Day 8: Gozo to Malta B/D
Travel back to Malta arriving with plenty of time for some retail therapy in the many international shops and boutiques of Sliema. Alternatively spend the afternoon strolling along the seafront and stopping at one of the many cafés that can be found close by.
Revised itinerary
We got up ca.7.45am. Janet did the last of the packing. We collected our valuables from the security room after breakfast, then returned to the room to finish up and bring our bags down. We were checked out and away on the minibus by 9.45am. The luggage was taken separately in a van. We arrived at the ferry terminal at 10am,—
Thursday 24 September 2015 — 10:00:38
Arriving at the ferry terminal, Mġarr
(Background, right) Fort Chambray, Għajnsielem
—and were through the automated barriers with the tickets that Cynthia had issued to us a couple of minutes later.
Thursday 24 September 2015 — 10:03:48
Waiting in the ferry terminal, Mġarr Komunità by Gozitan sculptor Mario Agius
Thursday 24 September 2015 — 10:11:58
View through the ferry terminal window: Our Lady of Lourdes Chapel, Mġarr, with a statue of Our Lady of Lourdes in the niche beneath it
We boarded the ferry just before 10.30am, and it departed at 10.35am.
Janet remained below, but I went out on deck to take photos and videos.
Thursday 24 September 2015 — 10:26:42
Proceeding to the ferry
Thursday 24 September 2015 — 10:28:10
Boarding the ferry
Thursday 24 September 2015 — 10:28:10 (detail)
Boarding the ferry
Thursday 24 September 2015 — 10:28:30
Boarding the ferry
Thursday 24 September 2015 — 10:34:48 (movie screen-capture)
Closing the vehicle access door
Thursday 24 September 2015 — 10:40:54
Comino in the background
Thursday 24 September 2015 — 10:41:24
St. Mary’s Tower and Lantern Point, Comino
Thursday 24 September 2015 — 10:42:32 (movie screen-capture)
Thursday 24 September 2015 — 10:44:32 (movie screen-capture 1)
Passing the Malta-to-Gozo ferry, M.V. Ta’ Pinu
Thursday 24 September 2015 — 10:44:32 (movie screen-capture 2)
St. Mary’s Tower (background)
Thursday 24 September 2015 — 10:46:44
Glimpse (right) of Comino’s “Blue Lagoon”
Thursday 24 September 2015 — 10:46:56
Comino’s coastal cliffs and caves
Thursday 24 September 2015 — 10:47:04
St. Mary’s Tower, Comino
Thursday 24 September 2015 — 10:47:04 (detail)
St. Mary’s Tower, Comino
Thursday 24 September 2015 — 10:47:48
M.V. Pegasus, cruising from Malta
Thursday 24 September 2015 — 10:47:48 (detail)
M.V. Pegasus, cruising from Malta
Thursday 24 September 2015 — 10:50:40 (movie screen-capture)
Approaching Ċirkewwa Harbour, Malta
Thursday 24 September 2015 — 10:52:04 (movie screen-capture 1)
Approaching Ċirkewwa Harbour, Malta
Thursday 24 September 2015 — 10:52:04 (movie screen-capture 2)
Approaching Ċirkewwa Harbour, Malta
Thursday 24 September 2015 — 10:52:56 (movie screen-capture 1)
Approaching Ċirkewwa Harbour, Malta
Thursday 24 September 2015 — 10:52:56 (movie screen-capture 2)
Approaching Ċirkewwa Harbour, Malta
Thursday 24 September 2015 — 10:53:26 (movie screen-capture)
Mooring in Ċirkewwa Harbour, Malta
Thursday 24 September 2015 — 10:53:44 (movie screen-capture)
In Ċirkewwa Harbour, Malta
Thursday 24 September 2015 — 10:55:48
Lowering the gangway
We went ashore, and exited the terminal at Ċirkewwa, Malta, at 11.00am.
Thursday 24 September 2015 — 10:57:38 (movie screen-capture)
Going ashore
Thursday 24 September 2015 — 11:00:12 (movie screen-capture)
Exiting the terminal
Thursday 24 September 2015 — 11:01:26
Ċirkewwa ferry terminal
Thursday 24 September 2015 — 11:01:34
Ċirkewwa ferry terminal: vehicles boarding the ferry
Thursday 24 September 2015 — 11:01:46
Ċirkewwa ferry terminal: vehicles boarding the ferry
I got a good view of St. Paul’s Island from the minibus en route (11:29).
