Ryan Air is a stickler about size and weight of luggage so
while you are getting a basic cheap fare everything costs extra – checking
bags, assigned seats, not getting an on-line boarding pass and even an ounce
overweight on any bag (44lbs for checked and 22 lbs for carry on) will cost you
the equivalent of a small country.
Our hostess, Pauline, picked us up at the airport and drove
us from Valletta, through lots of Maltese communities, to the ferry for
Gozo. The drive gave us our first
impression of Malta.
Construction........doesn't even begin to describe it. It seemed like most of the buildings
and a lot of the roads were unfinished or under construction. (We found out later that, just like
Mexico, there are taxes on finished buildings so no hurry to finish them.) Other first impressions were an
ancient community, small island, hilly, very arid, churches everywhere and the
watch towers strategically placed around the island to alert everyone in event
of a threat.
We stopped on the way to the ferry in St. Pauls Bay to pick
up some fruit and then we drove
onto the ferry and were on our way to Gozo. The ferry took about 20 minutes and Pauline took us to a
cafe/bar on a hill to have a little lunch. We actually sampled the Maltese favorite soft drink – Kinney
– not our favorite but not too bad.
After a 15 minute drive we arrived at Pauline's apartment in Xlendi (X's
are pronounced with an sh). There
we met Kyra for the first time – Pauline's very smart afghan.
The next day Jann and Pauline walked about 3 miles along the
Sannat cliffs which offered a 360 degree view of the Mediterranean and the
island of Gozo. Unfortunately the
camera stayed home so we have no photos of this experience.
We explored more of Xlendi and the capital of Gozo,
Victoria. There are no markets in
Xlendi so we had to go to Victoria to stock up on supplies for our stay.
Xlendi is an attractive, relatively quiet fishing village
and about a 10 minute walk from Pauline's apartment to the beach area. Unfortunately it is all downhill, which
means coming back is all uphill – and not a gentle slope !!! The bay is surrounded with bars and
restaurants and three or four hotels.
Malta is a very popular destination for divers and Xlendi has a couple
of diving centers.
Pauline also took us into Victoria and walked us around so
we could get acquainted with the city.
Apart from marketing, we stopped in St. George's square for a drink and
walked around many of the small, interesting streets. Love the architecture which definitely has moorish influences, especially the
balconies (called social balconies because they were used to visit with
neighbors – not unlike porches in America.) Jann also visited the fish market and, following their
recommendation, bought a scorpion fish to cook for dinner !!!
Cocktails in St. Georges Square, Victoria, Gozo
Jann and her scorpion fish
One of the most beautiful bays in Gozo is the Azure
window. There are numerous cave
openings around the bay which allow the sea water through. The small bay that is created is called
the Inland Sea. We spent a day
swimming in the inland sea, taking a boat ride through the cave and having a
wonderful salad and local beers at the small cafe there.
On our next adventure round the island, we visited the craft
center at Ta ' Dbiegi and watched the glass blower. Among the local crafts is Malta glass, Gozo lace and filigree silver jewelry, and there are some beautiful examples in
all the shops.
Glassblower at work
In every community, small and large, in Malta and Gozo there
is a church. Most of them are
large and very ornate. In fact,
even private residences have some religious iconic statue or plaque decorating
the wall. One large church on Gozo
at Ta Pinu also has a path leading to an olive grove and along the path at
intervals are large carrerra marble carvings representing the 14 stations of
the cross.
Malta is self sufficient when it comes to produce. The topography shows the land is
terraced and planted with lots of fruit and vegetable farms and small
holdings. They also have vineyards
around the island and they make their own wine. Everything is for local consumption and not for export. (Speaking as a professional the local
wine is underdeveloped and has no balance between the sugar, the fruit and the
alcohol.) We got a great view of the countryside when we visited the citadel in
Victoria. The citadel was the
walled fortification for the community.
There are some very old fortifications, temples and buildings across
Malta that go back to second century bc.
In fact there is a collection of temple stones on Gozo (ggantija
temples) that predate Stonehenge.
If you notice the strange spelling of words it is because
Maltese is the only Arabic language that is written with the Roman alphabet. When you hear it spoken it definitely
sounds more Arabic.
Sunday, called for English breakfast in Xlendi. You couldn't ask for a nicer setting.
While we were visiting, the Euro 2012 was going on in Poland
and the Ukraine. This is the culmination of 4 years of elimination
rounds for all European soccer teams and the top 16 country teams come together
to determine the top team in Europe. This year England had made it to the top 16 so
we would go down to the bars in Xlendi and watch the games with the other
fanatics (lots of fellow limeys). England made it to the Quarterfinals but then, unfortunately,
lost to Italy who eventually went on to the final with Spain.
We decided to try the hop on, hop off busses both in Malta
and in Gozo. The experience in
Malta was not very positive – very hot, very long (because of road
construction) and very disorganized.
