From Davao to Malta: The Story So Far

Excellent write up Mark, it all seems to be going pretty well for you there. Hopefully it will continue in the same vein.

From Wiki, Peter (text made bold by me):
Most Spaghetti Westerns were made on low budgets, using inexpensive locales. Many of the stories take place in the semiarid landscapes of the American Southwest and Northern Mexico, so a popular setting was the Tabernas Desert in the Province of Almería in southeastern Spain, at the studios of Texas Hollywood, Mini Hollywood, and Western Leone.[9] Other filming locations used were in central and southern Italy, such as the parks of Valle del Treja (between Rome and Viterbo), the area of Camposecco (next to Camerata Nuova, characterized by a karst topography), the hills around Castelluccio, the area around the Gran Sasso mountain, and the Tivoli's quarries and Sardinia.

It certainly looks a very pleasant place, must be lovely to have the sea and such scenic views so close to your home.

I'm sure you will enjoy your new life there, best of luck to you and the family.

I'm new here, but stumbled across this thread, I have been travelling to Malta the best part of 30 years. My parents own an apartment which they retired to some 15 years or so ago. We're situated on Triq Birkirkara with views down the valley towards Balluta. My parents are travelling back on Sunday and are regulars down at the Bus Stop kiosk in Gzira (Run by Joey and Doreen lovely friendly couple and food and drinks there are good and reasonably priced - compared to the strand!). My wife is from Mindinao, originally Gen San, but studied nursing in Davao, where her older sister is a Vet. She came to the UK in 2001 where I met her at work, we've been together since 2004 with two daughters to show for it!! I'm actually flying out to Malta on 24th May, with a view to get some jobs done for my parents, (AC serviced etc) and to make sure things are in order with regards to having a family holiday peak festival season mid to late August. We used to have a car, but the last 5 years or so the congestion is terrible so we got shot of it, the driving over there is mental, usually made worse by the traffic cops! Still don't understand why anyone on malta even needs a car, can get to most place in 30 mins on a pushbike!! You will need AC come late july /august, I found it impossible to sleep without AC, ended up on the roof on sunlounger with mossie-net drapped over me from the washing line! A nice thread, please let us know how you get on as regards to finding a rental place, my parents are spending less time in malta and are potentially looking at letting their 3 bed apartment out, although this is going to happen maybe 2 years time. Any other questions etc please feel free to ask, I'll try my best to answer.

As I mentioned in another thread, we went to a Duterte election rally yesterday which was held at St Martins, a local secondary school. The school allows members of the public to use its sports facilities and after the rally, a number of Filipina Volleyball teams played their league matches in the school's multi-function sports hall.

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Above, GSM (left) are playing Netbusters whom they beat; other teams that played yesterday include D'Barkadas and D'Strykers.

The shops are filled with mostly Italian goods which is fine so long as it doesn't require instructions as these are invariably printed in Italian. Or Arabic. The range of fresh veg is wonderful with everything from leeks to cabbage, small Sicilian new potatoes as well as 'normal' sized Maris Piper, super onions which are quite unlike those grown in the Philippines in taste and magnificent deep red tomatoes which are sweet and very tasty. There isn't as much variety of fruit in the shops, Italian apples, some bananas from Ecuador, Spanish oranges, Maltese strawberries, water melons and that's about it. I wonder if our choice will improve as summer progresses.

We've discovered that there are three supermarket chains on the island, Scotts, Tower and Lidl. Scotts imports a range of Nisa's "Heritage" food range from the UK whilst Tower has a wider range of British goods including from Iceland and Waitrose; Tower also stocks Birds Eye frozen foods. There isn't a Lidl near us but I would imagine all its stores stock mostly the same goods regardless of their location. Marks and Spencer has a few "Simply Food" stores which stock their branded dry goods, wines, a good range of frozen food - including packs of Cod and Chips and, my favourite fish, Kippers (but of the boil in the bag variety). There's also quite a large supermarket at the Tigne Point shopping centre which has some Tesco imports.

Welcome to the Forum, Ben of Brum. I know the Bus Stop kiosk as it is almost opposite the junction of the Strand and Triq il-Gzira in Gzira where we live; we'll give it a try and let you know! Right now it's pretty dusty in that area as Pat and Mick are busy re-tarmac-ing the Strand, presumably in readiness for the high season. One thing we've noticed is that whilst there is a lot of traffic, it flows quite well with few bottlenecks. The roads are good quality, well maintained and have sensible speed limits (they are in miles per hour, aren't they?!). I can understand why everyone wants to drive - away from the "capital area", the bus service is reportedly rather unreliable and taxis are expensive, especially the white ones. And if you think the Strand is expensive for food, Bay Street (St George's Bay) is even more so.

