It seemed easy enough. Get on the X3 bus across the road from our condo and get off in Birkikara. As I paid my fare, I asked the driver if he stopped in that town and was told "yes." My question turned out to be too general. The stops are named, as are the LRT stations in Ottawa. However, I was not travelling within a city but rather between two cities, and my destination was not very large. Silly me not to ask if there was more than one bus stop, and how would I know at which one to disembark. Live and learn. The buses are equipped with wifi and a rolling screen to shows the next stop. That is excellent, if you know the name of your stop. I didn't.
The weather was sunny and warm, and no jacket was needed. There were plenty of seats and the ride was pleasant. After about 80 minutes, I arrived at the Airport! That's the end of the line. I'd missed my stop and worse still, I had barely missed the next bus back, and had an hour to wait for the next one.
So, lunch at the airport. I happily chose a small health food stand and had a very tasty meal. I returned to the bus stop 10 minutes early, because I didn't want to miss it. It's a good thing I was early. NOT!! The bus was 30 minutes late because of traffic.
The road system in Malta is very good, although not all parts are wide enough with enough lanes to cope with the amount of traffic. You are rarely too far away to see the buildings of at least one town. Some are very close together. Valletta seems immense when seen from a distance. The buildings are squeezed together in this tiny country, the most densely populated in the EU.
Seeing towns in the distance is nice, but I needed to get some cushy shoes for my sore foot and the place to get them was Eurosport, in Birkikara. The helpful transit person at the airport, when shown my chosen destination, told me the name of my stop - Psailas. The "P" is silent.
They love silent letters here. Q is silent. Our place is in Qawra (ahra, more or less). The airport is at Luqa (lua). G is always a soft sound, J is pronounced like Y, sort of. It's a tricky language.
Anyway, the bus came along eventually and I got off at the right stop this time. The store I wanted was nearby and I found a nice cushy pair of runners. I made it back to the bus stop just about a minute ahead of the arrival of the next bus back to Bugibba, as close as I can get to "home." My luck had changed. I also got almost the last seat. That was a good thing because it was just after 4 pm and it seemed like everyone in the country wanted to get on my bus. After one more stop it was full. Then it was jammed. People near the doors had to step off for others to exit. There were not a lot of folks getting off until the end of the line.
The final stop was about half a kilometre from our place – fortunately, all downhill. By the time I got "home" it was nearly time to eat.
As it happened, we all went off in different directions today and one way or another ,we all got off track. I only managed about 6000 steps today, with all the bus riding. Glenn doubled that, and John was somewhere in between.
I didn't take any pictures today. Maybe tomorrow I'll try my luck on another bus route and take some pictures. Or maybe I'll enjoy the terrace and read my book.
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