An 8 day holiday in Malta

Today is the day, after 15 years we are going back to beautiful Malta. After more than half an hour's drive we arrive at Schiphol Airport and we drive to the parking lot P3. The shuttle bus takes us to the departure hall. It is extremely busy and you have to wait longer than an hour at the check-in desk. After the long wait we stand in line again, this time for baggage and passport control. After we are through this, it is now 11:30 am. We hurry to our Gate and soon we can board. With a delay of half an hour, the plane starts to move.

The flight goes very smoothly, we get a hot meal and soft drink, coffee or tea. At 3.10 pm the time has come, and we land at Luga Airport. The shuttle bus drops us off at the building with the departure and arrival halls. After a short walk towards the baggage claim and a fifteen minute wait, our suitcases appear and we can walk towards the arrivals hall. An English speaking Jiba hostess is waiting for us here. After we are complete, the group is divided into different vans and taken to the hotels. We ourselves stay at the Bayview Hotel in Sliema.

At 16.00 we arrive at the hotel and after checking in we proceed to our hotel room. The room is small with a small balcony, but has an impressive view over the bay, Manoel Island and 'The Strand'. There is a lot of traffic on the beautiful boulevard.

For dinner we go to an English looking place called the 'Black Gold Saloon'. Large and excellent meals are served to us for a good price. We close the evening with a walk on the boulevard, there is a fresh wind blowing.

Day 2 – Visit to Valletta 1

Our day starts with breakfast in the restaurant of the hotel where we are staying. This one is good and cared for. After this we leave for Valletta, the capital of Malta. There is a bus stop in front of the door, where we get on one of the old buses that are still driving around Malta. We buy a bus ticket from the bus driver for only € 0.47 and 20 minutes later we are in the extraordinarily large square with the Triton fountain.

Then we walk into Valletta. We follow Republic Street to Fort Elmo. In between we take a look at the St. John's Co-Cathedral, where a service has just started. We walk on towards Republic Street and take a coffee break at a terrace on Republic Square, at Caffe Cordina. After we are fully recharged, we continue to Palace Square. Here we admire the beautiful palace 'The Main Guard' and the 'Grandmasters's Palace' (Buckingham Palace). Unfortunately, due to restoration work, the garden cannot be visited and we continue our tour via St. Christopher Street to the Lower Barraca Gardens. Here we enjoy a great view of the three knight cities Bormla, Vittoriosa (Birgu) and Senglea. We then continue towards Fort Street Elmo and pass the Siege Bell Memorial. In this street we visit the National War Museum. The entrance tickets are € 4.50 per person. We were here 15 years ago, in 1996, and the museum has now doubled in size.

After this great entertainment we walk through the English Curtain to St. Michael Street. A few stairs down and via Archbishop Street we are back at Caffe Cordina, where we treat ourselves to a delicious lunch. After this break we walk towards the main gate and visit Hastings Gardens, a beautiful flower garden with history. We continue over the city gate to the Upper Barracca Gardens. Here we experience an oasis of tranquility and a beautiful view of the three knights' cities and surroundings.

After a cultural day we are tired and satisfied and we walk back to the huge bus terminal. We will be back at our hotel at 5 pm and we will relax for a while. Near the hotel is the snack bar 'Chick King' where we eat our evening meal. After having eaten our fill, we take a walk on the boulevard. On the way it is still cool, so we quickly return to our hotel.

Valletta, Malta, building on the waterValletta, Malta, building on the water

Day 3 – Malta Sightseeing Tour

After enjoying the breakfast buffet again, we make an appointment with the Jiba representative at the reception. We book three excursions: a half day trip to Mdina, the three cities excursion including a gondola ride and finally the Gozo day trip.

As the afternoon approaches, we walk to Fort Manoel. On the way we pass, very nice, a duck shelter. Besides ducks, there are also other birds and even guinea pigs and a cat that are taken care of. When we stand in front of the fort, unfortunately it turns out not to be accessible to visitors. This was unfortunately not indicated in advance, so just a short coffee break in our hotel.

When we arrive at the boulevard, we take itdecides to join a Malta Sightseeing tour, in which we can participate for €15. With the double-decker bus we take a 4 hour ride over part of Malta. It is a hop on hop off system, but we spend most of the ride at the top of the bus in the open air.

The route goes from Sliema to Valletta, then we pass the Hypogeum, continue to Senglea Point, Vittoriosa Waterfront, passing Bieb-ls-Sultan and arriving in Zejtun. We make a stop at the Paris Church and St. Gregory's Church and take a break. 20 minutes later the drive continues and we drive on to Marsaxlokk, meanwhile we still see the St. Lucian Tower and we make a fleeting stop at the Ghar Dhalam Cave, Hagar Qim & Mnajdra, the blue cave, the Malta Falconry Centre, Limestone Heritage and via Sta. Venera, Gzira, St. Julian's we drive back to Sliema.

We'll be back at The Strand at 3:15 PM. The ride at the top of the bus was a lot of fun but also windy. But we can't complain, because we had nice weather all day. We eat dinner again in the Black Gold Saloon and then we almost walk to the end of the boulevard, where we have a beautiful view of Valletta.

