Malta and Gozo

Our flight was delayed from Amsterdam due to severe winds, we were supposed to depart at 1130hrs in the morning and the flight was put back until 1410hrs in the afternoon so we had a long wait at the airport. Malta Air gave us a voucher for $4.95euro, that bought us a cup of coffee.
We arrived into Malta at 5.30pm, not much sightseeing will be happening this afternoon, we booked into our hotel, then went for a walk to have rabbit for dinner, it did not disappoint.
The next day we bought tickets on the hop on hop off bus and spent the day exploring.
Malta has a population of 469,3000, our hotel is on the waterfront with lovely views.

 This nativity display was near Valetta, also to bless the fisherman.

Fishermen 

The Blue Grotto 

These are not in order, this church is Ta Pinu on Gozo

Road to the Blue Grotto, very windy

Pirate Cove On Gozo.

Valetta

This was the Ta’Dbiegi craft village we visited on Gozo.

After our exploration of Malta , the next day we caught the ferry over to Gozo, and did the hop on hop off bus, the weather was not cold but very windy and there is a risk of the ferry being cancelled, so we did a quick 6 hour tour, visited the most popular sites, sorry that the photos are mixed but due to my blog not being supported by Apple IOS, it has been a challenge. Gozo has a population of 30,000, and appears not to be favoured by the Maltese.

On our Malta trip we had a lovely lunch in the fishing village of Marsaxlokk, would have been perfect in summer, not many people about was the bonus.

Bobbin lace making with silk on Gozo.

Ruins at Valetta, these were found by a gardener who was excavating for a garden, very impressive and at the entry to the old city Valetta

The palace, Valetta

Ta Pinu, Gozo.

This church was in Fontana  village, Gozo.

Our lunch in Malta,. Marsaxlokk, local dish prawn and scallops ravioli and Alotti, fish soup, delicious 

Statue of Valetti, Valetta was named after him..

Marsaxlokk fishing village, no crowds, would be beautiful in summer or spring.

Valetta, yes it did rain, but not cold.

Local dish we had in Marsaxlokk 

Valetta streets, there is a straight street, that is so narrow that you can touch the sides..

Valetta

Vituroso harbour

The winds were quite wild on Gozo.

Marsaxlokk fishing village

Welcome to Gozo.

Valetta, ruins

Our view from our bedroom

 Fountain on entry into old city centre, Valetta

Town hall

Our first stop was Valetta, Malta’s capital, it teamed down with rain and we got very wet, but pushed on and spent a very full day exploring Malta and what it has to offer..

Just in case you could not find it, here it is.

 Old windmills in Xaghra, Gozo..

We stopped at Fontana, a small village on Gozo, not much going on.

Donkey in Gozo harbour terminal 

Yes we tried the vegetable pastizzi 

 Crumbed sheep’s cheese, another local dish.

Liberty monument in Valletta 

Our rabbit stew.

Gozo Harbour 

Azure window on Gozo, weather was a bit wild.

White art statues

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Fontana village, after we finished outer tour we headed back to the ferry terminal and got an early ferry back to Malta, caught the local bus for $1.50 euro, which took 1 hour,  quite a pleasant trip.

My advice when in Malta just buy the 10ticket ride for $15 euro and you will save money, as the local buses go where the hop on hop off bus goes.

We loved Malta and it would be well worth a visit in spring or summer, the one bonus was there were not really many people, so no crowds. Tomorrow we are off to Barcelona.