blogging around the world_malta

7/30/2019 Blogging Around the World_Malta

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Blogging AroundBlogging AroundBlogging AroundBlogging AroundThe WorldThe WorldThe WorldThe World

Cover Design: Cara WilliamsCover Design: Cara WilliamsCover Design: Cara WilliamsCover Design: Cara WilliamsPhotography: Cara WilliamsPhotography: Cara WilliamsPhotography: Cara WilliamsPhotography: Cara Williams

Copyright 2007Copyright 2007Copyright 2007Copyright 2007 by Cara Williamsby Cara Williamsby Cara Williamsby Cara WilliamsAll rights reservedAll rights reservedAll rights reservedAll rights reserved


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By Cara WilliamsBy Cara WilliamsBy Cara WilliamsBy Cara Williams

CONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTS

Chapter 1:Chapter 1:Chapter 1:Chapter 1: ValettaValettaValettaValetta 3333

Chapter 2:Chapter 2:Chapter 2:Chapter 2: GozoGozoGozoGozo 5555

Chapter 3:Chapter 3:Chapter 3:Chapter 3: XXXXlendilendilendilendi 9999

Chapter 4:Chapter 4:Chapter 4:Chapter 4: BugibbaBugibbaBugibbaBugibba 11111111


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Chapter OneChapter OneChapter OneChapter One

Aug 23rd

I started packing and looking for my passport after work today and

disaster! No passport. I cried, rang mum and dad who started turning

Seward upside down, cried some more, started throwing things round

the flat, rang Jon and had him searching his house and Vinka picked

me up to take me to work to check there no luck. Jon came back to

mine and looked with me. We moved all the furniture, split my bed in

half and tipped it upside down and there it was it had been wedgedbetween broken bed slats. I was on the verge of cancelling the holiday

this was a sign. I HAVE to enjoy this one after all the stress leading upto

it!

Aug 24th

Up at 7.40am. Mum (bless her) picked me up, picked up Jon and

drove us to Brentford Station. We got our 9.30 tickets to Gatwick and

got to Gatwick in an hour. There was a HUGE queue for security, but it

moved quite quickly and we even had time to buy Travel Scrabble

and I had a bottle of wine while Jonhad his huge cooked breakfast! After

I beat Jon drunkenly at in flight

Scrabble and 3 hours and 5 minutes

later we landed in Valetta, got our

bags and went out, found a bus, got

on it and drove the hour and a half

to the town centre. The driver kindly

let us have the drive or free. I like the

Maltese! I fell asleep on the bus it

was hot and I was feeling faint and

hungover. We had found guesthouse recommended in the book

which we waited outside as no

one answered the bell. We waited

for an eternity and eventually Jon

rang the number on the door. The

guy said we should wait for him

until 7pm. It was 5pm. We quickly

realised the Maltese run on their


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own time and assume everyone else does so we headed up and down

some more steep roads until we came across The Grand Harbour Hotel

and paid 25 lira each (about 18 each) for the night. After a much

needed shower, we wandered around town to find somewhere to eat

and ended up at Cafe Caravaggio (which was quite decently priced

(to figure out the exchange rate, halve the lira value and add the

original lira value plus a bit ie. 4 lira is about 8. Dinner was nasty by the

way. We went for a walk to purge our stomachs and noticed that The

Malta Arts Festival was in full swing. There was go karting, opera singers

in the main square and fireworks.

Vaeltta is very pretty it reminds me of Trogir (but with a lot of British

influence). There are British shops (with a much better M&S than us!)

Aug 25th

After a sleepless night (why didnt we pay 2 more for air con!) we had

breakfast on the 7th floor of our hotel which had amazing views. We

then packed up our stuff and headed out to do a recommended walk

around the city walls. It took about an hour we sat and chatted to a

local for 20 mins about the history of Malta and his experiencesabroad. The Maltese are very friendly. We then slowly headed back to

our hotel and stopped in Cettina Cafe for a pea pie. (We didnt really

have one but it is a speciality).

It is hard work walking up endless flights of stairs with two bags in 50

degrees!

We walked to the bus stop and got the

number 62 to Paceville. After a 15 min

journey we were in Paceville (which

could also be Touristville). It is all overpriced hotels, casinos, bars and

restaurants. A guy in cab tried to sell us a

ride but after we said no he said to follow

him on foot to the B&B he touts business

for. We followed him and waited for ages

for the hotel manager (again working on

Malta time). We eventually found out it

would cost us 24 lira (31) to stay. We

were looking for 10 accommodation but

haggled the guy down to 7 lira each for

a single room. We took it, put our stuff upthere (no damn air con!) and headed round the corner to a car hire

place. It cost us 16.95 lira each (a rip off at 35 for the day) We took it,

but wouldnt pick it up until tomorrow so jumped on the bus and

headed to St Georges Bay to a sandy beach and relaxed for a couple

of hours.

