I had found a walk online that went from the coastal town of Marsaskala to another coastal town of Marsaxlokk, via salt pans and the very popular St Peter's Pool and decided it would be a good day out. I hadn't really factored in the weather in October in Malta, which was quite temperamental at the time, but I decided to do the walk today as it looked like the best day out of the days I had left. Plus, it had been pretty bad weather yesterday and yet still enjoyable - wind and rain is just inconvenient!
I got up early and left my accommodation to catch a bus to Marsaskala, which took about half an hour. Malta is pretty small so nowhere is really that far away. I wandered around the pretty little harbour, donning my rain jacket and looking at the heavy clouds overhead with a little bit of apprehension. But I was committed! The first part of the trail just followed the footpath around the coast from Marsaskala so it was pretty easy-going.
One of the highlights of the walk was the salt pans which were close to Marsaskala. These ones were no longer in use but there are others in Malta and Gozo that are still used to produce salt in the traditional way. You can buy salt on the islands, though it tends to be a tourist souvenir these days.
The remains of the pans themselves, however, looked really interesting, and the sun came out at the right time to shine off the water.
From the salt pans, I continued along the coast and walked past this very interesting structure. Jerma Palace Hotel in Malta was a four star hotel which operated for twenty five years before succumbing to debt and closing its doors. Since then the building has been completely stripped of everything but the supporting walls, which were covered in street art, possibly left over from a street art festival that happened here in 2015. The art was pretty amazing!
I walked around another headland before coming to another bay. This one was a little more like a shanty town. I admit it, I felt a little wary. There were a lot of derelict buildings and I had to walk through an odd-looking caravan park. But I made it and set off along the gravel path through the scrubby bushes and out into wilderness.
The path went out around the headland, where there was a couple of old buildings that looked like the remains of buildings built to protect Malta during WWII. There was also a lovely sandstone arch to be seen, and the water, when the sun shone on it, was the most amazing shade of blue!
There were the most amazing cliff views along this path as you walked on towards Marsaxlokk. It's a shame the weather wasn't the best for walking, but the cliffs sure did look dramatic with the heavy clouds behind them!
I took a little detour that I had seen mentions of that went out to a little peninsula called Ras il-Fniek. There was a little bit of a bush-bash involved to get there, and I got barked at by a dog, who evidently did not like me there, but made it out to the point. You can get a good view of the two bays either side if you look back along where you have just walked, but my wide lens was just not quite wide enough to capture it. Would have looked good with a drone, but maybe not in the wind!
After that detour, I got back on the path that took me to St Peter's Pool. This is quite a well-known swimming spot for its crystal clear water and large smooth stone shelf to sunbathe on. Today, however, there weren't too many brave souls swimming - it was very windy and choppy. I'm sure the water was a nice temperature but it was too rough for my liking!
It was time to get back on the trail and head to Marsaxlokk, which involved going back up the stairs from the pool and walking along the gravel roads for a little while. The scenery was mostly made up of the town in the distance, a huge and ugly power station in the other direction, lots of farmland and prickly pears. There were also several olive trees along the way!
I made my way down a dusty track to the town. It was such a quaint little fishing village, with lots of little boats and restaurants, and a huge market happening along the water's edge.
I sat down at a table by the water an ordered some pasta for lunch. I hadn't had any traditional Maltese food yet, just Italian hybrids, but I had booked to go to a traditional Maltese restaurant for dinner tonight.
I went for a wander around the town after lunch but it was getting on, so I flagged down the bus to take me back to il Hamrun, where I was staying. It was still a bit early so I just had a relax after my walk, which had been about 15km. I got ready for dinner then walked to Valletta to the Rampila restaurant. I had been able to book a table for 1 person, and decided to sit inside, which turned out to be a great idea because it started pouring outside! Good thing I booked, too, as the restaurant had to turn people away!
I had some goat cheese entrees, which were just ok, as the dish was quite acidic and kept going up my nose! I then had a plate of rabbit for dinner - this is a traditional Maltese dish and the first time I'd ever eaten rabbit. It was tasty but there were a lot of bones.
It had stopped raining by the time I left, and I walked back to the flat in the warm evening air.