And any other suggestions for more quirky, off-beat attractions?
The Acropolis closes pretty early, so don’t leave it for the afternoon.
In Malta:
Don’t miss Mdina, the former capital of Malta. It is just a really cool place to walk around in. Very conveniently close is the town of Rabat, which has the catacombs of St Paul.
Also, from personal experience, if you learn like 6 words of Maltese, people will invite you into their house and feed you. No shit.
The Hypogeum of Hal Saflieni on Malta sounds both freaky and fascinating, not to mention way old (even older than the pyramids). It was also apparently designed, at least in part, by some uber-leet acoustic engineers who included an echo chamber.
In Athens, the Benaki Museum:
They have a little of everything Greek from every time and place, and a lot of some stuff:
Excerpt from above page:
The first [second, as Americans label floors] floor is dedicated to the 17th, 18th and 19th century … the clothing and the furniture that was typical in various areas of Greece during this period … small paintings and sketches … made by foreign travelers … a kind of hand carried carriage that belonged to the wife of the administrator of the Corfu Island … reconstructions of the reception area of wealthy houses of Kozani of the 18th century … heavily carved furniture and walls convey … the wealth and the luxury of these houses …
One of my favorite books is The Great Siege: Malta 1565. I’ve never visited Malta, but if I had the chance, I’d check for any landmarks related to the siege.
In Athens it might be inadvisable to wave a German flag and declare admiration for Merkel.
Try and get one of the day cruise from Athens to the Greek islands. Well worth it.
The Hyopegum in Malta now requires advanced reservations for a tour. They can be booked solid for weeks at a time in high season. This is the slow season, so you might find a few openings. Check NOW.
Malta has a wide assortment of ancient sites. Heritage Malta is your best resource for the archaeological wonders of Malta.
The fortifications are still there, although naturally they have been rebuilt and improved many times since 1565. Fort St. Elmo, at the tip of Valletta, unfortunately fell into disrepair; it’s only now undergoing restoration and is mostly closed to the public.
The capital city of Valletta was built afterward and in reaction to the siege, so anything in the city proper is by definition newer. I haven’t been to Mdina; it may be that in Mdina you would get more of the really old pre-siege atmosphere.
Malta is a funky place, a weird mix of Great Britain, Sicily, and North Africa. It gets nasty-humid in summer, so January is probably a good time to go.
I wasn’t all that impressed by Athens, but it was rainy and miserable. And the Parthenon Museum wasn’t opened yet. One cool thing was the the Underground had ancient artifacts in the station.
In Malta we saw some ancient temples, but the very best thing there was entering the harbor on the ship. There are amazing fortifications, but most impressive harbor I’ve ever seen, and I’ve seen lots. If you fly in try to get a harbor tour - I assume they have them.
Our tour guide basically said that everything was better in Gozo - one of the islands. We didn’t get a chance to find out.
Thanks, yes we’ve already noted that there are earlier closing hours in winter.
Yes, we’ve got them on our list.
Thanks for the tips. I’ve just checked online and there are plenty of tickets available for the period we’ll be there. The joys of travelling in low season! I’ve now booked some just to be sure.
That’s gone on to the list. Thank you.
We’ll definitely be spending time on Gozo.
The seas can be rough in winter.
In Valletta, the Hypogeum, Tarxien temples, and Co-Cathedral are all cool.
In addition to the Parthenon in Athens, we enjoyed the Museum of Cycladic Art.
Avoid announcing your plans & travel dates on your social media sites, regardless of the name or host of your site. Avoid providing real-time updates on your social media sites, as well.
However, if you really WANT to return from your trip and find an empty home, stick an UNOCCUPIED sign in the front window and leave the door unlocked when you leave. At least your belongings will go to locals…
—G!
That’s all I got.
I’ve never been to Malta. 
Make time for a visit to St. John’s Co-Cathedral in Valletta. It houses quite an art collection including the huge painting by Caravaggio The Beheading of John the Baptist.
In addition, the inlaid tombs are rather impressive, harkening back to the medieval Knights.
I haven’t spent enough time in Athens to speak to off-the-beaten-path attractions, but I can give you some important tips about food. The ONLY bad food I have ever eaten in Greece was near the very heavily touristed areas-- near the Acropolis and other major sites, and the nearest subway stops to them. It was terrible and obscenely overpriced. GO OFF THE BEATEN PATH FOR FOOD. You don’t need to go very far off the beaten path-- even down a few side alleys would be fine. I’ve spent a total of two months in Greece and ate at mom-and-pop restaurants the entire time, and I swear that picking a restaurant in a heavily touristed part of Athens is literally the only way to eat bad food in Greece.
How about:
“Get A Job!”
on a T-shirt?
When you’re visiting the Acropolis, don’t pick up anything from the ground. Even the pebbles on the Acropolis are heritage protected.
A Canadian teenage girl got in trouble a few years ago for bending down and picking up a cool rock, and then tossing it down again. The guards at the Acropolis arrested her, because it wasn’t clear how many things she picked up and they thought she may have kept some after she threw one down (in their view, anyway).
Rough is a reletive term. Its the Med, not the North Atlantic. I went in January and was fine.
We went to the Latin mass at St John’s this morning, which was great. Then we spent some time looking around the cathedral itself, which is impressive.