Malta and Gozo 2007

Day 1 - Monday 17th September 2007

Today was a long day.  As we were trying to cut flight costs we fly with Lufthansa which flew from Dublin to Frankfurt and then Frankfurt to Malta.  This all seemed like a good idea at the time but I think we will shell out the few sheckles the next time.  We were up early enough, no problems from Dublin to Frankfurt.  We had three hours to kill in Frankfurt airport and this was spent eating German sausage and playing slot machines in the Casino.  Eventually time came to board and the plane and we arrived in Malta.  Once off the plane the heat hit you straight away but it was a nice heat, a walk-around-at-night-in-your-tshirt kinda heat.   It was late enough so we negotiated a cab to the hotel.  Our cab driver was called Steve and he had an accent like a velvet whispa bar.  He was joking saying that he was not going to kill us tonight or bury us where he had buried other tourists.  Welcome to Malta!  Why do we always get these guys??  Our hotel was the Riviera Hotel and Spa which was in Marfa Bay.  Ray got a deal with the guys in work and we were happy enough not to be in right in the main party as this was all about chill out.  Mafta Bay is the extremem west side of the island.  Many a pirate ship landed on the Mafra Peninsula back in the day .  The cab cost around 15 lire which is about 40 euro.  Room was nice, gorgeous pool view.  We were excited but tired and bed called us early.  Couldnt even fit in a cocktail.  Its always find it hard to sleep in a strange bed and tonight was no exception.

Day 2 - Tuesday 18th September 2007

Both of us pretty much tossed and turned all night.  In the morning, thanks to the Maltese sun, our hotel room is like a glasshouse.  Fuckin roasting.  To the point where it was just too uncomfortable to sleep.  The air conditioning in the hotel works ok but its shit.  This is definitely one reason why I would not stay in this hotel again but we were just so happy to be away, just the two of us, so it didnt wreck our heads too much.   We were bolloxed though, with very broken sleep, the travel the day before and some serious partying the day before that, our plan today was to do as little as possible but as there was no shopping done at weekend due to the fact that we were on a complete bender we had to move and go and get some stuff in the local village.  Sun tan lotion, flip flops, that kind of stuff.  Everything we didnt get around to buying or forgot to pack and couldnt bring through the airport with us.  After breakfast and showers we wanted out and came to the bus stop.  The hotel looks out to the sea and you can see the islands of Gozo and Comino.  Its a very quiet part of the island and we could see a hotel further down the coast specialised in bar-b-q's on the beach.  Mental note for later.  Bus is the only way to travel around Malta.  They have an excellent bus system.  All the buses connect somewhere along the line and it costs about €1.00 to get to Valetta which is the capital and about an hour from where we were by bus.  We were only going to the village of Mellieha though so took us about 10 minutes.  Malta is a great place to rent a car and pop around the island as its small, they are not bad drivers and plenty to see off the beaten track.  When you come into Mellieha first you see the Church of our Lady of Victory straight away.  Mellieha is very small and seems to be very family orientated.  We bought our supplies and had some food al fresco in the Maritim Antonine Hotel and Spa.  Nice place, local wine was just delicious and fish seemed to be their speciality.   Swordfish is the "in" fish in Malta in September.  Happy Days.  Maltese wine is lovely but quite high in alcohol content.  After two glasses we floated around the town and then went back to the hotel.  The rest of the day was spent reading and planned where we would like to see.  The TV in the hotel room is shit.  Only one channel in English and its a news channel.  I know some people say "why go on holiday and watch TV" ...eh, cause I want to!  I love watching a movie curled up in bed at night time.  Good job I brought a rake of books with me.

