Malta, December 4-11, 2017

The decision to spend part of our year-end vacation in Malta was not a result of a careful deliberation, but made more or less on a whim. Tei was reading news or doing some random browsing online, when she saw cheap flights advertized to Malta (something like 25 euros). After a quick search on Wikipedia about Malta and travel sites for flights, we booked Ryanair flights from Marseille to Malta for about 150 euros (with seat choices and check-in luggage).

Ouibus took us to Marseille in four hours.

We stayed at an Airbnb apartment in Bugibba at St.Paul's Bay, Northern (or North-western) part of the main island. It was rainy and windy when we arrived in Bugibba after a long bus ride from the airport --- it was not an airport shuttle but a regular bus service stopping in all possible villages on the way. The plus side was that we saw a lot of the island. We had some problems finding to the apartment since once again the Google maps app that AirBnB is using had placed it at a wrong location on the map.

When we eventually had settled and gone through all the formalities withe the renting agency's representative (Lino was his name), such as checking the electric meter because we were supposed to pay for usage exceeding 25 kWh per day, we were very hungry. After a quick tour in the village center we found ourselves in Gastro pub Rusty Spoon for a couple of beers and nachos.

The adventure of the night was to find a supermarket to do some shopping for dinner and breakfast. At this point it is good to note that one of the advantages of traveling in Malta is that everyone speaks English, which makes things quite easy. One could argue that it is also a curse since the country is crowded by rowdy British tourists even during the off-season (or specially then). Anyway, even more of an adventure was to navigate back to the apartment on the streets with no street lights.

Our street, Triq it-Turisti, had some Christmas lights, though.

Malta's tourist office has created a number of walking routes around the main island. They offer quite a good overview of the country's natural environment and cultural/historical sites. The routes are relatively well marked, but a drawback of some of them is that they follow roads which may have quite a heavy traffic.

Our first walk (the cyan walk) took us to Marfa, the Northern part of the island. We started on a road, but it was a quiet one.

Immaculate Conception Chapel.

The statue of Our Lady.

Torri ta' l-Armier (Armier Bay).

We had a Maltese platter at Mambo Beach Club.

Beach huts were mostly unoccupied at this time of the year.

A holiday resort.

Red tower.

This guy ran a golden oldies music program on TV every night.

View from our apartment. Bugibba is not a particularly picturesque town.

The day celebrating Finland's 100 years of independence opened sunny and warm.

We took a bus to Rabat and made a quick tour in the medieval town of Mdina before starting the orange walk to Dingli Cliffs.

Ho ho ho.

St. Nicholas church.

Leaving Mdina and Rabat behind. We walked several kilometers on this road. Tens of massive lorries hauling huge rocks passed us to both directions.

San Blas (St. Blaise) church.

The quarry is gradually eating the Dingli Cliffs.

It was difficult to catch a glimpse of the cliffs from the road.

Too many drivers have met their destiny at the cliffs.

At the highest point the cliffs are 250 meters from the sea level. Filfla island in the background.

The radar station at Dingli Cliffs.

We were having lunch at the Dingli Interpretation Center, when we saw this flock of lambs passing by.

Soon, we left the coastline and walked to the nearby town of Dingli to catch a bus back to Rabat.

The town of Dingli.

St. Mary's Parish church.

Next morning started with a run. Actually it started with a hellish construction noise from above as they were demolishing the top floor of the building.

We found an idyllic trail by Salina Bay.

JFK memorial.

When we got back from the run, we noticed that water had been cut. A little later the electricity was cut. We tried to contact the owner but they got little advice or help to offer. They even pretended that they did not know about the works (which was not true since there were notices everywhere --- it was only now that we noticed them), and then claimed that they couldn't do anything, and "these things can happen anytime in Malta." They could have warned us of the construction, though. The guy at the work site promised that the water will be back in ten minutes, but it was not back until hours later.

