MALTA

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Day 54

I arrived in Malta at some ridiculous hour with no baggage or sleep only to have to wait 1/2 hr for a bus and then another 1/2 hour for the next one to get me to my hostel. After negotiating the busy streets I managed to find the place I'd be living in for the next 2 weeks. My next mission was to get toiletries so I could shower lucky for me I had a change of clothes in my carry on so I didn't need to worry about a new wardrobe until maybe the next day.
My first stop turned out to be an internet cafe where I made a call to my wonderful mother to fill her in on my not so fantastic news. From there I zigzag my way through the Maltese back streets until I found the main shopping strip. I was then able to buy some toiletries, towel and food to tie me over for the next couple of days. This took up most of my day and when I eventually made my way back to the hostel I headed straight to the showers I was sure I could be smelt from a mile away!
That evening I made a call to my 2nd cousin Clifton and told him what had happened and he agreed to take me out shopping with his fiancée Michelle to get some new clothes. That night I crashed two nights of no sleep kind of does that to you there was no way I was fitting the town anytime soon.

Day 55

Today I met up with Clifton and Michelle for the first time ever!! It was great to actually meet some relatives I'd heard about but never seen. They took me down to some shops nearby where I was able to buy some clothes. They then offered to take me into Valletta that evening to have a look around.
To kill the time in between one of my new roommates Nathalie asked me if I would like to go down to the beach with her and some of her friends for the afternoon. I did and it was lovely basking in the sun.
My cousin arrived at 6pm to take me into Valletta for the evening. I didn't end up buying anything but it was great to get a feel for the place and to see the city by night. We visited the Upper Barraca Gardens which provided us with a fantastic view of the 3 cities.
On returning to the hostel the girls asked if I would join them in going to a local night club called Fergo which had Salsa dancing on that night. We went and had a fantastic time dancing the night away.

Day 56

Today I rose early to go to the markets in Valletta to see if I could pick myself up any bargains. While I was in the city I visited the Palace Armoury which displayed the different types of weapons and armour the Knights had used over the centenaries. I also visited St John’s cathedral which had been established by the Knight’s of Malta. The Cathedral was amazing, the floor is covered in the tombs of the Knight’s and the ceiling decorated with amazing religious paintings. A definite must see if you are visiting Malta. The entrance fee to the Cathedral also included an audio guided tour of the place and was rather informative.
This evening I headed out with Natasha another roommate, two aussie’s we’d just met and a couple of other new arrivals to the hostel. Our first stop was a bar playing live music before we headed out to Hugo’s on the main strip. Now the main street in Malt to go clubbing on is actually a set of stairs. The worst idea ever, how when your feeling a little worse for wear are you supposed to walk up hundreds of stairs in heels without tripping??? Anyway Hugo’s had a special on tequila shots that night……

Day 57

After a sleep in I awoke to a beautiful day and decided that I would head out to Blue Grotto for the afternoon. The place was gorgeous. You needed to walk down from the road to the place which gives you fantastic views of the cliffs and the Grotto. I had a quick look around before deciding to take a boat out to the caves that are in and around the Grotto. Afterwards I then took my time walking back up the hill taking in all of the scenery and taking a few too many photos!!
That night Clifton and Michelle took me out to Mdina and then onto Bugibba. Mdina is the old capital of Malta and it was very interesting to the see the city by night without the annoyance of tourists walking around everywhere. I did however decide that I would return the next day as there was going to be a festival on in the city. At Bugibba we grabbed dinner before heading out for a drink in a couple of the local nightclubs. We were however completely let down as we seemed to be the only ones out. So after a couple of hours we decided to call it a night and headed home.

Day 58

Today I headed back out to Mdina to check out the town in the daylight hours. This weekend there was a festival on so the city was teeming with people. The best part about this festival was that most of the historic sites were half price entry. I ended up visiting the Cathedral museum, St Paul’s Cathedral and the dungeons which depict the life of the people and important events that had occurred.
For lunch I found a spectacular spot overlooking the surrounding cities of Mdina. There was also a bird sanctuary present for the festival which had bought along a number of it’s birds. So I was able to get up close and personal with a number of eagles and owls.
Once I had finished wondering Mdina I moved onto the neighbouring town Rabat where I visited the St Paul’s Catacombs. There are a proximately 1400 graves in this set of Catacombs alone. Here I had an audio tour of the catacombs which depicted the rights and funeral activities that would have taken place centuries ago. This bought me into the late afternoon and on the way back up to the bus I decided to be a real tourist and take the tourist train around the two cities. It was very informative and definitely a one up on walking everywhere.
Tonight was rather quite night back at the hostel and everyone was a sleep early.

Day 59

Well our quite night was soon shattered as I was woken in the early hours of Sunday morning by Nathalie she could hear someone shout but couldn’t really understand what the person was saying (she’s French). So I sat there listening to hear someone shouting out ‘help me’. So I was up in a flash the next problem though was trying to find out where this person was. They had managed to fall out of the 2nd storey window trying to break into one of the rooms as they had been kicked out the week before for not paying. He had fallen down a shaft between the hostel and the next building so of course there was no way for us to get to him. After much running around we managed to contact the hostel manager and the ambulance to get him out. Lucky for him he only broke his thumb, cut his foot and head. So nothing too serious. Once things had died down we headed back to bed for a couple more hours of shut eye.
I woke in time to catch breakfast and then headed out to the Marsalokk markets with Nathalie and Medi. For lunch we had a wonderfully fresh seafood meals.
That night I as due to meet my other Maltese relatives, my father’s cousins. First off Clifton and Michelle took me to visit the three cities. We first stopped off at Victtorisa for a stroll along the Marina and then the city before heading off to Clifton’s parent’s house. The first comment was of course how much I looked like my mother however I had defiantly received my father’s colouring and Maltese likeness. Anyway we spent the night chatting and eating. With conversation switching between both English and Maltese. On the way home we swung past the house where my father and his siblings had spent the first few years of their lives.

