Friday 6 February 2009






4 February

Good-bye Malta

For probably the first time in four and a half months, we did nothing today..

Well, almost nothing!

We walked around half of the peninsula on which the city of Valletta is situated, having walked the other half a few days back. We watched and heard the mid-day cannon salute at the Saluting Battery, walked up and down Republica, the main street, and watched the “tourists” - there was a cruise ship in town. We went to the Malta Archaeological Museum, had lunch in a little back street cafe and did a guided tour of the magnificent 18th Century Manoel Theatre, earning the undying love of a British couple who, on a previous visit to Valletta, had waited an hour, only to be told that, because the minimum number of people had not been reached, they couldn't take the tour. With them and another British couple who were just walking by we made up the minimum.

It was such a beautiful day 20+C – what else could we do but take it easy? - And besides we have to be up at 3:00 am to catch our plane to Istanbul in the morning!

Bye, Malta. We have loved you!


3 February

Nasty shadows of development

Just across the Grand Harbour from Valletta is the modern city of Sliema. Most of old Sliema has disappeared, some as a result of the war time bombing of the harbour area, but more through the sort of waterfront development that lines the Mediterranean from Gaza to Gibraltar. Every area of the coast seems to have its own particular 'invader nation'. On the Moroccan coast, it's France, for much of Spain and Portugal it's Germany and the UK. Here, the British alone seem to dominate. And why not? Beachfront apartments here are plentiful and relatively cheap. English is universally spoken and the waterfront kiosks serve fish and chips.


For Malta, this 'invasion' is probably fairly welcome. They have a good relationship with the British people and there are strong historical links. For us as visitors though, modern Sliema held little interest. Retired Brits filled the streets, most of the old charm of the city has been lost amidst new beach 'condos' and the character that makes the rest of Malta so attractive is all but gone. So we did what one does at the 'beach' - we had an ice-cream, walked the promenade and then caught the ferry back to beautiful, old, character-filled Valletta.

The forecast maximum temperature tomorrow, for our last day in Malta, is 20C! At the moment, London is snowed in, with temperatures of -5C. Little wonder the Brits who can escape come here!


2nd February

Random Russian Girls

There we were, walking down a country road between Xaghra and Xewkija, when it hit us! We WERE on the tiny island of Gozo in the Mediterranean, wandering down a country road on a warm, but windy, afternoon to catch a vintage local bus back to the ferry to take us back to the main island of Malta - a place we had never imagined we would visit. What were the idle rich doing, we thought?

Until we started to think about going to Malta, we had never heard of Gozo. We are sure nobody has heard of the villages of Xaghra and Xewkija. (Have you?) Many of the places we have found ourselves in were never in our plans (for all sorts of reasons).

The day had been fairly typical for us. We had a late start, confused by the bus numbering system at the bus terminal. Different numbers on the front and back of buses tend to throw us a little! Pressing on, we found some interesting out of the way places and got lost a couple of times.

An added, and very Maltese, event that brightened our day, was a free trip on one of the vintage local Gozo buses.
Wandering around the Victoria bus terminal on Gozo, which is about as big as a petrol station, we spotted a very old and beautifully maintained Bedford bus, circa 1960. While we were oohing and aahing at it, the driver came along and asked us, and a very confused Russian girl, who happened to be walking by, to take a seat while we waited for our bus that wasn't due for about 20 minutes.


Before we knew it, we were all off on a free ride on his bus to the small village of Xlendi and back. Admittedly, we were a bit concerned, the random Russian girl more so, that we would all miss our bus to Xaghra (see above). We shouldn't have worried. At precisely 30 seconds before our bus was due to leave, we chugged back into the terminal square and jumped the #62 to Xaghra. And the 'random/confused' Russian girl? Last time we saw her, she was trying to work out the ticket scanner at the temples of Ggantija at (Yes - you guessed it!) Xaghra.

We, on the other hand, strolled off to the country road towards Xewkija and the ferry back to the “Big Island” of Malta.

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