Might be coming to Malta!

[TheGurkha]

Early days in the planning stage, but me and Mrs. Gurkha might be coming to Malta on our hols!

I'm not a sun and beaches person, I don't like the weather too hot - when does it get a bit cooler over there?

Any guidelines for things to see & do?

(Just been informed we will NOT be bringing either Land Rover with us.... )

[landymaniac]

no land rover with you you can remain there:D :D :D

for the weather to cool down a bit it needs to be late september/october. By those days we would start to have some first rains and generally all the island floods and all land rovers playing around:eek:

there are many places here to visit especially if you like history. and try to convince mrs gurkha for a greenlane here in malta;)

[olo]

well depends really what you wanna do....

since u not a beach person, really whats left is history, and dont worry this island is full of that.

u can visit mdina, which is the old capital city, very nice, however u cant drive through it, its nicknamed the silent city, simply coz when tourists aren't around u wont hear a single noise. inside mdina one can see the different architechures of the buildings, the cathedral and a nice view of a great big part of malta from the bastion walls. there are also tours of the place however they're REALLY not worth it.

on the other hand u could hit rabat, which is just outside mdina, there are some catacombs there, nice place if u dont like the sun as its dead cold down there (hehe get it? dead... :p ) they were used as an underground cemetry in the roman times and as a place to pray since the catholic religion was illegal in them days.

you could also visit valletta, which is the current capital city of malta, this was built by the grand master la vallette, he built it so he could have a fortified town guarding the grand harbour. this is sitting on a peninsula (or however u spell it), its got alot of places to see in it, like st james cavallier (its an arts gallery), upper and lower baraka (a place where to look over the port for a nice scenery), parliament and some other places :p

then u can visit the 3 villages, they're most probably the 3 oldest villiages after mdina (which as said was the capital city), these are all fortified and played a big roll in each and every war (such as in WWII these 3 villages used to cross fire with valletta to create a sort of grid over the port to try and block as much as they can any suicide fighters and any low level bombers). gun emplacements are still evident by the tracks in the ground.

dingli is a nice place for a view too, they're maltese highest cliffs, a nice breeze, and sunset is amazing round there, only thing that spoils the view is the radar thats sittin there for malta area control.

another thing u could try is diving, amazing seas from what i hear! alot of wrecks too to enjoy it :p

as regards to comin over... i'd opt for october-ish. i'd suggest contactin buzz too, he's the kind of guy that would go out of his way just to do a person a favour and has always taken good care of all of the board members that visited :) if u come in summer i could be your tour guide as its dead borin round here (yes bikinis do get borin :p ) without school. and if buzz will be too busy i'd help you guys around anyway.

[nighthawk]

Ok tourist guide olo gave you all the info.

I think september would be a good time to come. Still very nice weather and not as hot as july and august. Whenever you come, we'll sure keep you busy don't worry :D

Hope to see you soon!!

[theBaptist]

i beg to disagree on some points Olo mentioned but he's just trying to help.

Malta is FULL of things to see and discover, in fact there are so many places to visit that most maltese (prolly Olo too) dont know they even exist.

i am personally VERY much interested in Malta's history and culture and we make it a point to visit every museum, temple, war relic and every nook and cranny ...(my wife is a tourist guide and unlike quite a few tourist guides she does it because she is absolutely fascinated by malta's past, others slug their way along doing it for the money .... ).



there are also tours of the place however they're REALLY not worth it.


above is re Mdina. :eek: sorry to say that UNLESS one takes a good properly organized tour, know a good guide or buy a GOOD guide book prior to your visit one will NEVER appreciate Mdina as all you would be doing would be roaming the narrow streets, you will get to know nothing and miss all the very interesting bits of story associated with the main buildings. steets and archeology of this wonderful place.


re catacombs in Rabat (2 diferent ones) u can make do without guides as like most major interesting places they are equipped with cd/headphones in major languages and you can be self guided along the way.



then u can visit the 3 villages, they're most probably the 3 oldest villiages after mdina (which as said was the capital city), these are all fortified and played a big roll in each and every war (such as in WWII these 3 villages used to cross fire with valletta to create a sort of grid over the port to try and block as much as they can any suicide fighters and any low level bombers). gun emplacements are still evident by the tracks in the ground.


please dont call these "villages". in their heyday they were major towns, and Senglea and Cospicua are not really 'old' at all by Maltese standards - Senglea was started in 1554 by Claude de la Sengle just before the world famous Great Siege battle vs the Turks (1565). Cospicua (the other city) developed by itself around 1650 due to the restricted sizes of Vittoriosa (Birgu) and Senglea. MANY villages in Malta and Gozo are much older than these places.

as for 'suicide fighters' .... :rolleyes:


anyways our history goes back MUCH further than suggested m8 - remember we have the OLDEST free standing structures in the world dating back to around 5500BC, we have many very old temples (pre-dating Stonehenge), underground temples (Hypogea), we've had Phoenician periods, Arab periods, Roman periods, Knights of St John (1521-1798), Napolean :( , the British period (1800 - 1979) ... Malta became a colony in 1814 .....

oh yes there is plenty to see, definately hard to list on a forum.

try these links :

www.visitmalta.com (http://www.visitmalta.com/)

www.mta.com.mt (http://www.mta.com.mt)

www.maltagozo.com (http://www.maltagozo.com)



oh and then there was WWII - sooo many things to see re WWII - The War Museum (Valletta), the Aviation Museum in Ta' Qali - ex RAF airfield (incl a Spitfire Mk V & a Hurricane Mk1), the Maritime Museum in Vittoriosa, (incl another in Nadur - Gozo), many underground war shelters etc etc ....

hope this helps a wee bit more.

