A Week in Malta & Gozo - Il-Gudja and Marsaxlokk Harbor (Day 7)

Marsaxlokk Harbor is famous for these traditional Maltese fishing boats painted in bright colors.

UPDATED: 2/5/2023

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Our final day of our week-long trip to Malta and Gozo took us almost as far as was possible across the country as we traveled from Victoria, Gozo, all the way to the far end of Malta, where we ended the day dining at the water’s edge of Marsaxlokk Harbor, an important spot in history and home to the unique and beautiful Maltese fishing boats!

breakfast in victoria and return ferry ride to malta

Like the prior day, we returned to Café Jubilee for breakfast and had fresh squeezed orange juice, cappuccinos, and ham and provolone croissants again. While we ate, we figured out our plans for the day. After breakfast, we grabbed our belongings, checked out of our Airbnb, and headed to the Victoria Bay bus station to catch a bus to the harbor where we would meet the ferry.

The bus ended up running a bit late and then stopped at nearly every local stop along the way, so we barely had time to buy tickets at the counter that was just inside. We were the last ones they let through to board before roping off the entrance. The ferry runs often enough that we could have waited for the next one but were happy to not be stuck at the ferry terminal longer than necessary.

While on the ferry, we ordered our eCab car so that it would be awaiting us when we arrived about 20 minutes later in Cirkewwa to help us save time. For the night we would be staying in a small town of Il-Gudja since it was right near the airport. We would have an early flight the following morning requiring a 3:30am wake-up (ew!) so being near the airport was essential. From the apartment, we could walk to the terminal in 15-20 minutes.

cirkewwa ferry to il-gudja malta

Our car ride from the ferry to Il-Gudja was about 40 minutes long and allowed us to see other parts of the island. Our apartment, it turned out, was in a bit of a food desert.

A multi-story office park and dining center sits just next to the airport and included the only local restaurants, so we headed over there for a late lunch after getting settled in. It was about a 20 minute walk, which was convenient. We decided to get pizza at Vecchia Napoli. Dustin got a calzone, and I got their Patria pizza. Both were huge, which meant we could take the leftovers home with us to eat for our early morning breakfast pre-airport.

We had planned on making it over to the standing stone and archaeological site Hagar Qim in the afternoon, but it was later in the day than we had expected by the time we finished eating. We contemplated having a quiet late afternoon and evening before getting to bed early, but that was just too depressing to contemplate. So, we shifted gears and decided to go explore the nearby harbor town of Marsaxlokk. There were no bus routes – unless we took a circuitous multi-stop route – to get us there directly, so we opted to order an eCab for the 15 minute ride.

visiting and dining in marsaxlokk harbor

While we were sad to be leaving the next day, we had a great time wandering and taking photos at Marsaxlokk Harbor

Marsaxlokk Harbor is crescent-shaped, dotted with restaurants and sidewalk dining areas. What makes it a must-visit destination are the boats bobbing on the water. The water is dotted with the uniquely designed and colored boats typical of Malta, and it is the home to 70% of Malta’s fishing fleet.

Historically, this small harbor has been part of some important events. It was here that the Ottomans docked their boats during the Siege on Malta in 1565. Over 400 years later in 1989, US President George Bush and Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev met for the Malta Summit and on a boat in the harbor signed an agreement to end the Cold War, mere weeks after the fall of the Berlin Wall.

An array of rainbow doors faces Marsaxlokk Harbor.

The colors reflected on the ocean are as beautiful as the boats themselves.

Marsaxlokk Harbor houses approximately 70% of the Maltese fishing fleet.

Strands of hanging lights illuminate the people eating and drinking below. Marsaxlokk was a popular place even at night.

Tired of walking? Take a break to contemplate life on one of many brightly colored benches.

A long exposure night photograph nicely smooths the surface of the harbor.

We saw many fishermen lifting their boats from the water to perform various maintenance on the hulls.

Maybe someone else would enjoy this dried fish meal but for a “catch of the day,” it was terribly disappointing.

We wandered the harbor in the late afternoon and twilight and enjoyed photographing the boats and water. After reading restaurant reviews online, we selected La Nostra Padrona and selected a seat with beautiful water views. While the location was great – though really not different than other restaurants in the harbor – the food was subpar in our experience. My pasta with chicken and sun dried tomatoes was okay, but Dustin’s was not very edible. He had the ‘catch of the day,’ which was lampuki (mahi mahi), but it was cooked so much that it was basically dried/mummified.

traveling home

After dinner, we spent some more time wandering the harbor under the night lighting before deciding we had to call it a day for our very early wake-up. We ordered an eCab for the ride home and were able to get a few hours of sleep before our 3:30am wake-up. We had leftover pizza from the prior day’s lunch for breakfast, and made a dark trek to the airport, suitcases in tow. Fortunately, we were happy to discover that airport restaurants post-security were open so that we could get some much-needed coffee!

On minimal sleep, the 24-hour trip home was about as fun as you’d expect. We first traveled to Paris (Charles de Gaulle airport), where we had a lengthy layover of about 3-4 hours that required us to go in and out of security and customs several times just like on the start of our trip, before our second flight to Washington, DC (Dulles airport).

Our drive home from Dulles is about 4 hours but after getting food and driving a couple of hours, we realized we were too tired to drive safely, plus Dustin had caught a cold, so we found a nearby Marriott Residence Inn in Harrisonburg, VA (thank goodness for Marriott points so that this stay was free!) where we were able to get a much-needed full night’s sleep before waking up and getting on the road home early in the morning. And then, the best part of coming home was that we got to pick our four dogs up and spend the day lounging with them.

Our approximate route for the day took us nearly the entire length of the country!

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