Tuesday – Valletta and The Blue Grotto, Malta

Determined to do our own thing this time around, instead of forking out for what, for the most part, are quite expensive ship-organised excursions, we headed out of the port gate, hoping to haggle with a taxi driver. There wasn’t much in the way of haggling going on, though, and it seemed that the price to get us to what is known as ‘The Blue Grotto’, on the southern coastline of the island was set at 25 euros (or 50 to take us there and back again). We went along with a young driver, who agreed on 25 euros just to take us there, and we told him that we’d probably find our own way back – another taxi, or something. As we drove along, he kept trying very hard to persuade us that we should part with 50 euros to let him bring us back in 2 hours, and every now and then, he would launch into a spiel about how a further 15 euros would extend that 2 hours to 3, and he’d be happy to take us to a fishing village… but we resisted….

By the time we reached the Blue Grotto, our taxi driver was pretty miffed with us, on realising that he wasn’t going to make any more than 25 euros out of us – he even gave us his card and told us that we could call him if we wanted a drive back, but that a 5 euro deposit would be needed to ensure that he’d be available… yeah right… Mt Grumpy Britches drove off in a right old temper!

The Blue Grotto is an area of high, steep cliffs on the southern coast of Malta, featuring a system of several caves. We’d heard that boat trips could be bought to take you into the caves, and that if the light was just right (particularly in the morning, when the sun was in a particular position, and shining at a particular angle), then the waters become almost phosphorescent, and that it’s an experience well worth experiencing.

We were dropped off by Mr Grumpy-face at the top of the cliffs and had to walk the road down to the small village, which we didn’t mind at all. Once in the village, we simply followed the signs to the boats and paid 7euros each for tickets – as it turned out, a boat was ready to go, and was waiting for us.

I think we were both slightly disappointed that the experience was over so quickly; the operation is a slick, and very commercial one, of course; boats take about 10 people at a time from the small landing stage, around the headland, and to the caves at the foot of the steep rockface. There are about 5 or 6 caves in total, each of which our driver took us into, turned around and came out of, quite quickly, and with not a lot of time to just take it all in. Unfortunately, the sun was obviously not in the right position because we didn’t see the blue phosphorescence as anticipated, but we did see the inside of each of the caves – all be it briefly. The sea was really quite choppy, and by the time we were heading back to the landing stage, coachloads of people had turned up and were being ferried to the caves… as I say; all very commercial; it’s like they couldn’t get you off the boat quick enough, to get reloaded with punters.

Despite the brevity of the trip, it has to be said that what we did see was really quite awesome. We did get up close and personal to some of those rock faces, and the caves were pretty impressive… you just didn’t have to blink.

Once off the boat, we pottered around the village for a short while, picking up a few things and sitting with a drink in a bar overlooking the bay. After that, we started walking back up to the road, and heading towards our next objective; two temples, about a mile further along the coast. It was hot, though, for walking, and we were thankful that we’d bought some bottles of water from the shop in the village… Boy! Was it hot!

The temples of Hagar Qim and Mnajdra are definitely worth a visit; 18 euros gave us access to both achealogical sites, and a museum…

These are temples such as make you wonder if Stonehenge had originally had more to it. There are the familiar three-block doorways, but then there is also so much more; the two sites are 600 metres apart, and both are protected from the elements by large, framed domes – you’d think they’d spoil the experience, but far from it; information boards went to great lengths to explain how, and why, the structures needed the protection, considering both were built around 3600-3200BC.

To complete our independent excursion, we opted to return to Valletta using public transport; 2.60 euros each bought us a bus ride back to our starting point, and the whole adventure cost us a fraction of what a ship’s excursion would have cost us (£40 each, in case you’re wondering).

Valetta is a big, and busy city. By the time we returned there, however, many shops were closing for afternoon siesta, not leaving us very much in the way of shopping opportunities. Shore-leave ended at 1700 hours, so we took a walk through the town, as far as the fort, and back along the seafront, stopping off for a drink and a chill-out at one of the bars there.

It’s been a long, hot day, but very gratifying nontheless. Doing our own thing gave us as much time to enjoy what we wanted to enjoy without having to be herded around and kept to a strict timetable. Despite the slightly hurried nature of the Blue Grotto trip, we enjoyed what we saw, and managed to get some stunning photos and video. It was nice being able to walk from the Grotto to the the temples, and take our time about it too – not that we could have hurried that bit as the sun was so hot at that point.

Sailaway was soon after 5pm, when everyone was on board, and we’re now back at sea for a day, heading towards Peraeus, and the city of Athens… woo hooo! Bring it on!

Just one more, little additional thing… Hi Kate, in Exeter!