'Vale' to Valletta

Apologies for the many disruptions to our series of Maltese posts. We'll finish off today with just one more, before we hand over to the bears - ourselves included - who went on a new adventure last week.

No trip to Malta is complete without a trip to the capital, Valletta. We only just got our Valletta tour in, as we visited on the day we came home, possible, thanks to a evening flight. We walked into Valletta from Sliema, following the waterfront, and it was a lot further than we thought. Approaching the old city area was a bit like climbing a mountain, with a lot of false summits. By the time we got there it was time for lunch and we munched our pies out in the street, doing a spot of people watching - we did look out for other bears but didn't see any. Our first visit was to the Cathedral of St John with it's famous Caravaggio painting of the beheading of St John. We had audio guides to talk us through all the gilded sights.

As we're not really culture vultures, we particularly enjoyed the outdoor sights, especially the terrific views over the Great Harbour, which of course were free. The Saluting Battery with it's row of cannons was very impressive ...

... sadly we'd missed the daily firing and we couldn't find the right materials to hand to have a go ourselves. You might be forgiven for thinking I was sitting astride a cannon in my next picture - it was actually a telescope!

Looking out at all those historic buildings so close to the water, I thought it had a bit of a feel of Venice - or at least how I imagine Venice to be, as we've never been there.

We got a bit carried away exploring, and ended up having to hurry back to our apartment so we could catch our airport transfer. We stayed at the Sunseeker apartments and thought they were rather good.

We had a pleasant kitchen and dining area which was vey well equipped and we had a nice spacious bedroom and a small bathroom.

We did have a small balcony, but it was usually in the shade, so we tended to go up to the rooftop sun terrace with its swimming pool and sun loungers. It was a bit early in the season though to do anything more than sit in the sun.

I'm sure we'll go back, as it is a great value destination, but maybe January was a bit early for reliable sun; it was fine for walking and exploring though.

Lots of love, George and the Malteser bears xxx

A Des Res?

We found Malta quite intriguing as there were some really lovely bits, and others that reminded us of some of the worst aspects of the Spanish Costas. We actually think much of the blames for the latter lies with the Brits!

Remember our question to you from the other day, of whether Paradise Beach lived up to it's name or not? We're got a much easier opinion poll for you today.

We'll introduce today's question by saying that we're not great fans of beach huts - they do rather spoil a fine coastline. However, but we infinitely prefer a British beach hut to some of the Maltese equivalents. What do you think to these examples that we're sitting outside ...?


... are we sitting outside a concentration camp barracks or a 'must have' seafront property?

Sadly, these were not isolated examples. There are some areas of Malta where there are so many shack-like beach properties that we really felt like we were walking through shanty towns. We do understand that the Maltese government is trying to do something about them and it's about time we say.

The good thing about Malta though is that there's far more beautiful coastline than blighted coastline. You never have to walk very far to be back in scenery that makes your heart sing for the beauty of it.


Our second picture was taken not far on from our first and in between we'd seen some spectacular erosion giving rise to caves and arches. We certainly had to watch our paws while walking in the area of our picture as we didn't want to fall down a fissure this deep!

Lots of love, the Malteser bears xxx

Food Glorious Food

We certainly didn't lose any weight in Malta as the food was far too good and Maltese restaurants serve some big portions - remember that pizza at the start of our Maltese posts?

As we had a self-catering apartment, well- equipped with cooking equipment, and we were only a 5 minute walk from the wonderfully named Trolley's supermarket, we can give ourselves a pat on the back for much of the good food, as a lot of it was cooked by us, and eaten in house.

However, we did visit two restaurants in our resort of Bugibba to sample the local cuisine.

The first was Granny's in the main square. Granny's advertises itself as a fusion restaurant and there was a lot of choice, but we couldn't really tell if any dishes were a house speciality. We chose a 3 course Maltese menu with choices for starters and mains.


Here we are about to tuck into a plate of rabbit in a sort of curry sauce, with lots of veggies in the stew and also a portion of Asian style stir fried vegetables. We also had a bowl of chips. When you think that starters were a similar size to mains (you should have seen our plate of spaghetti) this was a lot of food even for trencherbears like us. The first 2 courses were followed by something like apple sponge cake and huge mugs of good coffee. It was great value and the food tasted o.k. but something was lacking in the way of ambience and finesse. We decided that our visit would be a one off.

