Working in the Tourism & Cruise Ship Industry I have learned an awful lot about this tiny little island. On a daily basis I meet hundreds of people who are looking for interesting places to visit in Malta. Tourists constantly ask ‘what is the best thing to do? ‘ What to see? Where to go?
You will agree with me that most people take City Sightseeing Buses wherever they go because that is the very best thing that you can do! Well same here and its so much more fun and of course you get a much better view than when you are in a coach or a taxi.
When I came to Malta for the first time the Hop On Hop Off service didn’t even exist and now we have 2 Hop On Hop Off bus services. They are ‘Malta Sightseeing’ and the ‘City Sightseeing’. They cover both islands of Malta and Gozo. City Sightseeing is the worlds largest company operating buses all over the world.
As my friends were coming to Malta for a week’s holiday i thought it will be nice for me to take them on the Sightseeing Bus and show them around. So on a very hot day in July we decided Hop on the Hop On Hop Off bus . The South Red route took us from Valletta Bus Terminus. On board the driver gave us headphones and we went upstairs to take our seats. As soon as i sat i jumped up with a scream …..ahhh the seats were so deadly hot. I put my brochure on the seat and only then could I sit normally! We took our cameras out, plugged ourselves in and started to take pictures as soon as the bus took off. There are over 20 stops and we had decided to stop at Tarxien Temples. These are the Megalithic Temples constructed in southern Malta between 3600 and 2500 BC. We spend about an hour there and went back to the bus stop. Then we headed to Marsaxlokk. It’s a very famous Maltese traditional fishing village. There are plenty of beautiful and colourful Maltese boats, the village’s name comes from marsa which means “port ” and xlokk the word is related to the name for the dry sirocco wind that blows from the Sahara. Most of Malta’s fish supplies are caught by fisherman coming from this port. On Sundays you will find its very busy market which sells everything from fish and local produce groceries to souvenirs, clothing and footwear.
Later on we stopped at the Blue Grotto and my friends really loved it so we got off the bus and went to buy the tickets for the boat ride inside the cave. I must say its magnificent blue clear turquoise water goes to dark deep colours and actually you can see the white sand. its such a beautiful place and its definitely better to visit this place earlier in the day otherwise it gets overcrowded It’s still its one of the most popular destination for tourists on the island of Malta! One last thing it was also used as a location for the film “Troy” with Brad Pitt in 2004.