Thursday 24 September 2015 — 11:29:10
Seen from the minibus: St. Paul’s Island
Thursday 24 September 2015 — 11:29:10 (detail 1)
Seen from the minibus: St. Paul’s Island
Thursday 24 September 2015 — 11:29:10 (detail 2)
Seen from the minibus: St. Paul’s Island
We got to the Preluna Hotel about midday, and as on
17
September 2015 we were told that we wouldn’t be able to check in till 2pm. We took our luggage to the secure storage room. We knew what our room number was going to be, so thought we’d go up and see where it was,
etc., but we found that the lift in that wing of the hotel could only be operated with a room key-card. We went to
Mason’s Café where I had another of their half-bottles of densely red, dry and tannin-rich, fruity Maltese red wine with spaghetti, pieces of local sausage, olives and tomatoes. The illustration on the menu appeared quite small, but as before the portion when it came proved to be large. We went back to the hotel just before 2pm, but we had to wait — and wait.
Janet was getting impatient and angry. She went to reception a couple of times, only to be told the room wasn’t ready.
And when we were finally issued with key-cards, ca.3pm, they wouldn’t work in the lift. I started shouting and swearing then. I think we were “captured” and taken to an upper floor. One could get down to the ground floor without the use of a key-card. The other lift would work, we were told when we got back to reception. We finally got to our 8th-floor room;
Janet sorted out one or two things; I put the valuables in the safe; and we went back down and out of the hotel. When we got outside I realised that I’d forgotten my camera, but rather than go back for it I used
Janet’s. It tends to take pictures that are rather too bright, so that brightly lit areas are “whited out”.
Janet wanted to go back and revisit Valletta. We walked along Tower Road to its southern end at Marsamxett Harbour in the hope of getting the Sliema-to-Valletta ferry; but when we got to it they were just pulling up the gangplank, so we got the first bus that came along heading for Valletta, a №21 (15:06).
Thursday 24 September 2015 — 15:10:42
On the bus to Valletta
Thursday 24 September 2015 — 15:32:22
Triton Fountain, Valletta
Thursday 24 September 2015 — 15:32:22 (detail)
Triton Fountain, Valletta
Thursday 24 September 2015 — 15:34:20
Great Ditch and St. John’s Bastion, Valletta
Thursday 24 September 2015 — 15:34:48
Tunnel and viaduct of the former Malta Railway in front of St. James Bastion, Valletta
Thursday 24 September 2015 — 15:35:32
Freedom Square and (right) Parliament House, Valletta
Thursday 24 September 2015 — 15:35:32 (detail)
Before doing anything, we wanted something to drink, and the first establishment we found was
The Ordnance Pub just behind St. John’s Cavalier. We left there at 4pm, went up the flight of monumental stairs between the curtain wall and Parliament House, and proceeded to Castille Square.
Thursday 24 September 2015 — 16:00:50 The Ordnance Pub, Valletta, behind St. John’s Cavalier
Thursday 24 September 2015 — 16:02:44
Monumental staircase between Porta Reale Curtain and Parliament House
Thursday 24 September 2015 — 16:02:44 (detail)
Thursday 24 September 2015 — 16:04:00
Pope Pius V Street, Valletta, between St. James Cavalier and Central Bank of Malta
Thursday 24 September 2015 — 16:12:12 (movie screen-capture 1)
Panorama of views from Castille Square, Valletta: (right) St. James Cavalier; (centre) Central Bank of Malta; (left) St. James Bastion
Thursday 24 September 2015 — 16:12:12 (movie screen-capture 2)
Panorama of views from Castille Square, Valletta: (right) St. James Bastion; (centre) Triq Girolamo Cassar
Thursday 24 September 2015 — 16:12:12 (movie screen-capture 3)
Panorama of views from Castille Square, Valletta: (centre) Ss. Peter and Paul Counterguard; (left) Ss. Peter and Paul Bastion
Thursday 24 September 2015 — 16:12:12 (movie screen-capture 4)
Panorama of views from Castille Square, Valletta: Malta Stock Exchange
Thursday 24 September 2015 — 16:12:12 (movie screen-capture 5)
Panorama of views from Castille Square, Valletta: (right) Hotel Castille; (left) Auberge de Castille
Thursday 24 September 2015 — 16:12:12 (movie screen-capture 6)
Panorama of views from Castille Square, Valletta: St. James Cavalier
From there we went to visit the Upper Barrakka Gardens again.
Thursday 24 September 2015 — 16:14:44
Entrance to the Upper Barrakka Gardens, Valletta
Thursday 24 September 2015 — 16:16:06
Upper Barrakka Gardens, Valletta
The tanker the Karol Wojtyła was gone, but the other ship that had been next to it was still there.
