Malta: Fort Manoel, Marsaxlokk, St.Julian’s

We have to thank Game of Thrones for this, otherwise it’d have been Portugal. Pretty much all of Season 1 of GoT was shot in Malta, and once you visit the place, it is easy to see it as a natural choice. In addition to the forts, the limestone used in most construction gives a very medieval feel to the place. We reached there after a double hop – Istanbul being one of them. It was a year after we visited Turkey that the bombing happened. The new airport is quite amazing, and we had decided to have a cup of Turkish tea for old times’ sake.

Having left Bangalore at around 4.30, we finally touched down in Malta a little after 6.30. The airport offers free wifi and bottled water while you wait for the process. The official told us that there were many people from Kerala in Malta. Gotta wonder if the ‘Mal’ in Malta came from Malayali. We had a tiny scare around the airline misplacing a bag, but that was thankfully soon resolved.

The first task was to buy the Tallinja Explore card for 7 days from the departure lounge since we were planning to use the bus network extensively. We then took a cab to our hotel 115 The strand Hotel and Suites in Gzira, a 20 minutes ride. We had chosen this area since we wanted a good view and be reasonably near Valletta. The view was quite fantastic and the hues at different times of the day were impressive. 

Dinner was a 5 minute walk away at The Brew. On hindsight, I wonder how we managed to get a table on a Saturday night. From the microbrewery, we had a Valletta, an Equinox APA, and a wheat. Liked the first the most. Beef liver and Octopus in garlic completed an excellent meal. 

The hotel has an 8th floor with a fantastic view, and that’s usually where breakfast is served. But we had read that it was under maintenance, so the restaurant on the ground floor was to be our regular venue every morning. The spread was just about ok, and barely changed while we were there.

After breakfast, we set off for Fort Manoel, a 15 min walk away. This is one of the GoT locations – Great Sept of Baelor, and also where Ned Stark is executed. It isn’t open all the time, and D did some smart research to figure out the one day in April that it would be open to the public! The place seemed to be a favourite for dog owners, there were a bunch of them around.

It also offers an excellent view of Valletta.

Our “home” bus stop was Ponsonby, and from there we took a bus to Valletta bus station. A good time to point out this website that is of immense help in planning your bus journeys. Despite the internet scaring us, the traffic wasn’t really bad and buses were mostly on time. On Sundays, there is a special bus (TD10) that goes to Marsaxlokk, a pretty fishing village in the south eastern part of the island. It’s a journey of a little more than half an hour. A few minutes of walk takes you to the promenade. We roamed around a bit and caught glimpses of the open market. A good time to also point out that public toilets are reasonably common, though their quality varies. Marsaxlokk was extremely crowded, and this was actually shoulder season. It would be crazy during peak season, and I wouldn’t recommend a trip! 

We had several places researched for lunch, but thanks to demand-supply at work, most places were packed, and predictably rude. We finally lunched at Harbour Lights – mussels washed down with the local cider brand (Woodpecker) and a strange but very popular drink called Kinnie, which leaves a bitter aftertaste and takes some getting used to! We missed the lampuki fish preparation as this wasn’t the season.

After lunch, we went back to the hotel via Valletta. A nap later, we made our way to the St.Julian’s area. There are long stretches of promenade, with benches where you can sit and watch the sea and the sky. Sigh. 

The places to see are the Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel (St. Julian’s Parish Church), Lapsi Church, and the Spinola Palace. The walk towards Lapsi Church was an absolute serene one – cobblestone streets with hardly a soul. Tip: zoom Google Maps to find walking paths, you can save a lot of time. 

Take some time to walk along the promenade to the Love monument. The sculpture is topsy turvy so that its reflection in the water shows the word right. We managed to catch a procession on its way to the Spinola palace. This seemed to be part of a local event, which also featured quite a few food stalls, and later, a live gig. This would lead to a small adventure later! Meanwhile, we couldn’t resist buying chocolate!

D had promised a sunset, but the direction was off! After some debate, we agreed on Gululu for dinner, since they served Maltese cuisine. We waited a bit to get the table we wanted, and then had excellent Zeppi – fig and Bajtra (prickly pear) liquers, Zalzett ta’ Malta Mixwi (grilled pork and coriander seed sausage) and a Ftira tal-Majjal. The Ftira is a Maltese style pizza, and is a bit of a Polo – has a hole in the middle. This one had a heavy mix of toppings – pulled pork, caramelized onions, sheep’s cheeselet, roast potatoes, parsley and mozzarella! Highly recommended for food, ambiance, and view. 

During dinner, I noticed that there was no bus traffic along the route we were supposed to take back to the hotel. The Gululu staff helped us with directions to an alternate bus stop. We had to walk around a bit to find the place, picking up some other tourists as well during our search! Thankfully, we managed to get to the right bus stop, and found a bus that dropped us off at Ponsonby, ending an eventful first day in Malta.