agree with comments about Zadar, wonderful town, we would love to return there for a few days. Same with Trieste (48 hour travel man is about Trieste this week!) a really interesting city.
We had a day in Malta between 2 cruises last year and did a wonderful tour with a local guy. A minibus of 14 of us, for the full day, taking us all around, to Mdina and other areas, a great lunch stop and a lovely guy. I think it worked out at 25euros each with a tip. As we were there twice, we also walked from the ship to the lift up to the gardens and the cannons. It's about a 10 minute stroll and the lift costs 1 euro (hold on to your tickets for the return trip)