Travelling to Malta, any Advice?

[GP801]

On a serious note, what we used to call The Gut (you don't want to know!) is really called Strait Street. Down the bottom end you will see gouges out of the sandstone walls above head height. These were caused by broadswords welded by the Knights of St. John as the street was used for sword practice!

• There is/was a very interesting museum about the Knights.
• Look inside some of the churches - stunning
• The sunset over Valetta harbour is quite possible one of the most beautiful sights in the world
• The Maltese are a fiercely proud people. Buy a drink for one of old men in a bar and they will tell you amazing stories about winning the George Cross (awarded to the whole Island)
• The little pea pasties (pastizzi) they sell in local bakeries are amazing
• Be grateful the Baracca lift no longer operates (deathtrap for drunken matelots back in the day! Do a search on line......)
• Be sure to ride the local busses at least once. Quite an experience and held together with masking tape is probably no exaggeration
• Like someone has said, the place is like a car museum
• Mdina (the Silent City) is indeed worth visiting

Completely agree with the above but:
1. The Barakka gardens have a new lift and it is working. Its been many years coming but it has now arrived. The view from the Upper gardens is one of the best going.
2. The old buses are long gone and have been replaced by King Long buses which I think are Chinese. No character at all compared to the old ones. The locals will tell you the service is not as good either. The new buses were run by Arriva until very recently when they pulled out.

 

[GP801]

Great advice.

Is there not also a big church which still displays the UXB which crashed through the roof? Its years since I went there. Catacombs don't seem to have been mentioned - I found them interesting.

Mosta dome is the one you are thinking of.

 

[gaz_l]

I've only been to Malta once, about 10 years ago, and we did it on a shoestring (flights and hotel were around £170 for the week IIRC), but it was memorable. Must go back some day.

Driving is a bit mental. We didn't bother with a car, got a coach transfer to/from the hotel (Qawra) and took buses the rest of the time. Dirt cheap. The buses were, how can I put it, interesting? Lots of old British stuff from the 50s/60s, fitted with modern turbo diesels to replace the clapped out old engines with absolutely no upgrades to the brakes or suspension, from what I could tell. We had one driver on the road from Mdina to Sliema who was clearly convinced he was Malta's answer to Ayrton Senna..

But, the best thing about the whole holiday was restaurant we found just down the road from the hotel. We were on half board but TBH the food was crap and as we'd got the holiday so cheap we were quite happy to eat out. It wasn't expensive then, but apparently from other comments this may not be the case any more. YMMV.

Anyway, we wander off to the street of restaurants just down the road, do the normal thing of looking at which one was busiest and go in there. OMG.. what food. I'm partial to a steak, and I still think the steak I had there is probably the best I've ever eaten, narrowly beating the steakhouse in the Crowne Plaza on Sheikh Zayed Road in Dubai, if you want a comparison. At about 1/5th of the price, as well..

Suffice it to say we went back 3 times over the course of the week..

I've done a search on Tripadvisor, the restaurant appears to still be going strong as it's rated #1 out of 67 in Qawra, what can I say? Comes with my best recommendation

The Overflow Restaurant Reviews, Qawra, Malta - TripAdvisor

Cheers,

Gaz

 

[tacho d]

I spent three years of my childhood in Sliema 1967-70 so think of it as home. Went back 9 years ago to re-live memories and passed through again in a small yacht on the way to Greece. I have a soft spot for the place, always found the locals warm and friendly. Valletta is a must for culture, you can book a guided tour of Grand Harbour on a boat from Sliema. On the medieval theme, Mdina and Rabat are a must, Mdina being a fortified town, perfectly preserved from the time of the Knights. Regular buses from Sliema and Valleta. For scenic beauty, there are boat trips from Sleima to the Blue Lagoon, and Gozo is a good escape if it all gets a bit hectic, its quieter and more rural. Have a great time as I'm sure you will.

