Mdina and Rabat were sometimes a unitary city, and then were separate by Arabs, which raised walls around Mdina. Mdina is the former capital city of Malta and is located in the centre of the island. It is also known as the “silent city” with narrow streets, which with great architecture takes you a few centuries back. The main attractions are Palazzo Falzon, where the royal family lived, the Mdina cathedral on the main square which was many years ago destroyed in a severe earthquake and the Cathedral Museum, where should be located Mdina treasuries. Admission for the museum is € 5 per person, but we are not really museum lovers, so we admired the building only from the outside.
Mdina in sosednji Rabat sta včasih tvorila enotno mesto, nato so ju Arabci ločili in Mdino še dodatno obzidali. Mdina je prejšnje glavno mesto Malte in je locirano v samem centru otoka. Poznano je tudi kot “tiho mesto” z ozkimi ulicami, ki te s svojo arhitekturo popelje nekaj stoletij nazaj. Glavne znamenitosti so The Mdina Cathedral na glavnem mestnem trgu, Palazzo Falzon, kjer je živela kraljeva družina in Cathedral Museum, kjer naj bi se nahajali zakladi iz Mdinine katedrale, ki je bila dolgo let nazaj uničena v hudem potresu. Vstopnino za muzej ti zaračunajo po 5€ na osebo, midva pa ravno ljubitelja muzejev nisva, zato sva si stavbo ogledala samo od zunaj.
Since we already received countless offers for boat ride to the islands of Comino and Gozo from various tourist companies, today we finally choose the best one. We have paid € 20 per person, that’s € 5 more, we would spend, if took a local bus to port of Cirkewwa, then a ferry to Comino and another ferry to Gozo. Therefore, we rather choose the first variant, which to us seemed a lot more interesting. You see everything, which itself due to some hard to reach locations, we probably wouldn’t.
We boarded on a boat far away from our hotel in the city port. The first destination with some intermediate tours of some caves – Smugglers Cave, Coral Cave – was island of Comino, which has only four or five permanent residents. You need just a few hours to walk through whole island, and admire the mighty cliffs and rocky coves. The most famous natural landmark is »sparkly« Blue Lagoon. Beach should be one of the most beautiful, but in our eyes was very far from it.
Ker so naju že prvi dan turistična podjetja dobesedno zasula s ponudbami vožnje z ladjico do otoka Comino in Gozo, sva danes to tudi izkoristila. Odštela sva po 20€ na osebo, saj sva preračunala, da če greva sama z lokalnim avtobusom do pristanišča Cirkewwa in najprej s trajektom do otoka Comino ter nato še do večjega Goza, bi za prevoz porabila 14,65€ na osebo, kar je samo dobrih 5€ manj. Zato sva rajše ubrala prvo varianto, ki se nama je zdela tudi veliko bolj zanimiva, saj vidiš marsikaj, česar sama zaradi nekaterih težko dostopnih lokacij, verjetno nebi.
Na ladjico sva se vkrcala nedaleč stran od najinega hotela v mestnem pristanišču. Prva destinacija z vmesnimi ogledi nekaterih jam – Smugglers Cave, Coral Cave, je bila otok Comino, ki ima le štiri ali pet stalnih prebivalcev. Otok lahko obhodiš v vsega nekaj urah in ob teh občuduješ mogočne pečine in skalnate zalivčke. Najbolj znana naravna znamenitost je »bleščeča« Modra laguna oz. Blue Lagoon. Plaža naj bi bila ena najlepših, vendar po najinem okusu je zelo daleč od tega. Gre za majhno skalnato plažo s približno meter in pol (no malce več) peščenega zalivčka. Ljudi je ogromno, ležalniki oz. stolčki pa so postavljeni tik eden ob drugim.
