www.ebbemunk.dk - Travels - Island Hopping in the Mediterranean

The best café by the nicest harbour: I once spent two months sailing from island to island in the Mediterranean. I wanted to find the best café by the nicest harbour. I succeeded, and I found at least five places with good cafés - and I am sure that you may find other good cafés.

The contradictory criteria:

A old, picturesque harbour on an island in the Mediterranean
So many tourists that there are cafés with good coffee, but not so many that it is touristy!
It should be possible to access the harbour, but no noisy traffic, please

And the result is:

Malta: A café on the south side of Birgu Harbour, Valetta
Malta: A café on the north side of Marsaxlokk Harbour
Crete: Cafés at the Venetian Port in Khania
Mikonos: Cafés at the Old Port (previously visited)
Ibiza: Cafés at the south side of the Old Port

The route from east to west. Google Maps.

The route:

There is no ferry between Cyprus and Greece, so I travelled by bus through Turkey
There is no ferry between the Greek islands and Italy either, so I sailed from Dürres, Albania, to Bari
There is only one weekly connection Sicilia-Sardinia and Sardinia-Barcelona, and that was my reason for not going to Corse this time. I have visited Corse earlier, and there are at least nice cafés by the harbour in Propriano.
Melilla and Gibraltar are not islands, but they are enclaves with a certain insular feeling so I ended my trip there

Tickets:

Check departure times as soon as you arrive at a port, train station or bus station
Buy ferry tickets directly at the ferry company's own office. Then you know where it is, you are already checked in, and you know from where the ferry departs.
Online tickets are an advantage in rich countries where you know the language
Printed tickets bought at a counter are an advantage in less rich countries or where you don't know the language - especially if you later need to complain about something

Accomodation:

I prefer to find hotels or hostels online, for example on Google Maps. Then I go to the hotel and check the state of the reception. Tidy? Not looking too expensive? Then I ask if they have a vacant room.
I avoid services like www.booking.com because they block direct communication with the landlord so that it is difficult to receive an answer or complain
However, if most hotels are fully booked or I expect to arrive late in the evening, then it is an advantage to use www.booking.com, etc., to find a vacant bed

Cell phone and broadband:

If you have an EU service provider, you will have sufficient telephone and broadband connection in all EU countries. In Turkey and Northern Cyprus I bought cheap SIM cards for broadband and turned the phone off. In Albania I turned the phone off and used the hotel's broadband.
Avoid expensive broadband on ferries: As soon as you are onboard a ferry, select airplane mode on your phone. The ferry company would like to provide expensive satellite service, and you don't want to pay for that.

Malta is a strange country, in short "Blond Catholics speaking Arabic". The island was conquered by the Norman crusaders around year 1100. It was a British colony from 1814 and became independent in 1964. There are still many Nordic remains: the blond hair, the first name Roger, the family name Borg, etc. There are also many British traces: Left-hand driving, British plugs, red telephone boxes, etc. The island is the best example of British Mediterranean architecture with yellow sandstone to be seen everywhere. There is so much tourism that there are nearly no Maltese inhabitants in the tiny capital Valetta.