As mentioned previously, we began the day by heading over from the hotel and boarding a 90 minute cruise around the harbour and the ‘creeks’ around Valletta. As I simply booked whatever was available yesterday, the boat wasn’t accessible whatsoever, however, there are a few ‘Hop On, Hop Off’ cruises from Sliema with wider gangways although one still has the issue of getting down to the mooring.
Anyway, the cruise is a great way to see what Valletta offers from a distance (including Popeye’s restored ship) despite the rough seas of the Mediterranean (which I always envisage to be calm!)…
Heathrow was then calling as we disembarked hence we headed back to the hotel to catch the booked airport taxi. As I predicted, the company began by sending an ordinary taxi. Luckily, the accessible taxi was available at that time meaning a smooth journey out to the airport. As we queued up for check in, assistance spotted us and, very helpfully, completed the relevant paperwork with us all the way to the plane. Only thing was a delay of 80 minutes.
As we know, its common for LHR to take their sweet time to unload Superbunny, not this time, it was the first thing out of the hold and rushed up to the airbridge to greet us…perhaps the heavy rain had something to do with it? Think it may have set a new record for getting out of said airport!
On the 12th June, one will be returning to Southern Europe, this time to Athens in Greece where I will also be hopping over to Heraklion (Crete) for the day.
The plan for today was to catch the bus (500m from the hotel) up to Cirkewwa where it is then possible to board the ferry over to the island of Gozo, however this is me that we are talking about!
I made the decision to take Superbunny today as Gozo is a little more accessible than Valletta thus we began the day by walking to said bus stop. The bus arrived on time (every 30 minutes), however, in true style, a pushchair was already occupying the wheelchair space refusing to move. Now, when I am travelling across the UK, one experiences this issue regularly so it is second nature to me simply to wait for the next one hoping to god that the space will be free. However, a local took it upon himself to begin arguing with the driver and had to be escorted off said bus. Sadly, he didn’t achieve anything but it was definitely an eye opener into ones life for the PAs at least.
It was then so that the bus drove off into the distance and then we waited…waited and waited…the bus never showed. By this time, it was past 12 meaning that we would not arrive at Gozo until 3pmish rendering it a little pointless. The alternative plan was to catch a harbour cruise, however the majority leave in the morning rather than at 2pm. The good news is that we have secured a spot for tomorrow morning before we leave for the airport!
Now at a loose end, it was agreed that another trip over to Valletta was in order, at least it was a little quieter than yesterday…
Let’s see if tomorrow is more fruitful before heading back to Heathrow…
Who’s idea was it to come to Malta in the Easter holidays in the knowledge that a large proportion of tourists to said country are British?
Anyway, the plan for today was to hop over the water by boat to the tiny capital of Valletta. The decision to confine Superbunny to the hotel room was two fold; I didn’t fancy the idea of getting run over on the streets of Valletta plus I was unsure of how accessible the boat was (we also know that, after Russia, small boats and Superbunny aren’t compatible!). The latter was soon answered after the 5 minute trudge from the hotel to the Sliema ferry crossing over to the picturesque capital that is Valletta. Now, you would have thought that, seeing as it’s a vital link between said places, the infrastructure would be a little more than a simple mooring point but no, it was exactly that. After negotiating a steep ramp i.e. a concrete slab, you are faced with a rather big step up to the gangway, Superbunny would have no chance!
In a matter of minutes, the ferry docked in Valletta after providing panoramic views of the walled city…
If you do decide to catch said ferry (rather than busing it which is most likely what one would have to do in an electric wheelchair), there is an optional and accessible (if parked properly!) shuttle bus which eliminates the need to walk up a steep incline from the harbour by dropping you off at the bottom of the Barrakka lift. This lift is a direct entrance into the Upper Barrakka Gardens and subsequently the historical centre…very convenient (and something that was on my ‘to see’ list)…
Of course, it was also accessible…
As I mentioned previously, muggins decided to book this trip to coincide with the Easter holidays in the UK hence the main city sights such as the City Gate and Republic Square were overrun with crowds…not good for ones personal space…another lesson that!
