The Maltese Crossing, Malta 2018 🇲🇹

Date:  3rd August 2018

Travelled:  By Virtu Ferry from Pozzallo, Sicily to Valletta, Malta. €620 return (Hymer and 2 persons)

Visited:  The Marfa Peninsula (northern Malta)

Stayed:  Camping Malta, €21.50 per day, all the services in a Maltese sort of way.  N35.99484, E14.36686

We enjoyed a quiet evening in the sosta in Pozzallo with one other motorhome, they are on the ferry to Malta tomorrow as well.  The proprietor seemed to be a bit moody, mind you he wanted €25 per night and I thought that was too much and I told him so.

Anyway we service the Hymer and drive down to the port and go through the check-in process.  There is a huge military and police presents in Pozzallo, a couple of navy patrol boats are in the port.  We see many young men of African appearence wandering about, thinking perhaps Pozzallo is a processing place for immigrants.

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The Virtu ferry arrives and discharges it’s cargo of trucks, cars and people, many more than is waiting on the dock to depart.  We roll on, apply the hand brake and lock up.  No one asks for the LPG system to be isolated, so we don’t.  The ferry is a large catamaran and once we depart the throttles open and this ferry is fast.  Just less than 2 hours later we are slowing to enter Valletta harbour.

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Valletta, Malta, Malta

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Malta is not normally a motorhome destination, but we spent a day in Valletta several years ago and loved the place.  Since then we have often thought of about visiting Malta again.  As we are touring nearby Sicily we thought let’s look at the options.

Option 1.  Take the ferry, stay in a BB for a few days (it’s peak season), hire a car and do some travelling about.

Option 2.  Take the ferry with the Hymer, find a campsite and use the scooter to get around.

We think we can do 8-9 days here in the Hymer for less than taking ‘Option 1 for 3 days.  Mind you finding a place to park in Malta is a challange in itself.  There are no aires or sostas in Malta in fact there is only one campsite and that’s on the Marfa Peninsula in north-west Malta.  Convenient for visiting the north-west and Gozo, but 45 minutes back to Valletta.  There are a couple of Scouting campsites in south-west Malta and we may try one of those if need be.

So we roll out of the port…taking the signs for Gozo.

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Coral Lagoon, Mellieha, Malta, Malta

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Vince is the proprietor of Camping Malta.  We have emailed back and forth over a couple of weeks and when we arrive I introduce myself and refer to our emails.  He is something of a character it seems, he walks outside onto the street and tells me this is our spot.  Obviously I’m a little dismayed.  He leans over and says ‘it’s much better out here, they are packed in like sardines and Maltese people are noisy, trust me’.  There is a lovely english couple in the caravan behind us, they agree with Vince.

So we settle in, the electricity is connected, there is a tap a few metres away and we can use the facilities inside if we wish.  He gives us a tressle table to use.  It’s the end of the road, so there is no real traffic.  Best to just go with the flow.

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Postscript: As I publish this blog we have been here a couple of days and we like it here, other than the road from hell which is no better on the scooter.

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Michael and Pam

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