On our last night though, we hit the jackpot. We walked beyond the square, out of the tourist area to the most wonderful Maltese restuarant called the Malet. We'd read about it on the internet so knew it was worth seeking out.

It more than lived up to the Trip Advisor recommendations. The surroundings were tasteful, the welcome and service perfect (attentive, but not too much so) and the food was superb. While we waited for our starters we had a complementary glass of leek and potato soup which made us very happy. When our official starter of chicken wings in a yummy, sticky, spicy sauce came they were simply to die for, as Yorkie's face shows in our next picture.


Our mains of pork stew and quails were a delight and the bottle of rose we had to wash it down with was exactly too our taste, crisp and fruity, but not too sweet. Thanks to the Maltese portion sizes, we had no room for dessert, and we ended up with a very reasonable bill.

The only disappointing thing was that we were the only customers that evening. It was so good it should have been full. We wrote a glowing review for Trip Advisor so hopefully more visitors to Bugibba will be seeking out this gem of a restaurant. If we return to Malta we certainly will.

Lots of love, the Malteser Bears xxx

Wafted to Paradise ... or not?

It was good to be a bear on Malta as we had more travelling options than our minders. This was because we were able to avail ourselves of bicycles, left in convenient places all over the island.


There was plenty of room for all 4 of us to clamber aboard. As our legs are shorter than our minders', it provided a good way to keep up with them.

Most of the cycling was fairly sedate as Malta isn't too mountainous an island. However, there were a few dramatic moments. We particularly enjoyed cycling out to this headland, joined to the main cliffs by a narrow isthmus. There were big drops on each side so we had to make sure to concentrate, and not be distracted by the scenery.


We saw a lot of Malta's northern coast on our walks. Before we left home, various people had told us that the beaches weren't that good, but we were pleasantly surprised. There were some real gems on the west coast, including Golden Bay and the beaches close to it.

One beach that we weren't so sure about, was the one that sounded from its name, as if it should have been the best. This was the beach called Paradise Bay at the north west tip of the island. We sat at the top of the steps down to the beach and wondered whether it was worth going down or not, as it didn't seem to match with our idea of paradise. What do our readers think?


Perhaps it was just the rather grey day, or maybe it was the proximity to the ferry port, but we decided not to take a closer look, but to continue with our headland walk and see what else this stretch of coast had to offer. We were quite amused by the huge circular car park, not far from where we were sitting. There were hundreds of free parking spaces but only one or two were taken. It was January though, so hardly high season. Perhaps there would be a bit of a beach makeover before the summer season started.

Lots of love, the Malteser bears xxx

Gozo Day Out

We're back in Malta today, in spirit, if not in body, to tell you about our wonderful day out on Gozo.

Malta might be a small island, but Gozo is smaller, although not as small as Comino which sits almost between the 2. A visit to Gozo is a must for any visitors to Malta, and we were keen to see it and experience its rustic charms. Even though it was still winter, the 2 ferries were running round the clock. They are so regular that you don't need a timetable, you just turn up and catch the next one. And the great thing is that you don't need a ticket, or have to pay, until you come home. We had a strange (to us) feeling of naughtiness, strolling on board without a ticket, but that is what you have to do.


As you can see from our picture, it was a lovely sunny day for our trip, so we sat out on deck and enjoyed the sunshine and the sea views. We had had a small moment of worry earlier, when we had set sail while the bow door was still being closed! but there didn't seem to be no danger of the sea coming in, so by the time our picture was taken, we were completely chilled out.

On our journey we passed Comino, but that was as close as we would be going on this holiday, as it was too soon for the small day trip ferries to be running.

Once disembarked on Gozo we set off on a coast walk straight from the ferry terminal. The harbour was quickly left behind, as everything on Gozo is on a small scale, and in just a couple of minutes we were out in lovely countryside, walking with the sea on our left. A few minutes more and the path took us down to a very pleasant beach where we could paddle (the water was a bit cold for swimming) then sit in the sun to dry off our paws and munch on a sandwich, while watching the 2 ferries (the white blobs) plying their way between the islands


As with our 2 previous coastal walks, it was an interesting coastline, with lots to see. We passed a beach where 3 large vessels, one a former ferry, had been scuttled to provide some interesting dive sights. They were just a bit too far offshore or us to see them.

