Excellent Malta hostel day trip with leader Paty.

Here’s our group in Mdina: U.K., USA, France, Spain, Colombia, Sweden, Canada.

Mdina and Rabat are two historic, neighboring towns in central Malta that effectively function as a single destination. 

Mdina, the “Silent City,” is a fortified medieval citadel that served as Malta’s capital until the 16th century. 

I’m surprised it’s only on the tentative list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. This place is amazing.

Rabat, which translates to “suburb” in Arabic, grew outside Mdina’s walls and is renowned for its deep religious roots and Roman heritage.

The biggest highlight ➙ Basilica of St Paul.

For us, Rabat had the best inexpensive restaurants we’d found in the nation.

We loved the savoury Pastizz (Pastizzi) snacks and traditional Maltese savoury pastry parcels called Qassatat.

But the highlight of the trip for us all were the Dingli Cliffs.

We took an Uber van to get there for sunset.