A long, long, but fairly uneventfull, trip to Denmark - It is good to be home

View from the top

From the harbour in Bugibba, it is possible to go on an underwater safari. This is a trip where you sail out to a small island near Bugibba and sit in a room with windows in the bottom on the boat.

Bugibba Harbour

St. Pauls Islands

Rock Structures

This is an interesting experience, and if you are not prone to seasickness, I think it is worth the trip. The fish are fed during the trip, so there is a guarantee you will see them. However, we saw neither octopus nor seahorse

Fishies

Feeding the Fish

Jellyfish

After the tour, some time was spent with three of us fighting nausea , before going out to lunch. When lunch was eaten, we split up, and Kristian and I strolled round Bugibba, looking at souvenirs. In this fashion the afternoon went by, before we went out for dinner and then spent the evening packing.

We spent today by the side of (and in) the blue lagoon, located at Comino, a small island by Malta. It was beautiful, the water was turquise, it was insanely hot, sunscreen was worn, and fish were seen while swimming. The pictures will speak for themselves

Maskin' it

Lots of people

Moi

Moi again

The Blue Lagoon

Picture taken by a nice Asian couple

Enjoying the lagoon

Today we got up early, and took a bus to Rabat, the suburb of the old capital of Malta, Mdina. Here we had 20 minutes before another bus took us to the southwest of Malta, where we took a boat ride out to a series of coastline caves, the largest of which is the Blue Grotto. We sat in a small motorboat, 10 people, and we sailed in and around the caves. This was amazing, the water was unbelievably blue, in one of the caves your fingers actually seemed blue if you submerged them in the water.

Cave

Blue, blue water

Amazingly clear water

After the boat trip we decide to split up. The others wanted to see nearby temples, while Kristian and I took a bus to Valetta and from there a different bus to Marsaxlokk. Marsaxlokk is a small-ish harbor town on the south coast of Malta, located in the midst of a beautiful natural harbor. It is home to an astonishing number of the traditional maltese fishing boats, the luzzus.

Luzzus

We had lunch at a café with a view of the harbor and the many luzzus, while listening and watching a local festival proceeding by.

Festa Madonna ta Pompeii

Festa Madonna ta Pompeii

Festa Madonna ta Pompeii

Festa Madonna ta Pompeii

After lunch, and a walk along the harbor, we got enough of the sun, and when the others shortly thereafter joined us, it was only a short walk, before we returned to Valetta, then Bugibba, and went out for dinner.

Today began very early, because we had planned to take a trip to Blue Grotto. However, it turned out that our tickets to the Hypogeum were for today, so off we went to Tarxien instead. We began with visiting the Tarxien temple ruins, an outdoor temple site, in the baking sun. Very, very, very hot.

Hydrating in the shade

After lunch we had a tour booked at the hypogeum, an underground, impressive templesite. Afterwards we vent to Valetta and visited the Grand Master’s Palace. Very impressive, with mosaic floors, painted ceilings, and rooms with tags like “opposition leader”, “opposition whip” etc. (The palace is used by the government now).

Grand Masters Palace

Impressive ceiling

Grand Master's Palace

By this time we decided to return to Bugibba by bus, and after a short trip to the beach, we went back to the hotel for a shower before eating crêpes for dinner. Then turning in early, so we can go see the Blue Grotto tomorrow!

Today we woke up to see clouds, something we had not anticipated. After our bus ride to the north of Malta, however, the clouds had disappeared, and left us with beautiful, sunny weather for our ferry ride to Gozo. The ride was smooth with a beautiful view of Gozo and Comino. From the harbor in Mgarr, we took a bus to Victoria, the largest city on Gozo, where we went up to the citadel and saw the Cathedral of the Assumption (not quite as impressive as the Co-Cathedral yesterday) and the view over Gozo (very impressive!)

We then had lunch and decided to spend the afternoon on northern Gozo. Another bus was found, taking us to the north, and after taking the bus a stop to far and walking a bit, we found salt pans.

When taking the bus too far, you might run into intriguing views

Beautiful Gozo

These salt pans are carved into the rock, filled with sea water and left to evaporate and crystallize salt. Really amazing sight, even if the chemistry of the process is fairly simple

Salt Pans

Salt Pans

Sea salt

Salt Pans

Seriously (over)saturated saline solution

After seeing the salt pans we found a little nook in the coastline a bit further away, where we changed to bathing suits and went in the water. Appreciating my bathing shoes (it was a rocky beach and there was quite a lot of seaweed) I befriended a small, greenish crab, who was very interested in my foot.

Clear water

My friend, the crab

When we were done bathing, we took a bus directly-ish to Mgarr harbor, and went on a ferry back to Malta. Another bus drive brought us back to Bugibba and dinnertime. We decided on a maltese restaurant, where the others ate rabbit (I had pasta). The rest of the evening was spent in the hotel bar, playing cards and watching the opening ceremony for the Olympics.

Entering Valetta

Rocking the hat

Valetta

The lunch was grilled Maltese sandwiches, eaten under large parasols while finely diffused water was sprayed over us with regular intervals. Odd, but cooling. The food was fantastic, and the little cafe close to St. Pauls Co-Cathedral is definately a place to visit if in Valetta.

Lizard

Hibiscus

Studying the guidebook

Arch

Valetta

Enjoying a breeze

After lunch we went to the Grand Master’s Palace, to find that parts of it are not accesible on thursdays. We decided to see it another day, and went back to explore the Co-Cathedral, an impressive baroque work.

Baroque Extravaganza

We then visited some gardens, before taking a 2 hour bus ride back to Bugibba, were a quick change of clothes and a third bus took us on a bumpy ride to Melieha Bay, a beautiful, sandy beach. The late afternoon was spend in the water or on the sand, before the same bus, taking a different route, brought us back to Bugibba. After a late, delicious dinner, we were all exhausted and went straight to bed after returning to the hotel.

Lovin' the beach

Today didn’t begin too early, since our flight from Copenhagen wasn’t before 14:50.

Waiting for the train

Hanging out at the station

At 11-ish we went by train and metro to the airport, where the self-check-in went smoothly, and the baggage drop similarly before we had a short wait for the security check. The 2-hour flight to Zürich was fine except for some turbulence, Swiss served ice cream and drinks, a nice change from the discount airlines. We only had an hour in Zürich, which was nice, because the airport is not particularly interesting, and when we went to Nice two years ago, we had a 7 hour layover in Zürich. Bleh! We landed in Valetta at about eight, in the most beautiful evening light, and after waiting for our luggage we hired a taxi to take us to our hotel in Bugibba. The taxi-ride was fast, efficient and well-aired.

View from the cab

After checking in at the hotel, we went out in search for some food. Walking around in Bugibba by late evening proved nice. Quite a lot of restaurants, pubs and bars and the place has a nice feel to it.

Tired traveller in Buggiba by night

We decided on a crêpe/kebab place for dinner (yes, crêpe-slash-kebab) where I had a very nice crêpe with ham and cheese, the others had wraps and spring rolls. Drinks and whist in the hotel bar, before turning in for the night.