“What if we” win the Eurovision Song Contest 2009? The Maltese nation and most certainly even Chiara, the winner of Malta Song for Europe 2009 will be asking the same question too.
Maltese talents have been attending the Eurovision Song Contest since 1971 and achieved the best results in 2002 and 2005, finishing 2nd on both occasions.
Public bus services in Malta operate regularly to most parts of Malta from City Gate, Valletta.
Many of the Malta buses are old and quite a treat to ride in. However, they are incredibly cheap! Preparing small change in advance is highly recommended.
All the towns & villages can be reached by bus, and there are frequent connections from practically all holiday resorts to Valletta.
Nightlife in the capital amounts to no more than a drink or two in a bar or an evening trot in a horse-drawn karrozzin round the city’s floodlit ramparts. However, there is plenty of action in resorts to the northwest.
Those seeking the bright lights should head to the small area of St Julian’s known as Paceville. Here you will find scores of discos, pubs and late-night bars. In summer the neon-lit streets are crammed with action-seekers. St Julian’s is also home to Malta’s casino – the only place where the nightlife could be described as glitzy. Beyond the headland, St George’s Bay has a growing number of fashionable discos. Lesser concentrations of bars with live music, and the occasional discos, can be found in Sliema and in the St Paul’s area, around Buggiba and Qawra.
Discos open early in the evening for the benefit of the young (and not-so-young) Maltese visiting from the countryside who have to catch the last bus home at around 9 or 10 pm. For the rest, the music throbs on into the early hours of the morning. The older generation of visitors to Malta are usually quite content with hotel entertainment, which take the form of folk nights, cabarets and possibly discos. These events are normally open to non-residents.
Food in Malta may not rank as gourmet cuisine, but it is very reasonably priced and there are plenty of places to choose from. Beyond the proliferation of pizzerias, pasta houses and snack bars, there are occasional gourmet restaurants and a good range of places serving fresh fish. The latter can be anything from family-run seaside cafés to fully-fledged restaurants which entice you in with their tanks full of live lobsters. Menus are almost always translated into English. The following are a few of the local dishes which you may come across if you happen to eat in restaurants serving Maltese cuisine.
The Marsa Sports Club is a huge sporting complex that has sufficient facilities to keep you active for days. Affordable membership is available on a daily or weekly basis. Facilities include an 18-hole golf course, 17 hard tennis courts, five squash courts, an 18-hole mini-golf course, a cricket pitch and billiards tables. In addition there is a fitness center with gym and sauna and, in season, a swimming pool. In the vicinity of the club there are polo grounds, a horse-racing track, football and rugby pitches and an athletic track.
Mistra Sports Club