Malta

Our trip to Malta began with an evening flight with Ryan Air from Birmingham airport. Unfortunately the flight was delayed and one of the women on board had a fear of flying which resulted in her getting off the plane. Waiting at Birmingham Airport for our flight.

Eventually we arrived in Malta International Airport at 2am. After a short wait we boarded our pre booked transfer and headed for our hotel, San Anton.

The room was spacious and the bed was comfortable. However neither of us slept well due to noise outside of the room.

The following morning we headed for a local cafe for some breakfast, 4 euros each for a English Breakfast. The temperature was warm with a cool breeze which felt just right.

Shortly after breakfast we dropped our bags off at our new hotel, Bella Vista. We were staying in The Bella Vista for the remainder of our trip which also included daily breakfast and dinner. We then took a 20 minute walk to a bus terminal to purchase our weeks bus pass, costing 21 Euro each.

We had a lovely afternoon walking around Valletta. The streets were pretty and clean. There were lots of tourist shops and restaurants but also quieter walkways to explore which lead to the sea or to the park. Valletta streetsFew snaps from exploring Valletta

Later on we checked into our room at the Bella Vista hotel. We were pleased how much cleaner the room was to the previous hotel. We then rushed to the restaurant to make it in time for dinner. We were impressed with the food.

The following day after a much better nights sleep we enjoyed breakfast and headed out to make the most of our day.

We caught the bus to a area called Marsaxlokk where we headed to St Peters Pool. St Peters pool was surprisingly busy. We enjoyed sitting in the sun for a short while before we went on a walk to check out some of the view points. View point on the way to St Peters PoolSt Peters Pool

Miles later we got the bus back into Valletta where a big Malta Festival was starting to take shape for the bank holiday. We decided to head back to the hotel so we jumped on our second bus back to Bugibba.

The next day the weather was pretty windy and not as warm. We were pleased as John had burnt his neck/scalp and meg had burnt her legs so we had a cooler day to recover. After breakfast we headed to Rabat and continued into Mdina. We looked around the pretty towns and went for a cup of tea in a cafe. Mdina is known as the ‘silent city’ and is also the oldest town on the island. Mdina is also home to the only cathedral on the island.

Later on we went to visit the Catacombs. There were 24 different sites to look round with information dotted about. The entry fee was only 5 Euro each so we felt we had good value for money.Inside the dark & narrow catacombs!

Thursday was a wet and windy day (the only one of the week luckily). We had previously opted to go on a boat tour but we didn’t know if it was running due to the weather so we decided to go to Gozo instead.

After a 45 min bus journey we reached the ferry port which was insanely busy despite of the bad weather. The ferry was rather rocky and cold but we made it to Gozo in 30 minutes. We then went to visit Azure window where we saw the remains of the archway. Despite the windy weather we really enjoyed watching the rough sea and taking a walk around. On the bus!

We then took a walk up to a shrine which is a must see in Gozo as miracles as supposed to of happened to those who visit. Shortly after hiking to the top of the hill to see it the clouds opened and we got drenched. After being soaked through we decided we would head back to the hotel.Corn fields on the walk leading up to the miracle shrine.

On Friday we headed for the Blue Lagoon where we hoped to go on a tour boat around the caves. Unfortunately the boats were not running which left plenty of tourists a little lost. We decided to walk around the coast and see the caves by foot.Checking out the Blue Lagoon by foot.

Later on we decided to jump back on the bus and head to dingli cliffs. We took a stroll and enjoyed the views wishing that our holiday wasn’t coming to an end. We also found some caves which John particularly enjoyed exploring!John hiding in the caves!

Later on that afternoon we went back into Mdina where we decided to do a train ride with a audio tour. Our carriage was fairly empty so we had a bench to ourself to get the best pictures/see as much as possible.On the train ready for our audio tourSome of the sights from the train tourOur train!

On our last day of our holiday we went to book ourselves onto a self drive boat experience. We paid €80 for a 3 hour slot which was booked from 3-6pm. As our booking was later on we headed for Golden Bay beach.

Golden Bay beach was very picturesque and very popular with the tourists. We had a paddle and watched the waves before heading back to where we were renting our boat for the afternoon.

Following visiting the Golden Bay we got the bus back to where we were picking up our boat. After the safety talk we were a little nervous after hearing about all the cruise ships and divers that we might in counter. We had a absolutely fabulous time and the three hours flew by. We parked up in two of the bays where we jumped off the boat and went for a swim in the sea. We didn’t anticipate how long it would take to sail back so we drove back at top speed! Both having a go at driving the boat.One of the bays we parked in.Not as warm as it looks!Luckily there was a little ladder on the back of the boat to get in and out of the water.Driving back to land.

Later on that evening we went to visit Johns mum Caroline and her partner Michael. We had a great catch up in a near by bar.

We were very sad to be leaving Malta. We had a fabulous time and really were quite depressed to be getting back on the plane to Birmingham. We ended the trip with a hot drink outside of the airport. A fantastic trip and brilliant memories.