Thursday 24 September 2015 — 16:17:40
Grand Harbour, Valletta
Thursday 24 September 2015 — 16:19:38
Saluting Battery (foreground); Magazine Wharf (background, right); China Dock (background, centre-left); French Creek and the seaward bastion of Senglea (background, left)
Thursday 24 September 2015 — 16:19:44
French Creek (right); Senglea (centre); Dockyard Creek (left)
Thursday 24 September 2015 — 16:19:56
Fort St. Angelo, Birgu
One reason for being there was that I wanted to visit the Lower Barrakka Gardens, and the present location gave me a vantage point to try to determine a suitable route.
Thursday 24 September 2015 — 16:20:26
Valletta (left) — (from left:) St. Barbara Bastion, St. Lucia Curtain, St. Christopher Bastion and Lower Barrakka Gardens — Fort Ricasoli, Kalkara (right)
Thursday 24 September 2015 — 16:20:50
Thursday 24 September 2015 — 16:22:26
Upper Barrakka Gardens
Leaving the Upper Barrakka Gardens we turned into the first street on the right, Triq Sant’ Orsla,—
Thursday 24 September 2015 — 16:23:20
St. Ursula Street, Valletta
Thursday 24 September 2015 — 16:23:58
St. Ursula Street, Valletta
—and because I wanted to follow as closely as possible the line of the curtain walls and bastions that, I’d seen, clearly led to the Lower Barrakka Gardens, we took the first right from there, Triq il-Batteria.
Thursday 24 September 2015 — 16:24:32
Battery Street, Valletta
Just after that turned to the left, there were two flights of steps down to Triq Sant’ Antnin, which ran more or less parallel to Triq il-Batteria but was close against Marina Curtain.
Thursday 24 September 2015 — 16:25:02
Steps down to St. Anthony Street, Valletta
Thursday 24 September 2015 — 16:25:36
Steps down to St. Anthony Street, Valletta
We went along Triq Sant’ Antnin, crossed over Victoria Gate at its end, continued along St. Barbara Bastion, and thence on Triq il-Mediterran along the Castille Curtain to the Lower Barrakka Gardens.
Thursday 24 September 2015 — 16:27:22
Marina Curtain (left), Victoria Gate (centre) and St. Barbara Bastion (right), Valletta
Thursday 24 September 2015 — 16:27:22 (detail)
Victoria Gate, Valletta
Thursday 24 September 2015 — 16:29:10
East Street (below, left) and the top of Victoria Gate (right), Valletta
Thursday 24 September 2015 — 16:29:28
On along St. Barbara Bastion (right)
Thursday 24 September 2015 — 16:30:24
St. Barbara Bastion
Thursday 24 September 2015 — 16:35:46
Lower Barrakka Gardens on St. Christopher Bastion, Valletta
Thursday 24 September 2015 — 16:36:26
Lower Barrakka Gardens, Valletta
Thursday 24 September 2015 — 16:37:32
Monument to Sir Alexander John Ball in the Lower Barrakka Gardens, Valletta
Thursday 24 September 2015 — 16:38:44
Lower Barrakka Gardens, Valletta
Thursday 24 September 2015 — 16:39:42
Lower Barrakka Gardens, Valletta
There were trees in the garden with what appeared to be adventitious roots growing down from the branches. On closer inspection, though, they seemed to be stalks bearing flowers. What happened at the end, though — whether it would plant itself and form suckers, I couldn’t tell.
Thursday 24 September 2015 — 16:40:16
Trees with adventitious fruiting stems
Thursday 24 September 2015 — 16:42:00
Trees with adventitious fruiting stems
Thursday 24 September 2015 — 16:43:32 (movie screen-capture)
Trees with adventitious fruiting stems
Thursday 24 September 2015 — 16:45:12
Statue of Aeneas
Thursday 24 September 2015 — 16:45:12 (detail)
Statue of Aeneas by Italian sculptor Ugo Attardi
Thursday 24 September 2015 — 16:46:20
Arcade at the end of the Lower Barrakka Gardens
Thursday 24 September 2015 — 16:46:56
World War II Memorial on St. Christopher Bastion beyond the Lower Barrakka Gardens (foreground); Fort Ricasoli, Kalkara (background)
Thursday 24 September 2015 — 16:47:36
Siege Bell World War II Memorial on St. Christopher Bastion beyond the Lower Barrakka Gardens
Thursday 24 September 2015 — 16:48:44
Lower Barrakka Gardens, Valletta
Thursday 24 September 2015 — 16:51:10 (movie screen-capture 1)
Lower Barrakka Gardens, Valletta
Thursday 24 September 2015 — 16:51:10 (movie screen-capture 2)
Lower Barrakka Gardens, Valletta
From there, we wanted to be back at the bus station, and knowing that Valletta was built mostly with a rectangular grid of streets we reckoned the best way would be to get onto one of the streets in a more or less south-westerly direction. So emerging from the Gardens, we turned first right
(ca. north-west) into Triq l-Arċisqof, then third left into Triq il-Merkanti.