Day 3 - Wednesday 19th September 2007

Woke up this morning to the sound of someone knocking on our hotel room door.  Breakfast!  Yummy!  Continental breakfasts are the way to go in the Med.  They havent a clue how to make a fry up at all.  Ray treated me to a facial and back massage after breakfast.  Nice!  After lunch at the poolside cafe we the plan today was to get the bus to Valetta.  It took about an hour to get there with plenty to see on the way.  Valetta is the last stop so we knew we wouldnt get lost.  The buses here always seem to be full of chattering locals.  Thats one thing I notice when I am away.  When you hop on a bus in Dublin, its fairly quiet.  There will be some people talking but most stay quiet.  When your away, the bus is full of people talking.  Anyways the last stop arrived (eventuallY) and our first site is the Triton Fountain.  Fairly impressive foundation with plenty of tourists and locals sitting around it.   Everyone enters Valetta through the City Gate.  Its all pedestrianised and if you walk for 1.5km you come to St. Elmo's fort.  Plenty of shops, cafe's, churches, museums and things to see and do.  The city was built after the Great Siege to create an impregnable fortress against another assault.  Good job!!  Rich in Renaissance.  Our next step, after a gorgeous iced cappachino in Cafe Royale was the National Museum of Archaelogy.  It showed stuff fround in prehistoric Malta.  Also the Hagar Qiu is stored here, common name, the "fat lady".  Grotesque looking statue of a fat woman with no head.  Another famous statue is the Sleeping Lady which is supposed to be Venus.  The most interesting thing though was a sheet of glass covering a set of stairs that went down and under the building.  The stairs went to the Palace was built in the 16th century and was right underneath us.  I so wanted to go down but its forbidden apparently.  Left there and continued walking down Valetta's main street.  Next building was an 18th century Venetian building which was the National Library, complete with real Venetian looking cafe outside.  Very much reminded me of Venice.  Lot of al fresco going on here and people happily watching the world go by.  The Church of St. Paul Shipwreck 16th century is housed here too but was closed when we went to see it.  Walking down the Grand Harbour we got a great view of St. Elmo's.  I had never seen a fort before, it looked huge.  Its now the houue of Malta's police academy.   We walked around a bit more.  I got some sandals which was very happy about as I have weird feet and its a bit hot walking around in runners.  Walking past a restaurant, it looked really good and we booked a meal for the Friday.  It had live jazz and a gorgeous menu.  Turns out Friday is Independence Day here so plenty of fireworks maybe.  There are plenty of craft shops in Valletta and plenty of time is needed to explore them if your looking for stuff.   Luckily we weren't and spent our time instead having some food in a cafe called Cafe Caravaggio, just off Republic Street.  Seafood is top class in Malta and this was no exception.  Decided to be good and not have dessert, still waiting on some decent gellato.  Headed back to the hotel and spent the rest of the evening reading and chilling on the beach.

