The Plan
Malta is the 10th smallest country in the world. There is the mainland and then there are the islands of Gozo and Comino. These tiny islands float in the Mediterranean between Europe and Africa.
From central Europe, the tickets to the islands are often cheap, if you book flights in advance or avoid the peak summer time. This is the time of year when Europeans flock in big numbers to enjoy the warmth of the sun. My wife booked and essentially organized the vacation; I only joined in with my ideas, afterwards to fine-tune the plan.
The departing flight was from Koln/Bonn Airport on February 10th, and the return flight was on February 13th. Adding up the flight time the time in Malta was not even 4 full days. We needed a break from Germany's grey winters, and with cheap Ryanair tickets to a new country the size of Malta, we were determined to take advantage of the opportunity.
For the first night, we had reservations at St. Pauls Bay, and for the next two nights, we had bookings in Sliema. I used check24 to find more affordable options for getting around the country and was able to hire an automatic transmission car for only 56 Euros for the duration, which is substantially more affordable than any other country I have rented a vehicle in.
We reserved a spot in a Koln "Park and Fly" parking lot on the day of our trip, from which a free shuttle would take us to the Koln/Bonn Airport. Typically, it costs 11 euros per person to travel to the Koln/Bonn Airport by public transportation, and it takes at least an hour door to airport. At Flughafen Shuttle Parkplatz, the park and fly option was comparably more affordable and convenient.
Although there was a rail strike in our area and the flight was scheduled for approximately nine in the morning, our strategy to park and fly saved our day. Despite the fact that we arrived a little late owing to traffic, the airport was small enough that we managed to get to the boarding gate without any major issues.
The Mess up
Up until this time, everything had gone according to plan, there had been no big problems. The events that followed were incredibly dramatic. Because my wife was traveling with an expired passport, she was not allowed to board the plane. The airline employees refused our numerous requests, despite having scanned soft copies of her current passport on my phone and other documentation verifying her relationship to me. Now it was up to me to decide whether to board the plane or stay behind. Without us, the boarding was complete, and the employees didn't give us any more space for thought. I made the choice to get on the plane and arrange for her to fly the following day or in the evening. All the money we saved by planning way in advance were ready to make its way out of our accounts. My wife was on tears, perplexed me boarded on the way to a semi solo trip. Eventually in the flight I realised the house keys were with me and she did not carry the duplicate ones. If she had to fly the following day with new tickets it was important that she enters the house. I sprang up from my seat and started requesting the cabin crew to allow me to handover the keys to my wife. Now they would not allow me get down. They arranged a ground staff who took the key from me to hand it over to my wife who was waiting in the boarding gate. Till the wheels of the aircrafts were grounded, I kept looking for options to make it possible for her join me in Malta as early as possible. Naturally I closed my eyes to calm down and accept the situation. As I woke up I could find myself hovering over a beautiful island surrounded my the blue sea.
I connected with my wife and could figure out that returning home on the day of the rail strike was extremely cumbersome and at certain points expensive. By this time she was drained emotionally and physically. I tried to cheer her up and booked a ticket worth 170 Euros as she did not find any flight for the day from Dusseldorf. The booking that I had done was a flight from Dusseldorf to Malta via Rome which would ensure she reaches Malta by night. I was happy that it's just half day, some tiresome experiences and some additional money that we have lost and the trip can continue as planned for the rest of the time. To add salt to our sorrow, my discovered that I had booked the flight for 10th of March instead of 10th of February. Now it was getting frustrating for both of us. I called the third party agent from which I had booked to change the dates but of course that was no possible as it was non refundable and non changeable.
Resurrection
I kind of lost hope by now and started off accepting it to be a solo trip. Walked out off the terminal and necessary documents to pick up my rental car. It was a Hyundai i10, small and nothing compared to my BMW back in Germany. But nothing bothered me enough than the shock of right hand drive in this EU country. Yes Malta was a Biritish Colony for quite a long time and driving here is on the left handside of the road. In the last 4 months I have driven my new leased BMW in Germany on the other side of the road for over 7000 kms and now a totally different set that too unexpected was kind of scary. It took me some time and effort to get used to the little i10, that too on the other side because I was so accustomed to the glitzy features of a modern machine, such as parking assist, automated parking break, etc. The day had started with me driving on the German autobahn with a beamer exactly on the opposite side of the road.
The weather was good; sunny and bright- some cool breeze to make things comfortable. The receptionist who gave me the keys to the car informed me that typically this day, the 10th of February, is considered to be doomed since it marks the anniversary of a well-known shipwreck that occurred in 60 A.D. and is also a Maltese bank holiday. Every year Malta around this time the weather is extremely windy, often accompanied by hurricanes and tornados. She also mentioned that the preceding day's weather was already very disastrous and that there had been a lot of flooding in Malta, including certain areas of the parking lot.
