Xlendi to Valletta

A busy day packing up and moving out of out apartment in Xlendi, finding an internet cafe in Victoria to print off boarding passes for our flight to Spain on the 25th, catching the car ferry to Malta, navigating into the centre of the city, finding our new home within the walled citadel of Valletta, and returning the rental car.

 

In between all that we managed a hike to the top of a headland at Xlendi that we’d been wanting to do for days and paused for some sightseeing at Gozo’s port of Mgarr before boarding the ferry.

 

Once on Malta, we did a walk along the Marfa Ridge. with views of Comino and Gozo across the strait, and explored some more remote, northern areas of Malta that we are unlikely to get to without a car.

I’d have to say that Golden Bay didn’t impress – more like Beige Bay, with an enormous hotel sitting above it, and crowded with bloated package tourists in varying shades of white/pink/lobster red, depending on how long they’d been there, rented deck chairs and umbrellas, no waves, and busy little dark men in uniforms ferrying drink orders. Not pretty. (Editor: Actually, it wasn’t that bad. The bay was quite pretty, the sand looked nice and there were people swimming, though there weren’t any waves. M was just a bit tired and a tad annoyed cause we missed doing a boat trip because it was hard to park. This is one of the joys of doing your own travel. Things don’t always go to plan.) We beat a hasty retreat and instead explored the Dingli Cliffs, which are reputably spectacular. We can report that there are cliffs at Dingli, but reckon there are more spectacular ones on Gozo.

Hmmm, maybe it’s us. Are we finally getting a bit jaded? (Editor: well, it had been a tiring day, and not all had gone to M’s plans.)

Locating our new apartment in Valletta and returning the car was a little complicated because of terrain, fortress walls, luggage, groceries and lack of a phone. Much of Valletta, including our new address, is car free.  We’d organised on Skype to meet our new landlord at 5 pm at a prominent landmark near the apartment, and similarly organised to return the car to the Valletta docks at 5:30.  With a few minor hitches all goes well, and our new apartment is just great!

A brief wander in the evening through Valletta to one of the best pizzas we’ve ever had – wow, this place is fantastic! (Editor: So, Valletta made up for any of the so-so bits. It is really a beautiful city, with a marvellous location, a wonderful harbour to rival any other and a lovely ambience, all helped by our great apartment. We are even on the walking tour itinerary, as we are located only steps from the Upper Barrakka Gardens, one of the premier viewing locations in the walled city. And yes, the pizza was memorable, flavoured with fennel and coriander seeds, and using Maltese pork and sausage, and smoked soft cheese on sourdough pizza crust.)