Malta, a Land of Culture and Fun

THE ARRIVAL

As we were saying...so three hours of travel, a slightly rough sea (luckily I don't suffer from it!!), an exciting arrival with the view of the walls of Valletta slowly approaching (or is it us approaching them?!), a line for the usual document check and...a search for a means of transport to the hotel. WARNING: the travel agency had offered us the port/ hotel/ port transfer for a cost of 27 euros per person (!!!!), wisely refused, because by NEGOTIATING with a taxi driver (they all speak Italian), we paid only 3 Maltese liras per person (7 euros more or less, 1 Maltese lira = 2.38 euros).

SETTLING IN...

On the first day, taking advantage of the fact that it was Sunday, we went to Marsaxlokk (Fishing Village) where the fish market is held, right next to the port. Fish yes...but also lots of other goods, like in a neighborhood market, where buying souvenirs is especially convenient!! Still in the morning we do a first reconnaissance of Valletta; on the main street (Republic Street) there are always lots of people, especially tourists, who bring it to life, but on Sunday most of the museums, palaces and other places of interest are closed; we then take the opportunity to see the Malta Experience (2.5 Maltese liras for students = 6 euros), a multimedia show of about an hour on the thousand-year history of the archipelago, with commentary in Italian, VERY BEAUTIFUL.

For practicality one should also stop by the Tourist Point, right at the entrance to the city, where the staff is very kind and gives information, including on prices, and brochures on the places of interest of the whole island (in some cases this can help you avoid getting ripped off!!).

THE OTHER ISLANDS: GOZO AND COMINO

Monday coincides with Ferragosto and we set off to discover the other island of the archipelago, Gozo. The bus journey is long (you have to cross all of Malta) and lasts an hour. Arrived at the boarding point, the ferry (round trip costs 3 Maltese liras = 7 euros) leaves right under our noses (!!!) but we were probably too slow OURSELVES!!! Luckily one leaves every half hour, the wait is short!! In Gozo, another bus (absolutely full) leaves for the capital of the island, Rabat or Victoria, where that day (but I was already informed) there is the feast for the Assumption, so lots of euphoric people (even too much) take part in the procession, with the marching band and the various decorations adorning the city.

The whole population of the Maltese archipelago is in fact famous for its strong religious sense (in churches you must always have appropriate clothing) and for its many, many festivals. We climb up to the fortified citadel, from which you can enjoy a beautiful view of the island, take various photos on a terrace and enter the cathedral, whose peculiarity consists in the perspective illusion of the fresco that reproduces a nonexistent dome!!! The visit to Gozo ends rather quickly because we want to go for a swim in the famous...Blue Lagoon of Comino. So we go back down to the port of Gozo and, NEGOTIATING, we have ourselves transported with a private boat to the little island for 3 hours at a cost of only 2.80 Maltese liras = 6.60 euros round trip (initially we would have had to pay 3 liras per person!).

Words cannot describe the Blue Lagoon: very blue sea, beautiful, very clean (beyond a certain limit boats in fact could not pass through); there were a few people, that's true, but as they say... it was worth it!! But in Comino there is only this, the rest is just an uncultivated and arid hill, but from which you observe a beautiful panorama, sheer above the Blue Lagoon!!

CULTURE AND FUN: VALLETTA AND POPEYE VILLAGE

On Tuesday, a weekday, we begin the cultural visits: the Neolithic temples at Tarxien (1 Maltese lira), in Valletta we see the Archaeological Museum (1 Maltese lira) and the co-cathedral of St. John (with its museum and the two paintings by Caravaggio- The Beheading of Saint John and Saint Jerome- 1 Maltese lira), the market and the Grand Master's Palace, the Museum of Fine Arts (which however is on a side street off the main axis, but it is impossible to get lost - 1 Maltese lira). In the afternoon we manage to reach Mellieha Bay by bus, in the north of Malta, where, with bus no. 441 (even though you could get there on foot, you would have avoided a bit of a wait, since the bus leaves every hour!!) you arrive at Popeye Village, the village of Popeye, a film set from a late 70s movie, with Robin Williams, now a VERY NICE theme park (admission 4 Maltese liras, for students 3 liras!!).

