R.I.P. The Malta Bus........

[10ClarionSt]

Do you like Malta and the Malta Bus? Are you going this year? I've just come back from a short break there and the fact is that from July 2011 the Malta Bus will be no more. It's true. They are being taken off the road and the contract is being awarded to....wait for it....
da da da da, da, da,..............ARRIVA!. All the old yellow, white and orange buses will be stripped out and the shells will be sunk just offshore to create artificial reefs. The Malta bus experience is better than some of the rides at Alton Towers. And it only costs 47 cents now.
But when ARRIVA arrive, there will be a rate for locals and a rate for tourists. The only place you will see the Malta bus in future is in the souvenir shops where they sell those models. R.I.P.

[smudge]

Nice to see your name again 10ClarionSt!

[dotty.]

Arriva can't get from Wigan to Chorley on time even on a quiet Sunday.

[yogi-bear]

Oh piddle.......i'm over there a lot in the next few months, as i gig there all throughout the summer........island hopping around the Med.......there first in June for the Isle Of MTV show....then again in mid July, mid August and late August/Early Sept.

The Maltese bus is a national treasure chugging up the hills keeping us all waiting behind it... Toot Toot!!...it will be sadly missed, so BOO Hiss to the arrival of ARRIVA.............will be a real shame come July when phased out, 10CS.

RIP Malta's brilliant buses :0)

[smudge]

Well you've never done me any harm 10, so I speak as I find.

Back to the housework.....!

[smudge]

We enjoyed Malta, but found parts of Valletta very smelly - has it improved I wonder?

[tamborine]

In the 50s when I visited it was horse & carriage.....swanky. I'd go back for that.

[yogi-bear]

Great news, 10.....think there was talk of knocking it down a while back and putting up a govenment building instead fgs.............

To restore it to it's full glory and once again have people stepping in there for concerts, is just absolutely brilliant. :0)

and.......

You're always been alright in my book, 10ClarionSt and good to see you back here. :0)

[yogi-bear]

Hiya smudge and tambo,

Agreed that some of the narrow streets of Valletta can be, on occasion, a bit smelly, due to, i think, that the residents wash their balconies and the dirty water from the buckets are emptied on the streets causing a bit of a pong for a bit....near the shops/cafe's/ outdoor bars etc..........all nice to the nostrils :0)
Always go and have a quick one in 'Ollie's Bar' back of the Government building in Main Street...........named after the brilliant Oliver Reed, who sadly passed away there after a massive drinking session on a day break from filming 'Gladiator' about 10 years ago.

Horses and carriages still there, tambo...........in Valletta and all over the island.....best one is in Mdina ( the silent city ).......the tour is good fun and the views are great, but serious haggling needs to be done with the driver on the prices as we knocked them down about 60% when we bluffed we were walking off and not interested. :0)

[Booldawg]

think the horse drawn carriages are still in Mdina? (no motor vehicles allowed in the walled city)

I recall being accosted by some ancient Maltese lady trying to sell tat in this cave in Gozo. I think you had to climb down into it and she was pretty much trying to pull me back in by my trouser leg!

[yogi-bear]

LOL.......Think we visited the same cave and lady, Booldawg.

Calypo's cave at the top of a big hill........very steep going down and easy to fall, as dark when you lower yourself in. Stayed holed up there with Aphrodite i think.....dirty so and so. :0)

And i remember there was a cave in someone's house that belonged to generations of their families.........long tight small steps leading to it..........quite far down and great fossils down there....(including the old lady giving the tour, who basically came down on my back on route).....rock Stalactite's etc and natural water springs.

[beeseejay]

That is sad news. I first encountered those buses in 1960 when in the RN. I went there for a holiday in 2008 and to my delight they were still there and going strong(ish)! Rides never to be forgotten, drunk or sober.....