We contacted the tourist office to ask if any of the hotels offered day passes to their spa, and found one, San Antonio Hotel. The shower in their gym cost us 6 euros per person. After the shower we walked along St.Paul's bay to Xemxija to check Is-Simar Nature Reserve, but it was closed that day. We continued to Xemxija Heritage Trail, an old Roman road.

After the shower we walked along St.Paul's bay to Xemxija to check Is-Simar Nature Reserve, but it was closed that day. We continued to Xemxija Heritage Trail, an old Roman road, on the nearby hill.

Roman beehives (apiaries).

Is-Simar Nature Reserve, an artificial wetland habitat.

These caves were inhabited from 400's until 1930's.

A view to Bugibba.

The next day was again very sunny. We took a bus to Rabat, and started the pink route to Bahrija at an ancient Roman Villa (Domus Romana) in Rabat.

Again we started on a road that was quite busy.

A view to terraced agricultural land with Marfa in the background.

We made a little detour to see the ruins of old Victoria Lines, unofficially called The Great Wall of Malta, that are a line of fortifications spanning across the width of Malta.

Bahrija looked like an old wild west town with its bars.

We continued the walk to the cliffs.

And traversed a small bamboo grove on our way.

A site of a Bronze Age village.

This was probably the most scenic walk we took in Malta.

Lunch at the viewpoint of Migra l'Ferha.

Terraced farmland in the fertile valley.

The church of Mtahleb.

We saw this old bus when waiting for a bus from Rabat back to Bugibba.

Our trip to Valletta encountered the first obstacle when the bus driver tried to turn to this street. It was not a trivial task to turn the bus around on the narrow street and the tight intersection. Then we spent next hour and a half crawling in the slow moving traffic through the town of Mosta. It would not have been so painful if there hadn't been a dozen noisy British tourists in the bus.

Once in Valletta we skipped the tourists attractions, and just took a quick tour around the harbor before installing us before the TV at a seafood restaurant Bocci for lunch while watching sprint competitions in Davos.

Triton Fountain and its surroundings were under renovation.

Triq Ir-Republika.

The Grand Harbor.

Lower Barrakka Garden.

Spaghetti alla vongole for a starter at Bocci's.

Sea bream with fries and salad for mains, enjoyed with Maltese wine La Valette White.

Restaurant Bocci.

After the lunch we walked around Valletta to the bus terminal via the Northern coast.

We were wondering if there is a peace museum somewhere in the world.

Manoel Island.

Basilica of Our Lady of Mount Carmel on the right, St. Paul's Pro-Anglican Cathedral on the left.

The sun was going down when we reached the bus terminal.

Next morning, to start our last full day in Malta we went for a run by Salina Bay.

Salina Bay salt pans. They had built a new paved pedestrian promenade by the bay, and installed information boards on salt collection and production in Malta along the way. We stopped to read each one.

After the run we took a walk around Bugibba, and found this Elvis Presley tribute bar that has a live impersonator performance every night.

On this Sunday there was also an old race car gathering by the National Aquarium of Malta.

Princess Diana also had a tribute pub, and so did Robert de Niro nearby.

We had our last dinner at restaurant Ta Pawla; nothing to remember by but the portions were large.

Malta airport. Unfortunately, on too many trips the adventure has started at the baggage collection, and also this time. Our carry-on luggage was yellow-tagged, and when we were boarding we were asked to hand it over with just a simple question "Are there any valuables in it?" We said no since we did not know that sunglasses belonged to this category. When we picked the bag from the belt in Marseille, we did not check if everything was there, but noticed that Tomi's sunglasses were missing only when unpacking at home. Of course, Ryanair compensated nothing since we did not make the claim at the airport.

Marseille airport.

Beautiful Marseille in a miserable rain. If you ever visit Marseille, there is a nice vegetarian restaurant Cafe l'Ecomotive under these stairs on the left (where you see "FE"). Be aware that it is very popular, so be there just before the lunch time. Despite having a rush of clients at midday, they have a policy that you can spend as much time there as you wish. This concludes our one-week trip to Malta, which we were not too impressed about.