I hardly had too many plans as solo trip was not something I was prepared for. I had read a few articles on lonely planet and decided to see check out the Blue Grotto which was just a few kilometers away from the Malta airport. It was a sunny comfortable day. Driving was not that tough as I hit the road although some road maintenance work compelled me to understand the exits and drive around the same area a few times.
The Blue Grotto is a pack of sea taverns in the south east coast of the island of Malta. When Google said that I reached my destination, I was on the road with some vision of the Mediterennean sea but I hardly could see anything. I hept driving further and reached where the road ended. It was area from which boat service starts; boats that take you up close to the Blue Grotto and some other sea caves. Our tetative plan had this boat ride included but my partner did not join so of course I did not want to go on the boat alone. Of course with the weather so wild just a day ago the boat trips were closed for the day so we did not feel missing out on anything. In the mean time my wife's tickets to Malta was corrected and she would join me the next day at night after a day trip in Rome. Now we were excited to be in two different countries.
Solo for a couple of Days
I continued my trip now a little bit more carefree. Spend some time watching the big waves crashing the rocky coastline and then left for the viewpoint of the Blue Grotto as there was no chance of a boat leaving the rough coastline. This place had a parking in the middle of the road and no one can realize unless you get out of the car and walk less than 20 meters to see a strange rock in the sea forming a cave gate naturally. I had to check into the hotel to avoid any complexity since the booking was done by my wife and waiting for the sunset here would mean reaching St. Paul's Bay when it is dark. Malta being a small country you can reach any part of the country in 30 minutes to 1 hour. I planned to spend the evening near St. Paul's Bay, have some local food and calm down my mind which got stressed quite a lot during the day.
On the way back I stopped by Mdina, the older capital of Malta. The centre was really pretty with a square having a church, narrow streets and colourful houses. Due to the St. Pauls Shipwreck anniversary most of the shops and restaurants were closed and everywhere around was highly deserted. There was a marriage ceremony in progress inside the church and a fancy Bentley was standing in front of it. I parked my car at the edge of a narrow street not sure if the parking was proper. After a while, I could hear loud honkings from the direction of my car. As I ran towards my car, I was greeted by the anger of a bus driver who could not enter the street because of my car. It was such a narrow street I never imagined such a humungous bus would try to pass through. I somehow managed to apologise, avoid too much eye contact and left the area. Now I would head back to the hotel to avoid any more mishaps and they have haunted us a lot since the morning.
The Ibis in St Paul's Bay was quite well located. Street parking was free in most of Malta, so it was not a difficult task for me to get a spot to park and check-in. The view from the hotel was great but the sea was wild and kept getting wild with time. I checked in dumped my excess stuff from the bag in the room and headed forward for a short walk with my camera bag and tripod. The waves were crashing onto the banks and and times overflowing on the road. I grabbed a local beer before leaving and the hotel staff showed me how devastating the scenes were just a day before and her way back home was full of roads flooded around 10 cm. The sunset around the corner was pretty but capturing that was a difficult task mainly because of the untamed sea.
I had a local dish, grilled rabbit meat with some local beer in a restaurent called Ta' Rożi. By the time I reached there, it was already puring cats and dogs. The story about the bay was well said by a church built to commemorates the site where the shipwreck survivors, including St. Paul. The rain and the bad weather compelled me to return home sooner because I did not have a spare set of cloths and all of them were in the bag carried by my wife. The rough day and night came to an end with a very good night sleep with the sound of the waves.
The next morning I woke up early to drive to the shipwreck site where there was a statue of St. Paul. Of course, the statue was on an island but I made my way to the nearest point to the same supposedly this is the place where the shipwreck had happened. I was a bit late for the due to some missed exits and oversleeping but the place was highly secluded to have the site all to myself.
On return, I had breakfast in the hotel and after a quick shower and some rest, I left for a trip to further north. My first point of interest was the blue hole or the coral lagoon. It was an interesting site made of typical porous rocks and a big hole in the middle through which water would rise like a fountain. I have seen a similar phenomenon on the Arnarstapi coast and in Salalah, Oman. Nothing new but what was new was the colours added by the bright sun which often was spitting rainbow colours on each rise.
On my way, I loitered a little bit near the paradise bay in the north. I initially had plans to Gozo and Comino but the ferries were limited and had long queues. so I rather spent some time staring and Comino on the other side and Gozo near the Horizon and made my way to my next spot.
The next point was a famous one that can make you nostalgic and take you back to your childhood days; the Popeye village. The sets of the movie adapted from the famous cartoon that was never destroyed and still stands as a tourist destination or theme park. I had some fish and chips with a beer staring at this memory from childhood and spent some time there.
Our accommodation for the next couple of nights was in Sliema in a hotel called the Waterfront. My wife would join me at night but before that, I decided to take access to the room and then leave for the sunset. Sliema is a place just opposite the historic site and the capital Valetta so getting parking there was a painful job. The hotel had its parking area but was fully occupied so it took me quite some time to settle down things and leave for a good sunset spot. I made my way towards the region near Blue Grotto for the sunset but when I reached there it was already the blue hours.
