1. Valletta, Malta - It's our capital and a cosmopolitan cool can be found in some interesting and quirky bars and eateries. Add to that everything you'd find on the UK high street as well as some well-known European brands and you can be totally chic at any time of the year. Valletta is without a doubt one of my most favourite places on Earth. It's the only place I've ever been where I can buy a bottle of wine from a 500 year old wine cellar and have change from a tenner.
  2. Mdina, Malta - Wow, what a place. If you watched the first season of Game of Thrones, you'll know that this tiny citadel is King's Landing. What's not to love about this place? The jewel in the crown is a tiny palace called Palazzo Falson: it houses a huge collection of fashion, art, jewellery books and a kitchen to die for. Whilst you're there, stop off and grab a cup of tea, a slice of cake and an enviable view of the island which feels like the top of the world, and it should, Mdina was once the capital of the Maltese Islands.
  3. Xagħra, Gozo - For all you romantics out there, Xagħra (pronounced Sha-ra) is a megalithic masterpiece containing not one but two incredible feats of myth and magic. First up Ä gantija Temples, where, as the first settlers of the islands, it is believed that they worshipped a goddess. It's the oldest free-standing structure in the world! If you walk a few small steps from there you can be in Calypso Cave where the beautiful Greek nymph made Odysseus her prisoner of love.
  4. Golden Bay, Malta - A popular place for holiday makers but it's the off the beaten track that I love the most. You can go pony trekking here and travel back in time to a disused village which is bathed in sunshine and carpeted in flowers and trees forming part of a beautiful conservation area named after the wind that blows this way, the Majjistral.
  5. Marsaxlokk, Malta - Talking of winds, and our island is really breezy, and in summer; a warm south-westerly wind called a Xlokk starts down here and blows up through the many streets of Malta. Marsaxlokk is the picturesque fishing village in the south of Malta and it's a trip back in time. Take a trip down there on a Sunday, around 10am and you'll find a world where men still fish and discuss the daily catch and their wives are the chefs, opening their living rooms to taste their cuisine handed down through centuries of caring for our precious waters.
  6. MÄ¡arr, Malta - Brings together the sea and the land in a beautiful vista that can be enjoyed all year round. I love to go to MÄ¡arr in April when their famous Strawberry heritage culminates in a huge feast… of Strawberries! What is great about all of Malta is our community spirit and its beating heart is surely nestled within our festas. Throughout the summer you can find a wealth of street parties and gatherings because our entire culture is based on heat. We get 300 days of sunshine a year and our summer starts when the rains end in April/May.
  7. Comino - Containing a mere four people as its population, Comino is far from isolated. Flanked by its sisters Malta and Gozo, Comino is an area of outstanding beauty and once the playground of the Knights of Malta it is now more famous for being home to the Blue Lagoon: a snorkeler's paradise where you can spot undersea wonders like sea urchins and sea horses. Did you know that our islands are visited by dolphins regularly too? Those crystal clear waters make Malta an actual diamond in the Med.
  8. The Three Cities, Malta - Imagine if you can a time when the Knights first landed in the Maltese Islands. It was wild! Pirates everywhere, bastions being built, defences being planned, Malta would have been one giant bazaar of the bizarre I'm sure! But today, these three cities, where the knights first landed are a bit more laid back. Protecting the Grand Harbour on the other side of Valletta they are pretty inlets with even prettier names: Isla, Birgu and Bormla. This is where you'll find the Maltese chillin'. A host of super yachts and gin palaces makes this a millionaire's playground. Whilst you walk through the tiny streets, remember that this place was once the home of pirates, corsairs and cads!
  9. Dwejra Bay, Gozo - The Azure Window is your penultimate destination in this list. Jump on a ferry to Gozo and take a gentle road around the coast the beautiful Dwejra Bay. The rocky outcrop hides a series of caves and underground inlets that are a must for scuba divers. It's no secret that the Maltese Islands is one of the world's best diving locations. Shipwrecks, coves and natural reefs: no wonder it's often cited as one of the many myths of Atlantis.
  10. Chadwick Lakes, Malta - We suffer a bit in the summer, you know. All that sun and no rain (ok, we don't complain that much) but, unlike you guys, we don't have rivers to paddle in, we're surrounded by sea. With no natural irrigation systems, it can sometimes result, when we do have rains, in flooding on a biblical scale! So in the 1800s, an engineer designed a water table, a place for water to drain into and from where the land is rich, all year round. Chadwick Lakes, as we call it, is my little corner of Britain in Malta. It has all the majesty of the Lake District without the massive footprint because, this place is tiny. Throughout the summer, it lies dry and to some extent arid, but when it rains and the table fills, this place really comes alive with local flora and fauna that you'll never find anywhere else on Earth.

The Black Valdetta by Kelly Vero is available from 30th November 2015 from Amazon. (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kelly-Vero/e/B00DYTBA44) www.kellyvero.com

Kelly Vero

Kelly Vero