Malta Day 1 - Saturday 24 January
We spent our Australia Day weekend in Malta, which was short but sweet. Flying from Luton was very different to other ‘London’ airports. We drove to one of the cheaper airport carparks and got a shuttle bus to the airport… which was pretty straightforward… but the airport itself is synonymous with the low cost airlines that depart from there (no major carriers do). While at Stansted you can get away with a carry on and a handbag… not at Luton! – they will turn you away as you try to go through security… strictly one piece of hand luggage only… luckily that’s all we had anyway but some people in front of us were caught out with a baby bottle bag...
The airport itself had a real dim, hospital type feel about it, but apparently it has been an airport since it was opened in 1938… dunno… just felt a bit strange… but then I spose you get what you pay for.
We arrived in Malta around 7:30pm – about ½ hr early even though we left late. Ryanair states it has the best on time record – though I think they must put a fair bit of buffer in their flight times… ½ hr early on a 3 hr flight is quite an achievement.
My tone here probably reflects my current view on Ryanair – but that’s probably because in the news recently they stated they were looking at charging you to use the toilet in flight… £1 a go?!! Bit rich… Once you add on all the extra charges for baggage, paying by credit card etc… sometimes it doesn’t work out all that much cheaper than the major airlines… and there’s no customer service to top it all off…
Anywayz… even though our flight was early, it took us about 1 ½ hrs to get out of the airport as we were waiting for our rental car rep to arrive… he said he had a flat tyre on the way but Matt was a bit sceptical – his clothes/hands etc weren’t dirty!...
The car itself… (Matt’s idea!)… was a Suzuki Maruti (or Sierra)… Not the comfiest ride but Matt said it was fun to drive….
Things picked up considerably from when we left the airport! [Even though I was starving hungry… I was just happy to be somewhere I didn’t have to be wearing 10 layers of clothing]… Malta is only a small island so since we had hired a car we were able to see most of it on our long weekend. We were staying at St Paul’s Bay – crashing on the sofa bed of a friends’ holiday let. By the time we got there and had a bite to eat, it was well and truly time to sleep!
Malta Day 2 - Sunday 25 January
Saw quite a bit of Malta today… First stop was Mosta and the church of St Mary, which not only has an amazing dome (4th largest in the world) but is famous for an incident that took place during WWII. Hundreds of people had taken refuge in the church when a bomb came through the dome and rolled across the floor… but never exploded. You can still see where they’ve patched the dome over.
Malta has a real old-worldy kinda feel about it… not only do the buses look like they’re leftovers from the 1950s, but all the cafes, shops etc all play 70s and 80s music… but at the same time there’s quite a few nice cars around…
From Mosta we headed down to Marsaxlokk for a wander through the markets – including live fish and stingrays! – and had lunch at a nice little café overlooking the bay. The wind was a little chilly, but was great to have the sun on our back. Could imagine how busy it must get in Summer…
We headed out on the bumpy roads, passed tent city (where North African Refugees) have set up a community, to the Blue Grotto, a rock formation off the coast. Like Capri though, the weather prevented us from hiring a boat and getting a closer look and no sooner had we got out of the car to have a walk around, it started pelting down with rain. Luckily we had put the cover back on the car before setting off.
So, quick change of plans, we headed to Mdina, the ‘silent city’ though once we arrived it wasn’t so silent.. we all seemed to be in a loud, boisterous mood.. oh well… such a pretty place though from the churches to the stone streets and the great views over Malta.. on a clear day, apparently you can see Sicily. Spent a good couple of hours here just wandering the streets. It was dusk too, so the sun was casting a really nice light on all the buildings.
After dinner at a local restaurant and a couple of bottles of La Vallette, we were shattered… again… and had a thoroughly good night sleep.Malta Day 3 - Monday 26 January
Had a great day today - nice and sunny... didn't require a jumper for most of the day! Took a drive up to the coast today where the ferries go across to Comino and Gozo - It's a shame we weren't here for a few more days - it would have been great to go over - both are stunning islands from what we've heard. Still it was a really pretty drive... Maybe... one day... we'll come back and go to Sicily and Gozo...
Given the weather we decided to have another go at looking at the Blue Grotto. We took the scenic route there.. driving along the coastline which was really quite spectacular... nothing between us and Africa (if my sense of geography and direction are right)... and then through some back little lanes through the countryside... Stumbled upon a little street vendor selling fruit, vegies... and cactus liqueur... which is quite yum - a little sweet but not too bad.. thought we'd found something quite yummy and unique til we were later at the airport and saw shelves upon shelves of the stuff... oh well!
At the grotto, it was still REALLY rough and the tide was really high so not much chance of hiring a boat... had lunch down there though... Matt had the local specialty - rabbit... it was great sitting with the sun on our backs... could have sat there all afternoon...
But... we did have a plane to catch and we still hadn't been to the capital, Valletta. Almost got into a little bit of trouble playing around taking photos in an empty Pulizija (Police) Box thing... very quickly got told to delete the photos... thought the guy was gonna take the camera for a while... Found Valletta itself to be a city of contrasts - some beautiful buildings, churches and streets but then some filthy laneways with piles of rubbish... and cats everywhere!!... not a great thing for me being allergic!... But then.. we were walking around the edge of the harbour right on sunset.. again the views were stunning which was a great way to end our whirlwind tour of Malta
So all too quickly our long weekend was over... but it was fantastic just to get away. Thanks again to Darren & Liz for your hospitality - we had a great time!
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