I spent the evening with some good seafood in Sliema. I had to leave for the airport to pick up my wife so did not have more than a small beer. The flight from Rome was delayed which gave me some time to take a short nap in the hotel room and leave for the airport at around 11:30. We were happy to be reunited but were tired as hell due to the delayed flight and late arrival to the hotel.
City Trip
The next day of our trip was reserved for exploring Valetta. We even booked a free walking tour there. I left for a morning walk to enjoy the sunrise from the coastline of Sliema on looking at the beautiful city of Valetta. It was a peaceful walk and some golden light.
The breakfast in the hotel was extremely mouthwatering good with some local delicacies like Imqaret. Satisfied with the food, we left for the city gate of Valetta from where our walking tour started. Light Sunday traffic in Valletta made it easy for us to reach on time and finding parking was also not a pain.
The tour guide was a local Maltese man with a good English accent and a jolly mood. He gave a brief introduction about Malta and it being an extremely Catholic country. Some interesting facts to remember were that Malta had no laws for divorce till 2011, voter turnout in the country is usually over 90 per cent and how Malta being a catholic nation has so much influence on the Islamic culture, even the Maltese language had many words similar to Arabic.
The walking tour was pretty interesting as we strolled by the old streets of Valletta, learnt about the history, went around the various filming locations of the Gladiator, Jurassic World and Game of Thrones, got acquainted with the local food, cafes, people and their political and religious views.
We had our lunch at a really nice food court with cuisines from around the world. I chose to have a dish of horse meat- a typically Maltese dish and of course accompanied by a local IPA. We spent some time shopping in the streets of Valletta and then decided to go for a drive to the Blue Grotto to check for any possibilities to have a boat ride into the blue caves.
The weather was good and sunny but the wind was strong enough to compel the boat owners to take the day off. We had this on our checklist in Malta, and a bit disappointed we left for another small town called Marsaxlokk. This place was known for a happening promenade ornamented with colourful boats. A brief walk by the water was a good feeling especially to see equally colourful houses on the other side.
Since we started the day extremely early, and all the hassles we encountered all these days due to travel, our body demanded some relaxation. The hotel we stayed in had a swimming pool and a sauna. We headed back to the hotel. First enjoyed a gorgeous sunset from the terrace and then took no time to plunge into the pool followed by some jacuzzi and sauna till the hotel's designated closing time. We had ordered some food in our room opened a bottle of local wine and enjoyed a beautiful romantic dinner with a sea view from our balcony.
Last Day
We definitely liked the breakfast but wanted to explore a little bit of some cafes around our hotel in Sliema. We had a really good snack made of peas and sausage, and a cup of coffee before we left for Valetta. We planned to be in the Upper Barrakka Gardens way before noon and grab a position to witness the canon ball fire. This is a tradition that is followed in Valetta every day except Sundays and holidays, twice a day- 12 noon and 4 pm. Out of the seven canons lined up at the Saluting Battery below the gardens, one is fired with a big bang as the clock strikes 12 and 16. This is quite a daily ceremony. Tourists flock around to have a clear view of this unique spectacle. We were there just 20 mins to noon and had to almost barge in to make space and have a good view. As the canon ball was fired, trust me the image shot at that moment got a motion blur as it hit my heart with a thudding sound shaking my whole body and I believe all my fellow tourists must have experienced a similar shake.
As the crowd started to disperse the clouds started hovering over us. We did not want to miss out on the boat trip to the three towns in the three peninsular opposite Valetta- Vittoriosa, Senglea and Cospicua. The gondola ride was cheap - just 4 euros per head on one side, it is of course if you have more time you can book for 16 euros for hopping on and off all the three islands. Our first stop was Vittoriosa although we had a beautiful sight of the colourful Senglea. As we were taking a walk in the historic streets of Birgu, also known by its title Città Vittoriosa, the sky started pouring down hastily. We left our umbrella in the car and hence had to wait under shade for quite a long time. By this time we realized we need to return to Valetta, have something to eat and head to the airport since we didn't want another adventure by missing our return flight.
By the time we reached Valetta with a Gondola ride, our clothes and shoes were drenched enough. We chose a warm corner in an eatery and tried some local food and some ice cream before we formally conclude our trip and headed towards our car to drive back to the airport. It was close but we made it as the flight was again delayed and gave us enough time to breathe.
Malta greeted us Au revoir with a beautiful aerial view of itself along with Comino and Gozo. As it was the time when the sun was ready to set, the scenes were even more poetic with gorgeous lights and colourful clouds. In my opinion, four and a half days were not enough for even the 10th smallest country in the world and if in future, there are opportunities I can be back here again to enjoy the sun and sea without hurting the pocket much.
Sit back and enjou the images from this beautiful nation.
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