James and I are back at home now but I wanted to share some more photos of our trip in Malta and fill you in on what we’ve been up to the last two weeks.

We left Darren and Julie’s Gozo farmhouse and took the ferry to Malta for a road trip.

Thursday, October 11

There is all sorts of fantastic architecture on Gozo and Malta. It seems like there was a bulk sale on domes at some point, but regardless they are spectacular. The most spectacular being the Rotunda in Xewkija, which we passed on our way to the ferry.

The Rotunda is the Parish Church of St John the Baptist and was built between 1951 and 1971. The 75 metre dome is higher than St. Paul’s Cathedral in London and the nave can seat 4000 people. It was pretty quite the afternoon we were there, but beautiful sunlight was coming in through the windows.

The rest of our trip to Valletta was fairly uneventful. James drove and I navigated. Again, it’s all left driving, which means the window washers were going every time we tried to signal a turn. Pretty funny. We did get lost a couple of times, but you can drive the full length of the island in a hour so getting lost doesn’t actually waste a lot of time.

I found that although there are road signs, they are not to be trusted. You best bet driving in Malta is to have a general sense of the direction you’d like to go and just carry on in that direction regardless of the signs.

Our first night in Valletta we had dinner at a Chinese food restaurant called the Blue Room. It was pretty exciting to eat out somewhere and not see the staples of pasta and pizza.

Friday, October 12

Today was our morning to visit St. John’s Co-Cathedral but the cruise ships were in town and the place was a zoo. We decided to go to the archeology museum instead and it was a wise choice. There was a Caravaggio exhibit on and the paintings were absolute masterpieces. Caravaggio was on Malta for a number of years so some of the paintings on display were painted in Malta. We watched a short video and then wandered around the gallery.

His paintings are phenomenal–like looking at a photograph.

After that we had a quick tour around the Fine Arts museum then were off to meet Darren and his friend Alex Grech at Cafe Cordina at 3 pm. Alex is an interesting guy, and perhaps will be the one to start Barcamp Malta–conversations are in the works.

That night we say the play Doubt, which was an ok way to spend the evening.

Saturday, October 13

For a 13th, this was our lucky day. I was interested in visiting the Hypogeum, which is an underground temple over 5,000 years old. Tickets must be bought months in advance but there is a noon tour for last minute guests. The only way to get tickets is to go for 8 am the day before and cross your fingers.

The Hypogeum is a UNESCO World Heritage site and is protected by all sorts of rules. One being that only 70 people can visit per day.

Well it was our lucky day. As I was waiting to hear whether we’d be able to get tickets for Sunday, a tour guide came in and she had two extra tickets she was trying to refund. I bought the tickets from her and James and I were able to go on the 2 pm tour that afternoon.

We went back to Valletta and toured St. John’s Co-Cathedral, which I think is one of my favourite Maltese sites, then went on the tour of the Hypogeum, which was very cool. They carved the temple out of the limestone.

That evening was the semi-final for the Rugby World Cup–England vs. France. James spent a couple of hours trying to find a bar that was showing the game. Rugby is not really a well-observed sport in Malta. In the end, lucky 13, we found The Pub, an English pub in Valletta that was showing the game. The bartender was even wearing his English jersey. It was an excellent time.

The weather took a turn though and we had a loud thunderstorm. It sounded like the Germans were bombing the place again.

Sunday, October 14

Today we were off to Marsaxlokk, a well-known fishing village. Being Sunday it was also the weekly fish market. We stopped first at Peter’s Pool for a picnic lunch. We were hoping to go swimming but the winds were unruly.

Marsaxlokk has a number of little wooden fishing boats in the bay, and it’s definitely a picturesque little place.

We had dinner at Matthew’s Pub. I had a creamy chicken and mushroom dish, very yummy.

Monday, October 15

A day for toodling. The weather hadn’t improved much but we did find the Blue Grotto, which is stunning, and a Wied-il close by–nice little inlets that are great for swimming.

We had a nice bob around in the water then headed for Mdina and the Point de Vue Guesthouse.

Mdina is a fortified city. Medina is Arabic for “walled city”. Historically it was the favoured residence of the Maltese aristocracy. There are a lot of interested door knockers here. I took a photo of every one we came across.