THE INLAND CITIES: MDINA, RABAT AND MOSTA

Wednesday we dedicate to visiting the more inland Malta, the two cities of Mdina and Rabat, of the one, surrounded by a wall curtain, we see the cathedral of Saint Peter and Paul and the panoramic square (you can see all the way to Valletta), of the other the Domus Romana (a bit expensive for being a state site, 2.50 liras = 6 euros) and the church of Saint Paul with its adjoining grottoes (with commentary by a sacristan, in English, but he made himself understood -free offering). Malta is in fact the island where in the first century Saint Paul was shipwrecked and then preached, and it is precisely here that he was imprisoned. Also in Rabat are the catacombs of Saint Agatha (the saint from Catania, not everyone knows, before martyrdom in Sicily, took refuge precisely in Malta), but we did not have time to visit them.

For lunch we treat ourselves well: we use the vouchers given by the agency for a buffet lunch at the casino in Paceville, but after the lavish lunch we set off again for another town, Mosta, famous for its main church, with the third largest dome in the world (after Saint Peter's in the Vatican and Saint Paul's in London), which keeps in its sacristy an unexploded bomb from the Second World War that, despite the church being packed with faithful, miraculously caused no victims. We still have time and so we return to Valletta, to enjoy the view from the Upper Barrakka Gardens, very panoramic gardens!!!

THE BLUE OF THE BLUE GROTTO AND THE THREE CITIES

Thursday is instead time for the sea! In the south of Malta in fact, after visiting the Megalithic temples of Hagar Qim and Mnajdra, with a view of the sea (3 Maltese liras for the visit of both temples, 2 liras for just one temple), we go to the nearby Blue Grotto (Blu Grotto), a sea cave reachable with the boat of a fishermen's cooperative (2.5 Maltese liras = 6 euros) who in English (you understand each other, as usual, through gestures!!) point out to you the presence of red coral and the very blue sea! After a quick swim, remembering that in these very waters, a few years ago, two enormous sharks were caught (!!!) and whose photos are proudly hung in the bar above the little port, we climb back up for half an hour on the steep slope to reach the road where the bus passes, fortunately very frequent!! A nap at the hotel and in the afternoon we go to visit the Three Cities, in particula

r Vittoriosa, site of epic battles between the Knights of the Order of Saint John (masters of the islands for a good 200 years and whose traces are found on every corner) and the Ottoman Turks (their sworn enemies since even before the Knights arrived in Malta), explained excellently by the Malta Experience; here there is a monument to independence from the English and the palace of the Inquisition, with its torture chambers (3 Maltese liras, a bit expensive, luckily we arrived after 5 p.m. and found it closed!!!)

SHOPPING!!!!!!!

Friday is dedicated to shopping, we look for personalized souvenirs for everyone and we find them - and how - even at low prices (look in the side streets, not on the main roads) in Valletta and Sliema. One of my great desires would have been to see, that day, the dolphinarium, the Mediterranean Centre, in Bahar ic Caghac, unfortunately my finances were short (the ticket for the dolphinarium was -alas- 6 liras = 15 euros; you can also swim with the dolphins at the "modest" price of 46 liras = 110 euros, unthinkable!!!), so we savored the last afternoon without doing anything particular, simply staying at the hotel pool and, in the evening, eating a pizza in a place on the splendid seafront and attending the procession (with a marching band following) dedicated to the feast of Stella Maris, again in Sliema

DEPARTURE AND CONCLUSIONS !!!

On Saturday, the day of return, I felt quite satisfied: I had my vacation, spending really little (the week of Ferragosto, hydrofoil+hotel+registration = 240 euros + 100 euros that I spent there among the various visits, food, transport and the inevitable souvenirs), I had fun, I saw everything I had planned (or almost... the dolphinarium -alas- no) and I return home with one more experience!

I hope I have been useful to you for a future trip to the Maltese archipelago.

Until the next trip!