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Published: March 27th 2010
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Malta 29th August - 2nd Sept, 2009
London to Malta to Gozo
Always seems like a good idea to book an early morning flight until we realised that we had to get up at 4.30am. It was the August bank holiday weekend and we were off to Malta. It was a 3 hour flight which we almost missed - when we got to the gate they were already boarding!
We hired a car from Malta airport and drove down to the car ferry which goes across to Gozo. It took us a little while to find St. Joseph's Hostel which wasn't too far from the ferry terminal. It was about 1.30pm - right in the middle of siesta so no one answered the door to the hostel! We went and had lunch and came back. It was a huge hostel, once a boarding school 12 years ago. The rooms were massive and overlooked the Mediterannean. It think our room would have once slept about 12 students!
It was incredibly hot. We spent the rest of the afternoon at Dwejra Bay and I tried out my new snorkelling gear. The water was very blue and the visibility
was fantastic. There were a few big purple jelly fish with very long tenticles which I did keep well away from. We spent the evening in Xlendi Bay and found a great little restaurant on the waters edge. Freshly grilled calarmari!
Gozo
It was hot, hot, hot! We drove to Ramla Bay (Gozo's only sandy beach) after breakfast and had a swim. It was so hot that even Rupesh had a swim or was it because the sand was burning him?!
We drove past the salt pans to Xwieni Bay. Rupesh tried snorkelling for the first time and couldn't believe the things he was seeing under the water! It was a whole new world!
We weaved through a lot of countryside on narrow, windy roads - lots of stone walls and lots of pot holes! Driving in Malta takes on a whole new level of patience and give way rules - drivers constantly pull out in front of you as it suits them with the expectation that you will slow down for them! We stopped in Nadur and had lunch on a rooftop terrace. It was a lovely spot.
After lunch we headed back
to the ferry terminal and caught a small boat across to the island of Camino and the Blue Lagoon. The water was very clear and we got the snorkelling gear out again.
Gozo to Malta to Gozo
We took the car across to Malta and drove to the cliff tops overlooking Anchor Bay where we had a birds eye view of Popeye's Village - the set of the 1980 film. We spent a couple of hours around the village which was very well done.
I did a dive with Paradise Divers in Malta. In hindsight I think I would have seen a lot more had I done a dive off Gozo. We were taken down to where there was a statue of the Madonna embedded in the rocks and swam through a small tunnel in the rocks.
We found a great bakery/patisserie in Mellieha - fantastic pastizzis filled with either ricotta or peas! Peas seem to be quite popular with a lot of pies and other pastries filled with them.
The rest of the afternoon was spent relaxing on some sunbeds at Grejna Bay. We drove to Sliema for dinner and found a great
Nadur
Malta was once a British Colony - note the red english telephone box! pasta restaurant on the waterfront. It seems there is some sort of scam going on with parking attendants in Malta. Whenever we parked the car we would be asked for money by an official looking attendant in an officers hat. There was no specific amount of money that they asked for and when we asked some locals they didn't seem to want to comment or said that we could pay them if we wished. One day we avoided parking in the carpark/bays and parked outside the carpark along the side of the road and they still wanted money from us!
Gozo to Malta to Gozo
We took the car ferry again across to Malta and drove to the Blue Grotto. A short boat ride took us to a number of different caves. We did a bit of snorkelling otherwise we would have fried on the hot rocks!
We drove along the Dingle Cliffs which were not so impressive but it was good to see a bit more of the countryside. We then headed to Marsaxlokk Bay where 70%!o(MISSING)f Malta's fishing boats are. It was very quiet and really lovely. The harbour was filled with colurful
fishing boats. We had a drink on the waterfront and just enjoyed lots of people watching. There were some very busy fisherman preparing their lines and nets.
Gozo to Malta to London
This morning we caught the car ferry across to Malta and drove straight to Valletta which is Malta's capital. We caught one of the traditional Malta buses which took us around the perimeter of Valletta. We wandered around the narrow streets and found some pastizzis - the ones with peas taste okay!
We spent the rest of the day on the beach at Mellieha Bay before heading out to the airport. We enjoyed the break and a bit of heat for a change as we hadn't had many hot days in London over the Summer.
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