Malta: Ghar Lapsi, Mdina, Rabat, Golden Bay

Alas, our adventure into Maltese cuisine did not go as planned. Mac had looked into how to get to the restaurant and by bus, it appeared to be an easy and fairly inexpensive way to travel there. What we didn’t account for was the bus schedule being incorrect on the website.

Public transportation is pretty user friendly and easy to navigate; as well as inexpensive in comparison to an Uber – a day trip, good for two hours, cost 2 € – just don’t expect the buses to be on time! Many of the buses we needed only came every hour and majority of them were a minimum of 10-20 minutes late.

With dinner reservations for 8 pm, we figured a bus for 709 pm would get us to the restaurant just in time. We arrived at the stop and checked the times and realized then that there was no 709 bus and the next available bus would be arriving at 732 pm – much too late for us to get there on time. Our next option was to Uber there for 18 € which we decided to skip due to the fact that ubering there and back would take us roughly to 36 € or $50 cdn in Uber’s for one evening – frankly, after London’s pricing on the Heathrow Express, I was slightly traumatized with pricing for transportation.

So instead, we went to the kebab place that was located down the street from our apartment and made plans to try and go to Ta’ Marija with the Italians once they arrived.

A delicious Turkish platter awaited us! Originally we had ordered to take away as there were no seats. Immediately after ordering, a seat opened up and the host graciously allowed us to sit despite already having settled up our bill. Much like Canada and the US, Malta has a bit of a tipping culture with typical tips running from 5-10%.

The following day, we had planned to check out St. Peter’s Pool; however, after some researching and consideration, we decided against it. Many reviews online remarked at how busy and touristy the natural pool was (to be fair, given how beautiful it looked online, I could only imagine what it’d look like in real life). That in combination with the many sightings of jelly fish had us looking elsewhere.

Mac and I found a hidden gem in Ghar Lapsi, a largely locals only swimming hole – this was exemplified by the older Maltese men and women we ran into who went snorkelling to start their day.

It would take an hour and a half to bus out one way and so we decided to splurge and book an Uber to get there and to bus back.

Our view at Ghar Lapsi. Due to the remote location of Ghar Lapsi, it didn’t appear to attract many tourists. Or perhaps they didn’t know about it?

The Uber would take 40 minutes and in that span of time, we heard the driver’s whole life story. He told us of the many countries he had travelled, his philosophies on life (you only have one life, take care of yourself and enjoy it), as well as his misfortune in losing 1 million Libyan dinar, or 200,000 € in wholesaling fragrances.

The story went something like this – his brother knew a guy who would sell the fragrances and instead of paying our driver back, he kept the money and then his brother died. Shortly after, the guy his brother knew also died and our driver couldn’t try and collect his investment back.

How true is this story? Well, Mac and I think it probably was true to a certain degree, but believe that the fragrances were probably something purchased off the black market and that our driver liked to talk a big game.

Equally as interesting was his driving as he manuevered showing us photos of his brother (who apparently plays for the Maltese national volleyball team and trains 6 hours daily) and of himself (when he was a successful business man, purchasing nothing but the best in terms of clothing!). None the less, it made for an intriguing start to a relaxing day.

We spent six wonderful hours, relaxing and frolicking in the waters and eventually decided it was time to head back.

Mac, the water puppy emerges

Proof that I also took a couple of dips!

Dinner at our Airbnb post swimming, sun bathing and reading!

Mdina, also known as the silent city was our next stop, the following day. It was given the nick name of the “silent city” because in the 1500s, Vittoriosa took it’s place as the capital of Malta from Mdina, people began leaving shortly after and this resulted in a lack of inhabitants. The Silent city refers to this.

Candid shots from Mac of the gates to the fortified city of Mdina

We started our day off in Mdina at Fontanella – a tea house recommended by a friend of Mac’s. For 21 €, or $30 cdn, Mac ordered an espresso lunogo and a traditional Maltese ftira (think a sun dried tomato, Maltese sausage, goat cheese and olive sandwich), while I ordered the full English breakfast and an espresso lunogo as well.

Cute…until the food arrived. If you weren’t careful, you’d be sharing breakfast with these little buggers! Some of them were rather bold!

Views of Malta whilst eating breakfast, featuring the cute bird who tried to steal my toast

Parts of Mdina had what I imagined being in an old Middle Eastern city would feel like. It turns out that this was due to the Arab influence on the city!

St. Peter’s Cathedral. One of the main attractions in Mdina. We were given the tip to head to Mdina in the morning to avoid the heat and as a result, we arrived much earlier than many other people. This resulted in us seeing St. Peter’s without having to pay an entrance fee of 10 € due to the fact that a service was occurring. There were no signs! We didn’t realize payment was usually necessary until after we had left!

One of the many elaborate door knockers we saw

The eight point cross, as seen on the ground, was a symbol for the Knights of Saint John.

Acutely aware of our movements being watched via CCTV

We got up close and personal with the fortified walls surrounding the city

Found a wall, had a photo shoot

After a thorough 2.5 hours, we decided to move on to Rabat – a nearby city. While Mdina has approximately 300 inhabitants, Rabat is a much larger city at approximately 11,000 inhabitants. We were given a recommendation of trying the restaurant “Chalk”, but due to us having consumed a big breakfast so close to when we saw the restaurant, we decided not to.

What appeared to be the city centre of Rabat.

From Rabat, we made an hour trip out to Golden Bay for an afternoon at the beach. Attempting to get to Golden Bay was an adventure in itself as the bus was 20 minutes late, followed by Mac taking us off the bus at the wrong stop followed by needing to find the second bus that would take us to the beach.

Thankfully, with common sense and travel experience; we were able to figure it all out and managed to get to Golden Bay for a relaxing two hours of sun bathing and frolicking in cool water.

With the end of the trip in sight, we plan to meet up with the Italians for some more beach time, a traditional Maltese dinner and a boat cruise; as well as cheering Britney – Mac’s fellow power lifter – at world’s for powerlifting.

Coming to Malta, we knew there would be a chance that Mac wouldn’t be competing as she was placed on first reserve; but seeing the competition will provide continued motivation to train hard and to make world’s in the future.

For now, we reflect back on all that we’ve done and all that we’ve yet to see (but will see before we leave!)