It took almost 2 hours for the shuttle to get us from the ferry to the
beginning of the tour, which meant we really did not have time to get on and
off and be able to get back to the ferry.
It did however, give us an
idea of where we wanted to spend more time – Valletta and Mdina.
The hop on, hop off in Gozo was a little more productive but
still hot and slow. We did get off
in Marsalforn, having seen it on a tour with Pauline and wanting to spend more
time there. Again, it is a
beautiful bay surrounded by hotels and restaurants and a little larger than
Xlendi but not a lot of other things going on.
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| Marsalfone |
Another of the things that remind us of Mexico are the
amount of stray cats running around.
One cat in front of Pauline's apartment had four kittens she was trying
to take care of. Just like in
Mexico, the concensus is to leave them be but for me this is really hard. Especially when the kittens are so
cute.
Paulline took us for a days swimming in Hondoq bay which is
down by the ferry. It is about a
20 minute drive from the apartment but well worth the trip. Beautifully clear water and views
across to Comino, the smallest of the Maltese islands.
We decided we needed more time to explore Valletta so we
took the ferry over and stayed at the Hotel Osborne in the center of Valletta
for a couple of days. It is a very
nice hotel and very reasonable. We
spent a couple of days exploring Valletta and all the history it has to offer.
St John's cathedral is one of the most impressive cathedrals
in Malta. Built to honor John the
Baptist by the Knights of St. John, it is not very impressive from the
outside. But inside it can
definitely be compared to St. Peters in Rome. One section is all artwork of Caravaggio, including
his most famous, the beheading of John the Baptist. In fact there is a
silver and gilt bronzed monstrance throne for the reliquary
of the right hand of John the Baptist which was given to the Knights of St.
John in the 1600's.
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| See reliquary below |
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| Cross made by Caravaggio |
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| Detail on the ceiling |
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| Republic Street, Valletta |
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| Jann in Valletta |
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| Library |
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| Summer dining room |
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| Garden |
On the second day we took the bus to Mdina, the original
capital of Malta, and the catacombs of St. Paul. We managed to complete this with absolutely no problems
finding our way. We got off
the bus in Rabat, visited the catacombs, walked over to the Roman Villa and
then into Mdina without once getting lost !!
The St Paul's catacombs are very interesting. They were used for Christian burials
during the 14th century and it is amazing how they created these. It is obviously very damp in there and
would be very eerie to go down to by yourself. Thank goodness there were two of us !! In addition to the tombs (which had
headrests so one could be comfortable !) there was a large hall that was
possibly used as a shrine in the 13th century and reclining concrete tables
used to conduct commemorative meals.
Not sure that we would have had much of an appetite considering the
surroundings!
Mdina was the original walled capital of Malta and has
maintained its original architecture and ambience. It is known as the silent city and, compared to Valletta, it is an appropriate title. We visited the cathedral, had a nice
lunch and walked around the city, which seems much as it must have looked
centuries ago. In the cathedral,
as all the other churches the floor is made up of tombs covered by very ornate flat tiled tombstones. Horse and buggies are available to
escort you around the streets.
The buildings here are finished and look beautiful. Each door has an ornate doorknocker
(another ubiquitous site in Malta).
Mdina is situated on a hill, making it easy to defend and providing
great views from the old wall.
Mdina is what I imagined all of Malta to be, historic, amazing
architecture, clean and well preserved.
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| Entrance to Mdina |
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| Mdina cathedral |
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| Mdina cathedral |
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| Flagstone of cathedral floor indicating mausoleum below |
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| Mdina street |
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| Jann looking over the Mdina city wall |
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| Mdina cathedral |
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| Social balconies in Mdina |
The Casino itself was quite small. You have to sign in every time you go in after you register
with a photo ID and get a card.
There were only a few table
games – one blackjack table open and it was the kind with the automatic
shuffler (after each hand they put the cards back in the deal.) This definitely puts the odds in
the casino's favor so no surprise that there was no winning at blackjack. However, at the three card poker table (which was empty) I did get a
straight flush at 40 to 1, so we left happy. One of the good things there was you get free local beer,
wine and sandwiches while you play and no tipping is allowed! Jann played the slot machines, which seemed
to be really old, and did not pay off to anyone that we could see unless you
were playing 2 euros a pull.
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| St. Julian casino |
Our last few days we rented a car and drove all around Gozo to areas we had not been before and probably few had.
Our last night we spent in Valletta and had probably the best room in the Osborne. Had a fantastic view of the whole Valletta harbor. What a great way to finish our trip to Malta. On to Brittany.
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| Driving along the Gozo road less travelled |
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| View of Gozo |
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| Salt pans on the coast |
Our last night we spent in Valletta and had probably the best room in the Osborne. Had a fantastic view of the whole Valletta harbor. What a great way to finish our trip to Malta. On to Brittany.
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| Views from our hotel room |
