Monday 22 September
So farewell Floriana.
We left our flat in Triq L Argotti and walked along linear park called The Mall to the City Gate, the very grand entrance to Valletta. Turning right past the Parliament Building we walked through Upper Barrakka Gardens to get the lift down to the waterfront.
At the Fast Ferry terminal we joined the queue for the ferry to Gozo, a big catamaran with room for hundreds of passengers.
It took 45 minutes of sailing along the east coast of Malta to reach the island of Gozo. From the harbour at Mgaar we took a 101 bus up to the small capital. In true Maltese style it has two names, the original name of Rabat and the Colonial name of Victoria.
Our flat has a great view of the Citadel a few hundred metres away, and is very conveniently almost next to Andy’s Supermarket, very handy for cold Cisk lager and other necessities.
It’s a steep climb to the Citadel which is on a crag overlooking the town. It has been fortified in one form or another since the Bronze age. The current Il Kastell dates from the 15th century, but with considerable improvement by the Knights. The population suffered from raids by Turkish corsairs for hundreds of years, and the population of Rabat went into the citadel every night.
Corsairs are maritime raiders who are licensed by a country, so Turkish corsairs attacked Christian settlements all around the Mediterranean on behalf of the Sultan. The corsair Dragut became Governor of Tripoli and was killed at the Great Siege of Malta. The Knights were Christian corsairs, and attacked Turkish shipping and took slaves. France Drake was an English corsair working for QE1, and making a few quid for himself. Pirates like Blackbeard only worked for themselves, and attacked all shipping.
The Citadel is big and impressive, and offers great views over the Gozo countryside. The cathedral looks a bit strange because the dome was never completed. The Maltese love a big church, honestly I have never seen so many huge Houses of God, He must be very pleased with his devout followers.
At the foot of the citadel walls is the oldest part of Rabat, with narrow quiet streets of pretty houses that look similar to those in Mdina and the other Rabat in Malta. The more modern parts of the town are made up of blocky flat roofed houses with quite rough roads and minimal footpaths, not very attractive. Our flat was on the fourth floor of a modern block, and the road to it had terrible footpaths, it was unpleasant to reach it by foot. The locals drive at about 40 mph around town, basically as fast as they can, and the traffic can be very busy.
Julie had a slightly upset tummy and didn’t want to eat, so I had a can of baked beans for dinner. Yummy.
Tuesday 23 September
We did our research in the guidebook and online and decided to try Ramla beach, allegedly the best beach on Gozo. The 102 bus took us through the outskirts of Rabat/Victoria , through Xewkija (no, I don’t know how to pronounce it) to a stop a few hundred yards from the beach. Maltese bus drivers seem to drive as fast as they can, so it can be quite exciting at times.
Ramla beach did not disappoint us, it is a wide stretch of soft orangy sand like you get in Devon. There are three cafes and some clean toilets, but the cafes don’t open until 11 and we arrived at about 9.20.
We got an umbrella and two recliners for 21 euros, worth the investment because it was Scorchio! The bed man carried them to the waters edge and we settled in for the day. It was gorgeous, a fantastic view of a calm blue sea and lovely warm water. I went snorkeling a couple of times and saw lots of small fish a few centimetres long, but nothing interesting.
It was great just reading our Kindles and phones, and passing comments on people who went past on the waters edge. Tattoos and unsuitable swimwear are always great topics for comments such as “ I would be very disappointed if one of my children came home with one of those on his/her leg” and “look at that costume, I have seen thicker dental floss”.
Just after 11 we got breakfast at Rosa’s cafe, we both had egg, bacon and fried onion Ftira. It’s basically a big bap which was enough for breakfast and lunch.
I would give Ramla beach top marks for quality and convenience. The returning bus to Victoria Bus Station felt like it was being driven by Lewis Hamilton, and took 17 minutes to get back.
After scoffing a delicious ice cream at Vanilla +, we discovered a shopping centre with a huge Greens Supermarket in the basement, the best shop I have come across in Malta.
The citadel is a delightful place to be at sunset when the sky is pink and you can see the sea at different sides of Gozo.
