Malta, the Crossroads of the Mediterranean

We climbed out of bed at 3am to catch the forecasted westerly wind, which was due to blow 15-20kts all morning giving us a great sail. Our course was set to travel 54nm south to Malta.

It was a starry night with a banana moon as we left Portopalo and Sicily behind. However, the sea was flat and there was no wind, which was not as forecast, so we motored on. I never tire of watching the sun rise ready for another beautiful day.

We continued under power for a few hours, until finally there was a light wind from the east so we were able to get the sails up for the last couple of hours.

As we approached Malta there were 100’s of jelly fish in the water, they were the big ‘fried egg’ variety that don’t sting, but I still wouldn’t fancy swimming near them. Apparently Malta regularly gets inundated with a variety of different jellyfish throughout the summer, to the extent that they publish jellyfish alerts along with the weather forecast.

We had booked in to Manoel Island Marina for two nights and after 10 hours of mainly motoring, we arrived at the entrance to the port. We were granted permission to enter after a large ship had departed, so we waited until it was clear to continue into the harbour, and headed to the marina. The Marinaro took our lines and we were soon safely moored to the pontoon.

The Maltese archipelago consists of three islands of which Malta is the largest and most populated. The island is just 27km (17 miles) long and 14.5km (9 miles) wide. It is made up of many small towns, with lots of high rise apartment blocks to accommodate the population of over 400,000.

Malta has over 7,000 years of history, during this time it has played a vital part in the struggles of a succession of powers for domination of the Mediterranean. As a result, Maltese society has been molded by centuries of foreign rule by various powers, including the Phoenicians, Romans, Greeks, Arabs, Normans, Sicilians, Swabians, Aragonese, Hospitallers, French, and the British Empire. The fortifications and medieval buildings still dominate the capital city.

Having been retracing our steps over the past few weeks, it was nice to arrive at a new country. We walked around the bay to the water taxi and crossed the harbour to the walled city of Valletta.

It was a short but steep walk through the streets and over a hill to the port and Grand Harbour (everything is ‘up hill’ in Malta) passing many old buildings and war memorials. Even though Malta is part of the EU and Schengen, we decided to visit the border authorities to check whether we needed to show or complete any documents, we wanted to avoid any complications or fines when it’s time to leave Malta. It turned out that they didn’t need to see any documentation, but they did give us yet another crew list form to be completed when we leave.

Close to the port there is the Barrakka Lift, a huge free standing elevator that takes you back up the hill to the city, passing the various layers of fortifications built on top of the original rocks.

The Barrakka Lift was constructed in 2012, on the site of a previous lift which had operated from 1905 to 1973. The lift is 58m high and the journey takes around 25 seconds. It is located inside the ditch of the fortifications of Valletta, and links the Grand Harbour to the Upper Barrakka Gardens and Valletta city centre.

Feeling a little hot and tired, we took the lift back up. At a cost of 1 Euro each, it was definitely worth it, much quicker and easier than walking back up the steep streets. We exited the lift at the Upper Barrakka Gardens which is renowned for its history, beautiful gardens full of seasonal flowers and great views over Grand Harbour.

There is a 16th century Saluting Battery on a terrace below and the cannons are fired twice a day. The original purpose of the cannons was to protect the city from the Ottoman Empire. Nowadays, the firing of the battery is purely ceremonial.

Everything seems very British here, cars drive on the left, road signs look familiar, there are red telephone and post boxes, open top ‘London’ tour buses and many of the chains of restaurants, cafes and shops in the UK can be found here. We stopped at a bar called the Queen Victoria to enjoy some refreshment.

Although this is the first time we have visited Malta by boat, we did previously have a weeks holiday here 17 years ago. Paul remembered a bar that we visited before and wanted to see if it was still here, so our next stop was ‘The Pub’, yes it was still there!

This is the bar that Oliver Reed had his last drink in before he passed away in 1999. He had starred in many films but it was during his final role in ‘Gladiator’, being filmed in Malta, that there was a long break in filming and he was enjoying his first drink in months at the bar. After being pressured into a drinking competition (where he consumed 8 pints of beer, 12 double rums, and half a bottle of whiskey), he suffered a fatal heart attack. His unpaid bar bill has been framed and is behind the bar.

The Pub is an old Royal Navy sailors haunt, on a side street in the centre of Valetta which has now become an unofficial shrine to Oliver Reed. Fans and film enthusiasts visit from far and wide to have a drink and pay their respects.

Luckily, despite getting in to a chat with some of he locals, we didn’t get involved in any drinking competitions. We managed to leave after a couple of drinks whilst still capable of walking in a straight line back down the hill to the harbour, where we took the water taxi back to Ziggy.

The following day we made good use of being in a marina and were busy with the usual tasks of laundry, shopping, topping up the electric, and washing the very salty boat. Unfortunately we couldn’t top up our water tanks as we always test the water first and discovered that it was very yellow. After two nights here, we left marina to further explore Malta.