Day 4 - Thursday 20th September 2007

Today we were going to see the Medieval town of Mdina and Rabat.  Mdina was once the ancient walled capital of Malta.  Its called The Silent City and its easy to see why once you get there.  Its very photogenic, very peaceful and very gorgeous and easily my favourite part of Malta so far.  This place was the centre of activity for the Knights of St. John.  Once through the City Gate the Mdina Dungeons were on our right hand side.  Decided to head in and see what it was like.   It was one of the most gruesom dungeons I have ever been in.  The place smelt really bad and was claustrophobic and the waxworks didnt leave anything to the imagination.  Horrible place, wont be back.  The main thing to see is St. Paul's Cathedral which is quite impressive from the outside.  Turned out two boys from Dublin were getting married there so it was closed to the public.   We went for food in a placed called Ciappetti which had a little garden area outside theback, very cute.  There is plenty of flies in Malta which are driving me a bit insane.  Fierce cheeky!  After food we headed back through the streets, pas St. Agatha's Chapel and the nunnery of St. Benedict.  These nuns dont leave the convent and men are not permitted into it.  We came out the City Gate and into the little town of Rabat.  Slightly more lively town with plenty of locals drinking wine on benches in the streets.  Very Italian!  Walked up through the streets and came upon the town square.  This place is tiny so the town square was quite small.  Due to new sandals I got blisters which were soon a things of the past after we managed to find a chemist.  Problem solved.  When we were in Venice we got some gorgeous Kanoli and saw it in a little bakery in the town square.   Didnt taste half as good as what we had in Venice.  We saw opposite St. Pauls Church and had our treat.  Its a very religious island and they are crazy about St. Paul who apparently got shipwrecked here back in the day.  After our snack we went into St. Paul's church and some stairs led down to a grotto.  The grotto turned out to be a little cave.  This is when St. Paul preached.  Was interesting.  After that we made our way to St. Agatha's crypt and catacombs.  I won’t even go into the poor torture this young nun went through in the sake of religion. She fled Sicily and was hiding in Malta and here we were, just the two of us, standing in her hiding place which resembled not a lot more than a cave in the side of a wall. There is usually supposed to be a tour group and guide around the catacombs but as usual myself and Ray fucked off and snuck into the crypt. We were in the cave and we spied a tiny doorway carved into the cave. We climbed into it and we came upon an underground chamber which was light up by an amber light. There was skeletons everywhere and the maze was getting bigger and bigger the further into the catacombs we went. There was skulls that you could actually pick up and other bones. Not that we did but I could imagine some sick fuckers holding them up whilst someone taking a photographs and even sicker fucks taking chips of bone home with them. We understood now why this was a tour group, so they could warn you not to touch anything. We wouldn’t have anyways. The air was very musty and after walking around a bit decided that it wasn’t the place to get lost in. We didn’t have a map and we were alone with nothing but death around us. It was the most I ever felt like Indiana Jones. We then decided to leave as getting lost in the catacombs would not have been the highlight of the day. We had both seen enough and it was getting hard to breath. We left there and was glad of the fresh air back on the streets. Everywhere closes early in Malta. It was only 4.00pm and already it was shutting up shop. The restaurants and bars, cafes etc, that stuff stays open but museums, places of interest etc, that all closes quite early so if you like sleeping late on holidays you will probably miss stuff so make sure you get an alarm clock. We had taxi ordered to pick us up at 5.30pm as we were going to Mellieha and no bus goes from Mdina to there so you were looking at a bus out somewhere and then back so we couldn’t be bothered and ordered a cab. It was coming to get us at 5.30pm so we had time to kill and saw outside a little café with some rum and watched the bussel outside the old City Walls. Once we got back to the hotel we were wrecked. After an hours sleep we got out stuff together as we were heading to Valetta to see a show called The Knights of Malta 1565. A bus was coming to get us at 7.30pm. I think we both thought it was going to be something like Medieval Times in Florida. We were both disappointed. When we got there we had a glass of red wine and asked to take out seats. The place is nothing more than what looks like a big gym hall with seats on one side. There was no food involved we ended up seated beside an elderly English couple. We got talking for a while. Couldn’t drink any more of the red wine cause it was vinegar. Ray went outside and appeared back with a bottle of Cava and being the gentleman that he is brought four glasses with him. The woman looked a little and reminded me a lot of my grandmother. The first half of the show we didn’t really enjoy. Very amateur and when we worked it out we had paid €75.00 (per ticket!). There is plenty of lights and actors and smoke effects. The lighting is very clever but by the interval we were looking for another drink. Ray obliged again as the couple beside us only had euro and it wasn’t accepted. Turns out they were staying in the same hotel so I lent them €50.00 (real reason was cause I didn’t want Ray paying for drinks all night) and they said they would give it back when we got to the hotel. This of course meant they got a bottle too. Myself and older woman (Diane) got completely pissed. Either the second half of the show was much better than the first half or we were just sizzled. Either way we all had a great time. At one point the sound of a cannon went off and gave Diane such a fright that she jumped and her Cava ended up all over Ray. This was too much for me to handle in my drunk state and spent the next 10 minutes laughing with tears rolling down my face. After the show ended (don’t know if I would recommend it, good for kids though) we got on our bus back to the hotel. Sleep was very welcome. Got to the hotel and Diane said they would leave the funds at reception. Watch this space!!!!

