Malta 2009!

Just a quick impression of Malta and Gozo: chilling with Iced Tea in one of the many bays of lovely Gozo, you see these huge cactusplants everywhere, lovely sea to dive in, and another beautiful bay . Before actually going to Malta there were a few weeks left in the Netherlands, which were well spent I think. First of all there was a Bday to celibrate, which we did. The 6th of November Gillian came by and we had an evening full of catching up to do. The day after was my Bday party (yes I know a week early, but who cares). We gathered in the afternoon at my place and the plan was to go into town for some High Tea. Unfortunately the weather sucked, so we decided to stay in and have a party there. No worries, I had lots of food and goodies anyway, so plenty to party with. Stephan and his girlfriend left for Groningen early in the evening and the rest of us (Marieke, Karlijn, Gerrit and Antsje) headed towards Patronaat for the famous Pubkwis. We had loads of fun, but the quiz was way to hard as it had the theme 'Woodstock', which is slighty before our time (way before we were even born), and the questions were in the category: "You hear this tune (we listen very intently and finally figure out who sings it), then they say: this was band X with song Y. Band X had a one time cooperation with band Z. who was the background singer of band Z?" Sure, just slightly out of our league haha. Ofcourse we had a few beers in town before we headed back into a cab with the 5 of us and crashed at my place. The weekend after (my actual birthday) was a quiet one spend at my parents place with a few people visiting. That week the last things were packed and on Saturday morning Karlijn and I left for MALTA! Karlijn had organised this very handy (but OMG what an ugly colour) car, which took us everywhere we wanted to go. We had quite a giggle when we first saw it. At least it's easy to find haha. The hotel we checked into was very well kept, lots of lovely facilities and nice staff. Unfortunately for us there was a British couple with 2 little boys next door who could definetely use some help of Supernanny. The bloody kids woke us up at 6.30 in the morning for 2 days in a row, after which we switched rooms. Little buggers. On our first evening we headed towards St Pauls Bay and Buggiba for a stroll and had dinner at Mirabelle, which was lovely. The next morning we got in the car and headed south, to check out the south of the Island, which isn't as touristy as the rest of Malta. We headed to Marsaxlokk for the markets, to the bay in Biggabuga where they have ruined the view by building this: at the most beautiful bay in Malta (I know, they need work and money etc, but come on). After lots of carefull driving by Karlijn and some luck as well, we finally managed to find Marsascala! A cute little town with almost no tourist and loads of Maltese out and about. After a lovely lasagna lunch (which turned out to be like a brick in your stomach, pff) we headed north again and Karlijn had dinner at the Plum Tree (I managed a hot chocolate, for the rest I was still too stuffed). Monday was my first dive day! Because it had been such a long time since my last dives (actually more than a year, also in Malta with Mick), we headed towards Cirkewwa to dive The Rozi and the Left Arch with it's swim throughs and Madonna on the second dive. No worries there, it was as if I had only left the day before. Very good and nice to be back under water again! The only downside was that when we got in on the second dive both Mick and I got stung by these very annoying little jellyfish. I still have the stings on my hand which are extremely itchy. Grr. While I was diving Karlijn managed to move all our stuff to the new room (thank goodness) and chilled out on the sundeck. When I came back we headed into town to do some souvenir shopping and later in the evening we ate at the Overflow Restaurant, where I had eaten last year as well. The next day Mick and I headed to Marsascala for a lovely dive to two wrecks: the Ten, and st Michaels both at Zonqor point. Lovely dive with lots to see. On the way back we stopped at Sliema to do a dive in the harbour where there was supposed to be another nice wreck. Only when we were down we discovered they had removed the wreck. Such a shame. A well a lovely cuttle fish came to cheer us up. We chilled in the room in the afternoon and booked us a massage at the downstairs spa for Thursday evening. In the evening we went to Rubens for dinner, where Karlijn managed to eat all the spareribs (two very long ribs), very impressive! Wednesday was Adriana's Bday (Mick's wife), so I had a day off diving and Karlijn and I decided to have a relaxed day with a few stops around the island. After a big breakfast we headed towards Mosta to see the dome. Very impressive! Next we headed towards the old town Mdina and ended up in Tarxien for the Hypogeum (where you're not allowed to take pictures, so just the link here). Absolutely amazing! We headed back towards the hotel and after a long walk around St Pauls Bay and Buggiba we ended up at Mirabelle again for dinner. Time to chill and read a book (well to study for me, as I was doing my Enriched Air course). Thursdays was GOZO diving day! A lovely little Island, very beautiful with some great diving spots as well. We left early and had a lovely time there. Ofcourse we went to the Blue Hole and Inland Sea as they are one of the best spots on Gozo to dive. Lots of nice things to see, great weather and lots of things to see on the way there. In the afternoon I took my Enriched Air exam (100% score yeah) and qualified myself as an Enriched Air diver. Woohoo. As a treat I had a lovely back massage at the hotel in the evening after which we went out to dinner with Mick and Adriana. Lots of laughter at the pub in st Pauls Bay (forgot the name of the pub). Friday was my last diving day :( We went to Anchor Bay, where you have a good view of Popeye village. The dive was lovely, with loads of caves to have a look around in and one you could actually stand up in in the back and breathe above water. Weird. Off towards Qawra point to cruise along the reef there (where we went into this teeeny little cave where it was hard to get out of, but we managed, not for the claustrophobics!). We played around with a brittle seastar, an octopus and a very big gunard. Very cool dive! (and cold). In the afternoon Karlijn and I headed towards the three cities, and Vittoriosa (Birgu) especially. Beautiful and lots of lovely views. We ate at the Overflow restaurant again and Karlijn headed to Zurrieq to meet up with friends from her last visits to Malta, which gave me an evening of relaxing, reading and sleeping. Saturday was our Gozo sightseeing day, which was stunning. Lovely views, very green island, well kept, beautiful churches, creepy steep roads, lovely beaches, wacky artsvillage etc. We checked out the Citadel in Victoria (the capital of Gozo) and cruised around town. The crafts village Gharb was ok, but lots of the shops were closed. An absolutely stunning church is Te Puna, which closed just before we arrived. Anyway, the outside is pretty as well :) We had lunch in Marsalforn, a cute little town and headed towards Calypso Cave (which had partly collapsed) and Ramla Bay. We were back in time to see the sunset at the Red Tower point. Sunday we had another big breakfast at the hotel, checked out and cruised with our little devil along lots of places and the coastline, just to kill some time and enjoy the last bit of Malta before heading home.
The flight back home was ok, but very long with a stop over at Brussels where we were not allowed to leave the plane. Back home we crashed instantly. Now another week at work has passed and this weekend has been lots of cleaning, chilling and soon Spanish study!