ColorGrinder’s Malta Pages

From 1500 feet above the ground the world looks very different. Strap yourself into the tiny cockpit of a microlight aircraft as we take off between  the holiday jets at Malta International Airport. We’ll fly low and slow in two different aircraft over the breathtaking scenery of Malta and Gozo, and see the towns, villages and ancient monuments from a unique perspective.

During our tour we will come back down to earth four times to take a closer look at Malta and her people. We will visit Marsaxlokk and the historic cities of Valletta and Mdina, before walking in the footsteps of prehistoric man  among the ruins of the ‘oldest buildings’ in the world. Finally, as guests of the people of Tarxien we will experience the sights and sounds of a traditional Maltese village festa.If you have already been to the Maltese Islands, Malta by Microlight will bring back fond memories. If you are planning a visit it will give you an overview of this fascinating country, her geography, history and people.

Malta by Microlight is a commercial quality ‘pressed’ DVD and is available from many good souvenir shops and book sellers in Malta. You can also buy it directly from this web site.

Here are a couple of extracts from the DVD to whet your appetite. Remember that these are reduced quality clips from YouTube and do not represent the actual quality of the DVD. Nevertheless, they should give you an idea of what it is all about.

Let me further tempt you with a few actual screen shots (not still camera images) from the DVD. We’ll start over Marsascala on the east coast of the island.

Marsascala is not on the main tourist track. Not many decades ago, most of the houses around this bay belonged either to fishermen, or were summer homes for people from nearby Zabbar or Zejtun.

Off the coast, to the south is the jagged Munxar reef. It is a popular spot for scuba divers although strong currents can make it tricky for divers and for shipping. It has been claimed (very controversially) that St Paul was actually shipwrecked here in 60 AD and not in the bay in the north of Malta that was named after him.

Apparently water depths here on the east coast closely match the biblical accounts, and roman anchors and other artefacts of the right age have been found on the seabed.

We are in a Thruster T600 microlight aircraft 1800 feet above the ground. As we bank to the right and fly south towards Marsaxlokk, let’s take a few moments to get used to the cockpit.

This aircraft is owned by the Island Microlight Club and was used to take a lot of the footage for ‘Malta by Microlight’. There is space for two people (just) in the tiny cockpit. We flew with one of the plexiglass doors removed to give us an unobstructed view of the ground below.

Flying in a microlight not at all like flying in an airliner. If you are planning a trip to Malta and fancy a sightseeing trip you will never forget, why not get in touch with the Island Microlight Club? It is a fantastic experience. Alternatively, you could always buy the DVD : – )

We take a break from flying and come back down to earth for a few minutes to wander through the streets one of the most photographed spots in Malta. If you look at your holiday brochure, the brightly coloured boats on the front cover were probably photographed here.

Over forty percent of Malta’s fishing industry is based here in Marsaxlokk. On weekdays the catch goes off to Valletta for sale but on Sunday mornings the whole of the waterfront is turned into an enormous fish market. You’ll find fish of every description here. Many of which you will recognise like tuna, swordfish and dorado. Others are a lot less familiar!

On the south of Malta, amount 500 yards away from each other are two of Malta’s famous Neolithic temples, Hagar Qim and Mnajdra. . This is Mnajdra. it is about 5000 years old and pre dates the pyramids by about 500 years. It is thousand years older than the megaliths at Stonehenge

Although this pile of stones is one of the earliest known man made structures in the world, it is not the oldest that these islands have to offer. About 20 miles from here (as the microlight flies) is an even more ancient temple complex – Ggantija in Gozo. We’ll fly over it later in our aerial adventure. Some people see the form of a fat lady – an ‘earth mother’ or fertility godess in the shape of Mnajdra’s chambers. I’m not sure. What do you think?

Back up into the air and a dash north to the island’s historic capital.

