Popeye Village

Everything about this attraction screams at you that it shouldn’t work! It’s essentially the leftovers of the set from a not particularly good or successful Disney film that was made more than 30 years ago. Even the website with tedious introduction and looped sea shanty gets right up your nose! And yet it provides a terrific and fun day out, especially for young families!

The fantastical Sweet Haven Village, to give it its proper name, occupies the shores of one of Malta’s most picturesque locations in the northwest corner of the island close to Mellieha Bay.

This makes you wonder how the devil they got permission to build it in the first place? It represented a massive investment by the producers at the time, especially when you consider it involved 165 men working for more than seven months to put together the 19 wooden buildings and the 200ft-plus breakwater built to protect the precious set from the sea.

Popeye the movie, which starred Robin Williams as the famous, mighty-forearmed ‘sailor man’, would eventually prove to be a fairly sensible investment. It might have cost $20 million to make but it brought in $50 million in the US alone and another $10 million in other parts of the world. A solid performance, despite some fairly dismal reviews.

Anchor Bay hosts this still surprisingly pristine ramshackle seaside village, which played host to the six-month shoot of the musical blockbuster. The late Robert Altman helmed the entire location shoot resulting in the story of Popeye searching for his lost father, Poopdeck Pappy. He stumbles upon Sweet Haven village, befriends an eccentric burger eater called Mr Wellington Wimpy and rents a room from Olive Oyl, the soon-to-be love of his life.

Popeye’s motto through the film is ‘I Yam what I Yam’, and this rings true to this very day. After all these years this ‘way of thinking’ has swept the entire village and all those who visit the village are transported back in time, when the simple things were those that mattered most.

All the buildings are kept in their original state, save for some added safety features, since these structures were only intended to offer a backdrop for the film's scenes. Detailed inspections are undertaken on a daily basis and the maintenance team is on the go 24/7.

But aside from marveling at the detail and devotion exercised in creating this magical place, there are also bags of fun activities on offer, such as boat rides around Anchor Bay, silversmith demonstrations, wine-tasting, open-air beach lido with shower and baywatch attendant, inflatable trampolines and slides just offshore in the sea and a terrific kids’ pool with climbing frames and slides under a sensible sun shade plus a fun park with plenty of rides. Entry to the Fun Park is free but you’ll need to buy tokens for the rides.

You get to meet characters from the film; actors who spend the day wandering around the village and put on regular performances. So pack your swimming things and head off to Popeye Village, which 30-plus years on continues to welcome thousands of satisfied visitors each year.

Admission to Popeye Village is €12.50 per adult and €10 for children aged three to 12-years-old. There are a number of buses that stop right at the gates to Popeye Village.