Day 60

Monday I woke to pouring rain but decided that I would continue my plans and head out to the Dingli cliffs. The bus seemed to drop us in the middle of nowhere and I was relatively unimpressed at what I saw. I later found out though that if I had walked 15min further than I actually had I would have seen these cliffs. In my wonderful wisdom I decided that in the pouring rain I would try and walk to the Busket Gardens that were nearby. Well for all my efforts I never made it to the gardens but instead ended up with soaking jeans. My next stop on this wet day was to visit the Hagar Quim and Mnajdra prehistoric temples that date back 5000 years.
It was still raining when the bus dropped me off. As I was walking up the road to the temples a local stopped and asked if I wanted a lift and thinking that the temples must have been a good walk away I hopped in only to find they were only around the corner. Anyway this guy instead on showing me around promising I would get in for free which I did. After checking out the first temple which was really only stone ruins only a reminder of what it once was I decided it was time to lose my tour guide which I did quite successfully. I then visited the next temple which was much like the first before heading into the café for hot chocolate to warm myself up before I went off to wait in the rain for my bus. While I was making I met a lovely Italian/English couple and spent my time chatting away to them until the bus arrived.
On my way home I stopped at Valletta to do a spot of shopping picking up myself a lovely denim skirt. By now I had decided I was time to go back to the hostel for a hot shower and warm, dry clothes.
After dinner Graciella convinced me to go down to the local pub for a couple of drinks where we met an Irish/Maltese guy who was born in England. We had a great laugh before wondering home.

Day 61

My first movement of the day was to booked my accommodation for Gozo and again it was raining. I then headed off to the three cities visiting first the Maritime Museum in Victtorisa. The museum was quite fascinating and had many model boats on show. From there I moved onto the Malta at War museum. It is an underground museum in the old tunnels that the Maltese used to survive the 2nd World War. The place depicted the type of living conditions, where people slept and the birthing room. Imagine living in a place underground with thousands of others with only a few square feet to yourself. Malta was bombed so heavily that in 3 years there was only 1 recorded 24 hr period were no bombs fell on the country. Over 3500 tonnes of bombs were dropped in over 3000 air raids.
On the way back to the hostel I stopped off in Selima to do spot of shopping. And then after dinner headed out with Nathalie and Julie for a couple of beers.

Day 62

Today I started late and as a consequence I arrived at the Mosta Dome as it was closing for lunch . I did manage though to have a quick look inside and grab a photo or two. As I had travelled so far I decided to have a look around the city. I then travelled back to Valletta before heading off to the Tarxien Temples which were much like the other prehistoric temples that I had already visited during my trip.
As travelling between these two cities had taken up so much time tourist hours were almost up so on my return to Valletta I thought I would try and see the Lascaris War Museum. They were however closed for renovations so I was out of luck! I then stopped off in Semlima on the way back to the hostel for an ice-cream.
As it was Wednesday again we all headed out to a night of dancing in Fergo. That night we were also privilege to see a type of dancing called Capipre which is a type of fighting dance routine. Very entertaining to watch.

Day 63

Thursday: Nothing much happened today I headed off early to the markets in Valletta to pick up a suitcase as I would be moving onto Gozo on the weekend. It was a really lazing about day and I spent the rest of it chatting to the girls and going for a stroll with Gracelia.

Day 64

Today I slept in and after going for a stroll went to meet Nathalie at her English school. We however managed to miss each other and instead bumped into each other in the supermarket. In the afternoon the two of us plus Miriam headed down to Sliema for a girl afternoon out shopping and gossiping.
That night Clifton and Michelle took me out to a feast being held for a Saint Pawlyn in Florina. They first started off the celebrations with a church service and then moved onto a four hour long parade with marching band included. It was great to see some traditional festivities.

Day 65

Today I again took it easy going down to the call café to chat to mum.
In the afternoon Nathalie and I went to the Malta and Netherlands Rugby Union match that was being held. The match started off well but ended badly with Malta losing 9 to 27.
As it was one of my last nights in Malta, Graciella, Nathalie and I decided to hit the town and have a big one!! Well that soon feel through as Nathalie left as she was still extremely hangover from the night before. Gracrilla had also met up with one of her friends and it soon became noticeable that I wasn’t really needed. So I decided to head out on my own. The place was packed full of people on the streets everywhere. I decided to head into Hugo’s as I had been there before and soon met up with a couple of people I had met a few nights before. We soon left that place though as the club became so full of people that you couldn’t move! Our next stop was Fergo were we met a few other people that we knew and we partied the night away. It soon became apparent though that my new friend was expecting a little more than what I was willing to give. So I had to fend off potential kisses as I was dropped back off at the hostel at some ridiculous hour of the morning.

Day 66

My last day in Malta! Everyone slept late today and after doing some laundry Nathalie, Julie and I headed off to Paradise beach. I was however quite disappointed the beach was small and quite obviously a tourist attraction. Plus the weather was the best a little windy and not too warm....
That night I again met up with Roger for a beer and we organised our trip to Gozo the next day.

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