where is malta?

where is malta? the question jumped out from the mouth of my friends when i told them im going to malta. 8 out 10 friends of mine didnt know where is malta? folks, malta is a tiny country in the middle of mediterrenean sea. hope no one gonna ask me that question again. the next question threw at me was what is there in malta or why malta? the answer is simple, i have never been there and my job is to conquer each and every inch of our planet!

i spent 7 amazing days in malta. malta has more to offer than i have expected. sandy beaches, old buildings and monuments, ancient temples, excellent restaurants and cafes, mysterious pre-historic sites, beautiful harbours and so much more. the only thing malta failed to ofter is great shopping.

7 days might sound like a bit too long for a small country but it is actually not. it is just perfect to explore both malta and gozo. due to flight delay, i reached malta quite late. the 4 hours delay was due to a sick man onboard! the plane had an emergency landing at marseille. i didnt know about the emergency landing after like 1 hour after we landed... i was sleeping! if the plane explode, i guess i will be the only on onboard that die without knowing what happen. by the time we checked in the hotel, the sky turned dark. it was winter time, which means shorter day light. winter is quite a good time to explore malta as the weather is quite pleasant. not too hot, not too cold!

after checked-in the hotel, i wasted no time and headed to valetta. peoples there really celebrate christmas! valetta was filled up with christmas decorations and christmas songs were played at almost everywhere. i have never felt so 'christmas' before. what is there in valetta? valetta is a unesco's world heritage site. valetta is a very exquisite city. the city is filled with baroque style buildings, monuments and gardens. after done walking in valetta, i headed to valetta waterfront for dinner. the place was once an abandoned port but after some renovation works, it is now a popular place among locals and tourists. hard rock cafe is there!

day two in malta, i explored all the famous sites in valetta, well almost all. i started off at national museum of archeology where there famous statues of sleeping lady and venus of malta were displayed. both statues are not like most normal goddess statues which have great body and face, both the statues in the museum represented oversized women. for me, venus means tall and statue like beauty but i guess in malta, they have different story. not far away from the museum is the st john's co-cathedral. the cathedral is the best i have seen so far (judging from the interior). i might not be a christian but i have seen more churches and cathedrals than most of my christian friends. the ceiling is decorated with paintings. the walls and pillars are carved and gold painted. the cathedral stored some ancient manuscripts and paintings by caravaggio. from the cathedral, i continued my valetta exploration at grand master's palace. grand master was the ruler of valetta. the palace has an impressive collection of armors, weapons and war equipments. the steel helmets are quite scary but funny at the same time. not far away is another amazing cathedral, st pauls anglican cathedral. in term of interior, the cathedral is way far behind st john's co-cathedral but on the outside, it certainly win the race. the big dome and tower are so beautiful and is so visible from everywhere of the city.

inside st john's co-cathedral

inside grand master's palace

after some history lessons, i headed to sacra infermeria and lower and upper barakka gardens. the gardens are the best place in valetta to see the view of grand harbour and the three cities. just a few steps from upper barakka gardens, is auberge de castille. it was once the home of knights of st john but now it is the workplace of the maltese prime minister. a few hundred steps away is hastings garden. the garden offers the best view of marsamxett harbour and sliema. the garden is also the favourite place for local love birds to hang-out, i think. many couples were kissing and hugging like no body business over there. maybe i have done the same if the right one was beside me. who doesnt when the setting of the garden is so damn right! beautiful garden, postcard perfect view and romantic sunset! i ended the day at triq ix-xatt, sliema, the perfect place to be during sunset. valetta looks so amazing during sunset. beside sunset, sliema is the place for bad shopping but good coffee.

no kidding! they are still using this kinda buses over there!!!!

marsamxett harbour

valetta

after a day of busy schedule in valetta, on day three i skipped the crowded streets of the city and ended up at blue grotto, a huge natural arch in the sea cliffs. getting there was quite a journey! it took me 45 minutes bus ride to get there from valetta. beside blue grotto, the place is also the home to two megalithic temples, hagar qim and mnajdra temples. megalithic temples in malta have been listed as one of unesco's world heritage sites. the temples were closed for some upgrading works. after failed to get into the temples, i travelled by bus to mdina. i fell in love straight away with mdina. mdina is a huge fortress. it is quite well preserved and its beauty is not easy to be described by mouth. anyway, i did feel like a prince when i was there! from mdina, i headed to mosta for mosta dome, another famous landmark of malta. the dome is so visible from most parts of malta. it is said to be one of the biggest in europe. after done admiring the dome, i headed to st julians. according to local maps, st julians is the place for shopping and dining. somehow, i was disappointed again! good food? good shopping? not really! there wasnt anything there that got me excited and i went to burger king for dinner. i guess malta is really not a place for shopping.

