slow but the burger was huge and tasted delicious. It came with fries and a little cup of vegetables which were good too. We walked outside after dinner to check out the beach. We literally crossed the street and were there. Now it was time to explore the rest of Riu's amenities. Unfortunately by now it was about 10 p.m. and the Atrium Spa closed at 9. That was okay though, there was a lot to do inside. Downstairs by the bar was a four-lane bowling alley (which we suspect to be a popular sport in Malta) and an arcade full of games. We bought beers and set up a game of bowling. It was a lot of fun.
On Friday we made sure to get ourselves up early so we had the whole day to enjoy. We went downstairs to the hotel's complimentary buffet breakfast, which was great. They had so many options, you could find almost anything. From eggs cooked every different way, to these extremely thin pancakes, to dried fruit; they had it all. The girls we went with (Jenn, Britt, and Lisa) collected bread, peanut butter and jelly and formed an assembly line to make us sandwiches for lunch. While they were doing this Tyler, Drew, and I did our job and picked out beach chairs in the most ideal spot- center poolside. It was perfect, we just sat in the sun all day and relaxed by the pool, jumping in when we got too warm.
Of course we had to check out the Spa downstairs now that it was open. Down this hallway was an indoor pool and a gym. This was great, I hadn't lifted a weight in four months!
Further down the hallway was a sign that read "Chill Out Room." In here we found a steam room, sauna, and a lounge room with a glass ceiling. What else could you ask for? We tried out everything and when we were done we went to the beach. We laid down on our towels to take in the sun for awhile. We found out that our hotel's happy hour was from 4 to 6 so we went to the cocktail bar to take advantage of it. We had a very happy hour running back and forth between the bar and our chairs. After it was over we went to the indoor pool and steam room again. For dinner we went back to the same restaurant we dined at the night before. We split an order of calamari rings for an appetizer and I ordered a barbecue chicken and bacon pizza which also had a bunch of other toppings. The food was good but we waited FOREVER to be served. That night we just chilled out on the balcony.
On our last day Saturday, we had the same relaxing agenda as the day before. I wasn't sure if the weather would hold out since I went out on the balcony right when I got up to find waves crashing hard and the sun was nowhere to be found. Luckily around noon, the sun pushed all the clouds aside and it was another great day. The best thing about this trip was we did not give a damn about exploring the city for historical significance, which sounds terrible from an enlightened study-abroad scholar, but that's what this whole last weekend was about: relaxing. We had nothing to do except sit back and enjoy the sun. By the time evening came, it was time to catch our flight back but no one wanted to leave this wonderful island called Malta. On the plane I kept checking out my arms, trying to figure out how much darker I was than before I arrived. You know its a relaxing weekend when your biggest concern is how much color you got.
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