Day 5 – Friday 21st September

Friday was spent chilling out. Ray trying to work on his tan and me trying to work on my TV skills. Later on that evening we got the bus to Valetta as today was Independence Day. We had reservations in a restaurant called Malata. This was on the Palace Square. It was a gorgeous (looking) French restaurant and they were playing live jazz outside. The food was amazing, the staff great and you were left alone to spend as much time as you wanted there. There was a procession on that went by for Independence Day. After our meal (yep, would go there again!) we went to St. Julian’s. We thought there would be plenty of fireworks over the bay and parades…nope, nothing! The place we were (beside Westin Dragonara) reminded me a little of Ibiza’s west end. Lots of noise, short skirts, cheap cocktails, drinking, plenty of kids. Once we saw a sign saying “all clubs 16+” we decided to head. Call me old if you want but most 16 year old party different to our ages and we didn’t want to stay there just for the sake of it. Got a rip off taxi home. Taxi drivers are the same the world over.

Day 6 – Saturday 22nd September

Didn’t bother with breakfast today and slept quite late. Went to Mellihia and myself and Ray went down to see the Grotto of the Madonna. Mellieha is on the coats and we had to go down a rake load of steps and then came upon this little cave. Inside the cave was flickering candles (which shows that its visited everyday) and it has a spring which is reputed to heal sick children. All long the walls were items of tiny clothing belonging to children who were sick or who had died. There was notes stuck to the walls of the cave in different languages telling of sick kids in the family, one woman from Ireland had written too about the death of one of her kids and for the Madonna to look after him. It was a strange, quiet place. We didn’t talk at all in the cave, seemed wrong to somehow and left after a little while. After that we went for lunch in a totally unforgettable place. I hate places abroad that try to much to have “English” food. Anyways we went to talk to a woman called Michelle to see if she could organise a trip to Gozo for us. Turns outs we booked ourselves in for quad biking tomorrow. It was combined with Popeye’s village which was great cause we wanted to check that out. Looked like fun. Headed back to the hotel had some food in the bistro and ran into the English couple. We got the funds back. It was funny cause myself and Ray had ourselves convinced (for the laugh!) that we had been conned by two sweet old people. We had had a few drinks the night before and stuck a story in our heads. Would have been a funny tale to tell back home but nope, these people were on the level. After food we went down to Hola Beach. It’s a nice set up down there. Crystal blue waters, bar-b-q set up, bar on the sandy beach. The food looked good and even though we had just eaten Ray couldn’t resist and piled up again. There seemed to be some kind of show going on so we dug ourselves a little hole in the sand and sat down with some vino. Turns out the show was being done by the same guys who did The Knights of Malta (groan!). Far too dramatic these creatures (even for me!). After draining the bottle we legged it back to the hotel and hoped that tonight’s movie (they show one movie a night in a different language) was going to be in English and turned out to be in German. Fuck yiz!

Day 7 – Sunday 23rd September

Oh the fun of today! Got up early and legged it downstairs for breakfast. Met out guide at ten. His name was Sam and he brought it to where we were going around on our quad bikes. Turns out it was just me and Ray going out on them today, woo-hoo! Sam was a good laugh and he told us he was still a little drunk from the night before. He was asking for a licence, he said it was a must, I said I had one so it was no problem. (We said nothing about Ray!). We drove all around the countryside (on the coastline of course!), beautiful views, really amazing. The water in Malta is the best water I have seen ever in the Med. Gorgeous azure waters. Sam brought us places he said you weren’t really meant to go but cause it was just the three of us we would head there. No complaints here matey! We were having a smoke in a World War II bunker and having a talk about life on Malta. He seems happy enough there but he said there is plenty of depression also. Plenty of drinking and the new generation are turning to clubs and drugs and leaving religion behind. Yep, Malta is Ireland 50 years ago! After the bunker, Ray wanted to drive. Off we went. Ray was like a kid in a candy store. But…as we were coming around a hill and a car was coming the other way Ray went to break but hit the accelerator by accident and we went straight into the car. The bike turned out. Ray was thrown. I was under the bike and Ray ran over to pull me from under it. This is where it turned nasty (yes, after the crash!). We were cut and bleeding but out of the car came 4 big Maltese fuckers! We had hit the side of their car which had dented it and they were not happy. They thought I had been killed once they saw me under the truck and they got a fright. They were coming over to throw digs at Ray when Sam stepped in. He managed to calm the situation but the guys wanted to call the Police. Did we both definitely have a licence? Ray was driving and he didn’t have one. Sam said this was going to be a huge problem. To cut a long story short, money is everyone’s language and Ray paid them off. Bout 200.00 – yes it was a rip off but Sam said it was better than the police coming cause the fine would have been huge. Plus we fucked up his bike (plenty of scrapes and a broken mirror) but we didn’t have to pay for that. We ended up back at Popeye’s village (where we started the quad bikes from) and Sam couldn’t apologise enough. We felt bad for him, I mean it was our fault but no-one had died so it was ok. He was asking did I want to go to hospital. I was bleeding with a couple of knocks but we were outside Popeye’s village and they had free wine in there, I wasn’t going near any hospital. Popeye’s Village is right on the coastline and you tour around the village by yourself. You can take as little or as much time as you need or want. There are places to eat, places to sunbathe and swim in a gorgeous blue lagoon (which I must remember if I ever had Audrey over here with me!)  There was a baking contest and they were looking for volunteers.  Yep, yours truly was picked!  I had to try to bake a loaf of bread in quick time with 3 other contestants.  We were covered in flour and water and basically I was destroyed.  Great fun though!  Ray got a kick out of it.