The deep water anchorages around the city of Valletta have been a major attraction for seafarers throughout the ages. From the trading vessels of the Phoenicians, right up to the cruise liners that use the harbour today.

Romans, Arabs, French and British have all anchored their fleets here, not to mention the galleys of the order of St John of Jerusalem, the Knights of Malta, who built Valletta and called this place home for more than two and a half centuries.

From the air it’s easy to see that Valletta was built to a plan. We take another break from flying here to take a closer look at the city and her people.

The main thoroughfare in Valletta is Republic Street and is closed to cars. It follows the ridge all the way from the city gate in the south, to Fort St Elmo at the very north. Most of the shops and café’s are either on, or within a block or two of this street.

On both sides the land falls away, sometimes quite steeply, to Marsamxett harbour on the west, and the wharfs of the Grand Harbour on the east. Many of the steeper alleys have big smooth steps – designed for knights in heavy suits of armour, and not too difficult for our sandals and training shoes.

Let’s get back into the air and fly along Malta’s north coast. We’ll see Sliema, St Julians, Salina, St Paul’s bay and Mellieha before reaching the Gozo Channel.

Look back before a moment. The bay on the left of this picture is Mellieha and is a great place to come swimming, especially if you have small children. The beach is sheltered, sandy and relatively shallow. You’ll come this way if you want to get the car ferry to Gozo. We won’t need the ferry today. Were about to cross the Gozo Channel under our own steam. As there’s not going to be anywhere to land for a while, we have climbed up to 1800 feet.

The stretch of water between Malta and Gozo is only about three miles across – about the length of Luqa airport’s main runway!

One of the most idyllic bathing spots in the Maltese Islands is the Blue Lagoon on the island of Comino. Pack yourself a Maltese picnic of crusty bread, local cheeses, olives, capers and a bottle of smoky local wine, then find yourself a spot on the rocks and enjoy a day swimming in the crystal clear waters of the lagoon.

A boat from either Malta or Gozo will take you to Comino and pick you up at the end of the day. If you don’t fancy the DIY approach then there are plenty of all inclusive tours that will take you there and provide lunch and drinks on the way!

Crossing to Gozo we will fly around the north coast of the island over Ramla Bay, Marsalform and all the way to Dwejra; about as far west as we can go without turning this into an international flight. We can’t see Dwejra’s famous Azure Window because we are directly above it but we are getting a great ‘birds-eye’ view of the Inland Sea. Dwejra is one of my favourite spots in the Maltese Islands and it is fantastic to see it from this perspective.

On the left hand side of the picture you can see the entrance of the tunnel that connects the Inland Sea with the Mediterranean. It is 200 foot long and just wide enough to allow the little motor boats that take tourists to pass each other side-by-side.

Still in Dwejra, this is the famous ‘blue hole’. About forty thousand people visit the Maltese islands each year just to dive. Most find their way here to the blue hole. On busy days, scuba divers almost have to form a queue to get some time in this 15m deep hole.

The walls are covered with corals and sponges and further down the hole opens out to the open sea where you can swim round to below the azure window.

The waters around these islands are an adventure playground for divers. There are caves, wrecks and crashed aircraft (no microlights as far as I know). Some ships have even been scuttled deliberately in handy places for scuba tourists to explore.

Now we head due west to Victoria, the capital city of Gozo. Victoria was for for most of its history plain old Rabat. In 1897 it was renamed Victoria after the Queen and Empress, but the old name proved difficult to shake off and the city is still referred to by most people as Rabat.

For centuries, the citadel here was just about the only place in Gozo where you could feel halfway safe. Pirates paid regular visits to the island to carry off unwary inhabitants into slavery. If there was enough warning before an attack, Gozitans grabbed what they could, headed here, for the fortifications, and hoped that their food would last longer than the pirate’s patience.

We’ve got a great view of the cathedral with it’s trompe l’oeil ‘ceiling’. From the air we can see that the roof is flat but from inside visitors see a majestic dome!