......and if you want to hire a Land Rover i've got some contacts which i can try. ;)

[TheGurkha]

Thanks for the info and the offers of meets etc Folks, that's really kind of you all and very much appreciated.

History sounds fascinating - a quarter of a lifetime ago I did Archaeology for 6 years at two different UK universities, so I'm into old, cold and dead things!

You've really whetted my appetite.

As for the weather, I'm not a creature that can only come out at night, but I just don't like to be baked! :D

Hmm, hiring Land Rovers, you say.... which side of the road do you guys drive on?

[dynamited]

At the moment it is kinda hot.... september is a good time to have 24ish degrees centegrade during the day. At the moment its 30ish and unless you`re at the beach, lounging with some pint in hand... you`d feel hot.

Good post Baptist... we`ve got to organise a cultural & greenlane combo event... it was mentioned at some point... dunno where and when, but its a good idea.

We cannot generalise also, many tourist guides take their job personally and others for the money, but there are many good ones out there.

[tdi300]

Hi there! we drive on the same side UK drivers do ! We do it like the brits do it ;) :p

Welcome to Malta.......If you do not get your landy be sure to rent out a vehicle like the Maltese Armed Froces have ! :o :eek:

Its a pleasure for us to welcome you on our island !

[olo]

yea but baptist i just mentioned wot most tourists visit, and regarding mdina i meant that stupid video that u sit for 45 minutes and listen to them blab about it, thats useless (no offense, its like watchin a long advert). as for the rest of the info, well am still 20 and i dont really know much, i just say wot i hear :p linux is my forte :D

[dborg01]

Hi Gurkha, your idea of coming to Malta is most welcome!! It's always a pleasure to show you around and help make your stay easier if you ever need us!!

One point is that you won't find Land Rovers for hire and the only 4X4 you can ever hire is a Maruti Gypsy. The latter you find them in any model existent and of any age and condition!!

For some cool weather, it's a little awkward to mention a 'good' month. Last year's October was still very very hot even during the last week of October. Some other Octobers were a little cool and with some rain showers. All I can say is that if you really fancy a bit of cooler weather mid October to end November is all a good time with some hot days but cooler nights.

As to places to see, history is abundant and I will never beat our Baptist on info about this :p .... and if you love Archeology you're about to visit the place with the oldest human built structure ever found on planet Earth......older than Stonehenge.....sorry....it's called Imnajdra Temples!! We've also got some breathtaking sunrise and sunset spots and the sea in most places is immaculate even for non-swimmers.

Having said alllllllllllll that, I just hope to see you around for a ride, a laugh and a beer or 2 or 3 or 4 or whatever;)

Daniel

[theBaptist]

you're about to visit the place with the oldest human built structure ever found on planet Earth......older than Stonehenge.....sorry....it's called Imnajdra Temples!!



sorry daniel i keep correcting but it's not Mnajdra but Ggantija in Gozo. Ggantija is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the oldest free standing structure in the world. there are others older than Mnajdra too such as Skorba in Zebbieh and the Mgarr temple ...


One point is that you won't find Land Rovers for hire and the only 4X4 you can ever hire is a Maruti Gypsy

maybe no licenced car hire company has Land Rovers for hire but i do know someone who hires his - it all depends if its available. ;)

[TheGurkha]

All sounds excellent and very welcoming, thanks folks.

Now have to have a serious look at forthcoming workloads and deadlines and plan some dates, so that I can book the time off.

[TheGurkha]

Thanks for all the info and offers of help, folks, but plans have changed.

It now transpires that we will be escorting my Mother in Law to see her family in New Zealand in Feb next year.

As we would have to wait for the end of this year to let the Malta temperatures get down to what I can stand it would mean the two holidays would be too close together for the bank manager to smile on them.

Will have to defer Malta until 2007 by the look of it!

Thanks again, though. We will be over sometime!

[olo]

no probs, at least i learnt some new stuff about malta myself!!

and dont worry baptist, your corrections are most welcomed! better bein corrected then us telling others incorrect info! at least its my point of view

[buzz]

Either way Gurkha just PM or post and we'll do what we can to help make your holiday a little more special. ;)

[dborg01]

No problem Grukha......I just hope you will enjoy your other holiday just the same!

In the meantime if you're around, like Buzz said, just PM any of us or keep us posted!!

[dborg01]

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