Our building is quite old, and although it was built sometime after the Roman occupation, it is of solid stone construction with thick walls. It is very definitely quite chilly in the flat whilst jolly warm on our roof around midday onwards. I'd be surprised if we need any aircon - we do come from Davao where the temperature was in the mid to upper 30s before left.

One rule of thumb same for any holiday area, going to the tourist places are always super expensive, but they don't have to be, Malta is quite distinct (compared to most EU tourist destinations) in having many smaller family run eateries, these are down the backstreets and tend to be just a one room off the street affair, but most maltese never seem to take a packed lunch and always eat on the go, (builders etc) so are always reasonably priced and the food tends to be not too bad. Yes the buses are pretty awful full stop and going to the top of the island takes ages, white taxis are mega expensive, better to get black ones or find a few local prebook drivers who are reliable, (my parents use a good chap who has been reliable for maybe 5 or 6 years) better still make friends, most have cars and love to use them, just sit back and try not to clench your teeth too hard while 'enjoying' their driving skills. I've been driven around Davao plenty and Malta still edges it for me!

My mum tries to buy her fruit and veg from the local convenience stores (if you are resident it's good to support your neighbours), but be aware that they frequently only buy fresh once or twice a week. Don't be fooled by the fruit/fish vans they actually tend to be more expensive. The closest lidl to you guys will probably be at San Gwann, which is the same my folks use, be aware that the Maltese love lidl especially the retailers, they know the delivery times and actually queue for the shop to open then buy a lorry load of stuff to sell on at vastly inflated profits!!

My mum just told me there's a chinese supermarket on ponsonby street right near you, it sells filipino food, my mum is always on look out for shops that sell fil foods, my wife has converted her!! She also mentions going to the labour club just off the strand which walking from where you are will be on a street on the left after manwel dimech. They put a sign out on the pavement, it's up some steps but there's a lovely balcony over the ferries, the foods good and lots cheaper than Tony's. The owners wife there is filipino and they both are very nice, will probably be able to point out all the stuff you need in your local area. As a general rule, most labour clubs offer good food at very reasonable prices, I myself often eat in the labour club (bandclub Vallet) in Valletta which is on Republic street opposite St Barbara's church which most fils seem to use for mass on a Sunday.

Hope some of the info helps, most local people are genuine and nice and are very friendly. There is also a good network of filipinos there, I'm sure you'll be up and running in no time.. Anything else you'd like to ask just fire away bud

All that was four months ago and I thought I'd give you an update.

We're currently living in Gzira which is next to Sliema and across the harbour from Valletta, the capital of the Maltese archipelago. In this photo, Sliema is on the left and Manoel Island and its shipyard on the right. Manoel Island sits in the middle of the harbour and is only accessible by a single bridge at Gzira.

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There's a twice-hourly ferry service between Sliema and Valletta and you can see part of Valletta and St Paul's Cathedral - the main Anglican church - against the skyline:



The various townships hold Festas (fiestas) throughout the year which often feature a procession behind a religious statue, a Mardi Gras type band and fireworks:





They go in for the ear-shatteringly noisy fireworks here rather than the more visually beautiful ones one would see in London at New Year. These displays do get a few oohs and aahs from the tourists but the residents tend to head for the bar and hope that their pets will survive the auditory onslaught.

One of the most noticeable facets here is the almost total absence of grass - in fact the only grass I've seen was in a sports stadium and that was artificial. The reason, of course, is that Malta has long, hot and rain-free summers. From the end of February till mid September, it's wall-to-wall sunshine here and since the only fresh water is artesian - there are no rivers - conservation is the watchword.

The Maltese have to be the warmest and friendliest of all Europeans and they have a particular affection for us Brits - gone are they days of rampant nationalism of the 1960s under Premier Dom Mintoff who secured the nation's "freedom", an event that's celebrated on 21st September, Malta's Independence Day. And the Maltese hold children in very high regard. All the public parks and shopping centres have (mostly free) childrens' play areas with slides, swings, bouncy castles and so on.

Twice a year a fair makes the (just under) three hour ferry crossing from Pozzallo in Sicily and sets up its rides and stalls on a car park on Manoel Island.



Our two-year old can't wait for them to return in time for Independence Day!

To give you some idea of Maltese friendliness, the three of us - my wife and I and our son strapped into his pushchair - needed to go to the Plaza, a shopping centre in Sliema. Normally we would walk along the promenade, it's a pleasant 15 - 20 minute walk and there's always something interesting to see in the harbour. But it was too hot yesterday afternoon so we decided to take a bus.

