Dingli Cliffs Hike and Mdina and Rabat

19,600 Steps

Started off today by taking a bus to get us close to the Dingli Cliffs. There are loads of walking trails in Malta, and this one seemed close to where we were doing a walking tour of Mdina and Rabat this afternoon so decided to give it a try. Busses here are 2 Euro a ride that last for up to 2 hours with transfers. Very cheap, but expensive compared to Mexico.

Weren't sure exactly where to get off the bus, and once a bunch of people got off we followed along. Happened to be near a public park with open washrooms, so a good start. Off to the beachfront but really not much of a walking path. Lots of nice views but you are mostly walking along the side of a road. It is not a busy road at all, 1 bus an hour passes by, but there are some gravel pits so we did see a few trucks. Narrow road, and we have to keep remembering that they drive on the opposite side of the road from us.

We walked a little over 3 km along the ocean side, it is very very windy today, hats needed to be tightened up and also taken off and held at some points. There is also some fog on the coast which was strange, we hadn't seen any fog at all up to now.

Hilite for us was definitely the bronze age encampment that we came across. Absolutely fantastic views and some interesting circular holes. A little history plaque at the entrance but that was about it. Place for a few cars to park, but most people seemed to be out for a walk. The limestone cliffs view was fantastic, reminded me a bit of Cliffs of Dover, but maybe even better because of the views we could get from the shore by walking out to the encampment.

Started walking back to where we got off the bus as we knew there were more buses that went by there, but we were very lucky to catch the 1 bus per hour that went by just as we were getting to a pick up point. Bus was packed but not so far to Rabat which was where we got off.

Off to find some lunch. Decided on a sit down place to get a rest, plus we had 2 hours until our next tour started. Found a very nice spot and had good mushroom risotto and rabbit pasta, you can guess who ordered what. This is a very pretty city, well a small city, lots of tiny streets, and they are getting ready for the celebration of St. Joseph later this month so lots and lots of decorations going up.

After lunch we met up with Ben and about 20 other people who were also on the free walking tour. Ben gave us the tour of Valletta yesterday and we enjoyed it so much we have signed up for 2 more free walking tours with him, this being one of them.

We started off in Mdina, which at one time was capital of Malta. It is a walled city which now only has about 120 people living in it. Mdina and Rabat are right beside each other, if you didn't know it you would think it was just one city, actually most of Malta seems to be like that, one town just running into the next.

Mdina was another beautiful city, lots of cobblestone windy streets. They still have horse drawn carriage rides here, so had to step out of the way more for these than cars. Lots of history again today, along with interesting stories.

After Mdina we walked over to Rabat and pretty much walked the same streets that Andre and I walked earlier this afternoon looking for lunch.

A very interesting biblical story, this is where Paul was shipwrecked and eventually beheaded here. One of the places to visit was the caves were he was kept, but closed by the time we finished our tour. This is definitely a Catholic country, but interesting they don't seem to be doing anything for Jubilee.

End of the tour and we make our way back to Valletta by bus. The bus is packed, Andre has to stand for most of the ride. This may be our preparation for Italy, urgh.

Pick up some aracini and pastelli for supper at the apartment, we are not overly hungry after our big lunch.

It is going to be an early night. Bottle of wine finished that they left for us at the apartment. First load of laundry done, only 2 hours. Must find the rapid button for the next load.

Looking forward to our last tour with Ben tomorrow, a free walking tour of the 3 cities.