Today we went back in the time of our childhood. We visited Popeye Village in Anchor bay. Anchor bay was named after anchors from Roman times that were once washed up on the shore. It is an artificial village, which was built in the eighties for the purpose of Hollywood movie about the Popeye. A few years ago, you had to walk all the way to here for about 2 kilometres from the city centre, but today the local bus drives you right to the door on the newly opened road. Admission fee for adults is € 14, included swimming, a children’s pool with a playground, a glass of punch and a shorter 15-minute “trip” with the boat.
Danes sva se vrnila v čas najinega otroštva. Obiskala sva namreč Popeye Village v zalivu Anchor. Zaliv Anchor (sidro) so poimenovali po kopici sider iz rimskih časov, ki jih je nekoč naplavilo na obalo. Gre za umetno vasico, ki so jo v osemdesetih letih postavili za namen hollywoodskega filma o junaku Popaju. Nekaj let nazaj, si moral do vasice prepešačiti dobra 2 km iz centra mesta, danes pa se z lokalnim avtobusom po nanovo odprti cesti, pripelješ prav do vrat. Vstopnina za odrasle znaša 14€, v to pa imaš vključeno kopanje, otroški bazen z igrali, kozarec punča in krajši, 15 minutni “izlet” z ladjico.
Our passports could be today without any problems left at home. Officials in Venice and then also here in Malta, checked us in such a hurry like in the middle of the night when you go across the border with Croatia at the checkpoint Dragonja, where usually sits one sleepy guard who normally without any interest let you go through. Yes, night jobs are really pain in the ass 🙂
Landing at the airport gave us know, that Malta is not actually a country which we imagined by online photos. Not modern airport, many unfinished houses without roof, full of dust, garbage… Our first impression of Malta was – European Morocco, because quite similar or otherwise even worse picture, waited for us almost 5 months ago in this small country of Africa. We hope, however, that this first impression will soon left us.
Potne liste bi danes brez problema lahko pustila kar doma. Uradniki že v Benetkah in nato tukaj na Malti, so naju pregledali s tako vnemo, kot bi sredi noči prečkala prehod Dragonja, kjer te napol speči carinik že od daleč z mahanjem brez zanimanja spusti čez hrvaško mejo 🙂
Že sam pristanek na letališču pa nama je dal vedeti, da Malta dejansko ni država, katero sva si predstavljala po fotografijah na spletu. Nič kaj moderno letališče, hiše okoli nedokončane, brez streh, polno prahu, smeti… Najin prvi vtis, Malta – Evropski Maroko, saj naju je podobna oz. sicer še slabša slika, slabih 5 mesecev nazaj pričakala ravno v tej afriški državici. Upava pa, da naju bo ta prvi vtis, kmalu zapustil.
We are already waiting for the third destination of this year, Malta – a small and densely populated island country located in Southern Europe, in the central Mediterranean Sea. Her charms we will discover for a week, from 19th to 26th September. We are flying from Venice Marco Polo Airport with AirMalta airline. Our 7 days accommodation in Malta will be budget hotel Bugibba, which is located on the Qawra peninsula. All together, we booked through the Slovenian Agency EuroGo, because we would in the case of personal booking for the same hotel and airline tickets, pay € 80 more per person.
Čaka naju že tretja destinacija letošnjega leta, Malta – majhna in gosto naseljena otoška država se nahaja v Južni Evropi v osrednjem Sredozemskem morju. Njene čare bova odkrivala teden dni, in sicer od 19. do 26. septembra. Letiva iz beneškega letališča Marco Polo, s prevoznikom AirMalta. Najino prenočišče teh 7 dni na Malti pa bo nizkocenovni hotel Bugibba, ki se nahaja na polotoku Qawra. Vse skupaj sva rezervirala preko slovenske agencije Eurogo, saj bi naju v primeru osebne rezervacije istega hotela in letalskih kart, cena prišla kar 80€ več na osebo. Za relacijo Ljubljana – Benetke pa sva si tokrat prevoz pri GoOptiju zagotovila že par mesecev prej, saj naju je prejšnja slaba izkušnja (enormna cena pri rezervaciji par dni pred odhodom) dodobra izučila.