My first impression.

Dusty, almost desert looking landscape from above. “Even Kuwait is greener than Malta “ was A.’s comment after sending them some pics on the first day.

Yes, It did come as a surprise. Even though I’ve red that by the end of the summer everything dries out, almost nothing green, but somehow I’ve expected more. To be fair, I did see oleanders lining the road leading to town, and there were always flowers and some green grass as you entered and left the towns. Keep off the turf, we red it everywhere. So even though they had some, you were not allowed to step on it.

Getting a taxi was pretty organised, and within 20 minutes we were in front of our hotel. Since it was a British colony till the 70’s, they drive on the left side, the road signs and pretty much everything is in English. Luckily not as much traffic as in getting to London from the Heathrow.

The hotel we were staying at was the Marina Hotel Corinthia. A 4 star hotel next to the 5 star Corinthia St. George.

Nice welcome with some sugary orange juice. After reading about the noise that most of the travellers complained about while staying there, I’ve asked to change our room to the quieter part of the hotel.

Booked a superior double room with 2 twin beds with sea view. Instead we got a room with 2 single beds pushed together. Luckily after complaining, we got what we asked for. Now I am thinking ,why do they always try to give you a shitty room? How many of us dare to complain?

I don’t mind. And in most cases you get an even better room or for just a small extra fee even an upgrade.

They might call it 4 star, but it definitely wasn’t. Particularly the bathroom with its old , worn, dated tiles, cracked sink , low water pressure and the horrible toilet.

The guy who came to fix it told me that most people don’t know how to flush a toilet. After giving him a perplexed look, he corrected it, we don’t know how to flush it the maltese way. Hold it down for a long time before releasing it. Mind you, it still didn’t work.

The view of the bay was beautiful with various boats, and even yachts anchoring right down below us.

We decided to discover the area and organise the trips for the following days. As we wandered around the streets we quickly realised that everything is closed. From 3-6 pm. most shops, restaurants are closed. We admired the architecture, loved the colourful shutters, the balconies, everything looked so old and elegant, though time took its toll on them. What was amazing is that how most of the buildings were really old and very few new buildings were visible. So hard to find towns where you have this atmosphere.

 

Hate to see old buildings destroyed. So this was heaven for me.

Forgot to mention, we were staying at St. Julian, in St. George Bay. Little did I know that this is the place where they come to party, discos, night clubs everywhere and music that goes on till the early hours of morning.

Didn’t bother us at all, I found out later on.

But for now we were in search of some food. Not eating anything on the plane , by now were starving. And voila, a Waitrose supermarket appeared in front of us. Just like in England.

Later we finalised our day trips ( Gozo, Comino, Marsaxlokk, Valletta).

Ended the day in the hotel at the Broadside Terrace sipping mojitos and having mezze (muhammara, baba gannoush, mutabbal, hommos, tzaziki).

 

Next to sea, almost full moon, cool breeze. Had such a deja vu feeling. As if I travelled back in time to Kuwait, sitting by the sea there. Almost.

Spent most of my adulthood there. Could it be that I am actually missing it? Pushed it to the back of my mind, convincing myself that it’ much better for us to stay in Europe.

After 2 mojitos the answer was a Yes.

To be continued…..