One of the highlights for us was riding around in the 1960's buses - Bedford, Leyland, AEC. Pulling the cord to let the driver know we wanted to alight (Harry and I both wanted a turn), doors wide open - if they had one at all - speedos not working. The bus never quite stopped to let you off - you got used to hopping on and off a moving vehicle - and we weren't lucky enough to have a personalised bus stop like the locals. At 47 cents, or 54 cents or €1.16 it was all good fun at a reasonable price (but you could never tell when you had to pay what fare - some buses were direct that means the same route but didn't stop a lot and we didn't know). Each bus has its own driver and it appeared that they travelled the same route day after day. Some had pictures of loved ones on the dashboard, others phrases about God (God is Love), one a billiard ball on the top of the gear stick, and some had the name of the driver, horseshoes, pictures of woman or animals. Buses did seem to have the right of way over all other road signs including 'STOP' - though most drivers drove reasonably slowly - I assumed because of the condition of the roads but it could have been the antiquity of the buses!! Alongside the buses were the cars or should I call the museum pieces (Morris Minor 1000, Hillman Hunter, 100E Prefect, Mitsubishi Lancer - that's a joke because we have one in NZ - Vauxhall Victor, Mark II and III Cortinas, Morris 1300, Morris Marina, Bedford CA, 36 Dodge truck) and a number of Japanese imports. I noticed besides their colour, age and rust that many of them had beach towels wrapped around the seats presumably cos the seats were either ripped or because it gets quite hot in Malta - sometimes.
The country appears quite poor - and we did wonder about the value of moving to the EU when the currency appeared to be so over valued (probably to bring in the tourist cash). The spirit is happy and deeply religious, service friendly and helpful (except for a very grumpy bus driver), food within our expectations for what we paid, streets clean - except for the occassional dog owner not clearing up, no beggars in sight. Children looked well fed, happy and loved but many streets were quiet and we often wondered thought 'Where is everyone?' There is a lot of crop growing, few animals - though we saw fresh sheep and goats cheese advertised - lots of cats - and evidence of dogs. The shops are little and boutique, most groceries seem to be bought in dairies which also have lovely bakery's attached - we couldn't resist (lamingtons in Malta but not England, doughnuts, gateaus, date slice, fresh bread). Like most of our trips we packed a lot in to our few days away. It wasn't that difficult - if it had been warmer we may have been tempted to sit outside and read a book, but except for one day when we just happened to be having lunch and the sun came out - we were wrapped up warmly even to the extent of a woolly hat. We stayed in a place called St Pauls Bay - our hotel was rather tired (its heyday probably in the 1960's), but clean and comfortable and they did a good breakfast and evening meal (3 course meal for €11). We did want a bit of variety and sampled Maltese cooking at the local restaurants eg pasta, pizza, fish, cookies, date slice - the Italian influence quite evident. We discovered 'game chips' were actually chippies. We didn't try their local dish braggioli (beef olives) so might find a recipe and cook it here one night. Although, out of the capital, the hotel was well placed for bus routes but on a side street - and we got lost on numerous occasions getting back to the hotel (yes we had a map).
At least 5 people told me independently that 'We must go to Gozo' - one of the 3 Maltese Islands - so off we went - travelling first by bus and then by one of the three roll on roll off ferries that service the small channel. Rather stupidly we went on a Sunday only to find that the buses were scarce and so we couldn't see half of what we thought would be interesting. In some ways we regret not paying the €60 offered by the taxi driver at the ferry terminal to show us around but it felt quite expensive at the time. So, we caught one of the few buses to the capital Victoria - went to the tourist information centre ('Oh you can catch a bus to the temple, walk to Calypso Cave, walk to the fishing village and catch a bus back' - don't ever listen to a tourist information person on Gozo Island). After seeing the temple (we have been rather spoilt visiting Egypt as this was simply a collection of rocks they are trying to stop falling further into disarray), we walked to the Cave. Calypso Cave is situated in Xaghra and overlooks the red sands of the Ramla l-Ħamra beach. It is thought to have been mentioned by Homer in "The Odyssey" - some think that it may have been where the nymph Calypso kept Odysseus as a "prisoner of love" for seven years. If so, can't have been a very easy seven years. The cave itself is not that impressive (that's an overstatement actually). We then followed the path to the fishing village - quite colourful with geraniums, fennel, dandelions - but somewhere along the cliff top the path finished and only birds could have made the distance from cliff top to cliff top (yes we did have a map). So, we back tracked through what appeared to be local allotments and huts and walked the roads. The fishing village wasn't much either compared to some of the little villages we saw in Malta. We returned to Victoria where we wandered around the The Citadel. This fort was built somewhere before the 1500's and protected the inhabitants from any a pirate and raider who stopped at the island for fresh produce, water, slaves and generally made a nuisance of themselves. After the Knights victory in the Great Siege of 1565 against the Ottoman Turks, the Citadel was reinforced and still stands in quite good condition today. We did get a bit of a surprise in Gozo - while wandering back to the bus stop (us ramblers were very tired by that stage) we came across Caramello's cousins, grandparents, sisters and brothers in a shop window. We couldn't believe it - half way around the world and in Malta - needless to say a photo opportunity not to be missed!!