At the astrat of the hike, a few spots to go down but private roads

Wendy found a friend

Chapel Mary Magdalene

Not open but a hole in the door

Lots of flowers along the way

Wild Fennel I think

Quiet road

Bronze age holes

Beautiful cliffs

We could have gone down here but decided to go back because of time

Now in Rabat

Now in Mdina

Mdina is a walled city

Main door, featured in Games of Throne first season

3 saints with St Paul the apostle in the middle

The palace for the grandmaster of the Order of St John. He also founded Valletta

Cathedral

We learned about the crest

Damage from WWW2, Malta was heavily bombed during the war

Many small streets

Too small for invaders to use

The order of St John came from Greece, The ladies of the night also came

Instagram most popular spot in Mdina

The door non noble used

Remains of a Roman settlement 

Now back in Rabat

Lots of decoration for the Joseph celebration

The story of St Paul the apostle in the bible

2 churches

The 8 point cross which is a symbol of the order of St John

More decorations

A quick church visit

Jesus as a baby and his step-dad

The fountain is not going tonight, might have been too windy

Marsaxlokk Market and Valletta walking tour

17,000 steps

Started off today by going to the tourist information office to gather as much information as we can to cover the next 4 days here. We have signed up for a free walking tour of Valletta this afternoon, so we have the morning to pick some things to do. Picked up a pile of brochures and as we exit an old fashioned bus pulls up with a sign that is going to Marsaxlokk, on Sunday this town has the biggest market in the country, so we are off. A regular bus costs 2 Euro a ride, this bus was 2.50 Euro a ride, so a no brainer, we knew it would take us exactly where we wanted to go. This wasn't really on our list of things to do but this is a town we had wanted to visit to see the colorful boats, so why not, we are off. It is about a 20 minute bumpy bus ride on the East side of the Island. It was a beautiful little town, but the market really takes it over. I am sure the restaurants miss having the spots to set up tables on the waterfront on market day. The market was pretty much what we expected, like the many markets we have been to in Europe. You can get just about everything for your house, or for cooking. Surprised there were not many places at all selling prepared food, we figured we would eat lunch here at the market but nothing much to eat at all, except of course ice cream. We did pick up strawberries, cherries, and a couple of date cookie things, but that was about it. Oh, our souvenir shopping for Malta is done, we got a magnet as well. We were there for about 2 hours and then we had enough, we were done with the crowds. It is not even high season yet, I can't imagine how busy it would be then.

Bus back to Valletta and back to the apartment and a 30 minute break before our free walking tour. This was the busiest tour we have been on in a while, there were about 20 of us, but it was still excellent. We have actually joined up for 2 more of his tours at other cities in Malta that we are really looking forward to. Lots of interesting political and history stories, the influence of England, they even still drive on the left hand side here. There are the old British phone booths all over the place, and of course the double decker tourist busses. We are in a very touristy part of Valletta, and we have discovered it is a very hilly city. Once you are on top it is not bad, but you have to get on top! We had never heard of the Order of St John, we had heard of the Templers but not St John Order. Very interesting, they founded Valletta and built amazing walls for protection that still stand. They were expelled by the French, then the British expelled the French, then Malta finally got independence in 1964 and are now part of the EU. St John Order still exists, very very interesting, they actually still have their own passports, but have no land. Now they only do charity work, mostly hospital, this is where St. John Ambulance comes from. They are made up of people from all over the world, and right now it is a Canadian that is in charge for the first time.

The biggest attraction here is the St. Johns Co Cathedral which the Maltese are very proud of. It is kind of a museum now outside mass hours and they charge 15 Euro to enter. Andre read the charge is because there would just be too many people visiting if they didn't charge. We have been in so many churches lately that we decided to go to the 5:45PM mass instead of paying 15Euro. We were able to get into the back of the church and I asked the usher if it would be bilingual, no Maltese only, so we decided to pass, but at least got a look inside this beautiful church. Outside it is nothing special, but inside it is fantastic.

Another funny church story we heard is when the Queen came to Malta there was no Anglican church, so she had one built and it was the highest building in the city. The Catholic did not like this so they built a Catholic church right beside it that looks like its steeple is only about 2 feet higher.

The guide said there was over 500 churches on the island, the island has a population of around 550,000.

Our tour guide told us one of his favourite streets for dinner/drinks is Straight Street, which is the street right beside us, so off we go. We have seen lots of signs for happy hour, so we take advantage of spritz for 9.00 Euro for 2 drinks. We added some fried calamari which was delicious.

Back home to our AIRBNB with a take out pizza, I am not going down those 40 steps again today, we are done. Not a huge step count but all those hills should count for more.

Looking forward to tomorrow, another adventure day I'm sure.

The view from our tiny balcony

Cemetery, if only we had a few more days

Lots of fresh vegetables at a great price

Planning to return another day but not sure because of time

Fish market

Seaside apartment

on the way out of town

Vineyards

Musician playing for tips on the main walking street

Used to be one of the headquarters for the St John order

What is called the 3 cities

Jean Parisot de Valet, defended the island against an Ottoman invasion. He was the grandmaster of the Knights of St John. They named the city after him

St John Co-Cathedral 

The embassy is inside the wall

The wall that was built to defend another attack from the Ottoman which never occured

There is actually 3 walls

Another fort to protect the city

The 2 churches that Wendy talked about

Inside St John Co-Cathedral, tombs of Nobles

Amazingly beautiful, so much gold

Delicious calamari on Strait Street and aperol spritz

Tons of places to eat and drink

the 2 churches at night.