Mdina is where we ate one of our favourite meals. Il Gattopardo, Italian for “the leopard”, is a charming cafe. I had a great hot chocolate, which was needed since it was howling winds outside. The meals are Greek inspired and James and I had a prosciutto salad with rocket, tomato, olives and parma ham, and lemon-coconut dahl with pita. The dahl was spectacular.

We had another nice meal at the Point de Vue Guesthouse that evening.

Tuesday, October 16

Today was our day to spend money. We drove up to Mosta to see the dome there. Had some lunch. Then carried on to Golden Bay and the 5-star Radisson hotel. The beach at Golden Bay is golden and lovely. We had a short swim because the weather was crappy. And with just enough sunlight I managed to read a few pages on the beach, pretending that it was a lovely summer afternoon.

The bed at the Radisson was worth the $300 CDN we spent. It was big and fluffy and everything that beds in Maltese budget hotels are not.

Wednesday, October 17

Winds gusting to 60-70 km per hour pushed us to the ferry and back to Gozo. I’m really happy that we decided to return to Gozo before flying home because Darren and Julie’s farmhouse was so quiet and welcoming I could have cried. It was wonderful to be back on sleepy Gozo and driving routes that we knew well.

Our road trip was fun, but I think some of the best sites are on Gozo, not the more touristy and busy Malta.

The winds had knocked out the electricity so we spent most of the evening trying to get the lights back on. We made dinner on the gas stove by the luminescence of Julie’s bicycle light.

Thursday, October 18

It was a full house at Darren and Julie’s. Julie returned from Rome the night before with two new house guests in tow–Allan and Jen. We caught up with Julie and basically hung around relaxing.

I took Allan and Jen up to Ta’Pinu and the stations of the cross at sunset. Then we settled in for dinner and early sleeping.

Friday, October 19

Another stormy day on Gozo. James and I decided to race out to San Blas in the morning for a swim at our favourite spot. The light was really interesting and made the sand glow. There was a dark line along the horizon that steadily got closer and closer. At the last possible minute we decided to flee back uphill to the car. It’s a fun little goat path that you have to take down to San Blas so the idea of mounting it in the rain was not pleasant.

We made it back to the car and back to Gharb just in time to grab Julie and speed off to Freespirit Spa for our weekly massage and facial.

Martin gave me one of my top three massages of all time. In fact he’s sitting in spot 1 and 2. Afterwards Monica gave me a facial. I’ve never had one before so it was a new experience. I’m definitely interested in trying that again.

Darren returned from Toronto today and we had a great dinner with everyone at Salvina, the local luxury dining establishment. I had the duck and it was excellent.

Saturday, October 20

This was a lazy day and our last on Gozo. I wandered around Gharb for a while, packed and then went with Julie and her friends to Dwejra. I’d gone before with Darren but we didn’t actually get to the Azure Window and the Blue Hole, which are supposed to be stunning. I’m really glad I decided to go–it was a last minute decision and definitely worth the experience. We walked around the shore with breaking waves around us. Stunning.

Late afternoon James and I made our way to the ferry, which was backed up with tourists so we had to wait one sailing.

The bus to Valletta was long and sort of boring, there was some good people watching.

The highlight, of course, was getting back to Valletta and The Pub, where we watch the final in the Rugby World Cup. South Africa was our favourite to win, but we didn’t want to get kicked out of the only pub showing the game so we verbally cheered for England.

One good sleep in Hotel Castille then we were off to Luqa airport at 6:30 am.

Here’s a quick summary of what we’ve been up to in Gozo.

Wednesday, October 3

We arrived in Malta from an Air Malta flight–the slowest check-in staff ever at the Gatwick airport. The flight was about 3 hours. Then Julie had hired a driver for us, who picked us up at the airport and drove us to the ferry terminal. His name was George.

We passed by Takai, which is where Bob Sherrett landed during the war. During WWII, Malta took “quite a pasting”, they were bombed 154 consecutive days and nights, compared to the London Blitz, which was 54 days of bombing. The entire population of Malta received the George Cross, Britain’s highest award for civilian bravery.

The ferry ride was about 25 minutes and Darren, Julie and their friend Gwendolyn met us on the Gozo side. Gwen drove in Japan for 6 months so she was our fearless left-side driver.