The Pjazza San Gorg in the old town is a a good place to go for dinner. There are several restaurants around the square in front of the Basilica San Gorg. Unfortunately it was bell ringing practice that night. The bells are great for the first 15 minutes, but after 50 minutes it was getting very irritating. There are two bell towers at the front of the cathedral with two guys swinging the “clangers”, but they weren’t swinging them in time, it just sounded like random bongs that went on and on and on.
Wednesday 24 September
Well it’s been an interesting day.
After consulting the guide book we decided to visit Marsalforn, which is a short bus ride away on the east coast. We caught the 310 bus in Capuchin Street and the bus tore along the rural road, slowing slightly in a village on the way.
Marsalforn is a resort town around a bay. There is a small sandy beach, lots of cafes and restaurants, and many many ugly blocks of holiday flats. It was very quiet, with and had an end of season vibe. However we found a nice spot on the beach and I went for a swim. The water was warm and there were lots of tiny fish, nice. A small group of ladies with hats on bobbed around in the sea together chatting for at least an hour. The water is very bouyant, so it takes no effort to just float.
But about three hours of Marsalforn was enough, so we went back to Victoria on the 310.
In the afternoon I went back to the Citadel and visited the Visitors Centre, the Old Prison, the Natural History Museum and The Historic House. You can get round all of them in about 90 minutes, and they are about as good as a small town museum in England, I would give them an E for Effort. The Historic House was the most interesting. It is a combination of five old dwellings with old furniture in it, like a low-rent National Trust house.
In the evening there was a thunderstorm, which was fun to watch on our terrace, until it started raining really really hard. The terrace flooded and then started coming in under the sliding windows. The lounge started filling up, so we got out the mop and bucket and towels to collect water off the floor. While Julie was mopping, I went out on the terrace and stamped on the drain until water started going down it. I think it was bunged up. After mopping 4 buckets (about 20 litres) of water off the floor of the lounge, the rain eased off.
That’s never happened in and AirBnB before, normally they don’t leak in a big way.
Friday 25 September
A taxi picked us up from our flat, because we didn’t want to drag our bags up hill to the bus station. We took 09.45 fast ferry to Valletta and a 13 bus to Sliema. I have grown fond of the Maltese bus system, its efficient and 2.5 euros for every trip.
The Sliema Marina Hotel overlooking Marsamxett harbour is not luxuious, but it is convenient, on the waterfront close to the ferries.
Once we got settled in we walked across the peninsula to the massive Fort Cambridge development towards St Julian Bay. In places Sliema looks like Dubai, with massive blocks of modern flats overlooking the sea, and some of them cost over £2,000,000.
The seafront around St Julians Bay is very attractive, with lots of restaurants and bars facing the sea. There are also lots of bathing “beaches”, except there is no sand. You can sunbath on bare limestone ledges, and the walk (carefully) into the sea. I took a dip at Fond Ghadir, the sea was warm and slightly rough, but very pleasant to swim in. There were a few small fish, but nothing interesting.
At the corner of Baluta Bay I took 10 seconds to look at a menu outside of a bar and a nice young man asked if I wanted a cocktail.
No you dirty minded bastard, not in that way!
We were both easily persuaded and went into Piccolo Padre for 2 for 1 cocktails, and selected Margaritas. The food menu looked persuasively good, so I had Seafood Risotto and Julie had Frito Misto. There was enough food to feed 4 hungry pescatarians, and we needed more cocktails to wash it all down.
We left there intending to continue our tour of St Julians on a sunny afternoon.
After several minutes hard walking we came across another bar overlooking the bay with a 2 for 1 offer. It was hot, we were thirsty, and at £4 a cocktail it was daft not t0. So we had a Mojito followed by a Long Island Ice Tea.
In a party mood by then, we walked onto Paceville, the throbbing heart of youth culture in the area. After about 5 minutes we decided we were at least 40 years too old and got the bus back to hotel.
Reasons to Visit Malta
It is easy to fly to
Its very hot and the sea water is warm
Everyone speaks English
The food is mostly Italian, but kebabs are widely available
The people are friendly
Its small but there is a lot of things to see and do
The buses are great
The cocktails are cheap
The history is incredible
Valletta is a wonderful interesting lively city
There are a few great beaches
You might see Robbie Williams for nothing
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