Malta Day 5

Today was the last full day we had the car, so we decided to head to the farthest part of the island and visit the reportedly pretty bay at Marsaxlokk on the south of Malta. Looking at the map it should have been a fairly simple journey as we needed to pass the airport and all signs seem to point you in that direction. However, although we did find our way past the airport we were on completely the wrong side to where I expected to be, but no problem, we would just do our sight seeing in the reverse order to how we'd planned it. 

First stop was Marsaxlokk, a pretty bay full of brightly coloured, traditional fishing boats, but a town whose name I never found out how to pronounce. All I know is that 'x' is pronounced 'sh' and it would probably be easier to pronounce after a few glasses of wine.

We started off with a coffee sat in a waterfront cafe while we sat and watched the boats bobbing about and the various tourists wander back and forth. 

There was the usually church

And market stalls all around the bay selling everything from lace and linens to pottery, glass and handbags.

After an enjoyable wander around we made our way back to the car to drive around the south coast, heading towards the Blue Grotto, where we were looking forward to taking a boat trip into the caves.

On arriving at the top of the cliffs we stopped to have a look around and came across this sign, notice the bottom comment:

"Today The Boats Not Working"

The wind was so strong that they couldn't sail the boats in and out of the caves without risk of hitting the rocks, so if you want to see what the various caves are like have a look here...

http://www.bluegrottomalta.com.mt/#!__page-16

Although the waves look fairly calm in the photo above, the one below shows a slightly different perspective but it didn't stop the divers getting in the water.

As we continued to walk around the cove we spotted a guy on the far side who was cliff diving, which looked quite impressive. I've ringed him so you can see where he is.

The water did look very inviting and it was probably the hottest day of the week and as we climb back up to the top of the cliff we passed several cacti, this was made me smile, especially the one with the smiley face. A version of graffiti.

It was a disappointment not to see the caves, but understandable why the
boats couldn't sail.

As we headed back to the hotel we took several smaller roads just to drive through the small villages dotted about the island and by the time we arrived back at the hotel we felt we had covered the majority of the island. In fact the only place we hadn't visited, and it was a deliberate decision not to go, was to the capital, Valletta. We decided that we didn't want to spend a day of our relaxing holiday wandering around the city. Some may think that an odd decision to take, but as both Neil and I were of the same opinion, it didn't cause any issue for us.

Tomorrow the car was due back so as we parked the car outside the hotel, we emptied it of our rubbish and locked it for the last time. It had done us proud for the last few days and we'd used less than half a tank of fuel.

We spent an enjoyable evening in the hotel bar and restaurant with 2 other couples we had become friends with, an English couple who live in the south of France and a couple from Torquay. This was the 3rd night that we had spent chatting over a few drinks and the 3rd night we were asked to leave at 11.30pm because the bar staff were due to go home. Hey Ho.