On our penultimate day in Malta, we got up early again because I wanted to visit the Upper Barrakka Gardens in that lovely morning light (and without all the people). We practically had the gardens to ourselves… well, us and the pigeons and cats that had all gathered into one corner. With no crowds, it was easier to feel transported hundreds of years back to the 17th century when the gardens were created as a recreational space for the Knights of St. John. Although, I would likely have had to wait until the 19th century after the French occupation of Malta when the gardens were made public.
The Upper Barrakka Gardens are the highest point of the city walls. While the wind brought a chill the day before, the morning breeze as I stared across the harbor to the Three Cities was invigorating. It was one of those moments where you just feel so content to be somewhere new and ancient.
We had plans to visit the island of Comino that day, but first we needed some breakfast. The cute café we had looked up (Tribe) didn’t open for another 15 minutes, so we had some extra time to walk around and admire the streets. It was that time of morning when all the commuters were coming in for work. From the bus station, there’s really only one entry over the fortressed walls into the city. People walked, head down, with urgency passed the Parliament Building and I caught just a glimpse of normal life, not this vacation experience of Valletta.
We waited a few minutes after the hour because we didn’t want to be there right when they opened. I’m not sure the few minutes really makes a difference because they were still very much opening up and didn’t have a full menu yet. Fortunately they did have what we went there for – pistachio croissants we had seen online. Tribe was very much, as the kids these days say, vibes! And the croissant was huge and delicious. Definitely what we needed before a day of exploring.
We took the bus back up to the ferry terminal at the northern tip of the island and bought tickets for a small speedboat headed to the Blue Lagoon with about 20 other tourists. The ticket included some closer views of caves along the route, but I didn’t realize it also included a pilot that loved to speed up over the waves as we rocked from one side to the other. As someone not completely comfortable around water, it was not my favorite part, but a group of six Asian ladies were absolutely loving it and would cheer each time, which just encouraged the pilot. When we disembarked on Comino, Amber and I discovered at least one poor woman who hated it more than I did. She was in tears with fear and could barely get off the boat without a lot of reassurance from her friend.
As the boat slowed down nearer to the island, though, you could really see how the cerulean of the Blue Lagoon began to mix with the deep navy of the sea. I thought there must be some biological (or geographical or some sort of scientific) reason, but my cursory search on the Internet all seem to agree that it’s simply the clarity of the water and how the sun reflects from the shallow blonde cliffs and white sand.
Because it was off season (February), it wasn’t very crowded and only a few brave souls and children played in the water. We had no intentions of swimming and went to Comino for the views and the hiking. (People who know me are gasping a little that I intentionally went somewhere for hiking.) We took in the aquamarine views at the harbor and then decided to venture toward one of the hiking paths. To get there, you pass several food and drink trucks set up. Some of the owners called out to us to order their signature pineapple drinks, but that wasn’t the vibe for this trip.
Our goal was to visit the Santa Marija Tower, also known as Chateau d’If from the 2002 film The Count of Monte Cristo. Along the way, we were treated with views upon views of the blue water against a handful of small rocky islands. The landscape of Comino reminded me a little of Utah with a few yellow wildflowers and sagebrush-like bushes. There are very few trees on the island, but we kept seeing little support beams with green fencing around them as though an effort were being made to grow some additional trees or shrubs. They were all very little still, so it must be a recent endeavor. We also saw lots of gorgeous stone walls intersecting through the island.
While Comino is largely unpopulated, it hasn’t always been so. It has served as a place of imprisonment and exile, hunting grounds, and isolation for those in quarantine. At some point during our hike, we decided that we didn’t actually care if we made it all the way to the Tower because we were more interested in seeing it from a distance than up close. And we wondered if our time would be better spent searching out some of the other extant buildings. For example, there was an old cemetery that I really wanted to explore, so we changed gears and started up the hill toward the cemetery.
This was not worth it. The cemetery is gated and locked, so there wasn’t much to explore. I could just peek in a bit through the gate. Then we decided we were tired of hiking. (People who know me are not surprised.) We decided to head back to the harbor and wait for the boat home. We did, however, get a little lost along the way and stumbled upon a camping and picnic area. We finally got back on the main road, though, and on our way to the harbor. We spotted the poor lady who was so terrified on the boat sitting on the rock wall on the phone. She was very concerned about the ride back to Malta and told her friend that she might have to stay there forever because she was not getting back on the boat!
I picked up some mozzarella sticks and a Coke at one of the food trucks and Amber and I found an open area nearby to sit and do some people watching. We had an English couple right in front of us that had clearly enjoyed the pineapple rum drinks quite a lot. They got two more while we were there waiting, and I enjoyed watching them laugh together. We had the group of Asian women from the boat further down in the harbor sitting on the dock, and a few more children running in and out of waves.
And of course, we had a few influencers. One was wearing a flowing blue gown that matched the cyan of the water. She took a few steps into the sea and let the dress float up around her while her friend took photos. Another woman had on her hot pink swimsuit that I must say was a great color combo with the water. Then we had a group of girls laughing near the dock when one of them decided that she wanted to take a swim. She took off her shoes and then jumped into the water. We wondered why she didn’t also remove her socks and knew she must have regretted her choice because it was so windy and cold. I was bundled in my friend’s spare jacket because I didn’t think to bring one, but it didn’t do much to protect against the chill of the wind. Eventually we moved down from the top of the cliff to a more sheltered spot and that did help.
We could see a storm was coming in and were anxious for our return boat to come pick us up. People were starting to gather by the dock, and we got as close as possible to the landing site. We were worried that when the small boat arrived, there wouldn’t be enough room for everyone, and we did not want to be left behind to more wind and the coming rain. A slightly larger boat came to pick us up, so we were able to get on board. I was lucky enough to sit by our terrified friend who had somehow been convinced that she could take the boat back. Her friend had given her a towel to wear over her face. I’m not sure if the intention was to help her not see the waves and water or if it was to catch any vomit that might come up as she dry heaved through the whole ride back. But she was in such good spirits, all things considered. She would convulse and act like she was going to retch and then she’d laugh and say how sorry she was. She kept apologizing to me, and I felt so bad for her. I asked her if she had been able to enjoy her visit at all and she said no because the whole time she was on Comino, she was stressing about the boat ride back!
And it was a rather tumultuous ride. One mother had asked for life vests for herself and her son, and I spent a lot of the trip back wishing I had one too. Luckily it’s not a very long trip and we were soon back to the ferry terminal in Cirkewwa. Even though our experience at the Blue Lagoon wasn’t exactly what you see advertised, it was actually exactly what I wanted… if a little too cold
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