Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Tag: Malta

  • Malta – South Eastern Region – Valletta – Cheeky Monkey

    A lot of restaurants and cafes in Valletta often have quite old-fashioned frontages, but Cheeky Monkey looks and feels modern. It’s well presented and their web-site is up-to-date, something which numerous restaurants in Malta don’t seem to concern themselves about.

    I visited on a rainy late afternoon in February, so it wasn’t a surprise that it wasn’t that busy. There was a friendly welcome from a staff member, not just a “hello”, but something that actually seemed authentic and personable. So, my first impressions were rather positive.

    Having craft beer is obviously a huge bonus for my enjoyment of a location, and although I’ve had this beer a few times, I like having it as an option. It’s the Fungus Rock dry stout from Lord Chambray Brewery on Gozo, one of the few local breweries. It doesn’t have the depth of flavour and afternotes that I’d ideally like, but it’s entirely acceptable. It transpired later on that I visited during happy hour, but the pub didn’t tell me that, which might have made my visit longer……

    The fish and chips, which was neatly presented and everything was at the appropriate temperature. Far too often restaurants put peas on with fish and they’re dry and tasteless, but these were excellent and despite being green, they had a depth of taste. The breading of the fish was even throughout and had a decent flavour, although the portion size was only adequate. The fish itself was again fine, although slightly uninteresting. The chips were though excellent again, crispy on the exterior and flurry on the interior, with the tartare sauce adding some extra flavour.

    It was all very acceptable and the prices weren’t unreasonable given the city centre location of Valletta. The service was above average throughout, always being attentive and polite. A staff member was going around with a tablet asking customers for feedback, something which I’m not sure works or not. I very much like the concept of it for picking up any issues, but they don’t seem to be doing anything directly with the data that they get. So if a customer isn’t entirely happy, I’m not sure if the pub is contacting them either immediately or after the event. If it isn’t (and they didn’t contact me), I’m not sure it’s a great idea, but the concept of immediate feedback is an interesting one which is very rarely done in this manner.

    But, everything was clean and organised, and I’d certainly go again, particularly as the staff were so friendly.

  • Malta – Southern Region – Filfla

    The island at the rear of the three photos below is Filfla, which is around five kilometres to the south of the main island. It’s 15 acres in size and visitors aren’t allowed unless they get a permit in advance, which are usually limited to scientific or educational reasons. There was once a monastery on the site and also a lighthouse and small fort, but part of the island collapsed in an earthquake and took some of these buildings with it.

    The British decided that they would use the island as target practice and they did this until 1971, but the island was turned into a bird reserve in 1980. It’s a popular areas with divers and the island is also home to a subspecies of the Filfola lizard which can only be found here.

  • Malta – Southern Region – Ħamrija Tower

    This tower was built in 1659 and was one of a series of watchtowers located around Malta. There were thirteen of these towers built under the instruction of Martin de Redin, the Grandmaster of the Knights of the Order of St. John. The towers aren’t doing too badly, as eight of them are still intact, two are partly intact and only three have been lost to history.

    Bits of the tower started to fall off recently, but it has been repaired internally and a new staircase added. The entrance is visible above and access would have been gained via a retractable ladder. To my knowledge there’s no way of visiting the inside of the tower.

  • Malta – Central Region – Manoel Island – Views of Valletta

    The weather didn’t really allow for great photos, but there’s a spot at the end of Manoel Island which looks out onto the centre of Valletta. It’s an excellent way to see the country’s capital city, although it’s just a little bit of a walk to get there.

  • Malta – Central Region – Manoel Island – Fort Manoel

    Work on this fort started in 1722 and it was completed just over a decade later. It was later taken over by the British who used it as a naval base until 1906. It came back into use during the Second World War and it was damaged by air raids. This is the entrance into the site, although it’s unfortunately locked shut.

    Restoration on the site is on-going as it had started to fall into disrepair and had also been vandalised in places. This included the crypt under the fortifications where bones belonging to the Knights had been scattered around.

    Apparently the interiors are now secured in a generally good state and there are occasional special tours which take place. Hopefully over the next years something more substantial will be done here, perhaps a museum, which allows greater public access. I hope that it doesn’t become a housing development, but the developer paying for the restoration does seem to have that intention. They’ve put up a lot of photos of the site at http://www.midimalta.com/en/fort-manoel.

  • Malta – Central Region – Manoel Island – Duck Village

    Manoel Island is quite a quirky place and takes its name from the Grand Master who built a fort here in the early eighteenth century. At the entrance to this island, which is connected to Sliema by a small bridge, is Duck Village. I’m not quite sure what to think of this little arrangement, but there were some children there who really enjoyed it. It can all be seen from the road and there’s the option of leaving money for the owners to pay for duck food.

    The ducks, chickens and cats all seemed to be living alongside each other quite happily, and it’s a harmless little enterprise. Well, so I thought until I went to TripAdvisor and saw this:

    “Ramshackle run down junk compilation of scrap that is an insult to the ducks, primarily designed to relieve idiots of there hard earned pennies”.

    The ducks looked quite happy to me, and if it keeps children happy, then I’m unsure why people have to throw comments around such as “idiots”. But, such is the world we live in. Photos of this experience below:

  • Malta – Central Region – Sliema – Love Locks

    The phenomenon of love locks has reached Malta (apparently over a decade ago), with the theory being that happy couples can place a lock on a fence and chuck the key into the water. Very romantic….

    I think it looks ridiculous, although this is one of the neatest examples that I’ve seen.

    Fortunately, the authorities have limited this love lock exuberance to just a few panels.

  • Malta – South Eastern Region – Valletta – Sunset

    The sun setting over Valletta, very peaceful…..

  • Malta – South Eastern Region – Valletta – Make a Donation

    The wording on this statue apparently means “help me become a Priest” and there has been an art project based on this. I’m sure that these used to be more common, although this is the only one that I’ve seen in a long time.

  • Malta – South Eastern Region – Valletta – Views From Sliema

    Photos of Valletta taken from Sliema, which is a strip of land just to the north of the country’s capital. Sliema is where the Ottomans attacked the Knights of St. John from, and is where Dragut was killed. It was a fishing village for some centuries, although there was a military garrison located here until the British left in 1979.

    These photos would have looked rather better if it hadn’t been raining for most of the morning…..