Thursday 24 September 2015 — 16:55:46
Archbishop Street, Valletta
Thursday 24 September 2015 — 16:58:50
Rear of the Jesuits’ Church, Archbishop Street (left) and St. Paul Street (right)
Thursday 24 September 2015 — 16:58:50 (detail)
Street-corner statue of St. Luke: The cross at the end of his staff is missing.
Thursday 24 September 2015 — 17:01:44
Merchants Street, Valletta
Thursday 24 September 2015 — 17:01:44 (detail)
Merchants Street, Valletta
Thursday 24 September 2015 — 17:06:06
Interesting door of the Anglo-Maltese Club, 221 Merchants Street, Valletta
Thursday 24 September 2015 — 17:06:16
Interesting door of the Anglo-Maltese Club, 221 Merchants Street, Valletta
Thursday 24 September 2015 — 17:08:36
The former Auberge d’Italie, later inter alie the General Post Office (hence the pillar box), now the Tourist Information Centre, 229 Merchants Street, Valletta
Thursday 24 September 2015 — 17:08:50
Auberge d’Italie Valletta
Thursday 24 September 2015 — 17:08:50 (edited detail)
Auberge d’Italie Valletta
That brought us out just to the right of Castille Square, where we’d been earlier. I stopped to look at the nearby statue of Jean de la Vallette in the square of the same name before we emerged from between Parliament House and the site of the Royal Opera House, turned left and went out to the bus station.
Thursday 24 September 2015 — 17:11:22
Statue of Jean de la Vallette
Thursday 24 September 2015 — 17:11:58
Statue of Jean de la Vallette in Pjazza Jean de la Vallette
Thursday 24 September 2015 — 17:11:58 (detail 1)
Statue of Jean de la Vallette
Thursday 24 September 2015 — 17:11:58 (detail 2)
Statue of Jean de la Vallette
Thursday 24 September 2015 — 17:13:10
St. James Cavalier (left) and Parliament House (right)
Thursday 24 September 2015 — 17:13:10 (detail 1)
Thursday 24 September 2015 — 17:13:10 (detail 2)
Thursday 24 September 2015 — 17:13:32
Parliament House (left) and Pjazza Teatru Rjal (right)
We tried to board a №13 bus but the driver waved us away. A helpful bus company employee informed us that this was the drop-off point, and she pointed in the direction of where one could board buses. The first bus we came across there to Sliema was a №12, which we boarded (17:18 on the tickets, 17:19:44 on the photo).
Thursday 24 September 2015 — 17:19:44
Boarding a №12 bus back to Sliema
There was a diversion because of road works in Tower Road, so the bus carried on along the seafront. It entered a tunnel which curved to the left and brought us out on the north-eastern side of the headland, farther along which we rejoined Tower Road, and
Janet and I got off at the next bus stop — the same stop, in fact, at which we’d boarded a №12 bus on Sunday
(20
September 2015). Janet didn’t want to be late for dinner, but I needed some water, so we walked up to
Scott’s supermarket (18:00:48 on the till receipt) — she decided to get a couple of bottles of
Pepsi Max there, instead of from the dearer vending machine in the hotel, so agreed it was a good idea. We went for dinner
ca.6.40pm. We saw Patsy and Frank on the way out, and farewelled them in case we wouldn’t see them tomorrow. We had a last stroll on the promenade.
… We went to bed ca.10pm. Jonathan had told us that we’d be picked up “two hours before your flight”. We’d therefore planned to be in the hotel lobby at 9am. I looked again at the information supplied by
Mercury, and the boarding cards — the flight time was “11:05” — and I thought, “All very well — but we’re supposed to
CHECK IN two hours before the flight; do we need to be ready before that, to allow for travel time to the airport?”
Janet was asleep by now, though, so I kept it to myself till she would be awake. After being in bed a little while I got up and closed the window because the wind sounded so severe and loud; I’d been dreaming or half-dreaming that everything was rocking and swaying, and had started to feel a bit ill.
