More of Malta by car

We had booked a rental car for the day.  It was quite reasonably priced especially if you take into the consideration that we could return it at the airport (which would cost us EUR10-15 to get to for our flight).

The rental car delivery, organised for 0830 was a little late.  We got picked up from the old city and was taken to the car park of a large hotel to do the paper work.  That and the arrival of our actual car took nearly and hour.

The plan was to drive to the far end of the island to take the ferry to Gozo, then work backwards to the airport, taking in a few beaches and scenic spots.  Things didn’t go quite to plan.  Firstly, traffic was very slow moving..  We eventually made it to the windy roads which led us to the ferry.  There was a large queue of cars waiting to go on.  We wouldn’t make the waiting ferry and would possibly make the next one more than an hour later.

With the possibility of more hassles on the return ferry, we decided to skip Gozo.  It looked like more of the same barren landscape minus the development.  That’s how we made ourselves feel OK about not going anyway.

Driving around we found a nice enough spot with a cafe that served us an awesome brunch.  Kim had a big breakfast with extra crispy breakfast and I had a club sandwich which wasn’t like the usual “stacked-and-quartered” version but instead it was just a chicken and bacon sandwich in the most delicious crusty ciabatta-like bread.

Continuing on, we found ourselves at Popeye Village which was the set for the movie of the same name.  We didn’t go in but took a few photos before continuing our drive to Golden Bay.  It was a bit of a hike downhill to the crowded beach once there, so we sat it out at a cafe hoping that the next stop would be more conducive for swimming.

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From there, we drove to the Blue Grotto not knowing whether it was swimmable.  No, it wasn’t that kind of place.  We took a boat ride to see and enter the grotto.  The water in the area was truly turquoise.  The swell in the sea was pretty high and  I was a little worried during the 25 min trip that I would get my bag wet as it had my passport inside and I hadn’t put it in a Ziploc bag.

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We got back on land safely and continued to St Peter’s Pool.  Again, we didn’t know what it was.  Perhaps it was a pool hewn out of rock as in some parts of Malta?  No, it was a rocky inlet with generous flat areas on both sides for many sunbathers.  It was a gorgeous spot looking from the higher area where we had parked.  We made our way down and were hot and sweaty enough to take a cool swim, ignoring the possibility of feeling salty and sticky for the rest of the evening until we get to our accommodation in Sicily.

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Driving from St Peter’s Pool, we noticed a nice bay with a village.  It seemed like a good place to stop and kill some time before going to the airport.  The village was called Marsaxlokk.  It was a working fishing village rather than a place that’s been tarted up for tourists.  Nevertheless, there were many cafes by the waterfront near all the fishing boats and we had tea there.

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After a day of somewhat random explorations in Malta by car, it was time to return the car at the airport.  We got to bagdrop 3h prior to our 2110 Air Malta flight to Catania, Sicily.  They advised that the flight was overbooked and asked if we would consider accepting a flight at 0550 next morning in exchange for EUR250 + accommodation + return transport.  We considered it briefly.  While lucrative,we would risk our hotel booking, our car booking and also eat into the possibly busy time that we have in Sicily.  So we turned it down.

The lounge we had access to in Malta was lovely.  We had some regrets on-and-off through the evening. I reckon we would not have been shuttled to the hotel immediately but would have been asked to wait a couple of hours until check-in (or boarding) had closed before they would know the final overbooking figures.  That would have meant 2h+ of waiting and also the need to turn up early for the next morning’s flight (and ruin the day with a very early start).

Our flight departure time past and we waited in the queue.  We eventually were advised of a 1h delay so we sat briefly before the queue re-formed.  Onboard, we were advised by the Captain that it was due to traffic restrictions at Catania airport.  The flight on the older A320 was short and very comfortable with very thickly padded seats which were very wide as well (and consequently the aisles were narrow).

We descended soon after take off and landed in Catania within about 30 minutes of take off.  I collected the luggage while Kim lined up outside at the Hertz office to collect our rental car for the next five days.

We drove to our home for the next four nights, the Hotel Borgo Verde.  It wasn’t in the centre of town but it had free parking albeit in tight surroundings.