A bit more than two month ago I met someone who is as fascinated and crazy about travel as me. So, it should not come as a surprise that while I was knee deep in my preparations for my semester abroad in New Zealand (with my flight leaving on the 19th of January), he planned something completely different.
I knew that we were going to do something together for two days, two days that would not be filled with packing and cleaning. But never in my life would I have guessed that we'd go to Malta for less than 48 hours. And yes, environmentally it's not a wise thing to do, but hello, plane tickets for 10 bucks each, who could say no to that? So, on Monday morning the 16th of January, we boarded the plane to Malta at 6am. So far we had been in three countries together, but never been on a plane together. Guess there is a first time for everything. By the time our friends would get up and have breakfast in cold and rainy Karlsruhe, we'd be sitting in Malta, enjoying whatever they have for breakfast. Well, we did not exactly do that, but instead we decided to go for a hike from Mdina (the Maltese medieval capital) to Dingli Cliffs and enjoy the Maltese landscape in the meantime.
Here an insight into Mdina:
On our walk down to the cliffs we came across a few nice things, such as a monastry with a sun dial of some sort, old caves that at some point might have been used by someone to live in, some kind of concrete production facility, and of course the cliffs themselves.
We ended the day back at the hostel we had booked near Pembroke, and planned to explore Valetta the following day.
In the morning we were told that every day at noon and 4pm, canons are fired at the Salutation Battery in Valetta. This practice dates back to an age old tradition, which was abandoned in the 1920's and resumed for touristic attraction in 2004. Walking along the seashores of Malta we climed over walls, walked on stones along the water line and ended up in a construction zone. But we made it to the ferry and with 5 minutes to spare also to the gun salute at noon. At the beginning we were wondering what they'd be doing with all the canon balls fired into the bay, it was only later that we realized that they did not actually fire anything. It made us kinda sad, but we have to admit that it was still very impressive.
The rest of the afternoon, or rather late noon that remained before we had to leave for the airport we spent wandering around Valetta.
Valetta was founded and named after Jean de Valette who was a member of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem and also fought against the Ottomans in the Great Siege of Malta in 1565. A statue of him is on display in the city center of Valetta to remember him.
At the end there are two conclusions that can be drawn: 1. Malta is on our list of destinations that need more exploring
2. Buses in Malta are never on time except for when you want to go to the airport
