Malta – May 2024

Now that Valletta and, indeed, Malta has been rolled around twice, it seems appropriate to provide ones final thoughts.

From an electric wheelchair users point of view, it is possible to enjoy the island, however a lot of prior planning is needed. For example, although the boats (with the exception of car ferries) are somewhat accessible, it is still tricky to navigate using this method of transportation. As I mentioned, all the buses, especially in Valletta are accessible and there are a few wheelchair accessible taxi companies to get around the place.

Ongoing efforts (as of 2024) are clearly being made to make Malta more accessible, for example, ensuring smooth paving around Mdina. As in Armenia, the Maltese society are very willing to lend a hand if necessary and will go out of their way to do so.

My next adventure is a culmination of months of planning as I head to Southern India and, in particular, Chennai, Pollachi and Kochi for 14 days in August.

We start in Chennai, the capital city of the Tamil Nadu state where we will endeavour to explore using the accessible parts of the metro plus a trip to either Mahabalipuram, an UNESCO World Heritage site or Puducherry.

From Chennai, we will be catching the Vande Bharat Express train (which one is quite excited to sample with Superbunny!) to Coimbatore Junction where we will then head down to Pollachi. During this time, we plan to head on a safari within the Anamalai Tiger Reserve and the nearby tea fields.

Finally, we head to Kochi where we hope to explore the backwaters of Kerala and sample the water metro (who knew!).

When one began to plan this trip, it appeared that 99% of accessibility blogs focus purely on the North and the famous Golden Triangle where, to my knowledge, all the accessible tour companies are based. Of course, I had to deviate from this and visit the South which appeals much more to ones liking.

To assist with the planning ‘on the ground’, one has been in regular contact with The Swarga Foundation who provide accessible transportation across the length and breadth of India upon request and has also been assisting with hotel and train bookings.

Bear in mind that the trip coincides with monsoon season so anything could happen! Regardless, it should be a great and insightful adventure beginning on the 10th August!

The plan for today was similar to ones final day last year in terms of hopping on a boat tour around the various harbours, however this time we tried out the Hop On, Hop Off ferry from Sliema.

One thing that has changed from last year is that the Sliema-Valletta ferry terminal on the Sliema side has been revamped thus making it more accessible. Despite this, it would have still been a struggle for Superbunny.

As we know, Hop On, Hop Off is an international franchise so you would have thought that everything would be wheelchair accessible? Appears not as there is still quite a step up to the rocking gangway which would be almost impossible for the majority of electric wheelchairs. What is surprising is that, after yet another small step into the inside portion, there is a roomy wheelchair space…the mind boggles sometimes! Still, the tour presents nice views if you can actually get on the thing…

Not forgetting majestic views of todays cruise ship arrival…

Although a few streets in Valetta are very steep, we discovered when wandering around last night that some of these can be avoided by crisscrossing other streets with a lesser gradient. One also noted that the streets within recently renovated area such as St. Paul’s Cathedral comprise of smooth paving rather than tarmac with giant potholes, perfect for rolling around…

Valletta is home to a number of parks such as Hastings Garden which is located a stones throw away from the City Gate and the Triton Fountain. All of the parks that we visited last night and today (including the Lower and Upper Barrakka Gardens plus the King George V Recreational Grounds) had accessible walkways and drop kerbs in the appropriate places. It’s perfect if you want to go someplace without crowds…

Hastings Gardens is situated atop of the city walls hence provides panoramic views across the harbours etc…

After admiring the ‘Knisja ta ‘San Publiju’ and working our way down to the cruise ship that has docked today, we utilised the good old Barrakka Lift back into Valletta city centre. As I mentioned last year, the lift, in it’s current form is relatively new hence fully accessible…

The next stop was the majestic St. John’s Co-Cathedral which disabled individuals can enter for FREE. Around 75% of the structure is accessible via various ramps around the place…

One has lost count of how many cathedrals have been rolled around over the years!

It feels very odd not to be travelling with Superbunny on this trip considering that it has rolled around a large proportion of Europe over the past two years. However, as we learnt last year, Malta and it’s capital Valletta isn’t the best place for an electric wheelchair. Granted that the city is making progress towards being more wheelchair accessible with the introduction of low floor buses etc, however it’s not quite there yet.

The benefit of not taking said wheelchair is that we could take any taxi to the hotel from the airport which one knows almost inside out after our walking exploration last year thanks to Google Maps.

This time, we are staying at The Embassy Hotel in the heart of Valletta rather than in Sliema to avoiding faffing with ferries over and back. However, it is worth noting that accessible hotel rooms are hard to come by in the city and The Embassy seems to be one of the only hotels to have them (rather expensive also!. Despite this, it hasn’t been an easy booking process.

One originally booked rooms with a Sea View, however, said hotel decided to call us last week (with one week to go mind you!) informing us that there are no accessible rooms available with a Sea View and are, in fact, on another floor. Anyway, we decided to check out the Sea View regardless of the accessibility and it turns out that the ‘non accessible room’ is bigger than a lot of accessible rooms that one has stayed at…

The only thing, akin to Athens, is that the bathroom is on the small side…

However, look at the view from ones balcony over one of the harbours surrounding Valletta…

The plan tomorrow is to wander around hilly Valletta, maybe the Barrakka Lift could come in handy once more over the next few days?