ENG -- Malta - Valletta

The main city of the island, according to the number of tourists it attracts, and, at the same time, the capital of the country, is Valletta. We visited it in the first full day of our holiday in Malta and on Christmas Day. From Sliema, where we had the accommodation, you can easily reach Valletta by bus (No. 13, 13A, 14, 15, 16) or by ferry. Unfortunately, on the first day the wind was heavy, the waves reached the promenade, and the ferry did not work. Because of the wind, the temperature was about 12 degrees Celsius. On the other hand, on Christmas day, at least in the sunny places, it was pleasant to wear only the T-shirt, the temperature even reaching 20 degrees Celsius. We've even seen people in summer clothes on the streets on Christmas day.

Arrived in Valletta we started walking down the narrow streets with old buildings but with balconies and colorful doors.

The first touristic objective we visited was the Grand Master's Palace. The ticket costs 10 euros and includes visits to the State Rooms and to the Palace Armoury. A portable audio guide with over 100 points of interests is included in the ticket price.

The inner courtyard of the palace with oranges

Inside the palace

A group of Maltese knights

Then we walked down the main street of the tourist area of the city to Upper Barrakka Gardens, a place at a considerable height above sea level where you can enjoy a spectacular view over the Mediterranean Sea, a part of Valletta, but also of neighboring cities: Vittoriosa, Senglea and Conspicua, also known as 3 Cities.

From Barrakka's upper gardens, below the promenade, every day at 12.00 and 16.00, you can watch a cannons show.

From there you can use the panoramic elevator to go down to the harbor where you can take a walk to the Valletta Waterfront, a promenade with shops and restaurants. Going down with the elevator is free, but for going up you have to pay 1 euro. 

Other gardens which worth to be visited are Lower Barrakka Gardens. The view is not as spectacular as the view from Upper Barrakka Gardens, but it is a very good place to rest after a walk with many climbs and downhills on the narrow streets of Valletta.

Once the dark of the night came, the celebration lights in the center of the city reminded us that, despite the high temperatures, we visited Valletta during Christmas.

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To read about our first impressions in Malta, you can click this link : Malta in December.

ENG -- Malta in December

If you are looking for warmer places to spend the holiday in December you can take into consideration Malta. We decided to spend last Christmas there. In this article you can read about our first impressions in Malta and in the next ones you can read about different places we visited by our own on the islands.  

We could not believe that this small island is Malta

After a few hotels reserved and canceled on Booking, we found the best option for us, a studio in Sliema with sea view, Labranda Rocca Nettuno Suites. The location is very good, close to the bus and ferry stations. Not all the rooms have sea views, but the view is the one below:

Being located on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, like many other places in Malta, in Sliema you can take a romantic walk along the cliff to admire the sunset.

From Malta International Airport to different places of the island there are special buses (express lines) with fewer stops and normal buses. The price for a ticket is 3 euros for the express line and 1.50 euros for the normal line. It is preferable to take the express line because the buses on the normal line are full of locals traveling from one part of the island to the other and you will not have enough space for the luggages.

If you are thinking about renting a car you have to take into cosideration that the cars have the steering wheel on the right side and should be driven on the left side of the road.
Or you can use local buses, as we did. A ticket costs 1.50 euros (winter fare) and is valid for 2 hours (including changing the bus if needed). From Sliema there are direct buses to Rabat, Mellieha St Julian's, Cirkewwa or Valletta. The timetable is displayed in each station and there is an application called Tallinja. He did not help us in planning the route, but he indicated the time until the next bus arrived at the station we were waiting for.
There are also drawbacks for traveling by bus, such as: you can not be able to take it if it is crowded, it do not always respect the time of arrival and you have to wait for the next bus that sometimes could arrives in 30-45 minutes, and in that situation the validity of the ticket (2 hours) could expires and you have to bouy a new one. We checked all the listed drawbacks but all of them was part of our Maltese experience.

Another option to travel between Sliema and Valletta is the ferry. The trip is much more enjoyable and shorter than the one by bus. The price is 1.50 euros (using the public line), and the crossing takes 5-10 minutes.

You can also use the Hop on - Hop off buses to travel between different places of the island. We did not go with them, but we saw offers at 10 euro.

Thank you for reaching the end of the article. In order to be informed when we publish new articles on this site, but also to see posts that are only on facebook, we invite you to like our facebook page by accessing this link : Doi plimbareti.

To read about the places we visited in Malta, you can click on the following links: Valletta, Mdina and Rabat, Marsaxlokk, Popeye Village si the island of Gozo.