Walking. Gossip. Travel.

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  • Malta – South Eastern Region – Valletta – The Pub

    There aren’t a large number of bars in the centre of Valletta, it’s mostly cafes and restaurants rather than what might be called pubs. So, it’s not difficult for this location to just be called “The Pub” and still maintain its own identity.

    The pub is small inside, with just four tables and it’d be a push to get more than around twenty people in. Fortunately, there was one table free when I went in and although there were none of those craft beers that I like, there was Guinness, and that’s just fine.

    There are numerous photos and references to Oliver Reed, as he died in this pub. It’s perhaps not the best claim to fame to have, but the pub does rather play on it and even sells t-shirts relating to the event. For those who want to know Reed’s final alcohol consumption on the night in question, he had drunk 8 pints of lager, 12 double rums and 14 whiskeys.

    But the pub does have a lot of atmosphere, it’s welcoming, quirky and very traditional. It picks up negative reviews from not being clean or modern enough, but I quite like the slightly rickety nature of the interior.

    This was a popular haunt when British sailors were stationed on Malta, and there are numerous photos of ships as well as the badges on the walls.

    The service in the pub was entirely acceptable, it was efficient, sufficiently polite and made the location not feel unwelcoming. The prices are reasonable as well, with a pint of Guinness costing just under £4. Certainly a unique location….

  • Malta – Northern Region – St. Martin’s Cave

    I didn’t expect to find this cave, it wasn’t marked on my map and I was just walking by it. It was originally a Punic-Roman burial tomb, although it has also been used for human habitation. It was turned into a grotto in 1931 and remains in use for religious services. Fortunately there is a sign explaining this, otherwise I’d have found the site just a little confusing.

    The entrance to the cave, with a seating area.

    There was someone using the site for contemplation, so I didn’t disturb him by wandering around getting in the way as it wasn’t really large enough to do that. Such is the delight of Malta though, caves and religious sites such as this are commonplace. Apparently they set up a Christmas crib scene during the festive period, and I can see that the location is appropriate for that.

  • Malta – Northern Region – Countryside Walk

    Just photos in this post, my walk from the hotel at St. Paul’s Bay to the Skorba Temples. It’s warm without being too hot and fortunately there’s also a breeze, which helped me not overheat on the hilly bits of the walk.

  • Malta – Northern Region – Skorba Temples

    I decided to walk to Skorba Temples from the hotel, which was just over an hour walk, as it’s one of the last historic sites I’ve yet to visit from my Heritage Malta pass. It’s a relative recent discovery, with the archaeological dig dating back only to the 1960s, but the site dates back to 4,850BC. For something that dates back 6,000 years that’s quite special and it was soon after listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site.

    There isn’t really much to see here in terms of the scale of the site, with nearly everything visible by just looking through the fence. The ticket buying process is a little convoluted for those without passes, they have to buy them at a different location or go and hunt some farm in the village down. There is a ticket desk at the site, but I imagine that they want it to be cash free, hence the no ticket purchase policy.

    The main temple area, which was added around 1,200 years after the first settlement at the site.

    This is one of the tallest standing stones remaining at the site. Much of the stone has gone missing over the centuries, likely reused for buildings and walls over the course of time.

    There hasn’t been much messed about with at the site in terms of some form of modern reconstruction, although there’s a limited amount for them to mess about with. For a site this old though I’m surprised there’s not a greater protection in the form of some sort of overhead canopy and the information boards could perhaps be improved a little in terms of their positioning.

    A site of this age and importance does perhaps warrant a small museum of its own at the location, although I assume that the visitor numbers would be too low to justify this. Anyway, it’s marvellous that anything has remained standing for this long and I’m glad it’s here.

  • Malta – Central Region – St. Julian’s Bay – Fisherman With Cat Statue

    I can’t find out much about this statue, other than it’s meant to represent a local fisherman sorting out his nets, whilst a cat sits by eagerly waiting for a snack of a delicious fish to be provided to it.

