facttime

Welcome to the 11th edition of my annual speciality coffee and food awards , where I am highlighting some of my favourites from the coffee shops and eateries that I visited for the first time this year. For obvious reasons, I travelled much less than normal this year, although I did manage a holiday in Malta  in September, as well as city breaks in Porto , Edinburgh and Canterbury , and regular visits to Oxford, Wolverhampton and Birmingham. As such, just like last year, I've rejigged the regions covered in each category so that I can showcase as many of the places I've loved closer to home and further afield. As the pandemic continues to disrupt life as we knew it, it's more important than ever to support the hospitality industry — respecting all local guidelines that may be in place, of course. If you're keen to read more of my speciality coffee recommendations, you may find my London coffee guide  to be a useful starting point; there are currently more than 150 coff...

This is the last of my posts about my recent holiday in Malta , rounding up my overall experience: my itinerary and how it worked out, where I stayed, what I did and how I travelled around. You can also read my other Malta posts here: Valletta city guide ; day trips from Valletta ; and four days on Gozo . And there are even  more photos over on my Flickr . Days 1–5: Valletta I based myself in Malta's capital, Valletta, as I knew that it would be easy to travel around the small island by bus to some of the many other places I wanted to visit. I stayed five nights at the Coleridge Hotel , a boutique hotel in the heart of the historic city centre. Day 1 . I landed at Malta International Airport at around 2 pm and despite a lengthy queue at passport control and a quicker one for COVID documentation checks on leaving the baggage hall, I reached Valletta's City Gate by bus just before 3:30. After checking into my hotel, I spent the afternoon exploring Valletta and getting my bearing...

This is the second of four posts about my recent trip to Malta. You can read the other instalments here: Valletta city guide ; four days in Gozo ; and  how to spend nine days in Malta . Malta is small — the main island is just 17 miles long by 9 miles wide — and because it's easy to get around by public transport, I decided to base myself in Valletta and take day trips to visit some of the other locations. It's even easier to get around by car, of course, but I prefer not to rent cars unless I have to — I find the flexibility it affords usually isn't worth the cost (economic and environmental) and the hassle. And you can get from Valletta to almost anywhere else on the main island by bus in under an hour for a €2 fare. It just takes a little planning, as most buses run only once or sometimes twice per hour. I took three amazing day trips from Valletta by public transport; read on for turquoise waters, ancient fortified cities, stunning geological features and perfect sandy...