Day 8 – Monday 24th September 2007

I remember heading into Sliema today.  Ray was spruced up and wanted to check out the Casino.  He treated me to a meal that overlooked Sliema Bay.  A small (or so I thought) Italian restaurant that was about 4 floors up.  We were given the very top table overlooking the whole bay and it was a gorgeous view.  We were al fresco whereas all the other tables were indoors.   Food was lovely and wine was lovely.  Cant remember the name of the place but I know where it is for next time.  We were both a bit full after leaving the restaurant so decided to go for a walk along the pier.  We were enjoying our romantic walk when suddenly..... slump!  Yep, Kiera falls on her ass.  When I tried to stand up I realised I had walked into a puddle of slime.  Every time I tried to get up I kept slipping.  Remember Bambi on ice, well that was me.  Ray eventually grabbed both my arms and pulled me out.  A waiter ran out from a nearby restaurant to say at leat 25 people A WEEK fall in the slime.  Its from the boats on the pier.  I was the 4th person that day to fall.  They were trying to petition the government to put up warnings signs about it but nothing yet.    I was destroyed!  Head to foot in slime.  I went into the restaurant with the waiter and tried to scrape some of the slime off me.  Ray couldnt keep the laughter in.  It was in my hair, my face, my clothes...everything.   Here we were on our way to the Westin Casino where you have to be dressed smartly and I was manky and smelling of cat food.   After a bit of a clean up job I decided I didnt really give a fuck and we went about our way.  I smelt dreadful.  Anyways we hit the Casino and parted way.  Ray plays cards and I play the slots.  We both had a bit of craic.  I wont a baby jackpot of €100.00 and was given free champagne and sandwiches.  I know that I smelt shit and the waiters were pretending not to notice lol.  Ah well.

Day 9 – Tuesday 25th September 2007

We were dying this morning!!! It was lashing out of the heavens and we had major hangovers. Ray was delighted it was raining cause he reckoned that meant that the trip was cancelled. I was seriously hoping the opposite as it was one of our last days here and the only opportunity we were going to get to go to Gozo. Much to Ray’s disappointment the trip was still on. He may grumble now but he will be very glad later on. We went downstairs and grabbed what we could for breakfast and went to get the mini bus that was waiting for us outside the hotel. There was a few people on the mini bus and we drove for all of the 5 minutes over to catch the ferry. No one looked in good form as it was lashing and windy. We got the ferry after about half an hour of hugging each other for warmth and it was kinda cute on board with a little café. After about 20 minutes we arrived in Gozo and we were being allocated to our jeeps. Turns out Sam was one of the drivers so myself and Ray went over to him and he was our driver for the day along with 4 Dutch people. Turns out they were the most boring Dutch people …ever! Ah well. At this stage the rain had stopped and the sun was fighting with the clouds to come through.