We headed back to the room a little more relaxed and then went for

dinner down the road at The Avenue (recommended in Lonely Planet).


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After dinner, we went to a bar and played pool, and went back to the

room to conserve money for tomorrow. It is unbearably hot but as it

was so cheap we paid for a second night. There are freaky noises like

gunshots outside every few minutes. Ok so maybe they were fireworks

but scary nonetheless.

ChapterChapterChapterChapter TwoTwoTwoTwo

Aug 26th

We got up early to meet the guy with our car. He was late surprise. We

almost missed him as he arrived in a

battered white Peugeot but found

ourselves jumping in the back as he

drove to a local hotel to meet his

friend and sort out the insurance

papers. Once we had done this and

taken extensive photos of the car, we

were on our way. I had been fretting

all night about my navigating and Jon

demonstrating road rage as I led him

down yet another one way street but

luckily, all I had to do was lead him

down route 1 to get to the South of

the island to see The Blue Grotto.About 20 minutes later we arrived, got

out, walked round a mountain to find

people sunbathing by the sea. Boats

were picking people up to go to The

Grotto (a beautiful Aqua Marine cove). We paid our 3 lira and hopped

on a boat and visited a series of caves, plus numerous poisonous

jellyfish along the

way.

We then got back

in the car andheaded for Hagar

Qim (supposedly

the worlds oldest

ruins). By the time

we arrived it was

about 50 degrees

and very difficult to

walk around in the


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open air. The ruins were quite a

walk from the car park. We saw

the ruins from a distance (we

had to pay to go in and werent

that bothered) so we walked

along the rough barren terrain

to the cliff edge and saw a

grave of one of the Maltese

Presidents. We sat and

contemplated for a few

minutes, Jon peed in the bush

and we headed to get a much

needed drink. In the cafe I asked the barman what all the explosions

were and he laughed and said The Germans are coming. Well that

reassured me. A local woman then told me that every Sunday is festival

day in Malta and each town tried to outdo each other with

celebrations and fireworks to honour their respective saints.

We got back in the car and drove West to Rabat (a place of historical

and medieval beauty) and specifically for Mdina (a walled citadel

inside Rabat town). It is majestic and

untouched

by tourists.

We

couldnt

stay in the

sun long

enough to

explore

Mdina

properly sowe got an

ice cream,

got in the

car and

went to

the far East

of the island to Golden Bay (a beautiful

sandy beach) but couldnt find a parking spot and the beach was crammed

so we decided to go and gate crash a

local hotel and use their pool instead.

The Corinthia San Gorg proved to bethe closest and I went in, put my best

flirty voice on and tried to charm them

into using their pool. They said of course

madam that will be 3 lira each. Damn.

We rested in the shade and went in the

pool for a couple of hours before driving

to the not very highly recommended

fishing village of Marxlaloxx (Marsh a


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shlock). It smelt of gone off fish and there were numerous old people parked

on benches along the water front watching the sunset. We found a place to

eat which was hideous. The orange juice was gone off and the meat was

horrible. I didnt think anyone could mess up chicken steak. Avoid the Cafe

de Paris.

Jon was ready to stop driving at this point, so we headed back to The

Radisson hotel where we left the car for the car hire people. Although the guy

was nice from the Briffa Rentals company, the car was dodgy as hell, as was

the arrangement we made with Joe. He told us to leave the car anywhere

with the keys in the glove compartment and draw him a map of where it was

parked and leave the map with our hostel owners. We did that and started

the 15 min trek back to the Hacienda (our hostel) to get ready to go out for

some alcoholic beverages.

After a shower, we went to an internet cafe to look at potential

accommodation on Gozo, got bored so we played pool and went to

Footloose bar/club and had some cocktails while watching the pole

dancing and salsa dancing going on simultaneously. It was a great bar

especially when Doug (or so we named him)

turnedup and

geek

danced

with his

friends.

After 4 or

5

cocktails

we

staggered to The

Peppermint Park bar for another drink. Paceville

is the ideal place for a girls or lads holiday. It is

drinks and clubs galore and loud music from everywhere. It was really nice to

spend an evening doing that but Im glad were moving on tomorrow. We

got some chips and headed back to our room at about 1.30am. For once, I

slept like a log!

