deciding on making the move over...

Hi Nemo ,

welcome to the blog. I live in Sliema which is the other main tourist area of Malta .Mellieha is in the north of the island and is the other main tourist/expat area so you should be fine there . I'll wait and see if you get some response from the Mellieha area. We have a great Expat group here in Sliema/St.Julians so maybe there is a similar group in Mellieha.

I was there there on Saturday evening and it was really nice with lots of street activity on occasion of a local festival.

In general Malta is a very friendly environment for expats as there are many foreign visitors and students in Malta and English is spoken as a second language and the Maltese are very friendly.

Get back to me if you need more specific information.

Ricky

I've been an expat in Malta for 15 years, so know the ropes now, but many of my friends are relatively new to Malta (1-3 years or so, and here with kids in tow).  They have all settled very quickly.  You'll have no problem making both Maltese and expat friends (various nationalities).  The online betting industry has brought many foreigners in lately, so it's a mix of expats here.  Life a lot easier I think than for you in Egypt.  Mellieha is both an old town (lovely historic church perched on a craggy hill) and a beach resort (in the bay below).  Best to have a car from there as in the north of Malta, and you'll end up in Sliema for shops and the capital Valletta quite a bit. Buses good and cheap, but driving useful.  I run maltainsideout blog which might be worth a look as it's about insider tips as well as giving a flavour of what's going on and what Malta is like.

Hi Liz ,

nice to see you on the blog.I talked to Alex a few weeks ago.You are both doing a great job on maltainsideout.com.Ilene is still in the US but is returning on Saturday.How about getting together sometime?

@Nemo:Living near where you work really makes sense anywhere in Malta as the traffic can be really bad , anywhere! So that is definitly something to consider.And coming from Egypt you should be fine with driving in Malta.In Malta you are supposed to drive on the left , the Egyptians drive anywhere they can find a space -)))

Ricky