First place we stopped with a massive massive quarry. It’s a limestone quarry and its what most of the buildings in Gozo are made from. There are mad fuckers that work in the summer heat down there and it can reach 50 degrees and they don’t use masks or anything. Not surprisingly many of them have respiratory problems in later life. The limestone is evident all over Gozo.

Next place to visit was close to Xaghra and overlooking the red sands of Gozo’s best beach, Ramla l-Hamra (or Ramla bat) is Calypso’s cave. This is where in Homer’s “The Odyssey” some people are convinced that the cave is where the beautiful nymph Calypso kept Odysseus as a prisoner of love for seven years until he eventually escaped. There is a steep climb down to the cave and myself and Ray were the only two who ventured into it. The inside of the cave was nothing to write home about but was kinda exciting standing in a place associated with legend.

The beach was lovely but an overcast day still and Sam was telling myself and Ray about the parties that used to go on down at the beach. There was a statue of Mary on the beach and he was saying that if that statue could talk… He was saying there was now a lot of drugs and raves on the beaches of Gozo and that access to the beach for such sessions was now illegal.

To be found right near Dweira Lake is the rock archway knows as The Azure Window. The waters in Gozo are just gorgeous and myself and Ray promised ourselves we would come back one day on a diving holiday. You used to be able to climb on top of the window but apparently its in danger of collapsing. Ray and I climbed down to the very bottom of it and were sorry we didn’t bring out swim suits with us as the water looked very inviting. The sun was now shining and was lovely and warm. On warm days there are tiny little speed boats that bring you through the network of caves and you get to see little things like the colourful coral growing on the cave sides and the crocodile rocks. Easy to see why pirates chose the islands of Malta and Gozo for their hideouts.   These boat trips are well worth it.

There is a small modern statue of Christ which we passed by which reminded me of the statue in Rio in Brazil. Apparently its his brother.

There is a fairly modern church on the island (Built around 1930). Ta’Pinu. There has previously been a chapel on this site that was from the 16^th century and the church was built over it. The small chapel has a reputation for miracles so the church was actually build around the original chapel. We didn’t get to see inside it though. Would have liked to have seen it. Maybe next time.

There is one set of traffic lights in Gozo and Sam was saying that that is where the most traffic accidents happen.

Our last stop for today was the fortified Old Citadel which is located high up on a hill above Victoria which is the capital city of Gozo. This is a small medieval city and well worth a visit. Its just gorgeous. Its quite high up and a great view of Gozo from the top. It was built in the 16^th century and where Gozitan people used to sleep as they were constantly being attacked by the Turks back in the day. There are plenty of little craft shops here and lace is a big thing in Gozo (and Malta). Plenty of evidence of the Knights of St. John around the place and there was a small little cavern that I would love to have eaten in but we weren’t hungry. Had an ice cream instead.

Then we headed back to where we were to get the Ferry back to Malta.   Will miss Sam, he was a good laugh and enjoyed his company and commentary.

Day 10 - Wednesday 26th September 2008

Ray had a treat in store today.   We were going to leave the coast of Mellieha and spent out last day in Sliema.  It was nearer the airport too and something a bit different was nice.  The hotel we stayed in was overlooking the bay, not too far from the Italian restaurant we were in (and my spillage!).  The hotel was nice, cute rooms, great air conditioning and it had a rooftop bar and pool which we hit the minute we landed in the hotel.  Chilled out there for a while and then decided to explore.  Walked around the area and spotted a hairdressers.  Went in and got the hair done as it was our last night here and we were going for dinner.   Ray was glad of a bit of chill out time to himself and his new book and we met then again when we were ready to go to dinner.  A taxi driver had recommended a restaurant called Barracuda.  It was fabulous.  Gorgeous decor with an al fresco section that almost sits on the bay.  We were inside though and kinda glad as it was slightly windy.  Really enjoyed our last meal there and will be very sad to be leaving Malta.

Day 11 - Thursday 27th September 2008

Really cant remember why we didnt fly direct to Malta but after getting the plane to Frankfurt and a 6 hour wait until our flight to Dublin, will be going direct in future.   Home safe and happy.