  • Malta – Central Region – St. Julian’s Bay – Poseidon Artwork

    This artwork has been created using fishing nets which have been found discarded around the islands of Malta. It was created to highlight the problems of discarded nets which can still kill fish and marine animals even though they’re not still being used.

    The information sign notes that 640,000 tonnes of fishing gear are left in the seas and oceans every year. Very thought provoking.

  • Malta – Central Region – St. Julian’s Bay Area

    Some photos from my visit today to the St. Julian’s Bay area….

       

  • Malta – Gozo – Citadel Stone Circle

    This would have been an interesting sight (not that they know what it is or how old it is), although since it’s not a special occasion it was covered up when I was in Gozo….

    This sign is located in front of the metal section at the base of the steps, so I assume the circle is under that….. It’s a shame they can’t place a clear covering over it (over the stone circle, not over the sign) so that visitors can see it when it’s not a special occasion….

  • Malta – Gozo – Gozo Nature Museum

    I suspect that Gozo’s nature museum will be swept away when the new national museum opens in a couple of years. As a museum goes, this was a bit hopeless and the staff member was polite, but seemed to have slightly lost the will to be enthused by the place.

    Rather irritatingly, the building that the museum is housed in is absolutely fascinating. It was an inn during most of the nineteenth century, and I can imagine the stories that this building must have. Unfortunately, other than for one brief mention on a sign, there is nothing else giving details about how the building itself evolved.

    Some stuffed dead animals, one of the highlights of the museum. These were the better displays, the rest really did just get in the way of seeing the historic building itself. The other highlight is the moon rock, the one which Heritage Malta haven’t had pinched.

    The museum does though to its credit have its own terraced area which looks out onto the Cittadella. It’s marginal whether visitors would spend more than fifteen minutes in the museum as it stands (and even then I’m allowing for a few minutes using the toilets) and it’s a poor use of the building which Heritage Malta own.

    Whilst I’m busy complaining about this, Heritage Malta list the top reason to visit this building as:

    “Housed in a building which dates back to the 1600s, full of authentic architectural features.”

    Which they promptly do nothing to explain at the site. Anyway, I like Heritage Malta, and I hope in a few years this site is repurposed when they have their new museum in Victoria open.

  • British Airways (Gatwick South to Malta) – Third Time

    Back to an A320 for this British Airways flight from Gatwick South to Malta, the third and final (well, for the foreseeable future) of my trips to the islands. This is aircraft G-GATK which was for ten years part of the Wizzair fleet, and before that it was operated by ACES Colombia.

    Boarding was efficient at Gatwick, with customers being called through by order of priority. There was a problem with the number of bags being taken on board and it was a full flight, so the ground staff did ask passengers if they’d put their luggage in the hold. There was a remarkable variety of reasons why customers refused, such as “my medicines are in here”, “my book is in the bag” and my favourite one of them all, “no, I’m here first, get someone else to put their bag in the hold”. The customer said it with a powerful sense of entitlement if nothing else…. I don’t use the overhead lockers, which makes matters easier for me. Boarding was made harder for the crew by the lack of assistance from customers, but I think they’re more than used to it by now.

    There’s an inevitable Groundhog Day feel to this, it’s of course the same menu as I had on the flight last week.

    I’m not particularly keen on the British Airways Full English breakfast, so I didn’t even try to change my option for the sake of having a different photo….. I was, to my knowledge, the only person who went for the meat platter, other passengers went for the cooked breakfast options. It’s not startlingly exciting, but it’s a reliable and comfortable cold option.

    Service was professional and efficient throughout, with customers served from the front to the back of the cabin and the crew were available with top-ups of drinks. The cabin was clean, one of the airline’s inconsistencies, and the disembarkation was speedy. The only slight delay was that we had landed just after an easyJet service, which meant that there was about a 20-minute delay at border control.