whitehall

Day 7

Our flight out was not until noon time on our 8th day, but we decided to take it easy on this day. Do laundry, so we can make home clean clothes. Get everything packed. Cook up and prepare the food we still had in the refrigerator, mostly fruit and veggies, which meant a day of healthy eating.

We also decided to spend a few minutes in nearby Senglea, the third of he three cities, only minutes from our airbnb and only across the canal from the ferry we have taken many times.

On this Sunday, the harbor has four cruise ships, the most we have seen. And, the skies have some dark clouds and there are even some sprinkles.

On the end of the peninsula for Senglea overlooking Valletta, there is a small but nice park. The basilica, located in the middle of a small square was visited by Pope John Paul II in 1990 and is relatively new. The Pope was there to honor the many victims of this small city who were killed in heavy WWII bombing that also destroyed the old basilica. The mostly residential area of this smallest city in Malta is compact.

Good dinner at home. Good night’s sleep. All prepared for our flight back to Copenhagen where we will have dinner in Malmo, Sweden, before getting very little sleep before our 6 a.m flight.

J62

"Gozo has 14 communities, each with a large basilica and lots of undeveloped land between them."

We thoroughly enjoyed our two day trips to Gozo, despite the long bus ride from Sliema. Some sights you didn't have time to visit but are well worth mentioning for others.

One our 2nd day trip we rented mountain bikes for the day and did a 25-30mi loop around the island, just for the fun of it. You can rent bikes right where you get off the ferry. Gozo is a hilly island, so this adventure is not for casual bike riders. There is also a walking trail that circumnavigates the island - not suitable for bikes in some areas, but great for a long distance hike or trail run.

1. Azure Window - unfortunately stone arch was destroyed by the waves a few years ago - not sure if there is anything to see at the site now.
2. Ġgantija - several thousand year old ruins. Not a large size, but very interesting if you like stonehenge like history.
3. Seaside village of Marsalforn. Very quiet, had a lovely little lunch overlooking the harbor and went for a swim.
4. Salt pans, just west of Maraslforn along the coast. These look like they are right out of the ancient era. Not sure if they are still used to commercially harvest sea salt, there were plenty of salt crystals so it was easy to see how it was done ages ago. From the salt pans you are facing Sicily and apparently on a clear, low humidity day (eg in winter) you can see Mt. Etna. - not sure if that is true or not.
5. That "undeveloped land between towns" you mention. Riding a bike down some of the "roads" connecting towns it felt like we were back in the era of St. Paul - olive & fig trees, goats, limestone houses, not a single car to be seen.

We can't wait to go back and spend more time in Malta. Lovely place and lovely people.

whitehall

J62, I wrote that Gozo has become more than a day trip, with increased lodging opportunities. And, you have nicely laid out the reasons for that. We can see how someone might spend an entire week just on Gozo. Thank you for the great addition!

whitehall

Thank you for your comments.

You are right about how much is on this tiny island. Sicily and Sardinia, for example, are each about 80 times larger than Malta. Sicily only has 12 times the number of people. And, Sardinia only 2.5 times the number of people. Last fall, we had to do hours of driving every day in our week there (not complaining; it was wonderful) to see a lot of Sardinia.

annw

Thanks so much for this great trip report. We are considering travel there in late October 2020. Until I began researching I didn't realize it had so many cruise ship stops, but of course I can see why it does. I had wondered about 3-4 days there in conjunction with travel to southern Italy, but it sounds like we will need more time!

whitehall

Thank you, Ann.

Malta is a safe and busy place, with friendly people and lots to see and do. People are so friendly, they can be a bit apologetic. You step on their toes, and they say “sorry.” You bump into them, and they say sorry. I guess they just inherited some of that British cultural politeness.

ellen75005

whitehall, I just found your excellent Malta trip report while researching a quick trip to Malta in the late fall 2021 (hopefully). We'll be in Sicily and I want to hop over to Malta since we'll be in the neighborhood so to speak. I'm just starting the research, but at this point, we'll plan to fly to Valletta from Palermo and will have only 2.5 days there. We'll stay in Valletta and will spend one day walking and discovering the city. If you only had one other day to see something else, what would that be? For a little perspective, we're baby boomers and we won't want or need a beach day.

By the way, this is the first time I've seen any reference to the Hypogeum and I'm intrigued!

Thanks for the excellent information!

Ellen

whitehall

Hi Ellen, this was a slow and relaxing trip for us (after time in Copenhagen and the Italian Dolomites). Although, we also are "boomers", we usually travel quickly (i.e. see and do a lot in a little bit of time). We travel light, get up early and stay out late. One of our trip reports is labeled "16 countries in 30 days" to give you an idea. So, we could have enjoyed much of what we saw and did around Valletta (our days 1, 2, 3 and 7) in one day. That leaves three days from our travels. I would delete Popeyes Village. So the choice for us for a second day would be to do what we did on Day 4 (Rabat and Medina) or Day 6 (Gozo Island). We had a week of perfect weather, so we probably enjoyed Gozo a bit more, but it's a long way (lengthy bus ride and fairly quick but large ferry) and obviously more ambitious. Malta is a great island for sure and a lot different than Sicily. We are optimistic about safe travel in the fall (not so sure about a planned trip we have to Greece in May/June.) Thank you for reading about our trip. Happy New Year!

ellen75005

Thanks so much; that's very helpful. Since we'll be there in November, the weather might be iffy, so we'll probably want to wait and judge our second day based on that. But I'll do the research beforehand to know our options.

