Mellieha Majesty

It had been a full-on day exploring Malta under the August sun on the 28th, 2024, and by the time I got back to the hotel in Mellieħa, all I wanted was to kick back, grab some food, and soak it all in. I sat on the balcony with a traditional Maltese pizza—ftira, a local flatbread topped with tomatoes, capers, olives, and sometimes anchovies—and right in front of me, the sky started putting on this absolute stunner of a show.

The sun dropped behind Mellieħa's rooftops, painting the town in golds and ambers, while a bank of moody storm clouds lingered in the distance over the Mediterranean. The contrast between that golden calm bathing the Parish Church's twin towers and the brewing tension on the horizon was unreal. From 360 feet up where Mellieħa sits, you can see weather systems rolling in across 50 miles of open sea from Sicily and beyond.

I grabbed my camera, capturing that golden hour glow on the honey-colored limestone buildings. It wasn't just a sunset—it was a moment that made everything slow down. The Mediterranean climate puts on these shows regularly in late summer, when hot days give way to evening storms rolling across the sea.

The Parish Church of the Nativity of Our Lady dominates the frame from its hilltop perch, those distinctive twin bell towers completed in 1881 catching the last direct sunlight while the town below glows in reflected golden light. Malta's limestone architecture has this unique property of absorbing and reflecting light in warm tones—it's why the island seems to glow at sunset.

When you look at this photograph, I want you to feel that perfect moment—sitting on a Mellieħa balcony with ftira pizza, watching golden sunset light battle storm clouds over the Mediterranean, where the Parish Church's 143-year-old towers rise 360 feet above the bay in that magical light that makes Malta's limestone glow like honey.