There was an idyllic inlet (the Port of the Galleys), which suddenly became less idyllic when we learnt its history. It had been the place where a party, led by a Turkish raider, had landed in 1551, and carried most of the island's inhabitants off into slavery. Just before the inlet was a 17th century tower built by the Knights of St John; there is certainly no shortage of history on Gozo.

We also liked these amazing salt pans carved into the rock ...


It was good to be a bear rather than a human here, as were just the right size to scamper along the retaining walls and get a really good close up look.

The coastal part of our walk ended with 400 foot cliffs - we took care not to get too close. We then turned inland to walk through the small town of Sannant then on, just over another mile, to the town of Victoria, the capital of Gozo. We had a quick look round the citadel, but it was getting dark, so it wasn't long before we headed for the bus station to catch a bus to the harbour and our ferry back to Malta. Here there were tickets booths, so we finally got to buy our return tickets. We thought that just over €4.5 for a return was a very reasonable price to pay.

Sadly our holiday wasn't long enough for another visit to Gozo, but we hope to return one day, and we will certainly be recommending it in the Friendly Planet Guide.

Lots of love, the Malteser Bears xxx

The Taste of Malta

Well the Malteser Bears are all safely home now; we returned bearing gifts for our friends who stayed behind to keep the wheels of commerce turning, and what could be a more appropriate gift to return with, than a big bag of Maltesers?

We decided to take pictures at the airport so we could prove that our Maltesers did come from Malta and not from England (although we wouldn't like to speculate on how well travelled they are).


What better chap could we have in our airport photo, than a genuine knight of St John featuring the Maltese cross on his costume. As you can see his hat made a great place for us to rest with our Maltesers.

We knew that Playmobil fan, Fred's Mum of the Suffolk branch, would like this picture, but we think that when she sees our next picture, of us with our second airport friend, she may like it even more ...


... and this is because that pirate face reminds us very much of someone who is very close to Fred's Mum's heart - must surely be a relative? What you think Aunty M?

Before setting out for the airport, we had a pretty full day in Malta and finally got to take a look at Valletta, which will be the subject of a future post. The downside of gaining an extra day, was that we touched down at Gatwick at 10.00 p.m. and got a real shock to find the outside temperature close to zero. The Bearmobile performed well and got us back to the Bear Cave as fast as possible, but it was still 2.15 a.m. when we arrived and we were all too cold to get much sleep that night.

As the cold week has progressed, we are finding it hard to believe that only a few days ago we were enjoying being bears in the sun ...


... this was us on enjoying the sun terrace at the top of our accommodation which was a great place to catch a few rays. Of course, we didn't spend too much time time here as there was so much exploring to do and so little time. We've plenty more posts from Malta in the pipeline so keep watching the blog.

Lots of love, the Maltese returners xxx

Visiting Popeye's Home

We hope you haven’t kept you in suspense readers, but we’ve been too busy enjoying Malta and relaxing in the evenings, to blog.

Rest assured though, we are having a good time, and finding plenty to do on this interesting island. It might be a small island, but by the time we go home, there will still be bits we haven’t seen. We haven’t even seen Valetta yet!

We are getting old hands at riding the buses now and we love their registrations …


… as you can see they all start with the letters BUS followed by their unique bus numbers. A lot of the buses are bendy buses which means they can get a lot of people in. The streets are quite narrow so there have been a few exciting squeezes. Arriva have only just taken over the service but some of the buses are not looking as new as they should!

We have done 3 more coastal walks since our last post and 1 inland one. We simply love to see the sea and when there are sandy bays and dramatic rocky headlands and high cliffs to take in, it becomes all the more exciting. It is rather different to the coastline round home.

We had a special treat on Thursday when our walk took in the filmset of Popeye. A whole village was created round a small harbour mouth and we got to see it without having to pay the entrance fee.


We’ve never seen the film, but might have to track it down when we get home.

All our walking means we need some suitable fuel to sustain us. Our ham sandwiches have been supplemented by some delicious mini pies from a pastizzeria we pass on the way to the bus station.