Aug 27th

After dragging Jon out of bed, we wentto the no. 645 bus stop to the ferry

terminal, Cirkewwa (which was a lovely

45 min drive round the entire island).

We did the 25 minutes crossing to Gozo

(Mgarr) and realised we had no map of

the area. We started walking aimlessly

until a guy turned up trying to get us to

take a cab to Xlendi (recommended


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place to stay) but we wouldnt pay the ridiculous amount he was charging us

so he reluctantly pointed us to our bus to get to Victoria (you have to stop off

at Victoria in order to get anywhere in Gozo). The number 25 bus turned up

just as we reached the stop so we got on and sweated in the heat until

changing for the no. 87 bus to Xlendi (Shlendi) where we had already

decided to stay. The driver was displaying typical Maltese behaviour by being

fashionably late (we waited 35 mins for our bus) but luckily Xlendi was well

worth the wait. I loved it immediately. It is set tiny but based around the

harbour which they have cultivated into what seems like a huge turquoise

natural swimming pool. Hotels

and bars are scattered around

the sea and climb up a cliff. We

knew the place we wanted to

stay was up a steep hill so we

went up the only steep hill we

could find, but after 5 minutes

couldnt be bothered to walk

anymore and stopped at the

Serena Apartments to ask about

prices. It was a strangely furnished

hotel reception, with Victorian

brass fittings and chairs covered

with felt. We booked a room for 4 nights after we realised they had air

conditioning. It was 25 a night but well worth it as we had our own entire

apartment, with kitchen, bathroom, huge bedroom and living area. It was

amazing. There are two pools in the hotel, a gym and we get breakfast. There

is even a tunnel under the hotel to take people to the ground level to save

them walking down the steep hill!

We got our stuff together and

went to the terrace pool where

we had this gorgeous view of thesea below. I started reading The

Amazing Adventures of Dietgirl

which really are amazing. It kept

me entertained until I got hungry

and we went in to have a shower

and partake in the usual pre

dinner rituals including freaking

out about how much money we

have spent and whether to skip

dinner tonight. We decided to eat

and headed to a Lonely Planet recommended restaurant up on the cliff IcCimi. We were seated out overlooking the sunset. It was bliss. As was the food.

Oh my god. It was exquisite. I had a peppercorn steak and Jon had Dick a la

orange and both were the best meals we have ever eaten. The local Maltese

wine was also delicious. The meal cost us 25 (eek!) but was so worth it. We

walked off our full bellies around the town there was only one bar. I loved the

fact that it has so much character and wont change for tourists. We got an

ice cream (always room for ice cream!) and went for a dose of air con and

the Travel Channel (I am addicted!)


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CCCChapterhapterhapterhapter TTTThreehreehreehree

Aug 28th

I slept badly considering the nice place. Jon and I both have bad

stomachs (Im sure it was that orange juice) but naturally were well

enough to sample our continental breakfasts. It appears our hotel is

overrun with elderly Scottish people (thanks Ryanair) and we wolfed

down our scrambled eggs as they all

nibbled their dry toast.

After breakfast we went for a walk up a

mountain to discover a cove and a dead

end. A bit of a let down, so we went and

sat on the small piece of sandy beachand sunbathed instead. We snorkelled for

about an hour in the clear water until it

got too hot. We went in search of a

supermarket to get ingredients to make a

lasagne tonight to a) save money and b)

use the wonderful facilities in our

apartment. It cost us 4 lira (about 8) so it

was a good choice! Until we got back to

the apartment and realised we dont

have an oven! We will improvise. We were told it was 38 degrees

before 9am this morning (by one of the afore mentioned Scottishguests) so I wonder what temperature it is now at midday!?

We sat by our hotel pool in the afternoon and snoozed until about 5pm

to start cooking. We decided to make a microwaveable version of

lasagne, which we figured was okay and all went well until our

microwave stopped working and we were worried it was going to

spark and explode. It started working again randomly (we realised it

wouldnt work over about 40 degrees kind of a culinary version of

Speed. We waited and

waited but eventually we did

eat our lasagne and it was

damn good even if I do say

so myself. Jon felt really

unwell afterwards which was

not a great omen, but I

blame the orange juice still

from the other day. SO we

stayed in and happily


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enjoyed our air con and The Travel Channel!

