Little Malta provides a feast for eyes and stomach in two packed days

Malta ticks all the boxes for a great short break destination.  There's loads of culture, great cuisine, everything's close together, and you have a good chance of sun if you just want to kick back on beach or pool deck.  At three hours the flight is just edging over the line to excessive, but the complete change of scenery, culture and weather justifies the travel time.

We arrived at 4pm Friday and left about the same time on Sunday and managed to pack an enormous amount into the two days, without exhausting ourselves.  The first night we took it easy, wandered about the hotel and had a nice dinner there.  On Saturday, a full day of sightseeing facilitated by a hop-on-hop-off bus tour.  A bit of late afternoon R&R, followed by a remarkable dinner on one of the island's top restaurants.  On Sunday, a bit of local colour with an historical re-enactment at an old fort, a  boat ride, a wander about a palace and an armoury, and then home. It felt like more than two days, and left us wanting to return.  Which, I figure, is probably what you want out of any long weekend break.

This is helped by the fact that the place is tiny.  Before going I knew that Malta was a country comprised of an archipelago of islands, dead in the centre of the Mediterranean, and that the largest island ... the eponymous Malta ... had a whole bunch of different cities upon it.  All of which can distract you from the fact that the main island is just 122 square miles.  To help you get an idea of how little that is:  there are 609 square miles of greater metropolitan London inside the M25.  Yes, you squeeze just about FIVE Maltas into London.  No wonder we could get just about anywhere in 20 minutes, for 20 euro.

The aforementioned cities, of course, turn out to be more like urban neighbourhoods these days, all linked in a continuous buildup along the coast.  From what we saw, there's not much green space on Malta; a patchwork of small vineyards or olive groves in the centre, dotted with a couple more "cities", completely ringed by building.

But what building it is.  If there's one reason to come to Malta, I'd say it's the Baroque architecture.  Much of the island felt like a stage set, and it's no wonder that so many historical films have been made here.  The Knights of Malta, one of the great crusader orders who ended up owning the place from the 16th through 19th centuries, poured money into some of the most impressive defensive fortifications in the world to show off their strength, and outrageously lavish palaces and churches to show off their good taste.  The architectural unity of the place is helped by the fact that just about everything is made of the same golden limestone.  It means that even when there are ugly, modern buildings (and there are), they manage to fade behind their showier neighbours.  A particularly Maltese feature are projecting balconies of wood and glass that add individual character.  And provide the entertaining show of natives leaning out to talk to each other, hang laundry, or generally watch the world go by.

That's the overview.  Tomorrow, the top sites.