Another day we went to Mdina - known as the 'Silent City' this 15th century town and the oldest in Malta, is perched on top of a hill and has narrow streets for pedestrians. But first we went to the Air museum (Harry got cornered by an enthusiastic elderly Englishman, who had lived on the island for 7 years and helps out at the museum every Saturday) so I took off and went to the nearby craft village housed in a whole lot of little buildings that were once part of the airfield. The glass works (a mix of glass blowing, glass fusion and lampwork) is quite amazing and very different to what I had seen before, the silver filigree jewellery very intricate and the limestone carvings and pottery very pretty. Harry eventually escaped and after a coffee we decided not to wait for the bus but to walk to Mdina (we could see it on the hill), but the road looked quite circuitous and so we wandered down a muddy path, up a reasonably steep narrow dirt road, through some hail and rain to the top arriving about the same time as the bus (and we didn't get lost even though we didn't have a map). It is a lovely little place - once the capital of Malta -we wandered the narrow streets looking at houses, the fortress, churches, shops, stopped for coffee in the only cafe that had a leaky conservatory roof and then wandered around the town Rabat (just outside the walls of Mdina). We discovered here a huge orange orchard and later found out that citrus fruit trees are planted in the disused limestone quarries (there are very few other trees in Malta). In Rabat, we visited St Pauls Cathedral and the catacombs. St Paul became the patron saint of Malta around the 13th century when he spent 3 months preaching in the islands after his ship was wrecked in Malta around 60AD. Miraculously all people on board were saved. We 'stepped down into a hushed and mysterious underworld from the past'. They are so different to the temples in Egypt, lots of bodies put together in the tombs - just move the bones aside for another body) - but like the Egyptian temples - grave robbers had got their before the conservationists and archaeologists. The catacombs are a maze of 2000 square metres under the town and so we didn't wander far from the lit passages as it would have been difficult to find our way back (we didn't have a map). Roman law required that catacombs were located outside the city walls for sanitary reasons and there was usually a wall that drew the line between where the living lived and where the dead lived (?). They think the catacombs probably started as a small family tomb but during World War II they were also used as a storage place for artefacts and a shelter for the residents.
Valetta is the capital - and we found our way there quite easily - cos that is where all the buses come to a stop. It has the presidential home, the Barracca Gardens over looking the harbour with cannons that used to protect the town, a number of forts which are closed for restoration thanks to EU money. Over on one side of the capital is the 'three cities'. We took a little boat trip around the harbour one day (no life jackets and if you needed a permit I suspect the boat owner didn't have one) and floated past a German naval vessel there (wouldn't have been welcomed a few years earlier - and neither would the group of young German men who stayed in the hotel). The three cities is a lovely part of the island - house proud owners, millionaires boats, little fishing vessels and coffee shops. On the other side of Valetta is Sliema and St Julians Bay - where we wandered around with many other tourists enjoying sunsets and more coffees. There were many limestone buildings - they do have that ageless quality about them - sometimes we struggled to work out if we were looking at an old building or not. They say there is now a construction boom on the island - but we didn't really see it - yes a few hotels going up, but also a lot of empty apartment blocks - and by empty we mean the blocks were up, but only on the outside walls - no windows in place, no interior walls. We figured out that if you wished to buy you purchased the shell and then put everything else in yourself. There were a number of apartment blocks where one or two had windows (a sure sign of being lived in) while others were empty to the elements (and it does rain and get cold in Malta - we know!!). Not far from Valetta was the Palace Parisio. It is a private home originally built by the Portugese Grand Master Manoel de Vilhena who ruled the island sometime in the mid 1700's. This was a lovely old building with hand painted wall paper - must have been stencilled I think - a long marble bannister on the stair case (a slide for Caramello), and huge chandeliers placed strategically in front of large mirrors. In the garden was a tree with a fascinating prickly trunk which I think could have been our first sighting of a 'prickly pear tree'. We also visited St John's cathedral described as 'a gem of Baroque art'. It was filled with paintings and art work mainly donated by the grand masters and knights. The knights had a huge impact on the islands, originating from Jerusalem and Rhodes and arriving in Malta around 1530. A few years later the Ottoman Turkish attacked the islands and thanks to the Knights were unsuccessful - needless to say Moslem religion is not very visible on the islands. 