Buses charge a fixed fare for any journey or combination of journeys made within a two hour time frame. In summer this costs €2 per person, half-price in winter and children in pushchairs travel free; there is a dedicated area on each bus for wheelchair and pushchair users. Unlike London, buses here don't hunt in packs but are sensibly timed. There are in fact six or seven different buses we can take from one of of the Strand to the other. And at peak hours, they're often full. The state took over running the buses after the franchisee, the British transport operator Arriva, made a right pig's ear of things. That included buying-up and shipping some of Ken Livingstone's "bendy buses" none of which are in service today; reportedly they were so under-powered they couldn't climb some of Malta's steep hills.



We waited for no more than 3 minutes before a number 13 from Valletta arrived. Unlike the bus above, it was full. However the driver wasn't about to let us stand around waiting for another bus and told his standing passengers to move to the rear of the bus and liberate the pushchair area. Most obliged but two young, probably Russian, tourists refused to budge; they were ordered off the bus. I made a point of thanking him for his kindness when we got off.

One thing you won't find in Malta is a rinky-dink ice-cream van selling 99s. This is how they sell ice cream here:

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24 different flavours of real ice cream plus that (nasty) Mr Whippy stuff in white and brown. This is not the largest van on the island: there is a even bigger one cruising the resorts of the east and north coasts but this one has a regular pitch at Sliema Ferries.

Fascinating stuff.

I've recently had cause to "road test" the health service here in Malta and it is very good indeed - at least as good as the NHS, in some areas it's better. I'll describe my experience.

I awoke three weeks ago with acute pain in my right ear and it being a Bank Holiday, all the pharmacies were closed. I mention this because GPs hold their surgeries in pharmacies but GPs are all private and a consultation costs upwards of €20. Our local state-run medical centre (known as a "Poly-Clinic") was open and fully-staffed despite it being Independence Day. A young doctor examined me and referred me to the ENT department at Mater Dei Hospital and told me to go straight there, report at A&E and I would be seen by a consultant - no appointment necessary!

Mater Dei is the main hospital for Malta and it is huge, very modern with around a thousand beds; it is right next door to the University and has its own bus station. On arrival at A&E, I handed-in the referral form and the Triage Nurse sent me to the ENT department. I was seen by a consultant after a quarter of an hour's wait during which time my wife made full use of the free WiFi. He prescribed antibiotics and told me to come back after three days. Although I have been seen by different doctors on each subsequent visit, I've never had to wait longer than 20 minutes. On my third visit, the doctor mentioned that the infection was caused by two quite unusual bacteria which, although rare in ear infections, should be cleared-up by the antibiotics.

It has been a long, slow process and I'm on my second course of antibiotics but the infection is clearing-up.

Under normal circumstances I'd be looking at quite a sizeable hospital bill for the six appointments I've had so far. Malta is far more rigid about chasing-up payments from those not entitled to free healthcare than is the NHS. Fortunately for me, I'm a pensioner and the Department of Work and Pensions (ok, you the tax payer) pays for my healthcare and that of my dependants - so, in effect, we are all treated as if we were Maltese citizens. Were I not a pensioner, I'd need to have comprehensive health cover for us all which can be rather expensive (depending on age etc). (Self-funding is not permitted under Residency Permit regulations.)

We've been on Malta for six months and, to be frank, we are tired of living in the over-crowded south-east - too many damned tourists! We're moving this weekend to Gozo where we are renting a lovely three bedroom flat for less than half the cost of our mediocre two bedroom place in the metropolis. There is a Mothercare in Victoria, Gozo's capital, but we'll need to make semi-annual pilgrimages to the shopping centre in Sliema for M&S, Debenhams, Terranova and so on.

Loving these posts @Markham - infection caused by using a swimming pool?

I frequently make summertime mercy visits to the Farmacia for clients, accompanied by their snivelling offspring.

"Nothing worse than earache", I sympathise, (while all the time thinking that there's actually nothing worse than sitting alongside someone with earache.)

Get Well Soon

Very likely a swimming pool but not one here, rather in Manila. That's a deduction based on the fact that I've not been in a pool here - but I have in Manila - and the infecting bugs are more likely of Philippine origin; or so I'm told.

The wife doesn't do sick people. She has little patience for those feeling under the weather and if she has any nursing skills at all, they will have been taught her by the Josef Mengele School of Nursing (aka the mother-in-law).

"That's better! Now....does your other ear hurt?"

"I'm a pensioner "

another old git !