Aug 29th

We were up at 8.45am (the alarm was set for 8 but it is THAT difficult to

get Jon out of bed in the mornings. We decided to brave the

unpredictable buses to visit Xhaghra (a pretty village with caves and

orleanders. I wasnt sure what orleanders were but I wanted to find

out. We waited for 40 minutes for the 87 bus to Vctoria. A bus cam but

decided not to pick us up so we turned to the smelly Hills Have Eyes

extra who was chuckling to himself oh the buses only come once an

hour round here so we gave up and

went to find out the cost of car hire

here. It was a lot more reasonable

than Malta - 9 a day so we signed

up for tomorrow. We did the usual

pool in the morning, beach in the

afternoon instead, snorkelled, swam

and had the rest of our lasagne for

dinner. We procrastinated, digested

and took the tunnel down to sit bythe pier to discuss plans for

tomorrows drive. We went to Moby

Dick for a drink or two and then went back to our hotel and heard

music coming from the roof top terrace. Yes, the Elvis impersonator was

in town. Jon and I played pool while he

sang, drunkenly argued and reluctantly

made up. We did what we usually do

when we argue. We went to the room

and ate a chunk of frozen Revels. (They

melted in the intense heat, we

froze/recycled them. Very Green if youask me).

Chapter four

Aug 30th

After breakfast, we met our second banged up White Peugeot in the

car park to find out it will cost us

double what we were quoted. We

were pissed off but paid the money as

we had already planned out our route.

So we tried to find our way to

Barbagan Rock (a viewpoint

overlooking Comino the third island


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after Malta and Gozo) but after very nearly running over a pedestrian

and freaking out about the lack of road signs, we got lost and ended

up in Qala.

Luckily it was right by the sea and we got a view of Comino from there.

Next, we drove to the most beautiful beach I have ever seen. San Blas

was not really mentioned in our guide book but I think its well worth a

look. It has red sand, secluded lagoons and is very private. We did

have to scramble down a ridiculously steep hill to get to it (which we

later realised we could have driven down). We admired the view for a

bit and moved on to Ramla Bay (the main sandy beach in Gozo). We

got lost however and made a detour through Victoria. So we got out

and went to see Ninus Cave a freak of nature cave under

someones house containing

thousands of years old stalecmites

and stalectites. We were going to

see Xerris Grotto but once we

realised it was pretty much the same

thing, we mooched in a cafe with a

cold drink for a while.

Quote of the holiday, Look, theres a

lizard, pull its tail off. Once back in

the car, we headed for Marsalforn

(the tourist resort on Gozo). We planned to stay there and got some

prices of guesthouses. I wasnt taken with the place. It felt overly

crowded with Brit pleasing

establishments and there was no

sand or area to sit by the sea. I

suggested we moved on to St Pauls

back on Malta to stay tonight

instead as wed heard of a place for7.50lira that gets you breakfast,

dinner and air conditioned rooms. It

sounded appealing to my bank

account.

We got back in the car to head to Dwerja Bay on the West coast,

which was meant to have

amazing coastal scenery. We

eventually found Crocodile

Rock and Fungus Rock and

enjoyed the scenery whileslurping on a slushi.

We got back in the car and

drove to Victoria to get

ingredients for a Chinese stir fry.

After a hike and 2 supermarkets,

we tracked some Blue Dragon

sauce down.


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We had our lovely stir fry about 7pm and had to lie down as we were

so knackered from walking so much today. Jon got unwell again after

dinner (but managed to selflessly scoff his novelty sized bag of Jelly

Babies in one sitting).

Aug 31st

We had our final breakfast in Xlendi and after many protestations of

youre so mean and selfish Jon got up. We checked out (which I was

very sad about) and headed to the 87 bus stop. The bus turned up

right away (for once) and at Victoria our bus only took half an hour. An

improvement. We got the ferry back to Malta and a bus was waiting

for us. We very narrowly avoided running a pedestrian over and getting

killed ourselves as our bus almost collided with an

oncoming car. We didnt know where Bugibba

was (where we were staying) and got off at St

Pauls instead (which after a 40 minute walk with

bags) we realised was a long way away. We

found the Buccaneers Guest House and

promptly decided not to pay 7.50lira for the with

dinner option and went for the 6lira option andeat our dinner out every night instead.

Our room was rubbish compared to Xlendi but

its just a base as Jon kept reminding me. We

unpacked and went upto the pool basically

a paddling pool made of fiber glass. But it was better than nothing. I

sunbathed and enjoyed more of Dietgirls Adventures while Jon slept.

After a nap, Jon was unsurprisingly hungry so we went to find the

Wagon Steakhouse to satisfy Jons urge for meat. We had loads

between us and were sitting in there for 2 hours drinking wine. We then

headed down the road to Velvet bar, where we were given a rangeof food to entice us to stay. We began to feel a little nauseous after the

banquet wed just had.

We went to bed stuffed but happy at about

midnight.

