Trybiks' Dive - TRAVEL

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Benedictine
Abbey 2007

Malta 2003

TRAVEL

Malta 2003

A week after our speleo course we went on vacation to Malta.

We left the cold, September Warsaw. The landing - on hot Malta; we barely managed in our autumn clothes. :) Next, a bus to the hotel. The hotel was quite nice, with a pool on the roof, an acceptable distance from the beach and downtown. And, of course, air conditioning. However, the breakfast menu there was a disappointment. Two sets, each every other day, the best dishes vanishing pretty quickly... But the food and the beer in restaurants and pubs were quite nice. And not that expensive.

Apart from the beach and restaurants, there isn't much to do on that little island. A week there - that's about enough. If you like cities, historic monuments and such, then visit Valletta. And there are some Roman ruins as well.

But we were more interested in natural attractions, so we rented something that resembled a car. With a steering wheel on the wrong side... :) Fortunately, Malta's drivers are accustomed to such driving and were pretty tolerant. Even when the engine stopped in the middle of an intersection - everybody patiently waited until we managed to leave.

The driving on the left side - that's a funny experience. When you're starting to get used to it and stop paying so much attention, after a right turn you might end up on the wrong side of the road. Fortunately, nobody was driving down that lane! :) And it's very easy to mistake wipers for turn signals. Later, when walking around the city, we saw many times cars joining the traffic with wipers turned on and not the turn signals... :) But if you keep repeating to yourself - "left is mine" - you can manage. Unless you come to a traffic circle - then it's a lost cause... Finally, we shouldn't complain so much about our roads - the things we saw there cause us to look now differently at the quality of our roads. :)

Anyway, Blue Grotto and Ghar Hasan cave are worth visiting. And the boat to Gozo is also recommended. Although we didn't get to Malta's sister island (because of high waves), we spent some very nice time in the Blue Lagoon - a really beautiful place with azure water. That wasn't a cheap trip, but you get as much alcohol and frutti di mare as you wish. I never thought that I wouldn't eat all the shrimp that were on the table...

[MJT] Leaving Sicily

[MJT] Our first view of Malta

[MUT] One of the trip's attractions - interesting food

[MUT] A rocky beach not far from the hotel

[MUT] Great water (in September)!

[MJT] In a hole there lived a small crab

[MJT] The beach wasn't ideal for sun bathing or even walking

[MJT] Evening view from the hotel

[MUT] On one occasion, we rented a "car"

[MJT] One of the visited bays

[MJT] In Roman catacombs

[MJT] Catacombs from the inside

[MUT] The tires were so old that one of them failed quite quickly

[MUT] Malta's southern cliffs

[MJT] That were used as a car scrap yard (there were 5 or 6 cars here)

[MJT] Old Roman ruins

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[MJT] This is the trip to Blue Grotto

[MJT] There's a whole bunch of caves in those walls

[MJT] But some are a bit larger

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[MJT] To some of them you can go in even in a boat

[MJT] Supposedly, some movie has been shot in the surrounding caves

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[MJT] Fantastic water color

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[MJT] There must have been a huge cave here sometime ago (there were even stalactites in the roof)

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[MJT] Some of the cliffs revealed interesting layers of rock

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[MJT] On our way to Ghar Hasan cave, traversing the cliff wall above the waves

[MJT] In the cave - we couldn't go to some parts of the cave (crate)

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[MJT] A view of the cliffs from inside of the cave

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[MJT] The next day on the rocky "beach"

[MJT] The guy in the boat was totally naked (and showed it!)

[MUT] An interesting cave at water level, but it turned out that this was a nudists' beach!

[MJT] Time to visit the city

[MJT] A natural pool in the rocks

[MJT] Valletta

[MJT] Panorama from the fort above the port

[MUT] On another day, we took a boat trip

[MJT] Beer, wine, drinks, frutti di mare (as much as you can drink and/or eat) in the price

[MJT] The ship was rocking quite heavily

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[MJT] Malta's cliffs, on our way to Gozo

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[MJT] However, because of large waves, instead of going to Gozo we went to the Blue Lagoon

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[MUT] Our boat

[MUT] Snorkeling in a cave on the "beach" not far from our hotel

[MJT] You could swim to a chimney under this rock

[MUT] That's the chimney that was mentioned by the previous picture

[MJT] And that's it! Time to return to cold Poland

[MJT] Croatia from above

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