Pyxis - Mgarr, Gozo (Valletta, Malta)

Mgarr, Gozo (Valletta, Malta)

Pyxis

Karen & Richard

Fri 22 May 2009 22:58

Friday 22^nd May – Mgarr, Gozo (Valletta, Malta)

36:01.556N 14:17.925E

Over the next three days there is a festival in Gozo, Lejlet Lapsi, so we have decided to hold on here to visit it.

As a result of the festival, and to encourage visitors from Malta, they announced that the ferries between Malta and Gozo would be free today for foot passengers, and on Saturday they will be heavily discounted. This sounded like a good excuse for a ferry ride across to Malta for a reconnaissance trip.

So mid morning we left Pyxis and walked the short distance to the ferry terminal for the 11.15 ferry. We were soon aboard and enjoyed the short 20min journey from Mgarr to Cirkewwa, on the top NW corner of Malta, sailing past Blue Lagoon on Comino on the way. The weather once again was hot and sunny, with just a light easterly breeze.

From Cirkewwa it was a half hour bus ride, on one of those charming old buses, to Valletta, the capital. It is quite a long way and very hilly with the bus winding its way around the big bays at the top of the island and through each of the towns on the way. We were surprised at how built up most of the towns are.

Richard was just speculating on how they managed to maintain all the old buses and I was just saying how these old buses were probably mechanically simpler and very reliable, when literally, the next minute, we broke down – the bus had overheated climbing the last set of hills. Next time I’ll keep quiet until we reach our destination.

The bus driver pulled into a petrol station and we were all herded off the bus to walk to the next bus stop, only a few yards away. Shortly after, our bus re-appeared and picked us all up again –it had simply needed a bit of a rest and some water (or was that the bus driver). Anyway, we were on our way again to Valletta.

In Valletta, the bus terminal is right by the City Gate and Triton Fountain; the large city walls and archway entrance and the Great Ditch around the wall were all very impressive.

We headed through the archway and straight to Tourist Information for some information (or more accurately, Tourist Information-if-I-could-be-bothered-to-speak-to-you; the surly lady was not very forthcoming). Having prised a map out of Tourist Information, and armed with our Lonely Planet guide, we walked on around the old town.

First we headed to the Upper Barrakka Gardens which offer fabulous views down into Grand Harbour. We then walked along the small streets, very hilly, working our way towards Fort St Elmo at the seaward end of Valletta. On the way we walked past St John’s Co Cathedral, the Law Courts and the Grand Master’s Palace.

From the fort, we then walked around the coast road and found a small café on the hillside at ‘GunPost’ for lunch with a great view over Marsamxett Harbour to Manoel Island and Sliema.

After lunch, we carried on a little further before catching the small ferry across the harbour to Sliema. Once at Sliema, we walked along the water front, past the boatyards at Manoel Island, to the marina at Msida where Con and Barb on Big Sky are staying and paid them a surprise visit.

They have been working hard on a few maintenance items on Big Sky since they arrived and had just finished, so fortunately they were ready to take a break. It was great to catch up with them again. Unprompted, they mentioned the unhelpfulness of the Tourist Information office when they had been in, so this doesn’t seem just to be a coincidence. We stayed for a drink and then managed to catch a bus back to the ferry terminal at Cirkewwa from a bus stop by the end of the marina.

The sun was just setting as we arrived for the ferry, and we had a pleasant trip back past Comino as dusk fell. This time the ferry was much busier with a full complement of cars on board.

We arrived back at Pyxis exhausted after a long day and ready for dinner and showers.