It was about 9 or 10 at night so after a quick refresher we made our way to Rangers, which is the local pub and supporter of the Gharb Rangers football team. I had a Mexicana personal pizza, some wine and a great time.

Thursday, Oct 4

First day on Malta. Thankfully Gwendolyn had been around Gozo for a couple of days and Julie is a perfect travel guide. We were whisked off to San Blas Bay for an early morning of snorkeling. You want to get there early and leave before the tourists arrive. Damn tourists.

San Blas is gorgeous. You park on the top of a cliff and wind your way down the road to the ocean. It was a bit steep but definitely worth it. The sand is a great saffron colour. The snorkeling was good. We saw coral and jelly fish, white bream (little silver fish with a black spot on their tail), two-band bream (silver fish with black stripes), ornate wrasse (funky coloured fish), little black guys with a split tail fin and other scrubby fish. It was really a great swim.

Then we climbed back up the hill to the jeep. Returned home to Gharb, jumped into the icy back garden pool then had a rest.

Later we went into Victoria and had a coffee at Belusa Cafe, bought some sweeties (honey circle, almond cookies) and returned home. For dinner, Gwendolyn made an orzo salad that was delicious and we had some chicken sausages.

October 5

Gwendolyn, James and I got up early so we could meet a fellow in Mgarr Harbour at 8:15 am. He was to take us across to Comino. We had no gas and had to figure out how the road side gas pump worked. It was quite the process, especially since we were in a hurry.

We made it to Mgarr with minutes to spare. Joseph met us, he runs the boat trip. His boat is Francesca 1 and his other boat is used to pick up garbage from tourists in Blue Lagoon, which is where we were going.

Seconds into the trip, Joseph said to me, “here you drive”. Ok, Gwen does left. I do boats.

Blue Lagoon is an incredibly blue bay off Comino. The swimming is excellent. We saw even more fish than in San Blas, more jelly fish too though. I think this swim has been my favourite of the trip so far. We swam across the bay to a little cave and pond. Jumped from the rocks. I saw an eel. It was a bit creepy but also very cool. It was slithering between some rocks. James later hunted him out.

The boat trip also included a quick trip to some of the caves on Comino. There is one cave that if you go in a small boat to the very back, you’ll find a small beach. From that beach you can climb right up to the fort buit by the Knights of St. John.

We walked up to the Comino Hotel, had a coffee, then wandered back to the bay. In that short time, it went from secluded paradise to cheesy tourist trap. There were people and umbrellas everywhere. There was also an ice cream truck so we had a Magnum ice cream. Mine was called a Temptation and it came in a gold foil box. Very yummy.

Later in the day we stopped in Victoria, then went on to Xlendi for an evening swim. Xlendi is a touristy spot, but nice in the evening. We had a good swim. Gwendolyn dove off the rocks. I filmed it. Then we had dinner at Churchill’s Restaurant. I had pasta and James had the Lampuki, a dolphin fish. It comes with head and tail. Yummy.

October 6

First stop of the day: Wied il-Ghasri. A little inlet where you climb down the rocks, make your way into the water and paddle about. There was great snorkeling here too. The water was fresh. This is the day Gwen–with a great fear of jelly fish–got stung. It was quite the welt.

We stopped at the salt flats on our way there.

Later we went silver shopping in Victoria. The best spot is near the Citadel. There are two families on Gozo who make silver filigree. There is a knight done all in silver that I took a photo of. He’s about a foot tall and very detailed. I bought a little ring and some earrings as my Maltese souvenir.

That night we had 10 people total for Thanksgiving Dinner. James made a turkey, Gwen made gravy, I made peach crisp, Julie made sweet potatoes and mashed potatoes and Darren made the table settings and floor lighting–required so no one fell in the pool.

Catherine, Martin and Colin from Canada came. Michael and Paul from Britain were in attendance. And our household crew. It was a grand time.

Sunday, October 7

Today we dropped off Julie and Gwen at the ferry terminal. They were on their way to Rome to cooking school. James and I had originally planned to go to Rome, but we decided to travel around Malta longer instead. We’ve spent most of our time on Gozo.