We moved to Victoria, Gozo, a couple of weeks ago to a flat in the city centre with a view of the Citadel:

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We delayed applying for our Residency Permits until after our move and I'm rather glad we did because the eResidence unit here is considerably less busy than its counterpart in Valletta and this meant we were able to walk away with our temporary certificates at the time of application rather than have to a couple of weeks' wait. The ID cards have to come from Valletta and will, we're told, take anything up to two months to arrive but the temporary certificates are accepted wherever an ID card is required.

Having a Residency Permit issued in Gozo does provide certain transport benefits: instead of paying €4.95 for the Malta-Gozo ferry, we pay just €1.25 and the bus fares cost less per two hours too - providing you use a Tallinja Card (similar to Oyster) to pay the fare. Theatre and Opera seats are also cheaper.

From where did you get that picture of my wife? Facetube?

Over the last couple of weeks or so, all the young and energetic holiday-makers have been replaced by the Saga crowd and the "snowbirds". Buses now take twice as long to board their passengers as the sweet old things struggle with their zimmers and walkers whilst trying to find the correct fare - bus drivers don't like to give change and you've no chance of them accepting a note whose face value is greater than five Euros. And some of them (the holidaymakers) can be quite rude and argumentative.

Every bus contains a section with 3 or 4 fold-down seats and is designed to be used by wheelchairs and pushchairs; "normal" passengers may use these seats but must make way for a wheelchair or pushchair and there are big signs to that effect. But not in German. We had to travel down to Mater Dei hospital earlier this week and, on the return journey, took the fast X1 bus from the hospital to the Gozo Ferry Terminal; this bus route originates at their airport. There were two middle-aged people occupying the wheelchair area, a man and his wife, and they were surrounded by several suitcases. Here for a while then. As I made my way with our son in his pushchair to the reserved area, another passenger (Maltese) asked the German couple to vacate their seats. The one wearing the pants shrilled "ve hef baggage, ve are not moofing" and grabbed her suitcase handles defiantly. The Maltese guy then called out to the driver in Malti whereupon the latter came and told the Frau that she must obey the company bylaws by vacating those seats or she would be chucked-off the bus and at that time of day, she'd have to wait a full hour for the next X1. She moved with a scowl and had to spend the remainder of the journey - some 45 minutes - strap-hanging with her husband. From the expressions on passengers' faces seated near her, she had forgotten her roll-on that morning - or needs to change brands!

Malta is one large tourist resort but too many tourists are rude and demanding; bad ambassadors for their country. The Maltese are warm, welcoming, tolerant and pragmatic: they know their country's economy is heavily reliant on its tourism industry so they tend to keep their gripes and frustrations hidden. In essence, the Maltese keep foreign tourists at arms length and are not above ripping them off. But once you're known to be a resident, you're treated like a member of the family.

Do you find similarities in Spain, Chris?

You could be describing the same place. The Spanish see the Brits at their worst - drunk, debauched, violent gluttons of loose morals but full pockets, which is why they tolerate us, but don't respect us.

I tend to tell (Spanish) people that I'm Australian.

Young Methers and I - he is younger than me, just, hence the "young" - share the same age difference between ourselves and our respective wives and we think nothing of it. But there's an elderly British couple here for the winter occupying a flat across the pjazza from us and they make quite nasty comments about us from their second floor balcony should we deign to pass below. They don't like to see a sixty-something year old pushing his son's pushchair whilst his crop-top-and-micro-shorts-wearing-wife takes his arm. In the seven years we've been together and apart from some middle-aged spinsters in Cebu, the only people to have made derogatory remarks about us as a couple have been Brits.

The Maltese are none too keen on Germans (maybe for historic reasons) and tolerate eastern Europeans through gritted teeth because they tend to look down their noses at the Maltese "servants". Fortunately this isn't a "Club 18-30" type destination so we're spared the booze-fuelled excesses that have tainted some Spanish resorts. However an outfit called Education First took over several hotels in June and July and filled them with scantily-dressed 16-20 year olds from all over Europe supposedly here for a language-learning week or two.

In general, the Maltese rather like us Brits, again probably for historic reasons, but I was rather put out by the rather xenophobic attitude of a young female employee who accepted the paperwork for my Residence Card. She insisted that when we come to register my wife and son, that all their documents be authenticated (ie "Red Ribboned") and we had to provide not only my wife's birth certificate but her parents' as well. In fact Philippine documents do not need to be authenticated at all and neither my wife's nor her parents' birth certificates were needed. That young woman is the only Maltese who has demonstrated any hostility towards us, albeit very politely.