During a subsequent trip to Europe, Galt met and befriended Lord Byron in Gibraltar. He traveled with Byron and his companion, John Hobhouse, 1st Baron Broughton to Malta. He met them again in Greece. Parting company, Galt continued alone to Constantinople, Adrianople and then Sophia. He returned to Greenock via Ireland. He then embarked to London to pursue business plans, but these did not come to fruition and he took to writing. Galt wrote an account of his travels, which met with moderate success. Decades later, he would also publish the first full biography of Lord Byron. He also published the first biography of the painter Benjamin West, "The Life and Studies of Benjamin West" (1816, expanded 1820).