What also comes with heaves of tourists? TAT! I think we came away from Valletta with around 5 leaflets, why on earth would you enjoy taking a walk when you are just bombarded with utter commercial rubbish every 5 minutes? Anyway, that’s my personal opinion and it didn’t take long to scrap the idea of following the tourist trail by taking the side streets…much better!
One of the attractions that I also wanted to visit was Fort St Elmo, one of the many forts scattered around Malta and the associated National War Museum which takes you through the various roles it played from its inception to the present day. It seemed as though the flocks of tourists seen in the centre do not venture out as we had the place nearly to ourselves. The majority of the place is accessible and, as its a fort, also provides views over the Mediterranean Sea and Valletta…
Valletta is very hilly by nature thus it takes some strength to push a manual wheelchair both up and downhill so it was decided that we would continue our jaunt back down to the harbour whilst seeking out a restaurant (with inside seating of course!) which certainly didn’t come to fruition whilst missing the turning in the process. Luckily, a local saw us and informed us to walk down an unassuming lane and an ominous back alley which took us to the harbour and the Sliema ferry.
To avoid faffing about with buses to the airport on Friday, our hotel is currently arranging an ‘accessible’ taxi (which I am slightly dubious about given the situation we had in Portugal), see how that pans out.
Tomorrow, the plan is to catch the bus and subsequent ferry over to Gozo!
It is so that ones travels for 2023 have commenced! Now, for those that follow my globetrotting, you have gathered that I just love flying from London Heathrow. partly because I know that Superbunny is mostly safe with the baggage handlers…unless the piece of equipment that is needed is unavailable which is indeed what happened on this occasion at T4…nothing that a little manpower couldn’t resolve. One will therefore be shocked to learn that Malta is the only trip that I have planned this year which utilises LHR, what is going on!
Anyway, as mentioned above, we flew out of T4 which used to handle the majority of British Airways operations before the mighty T5 opened (fun fact for you right there), however, since BA vacated, it has somewhat become a little of a ghost terminal with only a handful of daily flights compared to the others. This suited us nicely as it meant a fluent journey to the plane…should use T4 more!
After a 2.5 flight high above Europe with a spectacular view of the Alps and Sicily, we touched down in Malta which Superbunny was quickly disembarked in one piece and was reunited on the scissor lift as airbridges are no where to be seen at said airport.
Taking Superbunny here was a last minute decision i.e. last week as I was in two minds whether it would be worth the faff considering the accessibility of Malta, but hey, why not give it a go! The issue is that I had pre-booked a conventional taxi (instead of an accessible taxi which are, as usual, quite scarce) on the pretense that Superbunny wouldn’t be joining and then by the time muggins changed his mind, said accessible taxis were booked meaning trusty public transport (bus) it was. Before coming to Malta, I researched the X2 bus route which brings you just minutes from our hotel (115 The Strand), however I decided to also put faith in Google Maps…not a wise idea! First, it took us on a scenic walk of the airport and the associated road network ending up in a petrol station followed by a bus which took us to a completely different area resulting in a 2km walk to the hotel.
In recent years, buses, particularly in Europe seem to have gained an universal design in terms of accessibility with either an electric or manual ramp accompanied by a wheelchair space hence one could have been traveling around Bristol…even asked a fellow buser to assist with clearing the area forgetting that they may not speak English.
The 2km walk to the hotel provided a great opportunity to assess the accessibility of the wider city area. I had previously read that the best way to get around in a wheelchair is straight down the road due to the narrow pavements, advice of which we used on many occasions…
Although the hotel was booked on the cheap (as usual!), it offers picturesque views over the water to Valletta, a perfect way to celebrate the end of a never ending journey…
Tomorrow, Superbunny will be confined to the hotel room whilst we hop over the water to explore hilly Valletta (apologies in advance to the PAs!)…