 

[kit17]

One of the best ways to see the sights in Malta is to use the Malta sightseeing bus:

Maltasightseeing.com :: Home

It's worth having a look at the site just for some ideas.

If you fancy going on a boat trip the Captain Morgan Cruises are good.

Paceville in St.julian's is the best place for night life - clubs, bars etc. If you go that way it's worth having a stroll along Spinola bay, and if you like boats have look down at Portomaso Marina this is where our boat and apartment are - you may see our boat it's called KITS .

Have a great Trip

 

[TDE1]

Mosta dome is the one you are thinking of.

Yes! Thanks, was wracking my brain

 

[Ginger55k]

On a serious note, what we used to call The Gut (you don't want to know!) is really called Strait Street. Down the bottom end you will see gouges out of the sandstone walls above head height. These were caused by broadswords welded by the Knights of St. John as the street was used for sword practice!

• There is/was a very interesting museum about the Knights.
• Look inside some of the churches - stunning
• The sunset over Valetta harbour is quite possible one of the most beautiful sights in the world
• The Maltese are a fiercely proud people. Buy a drink for one of old men in a bar and they will tell you amazing stories about winning the George Cross (awarded to the whole Island)
• The little pea pasties (pastizzi) they sell in local bakeries are amazing
• Be grateful the Baracca lift no longer operates (deathtrap for drunken matelots back in the day! Do a search on line......)
• Be sure to ride the local busses at least once. Quite an experience and held together with masking tape is probably no exaggeration
• Like someone has said, the place is like a car museum
• Mdina (the Silent City) is indeed worth visiting

Now that brings back memories, you can also see the place Olly Reed gave it a bit too hard whilst keeping up with matelots, experienced the guy in Monte Carlo in the early 80's, zulu warrior in the mess, that guy could drink, RIP.

 

[st13phil]

...you can also see the place Olly Reed gave it a bit too hard whilst keeping up with matelots

Visited that bar while we were there (well, you have to, don't you?). They have a great photo album with quite a few piccies of the late OR.

 

[terrycufc]

A couple of years ago we stayed in Sliema at the Imperial Hotel. Was once very grand, not quite so grand now but still a nice place to stay
It was nice being able to take the water taxi to Valletta, a few minutes ride for around 1euro.
Favourite place to eat was Ta'Kris.
Lots of nice and safe places to walk, we didn't bother with a car for the first few days (must be mad trying to find your way around the tight streets!).
Boat tour is recomended, as is seeing the "big gun" and Medina.
We hired a car as we were spending a few days on Gozo, so drove across the island on the ferry.
Gozo is much slower pace, not so much to do, the fort in Victoria is a nice walk.
Sight and sound of starlings going into the trees during the evening while in a restaurant (It-Tokk I think it was) in Independance Square was very memorable, lots of noise as they jostle for space, then as the sun goes down so does all the noise!
I plan on going back in the next couple of years.

Terry

 

[guydewdney]

How do you make a Maltese Cross?






















Stamp on his toes....

Ill get my coat...

 

[Mike Walker]

Have a look at yesterday's Daily Torygraph - 36 hours in Malta, which focuses on Valetta.

 

[donshl]

Hi All,

Many thanks for all the useful tips that you all provided.In short, the trip to Malta was great!

I would highly recommend it as a great place to visit!

After an interesting flight with Ryanair (not recommended!) we landed at Luqa and came out with minimal fuss and went to Europcar to collect the hit car!

Was a bit apprehensive about driving there, but it was not bad at all, not much different to driving in London! The GPS coverage was pretty good so had minimal trouble getting to our destination in Ramla Bay (right at the top of the island. The drive was good and the roads (for the most part) were well paved, but the mountain routes were a bit crazy as they were quite tight with very acute bends!

First day we were walking around Mellieha, with a beautiful Bay and is on a hill, so you can see for miles around. Were only there for the evening so only walked around the town.

