I’d never been to Malta before and was surprised initially at how developed it was. There didn’t seem to be any nature or wildlife, only large houses, churches and building cranes as far as the eye could see. I was staying in a hotel in Valletta and was speaking at a conference there.
Most of the other presentations didn’t interest me so I decided to take the day off and explore. I set off on a ferry ride from Valletta port to Gozo. A pleasant and cheap 40 minutes later we disembarked and avoiding the awaiting taxi drivers and boat trip sales people, I walked up the hill out of the port.
There are over 300 churches in Malta and it wasn’t long before I found myself at the doors of a very large one perched high on the hill with far reaching views. I wasn’t tempted to go in. I never am. And anyway it was Sunday and I didn’t want to interrupt any praying going on.
I realised that it was not possible to walk to the main town – Victoria – far too far away. I hopped on a bus and Euros later arrived in a very unpromising little town. I bought a bottle of water in a supermarket and decided that there must be more beautiful places.
Marsalform was that place and it was so charming that I thought it would be a great place to have a light lunch. I find it so difficult to work out the good and poor eating places in touristic places. And as it turned out, I chose a small place with a nice view of the harbour, which was very disappointing. The pasts was so thick I could not eat most of it. So I consoled myself with an ice-cream from a small van and determined that I should get back on the bus.
At the bus stop there was an elderly lady with an impressive beard and dirty clothes. I sat next to her but quickly stood up, leaving her to wallow in her own filth. I felt sorry for her so I picked up a coffee for her when I got one for myself and she seemed really pleased. I decided that it would be fun to follow this woman and go to the same place as her just to see where she ended up.
The bus took a circuitous route through wonderful villages, small churches, towns and terraced landscapes. It was a good decision to follow her. But then we ended up back at the ferry port so I felt obliged to jump on the next ferry to get back to the main island.
Gozo is more rural than the rest of Malta but there’s still no wilderness areas or interesting countryside. I suppose it’s so small that they have to get the most value out of every square metre. I quite liked Malta but four nights was plenty for me.
Valletta itself is historic and very pretty. Its streets are arranged in an organised grid system which allows the pedestrian some fantastic views down long streets to impressive churches and the sea. Malta was a lot cheaper than I expected. Several times I thought I had been undercharged but no – that was the actual price. What a lovely surprise not to have an assault on your bank balance in Europe.