If we had been divers we would have been in our element. However, we still did appreciate the lovely clear blue water. The Blue Grotto is near Zurrieq in southwest Malta, an area famous for its rocky coastline and natural sea caves. We cruised for only about 30 minutes around the caves but even though the trip was short the white and pink limestone caves with their blue and green floors under the water were well worth the trip. We then caught the bus to Marsaxlokk - but not before the bus driver stopped and said 'get off, wait for another bus' (ever seen pictures of tourists standing round a bus stop looking lost and confused?). Anyway Marsaxlokk has the best flotilla of little fishing boats (dghajsa) that we saw. So, that was our trip to Malta - we came back to warmer weather - and spent the next few days getting our energy back!!
At least 5 people told me independently that 'We must go to Gozo' - one of the 3 Maltese Islands - so off we went - travelling first by bus and then by one of the three roll on roll off ferries that service the small channel. Rather stupidly we went on a Sunday only to find that the buses were scarce and so we couldn't see half of what we thought would be interesting. In some ways we regret not paying the €60 offered by the taxi driver at the ferry terminal to show us around but it felt quite expensive at the time. So, we caught one of the few buses to the capital Victoria - went to the tourist information centre ('Oh you can catch a bus to the temple, walk to Calypso Cave, walk to the fishing village and catch a bus back' - don't ever listen to a tourist information person on Gozo Island). After seeing the temple (we have been rather spoilt visiting Egypt as this was simply a collection of rocks they are trying to stop falling further into disarray), we walked to the Cave. Calypso Cave is situated in Xaghra and overlooks the red sands of the Ramla l-Ħamra beach. It is thought to have been mentioned by Homer in "The Odyssey" - some think that it may have been where the nymph Calypso kept Odysseus as a "prisoner of love" for seven years. If so, can't have been a very easy seven years. The cave itself is not that impressive (that's an overstatement actually). We then followed the path to the fishing village - quite colourful with geraniums, fennel, dandelions - but somewhere along the cliff top the path finished and only birds could have made the distance from cliff top to cliff top (yes we did have a map). So, we back tracked through what appeared to be local allotments and huts and walked the roads. The fishing village wasn't much either compared to some of the little villages we saw in Malta. We returned to Victoria where we wandered around the The Citadel. This fort was built somewhere before the 1500's and protected the inhabitants from any a pirate and raider who stopped at the island for fresh produce, water, slaves and generally made a nuisance of themselves. After the Knights victory in the Great Siege of 1565 against the Ottoman Turks, the Citadel was reinforced and still stands in quite good condition today. We did get a bit of a surprise in Gozo - while wandering back to the bus stop (us ramblers were very tired by that stage) we came across Caramello's cousins, grandparents, sisters and brothers in a shop window. We couldn't believe it - half way around the world and in Malta - needless to say a photo opportunity not to be missed!!Another day we went to Mdina - known as the 'Silent City' this 15th century town and the oldest in Malta, is perched on top of a hill and has narrow streets for pedestrians. But first we went to the Air museum (Harry got cornered by an enthusiastic elderly Englishman, who had lived on the island for 7 years and helps out at the museum every Saturday) so I took off and went to the nearby craft village housed in a whole lot of little buildings that were once part of the airfield. The glass works (a mix of glass blowing, glass fusion and lampwork) is quite amazing and very different to what I had seen before, the silver filigree jewellery very intricate and the limestone carvings and pottery very pretty. Harry eventually escaped and after a coffee we decided not to wait for the bus but to walk to Mdina (we could see it on the hill), but the road looked quite circuitous and so we wandered down a muddy path, up a reasonably steep narrow dirt road, through some hail and rain to the top arriving about the same time as the bus (and we didn't get lost even though we didn't have a map). It is a lovely little place - once the capital of Malta -we wandered the narrow streets looking at houses, the fortress, churches, shops, stopped for coffee in the only cafe that had a leaky conservatory roof and then wandered around the town Rabat (just outside the walls of Mdina). We discovered here a huge orange orchard and later