After breakfast at
the Pebbles Boutique Aparthotel in Sliema, we
continued our daily routine, to walk to the bus stop across the street and took
one of the many buses to the bus terminal
in Valletta. From there we took bus 71 to Zurrieq,
one of Malta´s oldest towns. We had found online a suggestion from Visit Malta
for a "Windmills Walk", which is
a 9 kilometer round trip through the area. Equipped with some printed out
Google maps, we started out into the heat!
Zurrieq is a nice old town with many interesting old houses. Along the walk there are several infos on the houses, like the Armoury, where it is believed, that Napoleon once spent a night there. The Maltese are really proud of thier heritage and really take care of their properties and even give them names. As we were walking through the little streets - the only tourists doing so - we passed many beautiful homes with cute names, before we reached the first windmill, the Ta` Marmara Windmill, which unfortunately didn´t have a wheel anymore. It was converted into a private home. Next up was the Tal Qaret Windmill, built somewhere between 1663 and 1680, which suffered the same fate.
Zurrieq is a nice old town with many interesting old houses. Along the walk there are several infos on the houses, like the Armoury, where it is believed, that Napoleon once spent a night there. The Maltese are really proud of thier heritage and really take care of their properties and even give them names. As we were walking through the little streets - the only tourists doing so - we passed many beautiful homes with cute names, before we reached the first windmill, the Ta` Marmara Windmill, which unfortunately didn´t have a wheel anymore. It was converted into a private home. Next up was the Tal Qaret Windmill, built somewhere between 1663 and 1680, which suffered the same fate.
From the windmills we
came to a huge and modern viewing platform at the Tal-Gibjun Garden, where we
enjoyed great views.
Our walk continued to
the beautiful Bubaqra Tower, erected in 1579, and the Bubaqra Church, before we
entered a small road through gardens and fields in the countryside. I have to
say, that the walk up until the Bubaqra Church was very interesting, but the following route through
the countryside wasn´t that great. It was a small road with nothing much to
see, no sidewalk and surprisingly many cars driving through. Even the main
attraction before we returned to the main city, the Tal-Bakkari Ruins, were not
exactly an unmissable sight. It was also searing hot!
When we returned
to Zurrieq, coming from the Triq San Tumas, it got much better again. After
some time to relax on a bench, we walked past more beautiful buildings like the
St. Mary´s Church and remains of the Roman Wall.
Next up was a real
highlight, the Xarolla Windmill.
Another highlight for us was, that we finally found an open Mini-Market opposite
of the windmill to get cold drinks as we were so thirsty from all the walking in the heat and some
snacks. So we could really enjoy the sight!
Our walk back to the
bus stop lead us past some more fine buildings, like another huge church. All
said, I would recommend this walk, but I would also recommend to just cut off
the country excursion.
It was still early
enough to do some more, so we decided to go back to the nearby Blue Grotto,
which we already visited the day before, but where we didn´t have much time. So,
we returned by bus and walked a bit at the cliffs, enjoying more views, where
we suspected the Grotto must be.
Like the day before,
we took again the bus to Valletta Airport and then switched into a bus to
Valletta. At the bus stop in Valletta we bought our next, convenient 7-day-buspass. But when we
were at the departure gate for the Sliema bus, we weren´t the only ones wanting
to take a bus in the direction of Sliema and it was really crowded, especially
as the bus took ages to arrive...In Sliema I took some night shots from the balcony.
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