blue grotto

mdina

day four, i boarded a ferry to gozo. i started my gozo adventure at victoria, the biggest town in the island of gozo. the main attraction in victoria is il-kastell, a fortress. compare to mdina, it is less interesting. from victoria, i took a bus to gjantija temple, another of the megalithic temples. this place is much more interesting. archeologists are still finding the mysteries behind these temples. public transports are a mess in gozo. buses are so unreliable! some routes stop working before 2 pm. i ended up hiring a taxi for the rest of my destinations, 45 euro for 3 hours! in the 3 hours, i first explored dwejra to see the spectacular coastal scenery. things to explore in dwejra included inland sea, azure window, blue hole, crocodile rock and fungus rock. inland sea is a cliff bound lagoon connected to the open sea by a tunnel. not far away from the inland sea is azure window, a huge natural arc and blue hole, a natural vertical chimney. after done exploring dwejra, the driver took me to basilica of ta' pinu. i guess i have visited too many churches and cathedrals in the few days earlier, i was kinda sick of visiting another one. hence, i spent less than 15 minutes over there and asked the driver to drive me away as fast as possible and ended up at ta'cenc sea cliffs. the cliffs are damn high and i did feel dizzy when i looked down. on the way to mgarr for the ferry back to malta, i did stop at rotunda to snap a few pictures of the town. it is a quiet small town with a big church. gosh! churches are just everywhere in malta! i ended day four at mellieha, walked around the small town and took a dinner over there.

gjantija temple

dwejra

ta'cenc sea cliffs

after failed to have a detail examination on hagar qim and mnajdra temples two days earlier, i headed to the temples again on day five. hagar qim temples was opened but not manjdra temples. there were construction works going on at the temples as part of the conservation work at the temples. both temples are 500 metres apart from each other. in the afternoon of day 5, i explored senglea and vittoriosa. senglea wasn't that interesting to me. the reason i was there was to see the vedette and grand harbour with valetta as the backdrop. the vedette is quite unique. it is decorated with carvings of eyes and ears. vittoriosa is a better city than senglea. it is slightly bigger and more things to see. the city is filled up with squares, churches, forts and charming alleys. i ended day 5 at spinola bay. the bay is where maltese eat, drink and dance.

haqar qim temple

vedette

grand harbour

day 6 was the day i have been waiting for. i have booked ticket earlier to visit hypogeum. it is one of malta's most important pre-historic sites, an underground necropolis. it is estimated around 7000 bodies may have been buried at the site between 3600 to 3000 bc. that place is damn eerie! the tour which i have booked was for 2 pm, hence in the morning i tried to see the culture side of myself by visiting the national museum of fine art. i love sitting in the middle of a room hanged with many fine art masterpieces. i have no talent in drawing or painting. therefore, i'm quite interested at peoples who can make living with pencils and brushes. slightly more than an hour before entering hypogeum, i used the extra time to explore tarxien temples, another of the megalithic temples in malta. after some pre-historic lessons, i re-visited sliema for the sunset over valetta. that place is such a perfect place to end the day! what can possible be better than having a nice cup of mocha and looking at the sun goes down with the beautiful valetta as the backdrop?

national museum of fine art

valetta

i started off day 7 or the last day in malta at marsaxlokk, a postcard perfect fishing town. the main attraction at this town is the beautiful bay with colourful fishing boats. the town is also a popular stop over for seafood lunch. after a short mocha break at the town, i headed to rabat and mdina. i was too in love with mdina and i have to see her again before leaving malta. at rabat, i visited another very eerie place, st paul's catacombs. inside the catacombs, there is uncountable of rock-cut tombs, some as small as 50 cm in length. the eeriness in the catacombs was too much to bear, i stayed less than 20 minutes inside! from the catacombs, i walked to domus romana. the site was a large roman townhouse from the 1st century bc. nothing much to see here except some broken roman period artefacts and mosaic fragments. after done exploring rabat, i walked into mdina again and tasted a slice of strawberry meringue with a cup of hot mocha. mdina did give me some magical moments! the alleys and lanes are just so beautiful. mdina alone is enough to make me go back to malta again.

marsaxlokk

malta is such a great place to be... love the harbour, love the desserts, love the old buses, love fishings boats, love valetta.... i love malta!

for more pictures, click malta