As an aside (and I don't want to hijack this thread), we had dinner in Malmo while staying in Copenhagen the summer before last. It was lots of fun and we enjoyed the ride across the bridge.

Your photos are great, too. I've been interested in Malta for quite a while, but have never been close enough to make it work, so very much looking forward to this trip.

Tulips

We were in Malta in December 2018, and it was not that crowded. Weather was great; blue skies, nice enough to eat outside during the day.
In addition to Valetta I would definitely recommend Mdina. It's gorgeous. If you're a Game of Thrones fan you'll recognise it as Kings Landing.
And from Valetta take the short ferry across the harbour to the three cities.
Hypogeum was interesting, but I wouldn't give up Mdina for it. We had rented a car, and it was not that easy to find.
I would probably get a car with driver next time, rather than drive myself - and I'm used to driving on the left.

Nice report Whitehall, I had not seen it before!

whitehall

Thanks again, Ellen. We have friends in Copenhagen and have visited there a few times. Before we made plans for Dolomites and Malta, we got a very inexpensive flight to Copenhagen (and went in and out of there and peanuts to fly from Malta). Each time, we take the train over to Malmo and find something to eat. Great restaurants there and even a surprisingly good food court at Malmo Central rail station.

Thanks, Tulips. Lots of Game of Thrones locations as well as numerous other films
.https://www.thewholeworldisaplaygrou...ns-malta-gozo/

https://axhotelsmalta.com/your-desti...made-in-malta/

ellen75005

Thanks, Tulips. Good to hear that the weather was nice in December. We'll probably be there mid-November, so hopefully we'll also have blue skies. I looked at Mdina yesterday and it indeed does look very interesting. We won't rent a car in Malta. We're used to driving on the right and secondly, we will have just spent three weeks driving in Puglia and Sicily, so I think we'll be ready to let someone else do the driving! I like the idea of getting a driver, but I need to do some more reading. I read a blog that mentioned the three cities, and that's another thing I want to do. By they way, is Mdina a full-day trip or can something else (like the three cities) be included in the day we go to Mdina? If need be, we can add a day to that leg of the trip to make it 3.5 days total.

J62

Mdina can be a half day trip. You can get there by taxi or bus. In Rabat, an adjacent suburb of Mdina are St Paul's catcombs. Worth a visit if you like archeology. It's just a short walk from Mdina proper.

Unless there is a market going on Mdina can be a very sleepy, quiet town...

Another easy side trip is to the small seaside village of Marsaxlokk. Time your visit for a lunch quayside overlooking the colorful fishing boats.

Tulips

The Three Cities are just across the bay from Valetta. You don't need or want a car for that.
When we went do Mdina we first did the Hypogeum, then visited the catacombs at Rabat and then Mdina - these places are next to each other.
If you have a driver you won't have parking issues. When we went there was a Christmas market in Mdina and it was very busy.
But I've only been to Malta once, so am far from an expert!

whitehall

We stayed in the 3 cities area, bought a water taxi pass for the week, and easily went back and forth to Valletta, sometimes a few times a day. It had a local flair and was close to museums on that side and is only minutes from Valletta. We would do it again.

We normally rent a car and have done so on multiple grips to Sicily, and we found it a must (and quite easy) to fully enjoy Puglia. Our trip report to Puglia is here if interested: 7 days/6 nights in Puglia

We normally are not “bus people”, but on Malta, there is an inexpensive and frequent bus network that is easy to navigate. There is a huge well-marked bus stop area just outside the main city gate of Valletta with helpful info booths. Additionally, using the Bolt ride sharing app (similar to Uber) was quick and also inexpensive.

J62’s idea of Marsaxlokk is also a good one. We had been there once on a short cruise ship stopover and decided against it this time, although it said to be a great seafood dining option. It is a colorful fishing village, and we recall it being a bit flatter than much of the rest of the island and having a little more northern Africa/Greek feel to it.

ellen75005

Thanks, J62 and all! I'm adding a day to this portion of our trip and putting Marsaxlokk on the itinerary. So much to see!

Ellen

J62

An activity I found quite enlightening while in Malta - which is about 200mi from Tunisia and is a very religious country. Go to a religious service and join in the singing of songs or hymns praising Alla...

richarde99

Thank you whitehall for your trip report. We plan to travel from New Orleans to Malta on May 25, 2022 and have planned 5 nights. We will likely stay in a hotel in Valetta, and explore as best we can without a car. Your report was not only helpful, but a joy to read and your pictures are simply stunning. From Malta, we will spend some time in Sicily, and then up onto the mainland. We have been considering 6 or 7 days in Apulia, and we'll look for your trip report shortly (the link didn't work).

whitehall

Thank you for your kind comments. Sounds like a great trip. Malta was wonderful. We have twice been to Sicily, but postponed a third trip, due to an unexpected event just before Covid. We have already booked our flight for late April to the end of May 2022 to spend time in Calabria and Sicily again. Maybe we will bump into you there. We absolutely loved Puglia. Not sure about the problem with the link on that report, but here is another one: 7 days/6 nights in Puglia