Sep 1st

Woke up with a sore head and headed to

find our bus to the ferry terminal (we had

decided to go to Comino. It turned out to bea bad decision as far as I was concerned. It

was really windy and the sea was choppy.

Wind + choppy water = unhappy Cara. Our

ferry was actually a small boat and it rocked wildly in the bad

weather. Water was crashing over the sides and we were almost

capsizing. We had to detour from the usual 15 min route as the water

was too bad to cut through. It was the scariest boat ride Ive ever

been on and I cried when we got to Comino.


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We had to clamber across

rocks to get near the lagoon.

Along with a growing number

of tourists, we climbed down

the mountain to get near the

crystal blue water. There was

no space to sit down so we

went in the sea and

snorkelled. It was really cold

now and still so windy that I

didnt feel safe in the water as

the current was so strong. I

was miserable as I was

dreading the boat back so much and said I would pay for us to stay a

night here (there is only one hotel on Comino and it costs 100 a night!

Jon said no and we decided to get the next boat back and get it over

and done with. The journey back was not as bad, although it got worse

as it went on.

After kissing the ground back on Malta, we

got the bus towards Bugibba but at the last

minute decided to stay on the bus to Bahar

Ic Caghaq to a water park we had spotted

earlier in the holiday. It cost us 4lira each (a

discounted rate for after 3pm) and it was

great. We went on lazy river and slides and

played in Europes largest wave pool. We

left at 5 to head back to Bugibba.

After the obligatory shower, we went to

Cherry Tree restaurant (recommended in

Lonely Planet) but were very disappointedat the lack of service and atmosphere of

the place so walked out. Jon wanted to dine at Mr Kebab but I

persuaded him to eat at a family run place on a quiet side street The

Travellers Rest. We had set meals for 4.75 lira each which was good

value. The food wasnt great though.

Sep 2nd

Had a bad nights sleep. I think its pre going back to London syndrome.

We found out that there are 300 days of sunshine in Malta a year. This

has almost pushed me over the edge. The only saving grace is that Jonand I have discussed moving in together which I am quite keen to do

at the moment a positive change in my life.

Jon at breakfast: where are my buccaneers? On my bucking head

boom boom. Jon claims there are three of us on this holiday him, me

and this diary. TO be fair, if I could rely on Jon to retain all the moaning

and whining, I wouldnt need this diary though.


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We sat by the pool in the morning and went for a wander on the sea

front at lunch time and ate at the quality establishment that is

McDonalds. After lunch, we headed back to the pool to try and

scrape together some remnant of a tan to take back to London. It was

really windy again today so the sea was out of the question.

After drying of and packing, we went down to the Bigibba pier to

watch the sunset and right on cue at the most amazing moment, my

camera batteries died. I ran back to

the room, changed them and got

back just as the sun was

disappearing.

We walked around town for ages,

looking for a nice place to have our

last supper, but McDonals had

ruined my appetite so we headed to

The Heritage Bar which I had spotted

last night for a drink. We ended up

spending the entire evening in there

chatting to the friendly bar tenderand trying his cocktails. He took

great pride in his drinks and they

tasted

lovely. He

also fed us Bombay mix and mini garlic

breads with tuna pate so we werent

bothered about skipping dinner! We played

some pool and eventually headed back to

our room at about 2am.

Sep 3rd

Got up at 6.30am (we had pre arranged and

paid for a transfer to the airport). It was a

beautiful sunrise and I felt really melancholy

to be leaving the place. I feel worse for wear

but Ill bravely drink my way through the hangover for the flight ready

for my in flight game of Scrabble (for anyone keeping score, it is 2-0 to

me). Our bus arrived at .20am (Malta time 20 mins late) but we still got

to the airport at 8am and beat the crowd to check in and got through

everything in record time. We then went to a bar, had a nasty plastic

sandwich and I started the drinking ritual. Jon told me the saddest storyI have ever heard that made me ball my eyes out in the airport. He

heard it from Mal a Welsh guy he met yesterday while in the paddling

pool. Mal comes to Malta every year and knows the locals. He told Jon

that a guy who owns the building across the road form The Buccaneers

is running an illegal programme whereby he offers Nigerians from Africa

the opportunity of freedom and a new life in Malta as long as they pay

him a 3000 deposit. Many jump at the chance to make some money

to feed their families. So this guy sends speed boats across the water to


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Morocco to pick them up, takes their deposits and brings them back

across the Mediterranean and about 100 miles from shore tells them to

swim the rest of the way, leaving them to die. This disgusted me and

although I know it happens all over the world, I think we have a

responsibility as influential human beings to make this stop by raising

awareness and supporting those worse off.


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