Day 4 – Mdina, half day excursion

Today we are going to do a half day excursion to Mdina. The coach arrives right on time and we drive to Msida, where we pick up the last people who participate in the Mdina excursion.

After everyone has arrived we drive on to visit the St. Anton Gardens, near the presidential palace in Attard. Unfortunately the weather is not as nice as yesterday, it is raining today. The participants of the excursion who are with us are Dutch and English speaking.

After the tour of the garden, our journey continues to Rabat and Mdina. The rain comes pouring down from the sky. After a look at the city wall we have a break of half an hour, which we spend almost entirely in a nearby restaurant. When we come back, the sun has broken through. We leave Mdina at 12.30 pm and travel on to Dingli, where we make a photo stop at the cliffs rising high from the sea. We also visit the small Madelena Chapel.

Those who have booked a half-day excursion, which includes us, are then taken back to the hotels by vans. When we get back, we take a walk on the boulevard until we arrive at Tigné Point. Here we have a beautiful view of Sliema, Valletta and Manoel Island.

alley Mdina, Maltaalley Mdina, Malta

Day 5 – The Three Knights' Cities, Half Day Tour

Today we do another half-day excursion, this time to the three knights' cities. We are picked up by a minibus at 9 in the morning and we drive to Senglea, one of the knights' cities. Our guide is already waiting there, together with a number of participants who were also there yesterday. When we are all there, the excursion will start.

What we hear and see is all very interesting and instructive. The authenticity of Senglea is the garden and the old St. Michaels fortress, with a special watchtower with 2 eyes, ears and a pelican. The other parts were destroyed by the Germans in the Second World War and subsequently restored. We continue the road through some narrow streets to the quay opposite Vittoriosa. From here we do a cruise through the Grand Harbor with a number of gondolas. We can see the interesting fortifications from the other side. We are very happy to experience this.

45 minutes later the trip is over and we can view the interesting fortifications from the other side. We get off in Vittoriosa and walk on. Along the way we encounter many interesting things. By the time the excursion is over it is 12.00 and we are taken back to the vans, at 12.30 we arrive back at our hotel. We take a long walk and have dinner on time. Then we walk to the boulevard.

Day 6 – Gozo, day excursion

Today we go to Gozo, this is a full day excursion. We are picked up by the coach on time, at 08.15. He will also pass by a number of other hotels to pick up the other participants. Two hours later we arrive at the ferry terminal. There is a huge crowd and we have to wait half an hour before we can take the ferry. The old ships from the Netherlands no longer sail, the newer ships are more modern.

After a crossing of 25 minutes that we spend on the upper deck in the sun we arrive in Mgarr. We look for the right coach and it takes us to Ggantija, very impressive to see this again after 15 years. After this we drive to Dwejra, where we admire the Fungus Rock and the Azure Window for half an hour. The journey continues to Xlendi, where you can visit a liqueur and wine tasting, and/or a lace shop. After driving a bit further, we stop at a restaurant where we have a nice cup of coffeeeat lunch. After this we go into Xlendi for half an hour, to look around. Beautiful views can be seen here. After this we go to Victoria, where we can tour the citadel and visit the market. Then the excursion comes to an end and we are brought back to Malta. We look for our bus to the hotel and arrive back at the hotel at 19:15. We eat another snack in the hotel restaurant.

Rock in the sea, Gozo, holiday MaltaRock in the sea, Gozo, holiday Malta

Day 7 – Visit to Valletta 2

Our last day in Malta has arrived. We decide to go to Valletta for a while and leave mid-morning. The same bus driver as last time takes us to the town.

As soon as we enter Valletta, a drum band marches up with a number of soldiers behind it. We walk through Republic Street and rest on a terrace. After this we walk to the Old Theater Street, where there is a market up to Merchant Street. Very amusing to walk over here and look around. After we've seen enough, we walk to the Grand Masters Palace, because we think the entrance fee is too high, we don't visit it, just like the St. John's Co-Cathedral. After we have captured a number of things on photo, we have lunch on the terrace of Caffe Cordina, where we also sat the week before. From the terrace we have a view of the beautiful building of 'The Main Guard'. We walk further towards the capital gate and buy some souvenirs.

It takes a while to find a bus, but we find one and we are taken back to the hotel. Prince William and Kate Middleton's wedding took place today, so here's a recap. Then we have dinner and walk another half hour on The Strand. That evening there are fireworks in Valletta, which we still get some of.

Day 8 – From Malta to Schiphol

Today is the day and we are going back home. We get up at 4.50 am and are picked up at 5.30 am by a van that takes us to Luga Airport. We will fly at 08.05 and arrive at Schiphol at 11.15. The check-in goes fairly quickly and at 07:40 we board the plane.

Unfortunately, there are problems with control/security and there is an announcement that the flight will be delayed. An hour later we are still standing still and there is an announcement that there are technical problems. In the end we can leave at half past nine and we have been delayed for 1.5 hours. A delicious English breakfast is provided on the plane. We encountered quite a bit of turbulence along the way.

At 12.15 we land and we are back on Dutch soil. We collect the luggage and leave for the car. We load our things and leave for home. We look back on a great holiday and enjoyed it very much! The hotel was also fine.