Malta

Well, it's been 5 weeks since my holiday so I have been lazy again in posting... But anyway, at Christmas I had a week off, got pretty cheap Ryanair flights to Malta so I spent a lovely week there! I wanted to stay in a central location, so I chose a hotel in Sliema, right in the middle of everything. Luckily my room was in 7th floor, and I didn't pay for the sea view so the traffic didn't bother me. That area is really busy and I think I would hate it there in high season. Usually I rent an apartment to have my own kitchen, but now I had a "traditional" hotel with breakfast.

I arrived late Wednesday evening so I just went to sleep right away... Thursday after breakfast, because the weather was so nice, I chose to take a day trip to the island of Gozo. Gozo is part of Malta and it is the second largest island in Maltese archipelago, with about 30 000 inhabitants if I remember it correctly (unlikely). Malta has about 500 000 inhabitants totally. Between Malta and Gozo is the island of Comino where only a few people live.

Bus from Sliema to the harbor takes about 1 h 15 mins and costs 1,50 €. The return ticket to Gozo costs 4,65 € and it takes about 25 mins. First some pics from the ferry and from the harbor.

I wanted to see as much of the island as possible, so I took a hop on hop off bus tour. It cost 18 € and was really worth it! I really liked Gozo, I should've stayed a couple of nights there instead of all week in Malta. Gorgeous day, about 20 degrees and pure sunshine...

My first stop was Victoria Citadel, Cittadella, inhabited since the bronze age, or even stone age, and even today a few families live there! It has a very long history with lots of attacks and reconstructions and it plays a big role in the history of Gozo.

Next Dwejra, or the Azure Window, was a 28-metre-tall natural arch, that collapsed in stormy on 8 March 2017, but the area is still gorgeous. Unfortunately I didn't have enough time to explore it more, but maybe on my next visit... The road there was quite "interesting", I know a few people who would've jumped off the bus :D.

Ta' Pinu, what an amazing church! The full name is mighty; The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Blessed Virgin of Ta' Pinu (!!!). The origin is unknown.

The bus drove to a very idyllic small village of Xlendi but I didn't have time to stop there (really, stay a few days in Gozo if you go to Malta!!). Lots of small villages in Gozo (also Malta) and I so enjoyed my day there. I really could live there, honestly.

Random pics from Gozo

Ok, the next days were for exploring Malta! They have 2 different hop on hop off routes (north and south) and I did them both :D. One car rental place near my hotel had discount tickets to bus so I bought the tickets there, I think it was just 16 € and one route took about 3 hours even if you don't hop off! This holiday was all about being as basic tourist as possible, back packing was as far as possible on this trip. One day was cloudy but otherwise the weather was perfect, in some evenings it rained a bit, but then it was dark already and I was back in Sliema.

First I did the south route, and that day was a bit cloudy as you can see.

I just love these traditional small Maltese fishing boats! You can see them a lot all over the island and they are so cute :)



And then the north route, didn't do them on the same day

Since the first 3 days of my holiday I was just going around the island, left the hotel right after breakfast and it was always dark when I got back, the rest of my holiday I just stayed around Sliema and St. Julians, relaxing and enjoying. One day was really windy and the sea was a bit rough. I know I have said this many times before, but I just love the Mediterranean, especially the islands. I have been in Malta, Mallorca, Cyprus and Crete, and loved everything, and also have lived in Malaga. For me some Mediterranean Island is my happy place and can see myself living there. I hope one day I can arrange that... They do have jobs, but it's difficult to find a job outside customer support and I don't want to do that.

Here's more pics of the coast!

Last but not least... In the beginning I wrote that I didn't pay for the sea view. I just didn't see the point of it because I was not going to spend time in a hotel. And I didn't, every day I was back at the hotel when it was dark, and I left in the morning after breakfast. I didn't even notice this until the second evening. What can I say, when you don't pay for the sea view, you really do not get a sea view :D. Usually single rooms are the lousiest rooms anyway but the room itself was very nice!

Well, that was my two cents about Malta. Absolutely great holiday, exactly what I needed in the end of December, a bit of sun and sea. The temp was not super warm but around 20 degrees and some days in the sun you didn't need a jacket. Great food, lots of sea food and Italian food. Now I have a weird feeling because I have nothing booked! Some people are coming for a visit to Bratislava so I am waiting for their schedules first before I plan anything else. I definetely want to get my country 48 (47 now) while I am still 48! I have been thinking about spending July somewhere else, I could work remotely for a couple of weeks and then have a couple of weeks holiday. Mediterranean would be great but in high season prices go up, so we'll see... Otherwise nothing new, just normal every day life as usual. Maybe my next post would finally be the settling in to Bratislava, been here 4,5 months now and have started to study Slovak language (only 2 lessons so far, don't expect fluent conversation any time soon).