Ross and I choose to forgo gifts for birthdays and instead we go on adventures. Its not that gifts are not special or meaningful but we prefer to make memories over buying things. This year for my birthday our adventure took us to Malta.
To be honest Malta was not a country I knew very
much about. I knew it was a small island
in the Mediterranean and that some of Game of Thrones was filmed there, that’s all. Although knowing GoT was filmed there is
enough of a reason to visit for me! Also
they speak English which always makes travel easier.
As I have mentioned several times before, travelling outside of Spain can be very cost effective, however having to get to
Madrid to catch flights makes it less so and means you spend an entire day in
transit and waiting for connections. Our
flight left Madrid at 7 am on Thursday morning so in order to be at the airport
on time we had two options: One take the bus at 1230 am to be at the airport for
3 am or two stay at an airport hotel and be up at 4 am to catch a bus to the
airport. We chose the first option.
This decision meant we would get no sleep other than what we could manage in transit and on benches at the airport, which turned out to be even more challenging than I anticipated. By the time we arrived in Malta at 10 am we had gotten maybe 4 hours of broken sleep all night. That didn’t matter though we are troopers and we were determined not to waste any time with sleep once we were there.
We stayed at the very reasonably priced Carlton
Hotel which is located in Sliema and situated right on the water. Unfortunately, we did not have a sea view
from our room but there was a lovely view from the roof and once we walked out
the front door of the hotel we were at the water so I was totally satisfied. I know we were there on the off season so perhaps
it is different in summer but I found all there was no shortage of accommodations
that were super cheap.
The most important thing to note is that it was
February and we were in shorts and T- Shirts!
Never in my life have I been able to be outside on my birthday without a
coat. In the evenings we needed a light
sweater but during the day it was between 18 and 23. Perfect exploring weather.
Food here was, although much more diverse than
Valladolid, still a bit of a challenge for me.
Sadly, they eat a lot of rabbit here so it seemed to be part of every
dish. Also a lot of seafood is consumed
here so again if its not rabbit its fish in all the dishes. Vegetarian food didn’t seem to be much of an
issue. There was always an option or two
at all the restaurants but vegan is still a bit of a challenge. People here were super friendly though and
very willing to accommodate when necessary.
One place I loved was Dr. Juice.
It is similar to Booster juice or Jugo Juice back home. I was able to get a kale smoothie! I was in heaven.
Walking around Sliema
After we spent many hours exhaustingly wandering
through Valletta we caught the bus to Mdina, a walled city, which is the old
capital and known as the silent city.
There are very few cars here and with such narrow alley ways it is not
wonder they do not want traffic in there.
It was a really intriguing city and for how quiet and dead it seemed we
ended up finding some of the best Indian food ever there. Also GoT did much of Kings Landing filming here.
It was interesting because even though the cities
are all seperate places the country is so densely populated it all just felt like
one big city. With horrible
transit! Now don’t get me wrong it was
awesome that we could explore the entire country on transit but it took so long
to get places. I definitely recommend if
you ever visit you rent a car and do your exploring that way. That is if you are comfortable driving on the
wrong side of the road! Every time I had
to cross the street I panicked checking multiple times to be sure I looked the
right way for traffic.
Our second day we made our way to Gozo. This is a very small island just a twenty-minute
ferry ride from the main island of Malta.
We really enjoyed the ferry ride because it reminded us so much of BC
ferries. The ride didn’t take long but
it was a gorgeous sunny day and who doesn’t love spending time on a boat in the
middle of the sea!
Look at the colour of that water!
View of Gozo from the ferry
Victoria is the capital city on Gozo and I think
we saw most of it in a few short hours of wandering around. There was a lovely citadel on top of a hill
which gave an incredible view of the entire island it seemed. You could look in all directions and see the
sea all around you. It was one of my
favourite places we saw that day.
As we were wandering through the small alleys we
stopped at a doorway where a woman was creating traditional Maltese
lace. She showed us how she made it and
talked about how it was used for clothing and bookmarks etc. She kept saying there was no obligation to
buy any but she knew what she was doing.
I of course had to buy some from her.
We laughed as we walked away saying we were just swindled by and old
Maltese lady in an ally but it was a fun experience so I don’t care.
Swindler
After a great lunch of veggie burgers and more
fries than two people should consume (but we did) we took a bus to The Azure
Window. This is an incredible natural
arch that was created when two limestone sea caves collapsed. If it looks familiar to you that s because it
was the sight of the Dothraki wedding in GoT.
I feel really lucky to have been able to see this
as it is slowly disintegrating. The
rocks are falling from the middle and they say soon it will be completely
gone. Likely why they had so many signs
asking people not to walk on the arch but you know how people are so there were
many who ventured out there anyway.
Leaving Gozo at sunset
Our last day we wanted to visit the Blue Grotto
and the ancient ruins which are located on the south coast of Malta. The grotto is a series of sea caves in which
the phosphorescent colours from the underwater flora make a sublime view during
the morning and early afternoon. You are
able to take boat tours into the caves to see the colours better but like I said
we were there in the off season so there didn’t seem to be any tours running
for us to take.
It was a gorgeous place to wander around the
cliff edges and stare out at what seems like endless sea. There is also of course Filfa island just 5
km off the coast. It is uninhabited by
humans but home to hundreds of thousands of sea birds. It is believed the island was viewed as
sacred to the Neolithic tribes of the island. The only structure ever found
there was a chapel in a cave from 1343 which was destroyed by an earthquake in
1856.
Filfa Island
We walked along the coast to Hagar Qim (standing/worshiping
stones) and Mnajdra, two UNESCO World Heritage Sites, which are megalithic
temples thought to be 5600 years old.
They are among the most ancient religious sights in the world. They have
now been covered with protective tents to keep them from disintegrating
more. The exploration and restoration
has been happening since 1839. They are
only two of 7 megalithic temples found on Malta and Gozo.
4D movie experience at the Hagar Qim Museum
These holes are called Oracle holes. The tribes used them to note when the solstices were.
What unbelievable places to see and walk
through. Just knowing this space was used
by tribes from so long ago made me feel like such a small part of something so
much bigger than myself. It was humbling
and very centering. I felt at peace and
could imagine what it might have been like so long ago staring out at the sea
from this temple not knowing that anything else existed outside of that
place.
I suggest you do some reading about this site
because it is truly something incredible.
After exploring these sites we wandered along the
cliff edge for a while just enjoying the feeling of being so far from anything
and anyone. It was a perfect sunny day
and the views were incredible. We found one
of 13 guard towers that sit on the coasts of Malta and just sat behind it for a
while silently enjoying our seclusion. I
love finding places like this where the rest of the world doesn’t matter and
you can just be you and be completely alone and separate from any worry or
stress from every day life. Just
appreciating being alive. The world is
loud and sometimes it is nice to just be quiet.
Watch Tower we sat behind
We were sad to leave on Sunday morning because we
knew we could have spent so much more time here exploring. Although we saw a lot there are still so many
places we wanted to go. I think we could
have spent a week there and not run out of things to do. Keep in mind if you ever do visit once you
leave the touristy areas it can be a little bit sketchy and derelict but we
never felt unsafe. I imagine in the
summer it would be even more exciting with suitable beach weather.
I am so happy we got to visit such a remarkable
place.
Until Next time!
xx
Until Next time!
xx