found out that citrus fruit trees are planted in the disused limestone quarries (there are very few other trees in Malta). In Rabat, we visited St Pauls Cathedral and the catacombs. St Paul became the patron saint of Malta around the 13th century when he spent 3 months preaching in the islands after his ship was wrecked in Malta around 60AD. Miraculously all people on board were saved. We 'stepped down into a hushed and mysterious underworld from the past'. They are so different to the temples in Egypt, lots of bodies put together in the tombs - just move the bones aside for another body) - but like the Egyptian temples - grave robbers had got their before the conservationists and archaeologists. The catacombs are a maze of 2000 square metres under the town and so we didn't wander far from the lit passages as it would have been difficult to find our way back (we didn't have a map). Roman law required that catacombs were located outside the city walls for sanitary reasons and there was usually a wall that drew the line between where the living lived and where the dead lived (?). They think the catacombs probably started as a small family tomb but during World War II they were also used as a storage place for artefacts and a shelter for the residents.Valetta is the capital - and we found our way there quite easily - cos that is where all the buses come to a stop. It has the presidential home, the Barracca Gardens over looking the harbour with cannons that used to protect the town, a number of forts which are closed for restoration thanks to EU money. Over on one side of the capital is the 'three cities'. We took a little boat trip around the harbour one day (no life jackets and if you needed a permit I suspect the boat owner didn't have one) and floated past a German naval vessel there (wouldn't have been welcomed a few years earlier - and neither would the group of young German men who stayed in the hotel). The three cities is a lovely part of the island - house proud owners, millionaires boats, little fishing vessels and coffee shops. On the other side of Valetta is Sliema and St Julians Bay - where we wandered around with many other tourists enjoying sunsets and more coffees. There were many limestone buildings - they do have that ageless quality about them - sometimes we struggled to work out if we were looking at an old building or not. They say there is now a construction boom on the island - but we didn't really see it - yes a few hotels going up, but also a lot of empty apartment blocks - and by empty we mean the blocks were up, but only on the outside walls - no windows in place, no interior walls. We figured out that if you wished to buy you purchased the shell and then put everything else in yourself. There were a number of apartment blocks where one or two had windows (a sure sign of being lived in) while others were empty to the elements (and it does rain and get cold in Malta - we know!!). Not far from Valetta was the Palace Parisio. It is a private home originally built by the Portugese Grand Master Manoel de Vilhena who ruled the island sometime in the mid 1700's. This was a lovely old building with hand painted wall paper - must have been stencilled I think - a long marble bannister on the stair case (a slide for Caramello), and huge chandeliers placed strategically in front of large mirrors. In the garden was a tree with a fascinating prickly trunk which I think could have been our first sighting of a 'prickly pear tree'. We also visited St John's cathedral described as 'a gem of Baroque art'. It was filled with paintings and art work mainly donated by the grand masters and knights. The knights had a huge impact on the islands, originating from Jerusalem and Rhodes and arriving in Malta around 1530. A few years later the Ottoman Turkish attacked the islands and thanks to the Knights were unsuccessful - needless to say Moslem religion is not very visible on the islands. If we had been divers we would have been in our element. However, we still did appreciate the lovely clear blue water. The Blue Grotto is near Zurrieq in southwest Malta, an area famous for its rocky coastline and natural sea caves. We cruised for only about 30 minutes around the caves but even though the trip was short the white and pink limestone caves with their blue and green floors under the water were well worth the trip. We then caught the bus to Marsaxlokk - but not before the bus driver stopped and said 'get off, wait for another bus' (ever seen pictures of tourists standing round a bus stop looking lost and confused?). Anyway Marsaxlokk has the best flotilla of little fishing boats (dghajsa) that we saw. So, that was our trip to Malta - we came back to warmer weather - and spent the next few days getting our energy back!! 
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