Second day was spent in driving to Mgarr and and then onto Mdina and Rabat. Took one of the horse cart rides in Mdina and around Rabat (was about 30 Euro’s) which was a really interesting experience! Mdina ia a beautiful city and it seems like you step back into the middle ages straight away! After coming back from Mdina, we went out to St Julian’s for some partying! It was crazy busy there but the vibe was good and there are plenty of bars and clubs to try out! Cannot recommend any as we just walked from one place to another!

Third day was the drive down to see the caves at Blue Grotto, the boat ride to see the caves is well worth it and it was certainly a sight to see! After the Blue Grotto we drove to Marsaxlokk and what a sight!!! just the sight of the sea side with all the boats was something right out of a dream! There are some fantastic restaurants on the seaside with fresh fish. After Lunch we walked around the town and headed off to Valetta to for the evening and visited Barakka Gardens and St Johns and stopped for a coffee in front of St Johns. Valetta get really quiet after 6pm so great time to just chill out in the city.


Went back to Valetta for the fourth day and was spent walking around, it’s a small city so very easy to walk around. I won’t bore you with all the places we visited, found the old Armoury and palace state rooms really not worth the visit. The best was the visit to the library where we had the chance to talk to one of the librarians who gave us a really good talk about the history of the library and Malta.

The last before our flight was spent in the Blue lagoon in Comino, what a fantastic sight! Truly one of the most beautiful places on the earth and well worth the visit, IMHO, definitely not to be missed in Malta!



It’s just a quick overview of the holiday, but we found the people really friendly and helpful. The drivers can be a bit impatient, but I made sure to give way whenever possible and driving around the island wasn’t a problem at all! In fact when I check the trip computer, I had driven nearly 500km in 5 days! only on half a tank of fuel in a woefully underpowered Peugoet 107! Personally we found it a great convenience to have a car as that made it really flexible for us to travel around/

We didn’t see any of the old buses in Malta, they all have been replaces by the new blue/green buses which seem to be everywhere!

Hope that help anyone planning to visit Malta!

 

[markmifsud]

Nice review, I am Maltese and its good to see these posts You should have tried to go to a village Festa. They are on most weekends and include some very impressive firework displays. look up mqabba fireworks on youtube, they are thought to be one of the best in the world, not bad when you consider they make the fireworks in a back yard.

 

[IanA2]

Thanks for the review, seems like you had a good time. Pity about the buses, I travelled on them many a time and they were great fun.

 

[donshl]

Nice review, I am Maltese and its good to see these posts You should have tried to go to a village Festa. They are on most weekends and include some very impressive firework displays. look up mqabba fireworks on youtube, they are thought to be one of the best in the world, not bad when you consider they make the fireworks in a back yard.

Thanks Mark, it was a great place and I definitely plan to visit again soon, so hopefully will have more time to explore the island and Gozo. For such a small island, there are lot of places to see!

 

[IanA2]

Nice review, I am Maltese and its good to see these posts You should have tried to go to a village Festa. They are on most weekends and include some very impressive firework displays. look up mqabba fireworks on youtube, they are thought to be one of the best in the world, not bad when you consider they make the fireworks in a back yard.

Funny you mention fireworks: I went to a world cup qualifier in '84, Malta v West Germany. Fantastic match, Germany only just won, and boy were the fireworks great!

 

[markmifsud]

Thanks for the review, seems like you had a good time. Pity about the buses, I travelled on them many a time and they were great fun.

This is one of the original Maltese buses, now restored and driving around London for Maltese events.

Just a small curtain for a door.

 

[IanA2]

This is one of the original Maltese buses, now restored and driving around London for Maltese events.

Just a small curtain for a door.

But...but....but...It doesn't have the authentic dings/bashes etc. Nor is it festooned with lots of lucky charms

 

[jotter22]

Cheers don booked today the wife and i fly out on June 4th.

Tony.

 

[kit17]

Cheers don booked today the wife and i fly out on June 4th.

Tony.

I'm jealous! due to work commitments we don't go out until july

Where are you staying?