Here we are enjoying the pea and cheese varieties.


Back with more news soon, but perhaps not too soon as we’ll be making the most of our last evening tomorrow and the evening after we’ll be flying home.

Lots of love, the Malteser Bears xxx

P.S. we hope the Suffolk Branch have had a good trip to York

Shipwreck Island

We got off the bus to do a bit of sightseeing in the town of Mellieha. We admired the big church which reminded us a bit of Santiago in its grand Catholic style, and we popped down to see a grotto, dedicated to our lady of Mellieha, before walking down to the bay to start a fine coastal walk round a rugged headland with lots of bays and interesting features.

Once we had left the holiday homes behind, it was a complete contrast to the built up areas we had passed through earlier on the bus. It was wild and unspoilt. The sun was out, the sky was blue and the sea was that lovely turquoisey-green, that you just don’t get at home. However, we did have to put our windshirts on as there was a keen breeze. Our meandering path hugged the coastline had lots of ups and downs and lots of interesting things to see.

There were delightful clumps of narcissus that filled the air with their fragrance …


… there were wonderful views and lovely spots for a picnic and spot of sunbathing …


At times we were walking on mud paths; mostly they were dry but there was evidence that Malta has had some winter rain.

About two-thirds of the way round, we found ourselves looking across a narrow stretch of water to 2 very special islands. These were St Paul’s islands, where Paul was shipwrecked in AD60 on his way to stand trial in Rome. You can read all about Paul’s time on Malta in Acts 28 v1-10, or you can simply share our close up view of the larger of the 2 islands, complete with statue of St Paul.


As our walk continued there was still more to see including old look out towers, a nicely proportioned door cut into a huge boulder so you can go inside and some fine examples of salt pans. We also saw a man with a gun, so sounded the alarm to the local birds, who were present, as Malta does have a bit of a reputation.

Getting the bus back was a breeze and we were soon back in Bugibba calling in at the local supermarket for beer, wine and ingredients for a paella for tea.

What a splendid first day.

Lots of love, the Malteser bears xxx

P.S. Aunty M, we're chocolate free so far but on the look out for some little round balls

Sun, Sea and Occasional Sand

Yesterday, our latest travelling party of Chelmer, Curly, Yorkie and me (George,) was up bright and early to make our way to Gatwick Airport where we had a happy re-union with our friend Rodney, the Harrods door bear. We introduced Chelmer and Curly as they don’t do as much travelling as Yorkie and I, so hadn’t previously had the pleasure of Rodney’s acquaintance.


As we walked out to the departure gate, we could see the rain lashing down outside and knew that it was an icy rain. We were very pleased to be flying out to a much warmer place.

At one point our very informative captain told us that we were about to fly over the Italian island where the cruise liner recently capsized. We couldn’t see it because of the clouds, and probably our altitude as well. Shortly after flying over Sicily, we started our descent into the lovely Mediterranean island of Malta, our destination for the week.

From the airport we were minibussed off to our self-catering apartment in the resort of Buggiba, whose name we quickly learnt, is not pronounced as if it starts with the word bug. It was dark as we travelled, so we didn’t see much apart from lots of lights.

We’ll no doubt talk more about our home from home later in the week. We didn’t spend too long inside before we went out in search of food and beer (us bears have our priorities). We are about 1 minute from the sea, so we strolled along the front, battling against the wind! As it is only January, lots of places were shut, but we found a pleasant Italian restaurant and got stuck into the local Cisk beer and enormous pizzas laden with loads of lovely toppings, at a very reasonable price too.


This morning we treated ourselves to a full English breakfast in the breakfast room, again very reasonable at €4 for everything. We then saw our rep briefly before heading to the bus station to buy a weekly ticket and hop on a bus for our first island adventure. Sadly the characterful Maltese buses have just been replaced and Arriva have taken over, and are operating all of the island’s services with modern buses. This is a little problematical as all the walks in our walk book tell you which of the old buses to catch and the new ones are different. The changes are all so recent that no timetables or route maps are available, so we will have to be ingenious. Fortunately everyone speaks English and seems to want to help, so it is easy to ask.

Find out where we went next time.

Lots of love the Malteser Bears xxx