James and I trekked over to the Ta’Cenc cliffs–difficult to find, I think Julie has tried twice. James and I were fortunate to find them. The view is spectacular. We had a light lunch at the hotel, wandered down the road in search of the dolmen, a flat rock supported by 3 stones, then went in search of the cliffs. There was some overland adventuring to be had.

This was my first day driving on the left. God help us. But I did just fine.

Monday, October 8

Another full day of driving. James, Darren and I visited the tombs at Santa Lucija and Kercem–basically a rock mound with a hole in the ground. Then it was back to Victoria where we swapped the jeep for a little red Kia. It’s a tin box on wheels. Not that the jeep was any better but it did feel rather indestructible.

In Victoria I went into St. George’s Basilica. It was beautiful and ornate inside so I stayed for the mass just so I’d get a good chance to look around. In the right side is a separate chamber with a statue of Jesus. Just before that is a statue of St. George standing on a slayed dragon. There gold mosaic tiles all around and it’s really something.

Tuesday, October 9

Yahoo, spa day. Darren made us appointments for a massage with Martin at Freespirit Spa, which is run by Martin (British) and Monica (Gozian). They met in Australia and then started their business here. It’s an oasis in the dry, sandy, limestone land of Gozo. It smelled wonderful. I had a massage with Martin, whose going to pull together an aromatherapy roll for me next time. Then I hung out and talked about make-up with Monica. I discovered Dermatologica, which is all natural products, no chemicals. So I bought a cleanse, toner, moisturizer and sun screen. Pretty expensive in Maltese lira ($1 CDN is equal to $3 MTL) but it’s worth the smooth feeling on my skin, especially the sun screen. I think our Ombrell was doing a number on my face. That and the mosquito bites. I have about 20 of them, mostly on my face, which is the only thing exposed at night. They’ve even bitten both eyelids.

In the afternoon James and I went to the Ggantija Temples, which are the largest of the megalithic temples found on Malta. The walls are 6-7 metres high and the two temples together are over 40 metres. As far as mounds of rocks go, these are fairly interesting. There were erected over 5000 years ago. Structurally it looks like a clover leaf from above. There are circular chambers.

After that we went to Ramla Bay, known for reddish sand, had a swim in the large waves, shared a cherry ice cream cone and made our way back to home.

Wednesday, October 10
This morning Darren, James and I went to Dwejra Bay. It was James’s turn to drive.

Dwejra Bay is also spectacular. There is the Azure Window, which is an arch in the limestone cliffs, and the Blue Hole, which is a chimney hole down into the ocean, it’s a favourite spot for divers.

We swam in front of Fungus Rock, which was heralded for its medicinal properties centuries ago. And later tonight we’ll venture back to swim through the Azure Window.

Oct 11
We’re off to Valletta today. Malta here we come.

James and I left Vancouver at 6:10 pm on October 1. We spent the next night outside of Gatwick at Gable End Guest House, which is run by Mary and Joseph, who are quite lovely. We wandered around the village, had dinner at the Six Bells Pub and then retired for the evening after a couple of pints. On October 3 we made our way back to the airport and on to the Air Malta flight to Malta to visit Darren and Julie.

Julie kindly organized a driver to take us from the airport to the ferry terminal and then they met us on the other side, which is Gozo.

Malta comprises three islands: Malta, Gozo and Comino. Darren and Julie live on Gozo, which has about 30,000 people. The big island of Malta is 400,000.

Today was our first full day here and it’s been marvellous. We got up early and left the house around 8:30 am so that we could make our way to San Blas Bay, which is a great swimming hole.

Gwendolyn, who is visiting Darren and Julie, was our driver. She is a demon at the wheel–a safe, confidence-inspiring demon. She drove for 6 months in Japan, which means she can drive left, stick shift and curse in English and Japanese.

San Blas is accessible by foot along a very steep cliff. We navigated our way down hill, had a lovely swim and then trudged back uphill. We had a short stop in Victoria (or Rabat in Malti), where we bought almond cookies, had a coffee, and collected some fruit for our meal.

I did spend most of the afternoon working at the computer, but it was damn hot out so it was nice to tap about inside.

Here’s a random selection of photos.

www.flickr.com So Misguided’s Malta 2007 photoset