Malta – part 1
A little bit late but here is the first part of our trip to Malta. We had never been to Malta before so we were excited to go there. After the bad weather when we started this sail from Sicily we had a nice sail over to Valletta, the capital of Malta. We used about 9 hours from the southeast corner of Sicily to Valletta. Valletta is a beautiful city from the seaside.
We found a bouy in the bay between Valletta and Sliema. Normally this bay is full of private boats, but sometimes you can find a bouy and you can stay for free. The owner can tell you to leave because they need the bouy, but then you can try another one. If you stay there it is easy to take the dinghy ashore and do shopping in Sliema.
On Malta we met Helga again, who we met on Cyprus a year ago. She is from Norway but has been living on Malta for many years. She picked us up and took us around the northern part of the island. First we had a stop in Popeye village, where the musical movie Popeye was filmed in 1980. We didn`t walk inside but it is easy to see it from outside.
They played music and it was almost like being in the movie.
A special place to visit. In high season it is 24 EUR to go inside, so pritty expencive.
Helga and me.
It would be amazing to anchor in this bay, but I guess our boat is too deep.
After Popeye Village we drove further north on the island. Here is the island of Gozo in front, and the ferry is sailing here from Malta. In the middle you have Camino Island with the Blue Lagoon.
Then we drove south again and visit the beautiful town of Mdina. Mdina was the capital in the ancient times and is build like a fortress.
Here is the main entrance through the walls.
Old beautiful buildings.
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The view from Mdina towards Valletta.
You can also take a horse taxi.
You can see theese amazing colourful balconies everywhere.
Ups…
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She drove us to Valletta and we walked around the city for a while. Here is the view towards the “3 cities”.
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Valletta lies on a hill, so you will see long and steep roads.
I thougth Ombudsman was a Norwegian word…
Balconies in all kinds of colours.
Small, cozy restaurants.
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One of the squares in Valletta.
Valletta is also build as a fortress and has huge walls around the city.
Here you can see a video from our roadtrip on Malta together with Helga.
It was nice weather and it was getting warmer.
And the sunset from the bay was amazing.
We met Stephan Payne for lunch in Sliema. He has made a friendly flag and we wanted one in our boat. When you have this flag in your boat it means everyone are welcome to stop by and say hello!
This is the flag. If you need one we have a couple extra in our boat.
We had some amazing days in this anchorage!
It seems like it is season for fennel, they are huge here compare to the small one we can find in Norway. So we decided to buy one and make fish soup. We used fennel, carrots, sweet potato, onion.
And we made foccachia.
So this is a Norwegian fishsoup, really delicious!
We found a concert in Mdina we wanted to go to and first we tried to catch a bus from Sliema to Valletta, and then to Mdina. But all the buses from Sliema was full so they didn`t stop for us. Instead we ordered a Bolt (like Uber/taxi) from the bay to Mdina. When we arrived Mdina we saw a open, small church and went inside.
The church was decorated due to easter coming up.
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We had a while before the concert so we went to Coogi’s Restaurant & Tea Garden. It was windy outside so after sunset it got cold. We were thinking about just having a hot chocolate or something, but their pizza looked amazing, so we had to share one.
Their pizza was amazing and the restaurant was really cozy!
Societa Filarmonica Nazionale La Valette together with Bel Canto Choir was playing and singing in St. Paul’s Cathedral i Mdina. They present Missa Brevis and other amazing music.
St.Pauls Cathedral is an amazing cathedral and the consert was well worth the money!
Here is a video from the consert:
Next day, Sunday, we sailed south to Marsakala to have a hike on this side of the island.
It is a perfect time to do a hike in the spring, amazing with all the flowers.
It was a good trail almost all the way.
From the south side of the bay, the view to Marsakala.
The colour of the water here is amazing, but for us it is still a little bit cold.
We walked along the seaside all the way to Marsaxlokk.
So much flowers!
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Not high season yet, but some of the small toruistboats were around.
St. Pauls Pool. Some people were swimming here. I guess it is crowdy in the high season.
A lot of yellow flowers.
Marsaxlokk
We didn`t had a plan to walk all the way to Marsaxlokk, but we were close to so we decided to walk there.
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Every Sunday it is farmers market in Marsaxlokk.
Marsaxlokk is known for their coloured boats.
A beautiful place, but very crowdy this Sunday.
A lot of restaurants along the seaside.
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When we came back to the bay where we were anchoring we saw a lot people and we were wondering what they were doing there..
They were taking photos together with all the flowers!
We had to do the same!
A beautiful hike on a Sunday! Here is a video from the hike:
In the next post, hopefully in a couple of days, we will tell you more about Malta!
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