Blogs from Valletta, Malta, Malta, Europe - page 2

It has been quite a stressful year so far with a lot of family related worries so a break away was definitely needed ? I had wanted to go to Malta for as long as I could remember, all the history and the fact Valletta is a UNESCO heritage site, combined with the nice weather seemed to make it the ideal destination ? . We generally like the idea of self catering because of the flexibility it offers and that combined with the lack of hotel choice in Valletta, meant Airbnb seemed to be the best choice. A house in the city centre that slept 6 with all the usual facilities ticked all the boxes. Flight wise there was a good selection but Andrew's determination that we weren't using Ryanair meant a trip to Gatwick for ... read more

Although we had planned to do a walking tour of Bucharest on our last day there, we’d already seen all the sights listed on the tour so decided to skip it. Instead, Ma and I went for a walk around our neighbourhood including Parcul Cişmigiu. Lovely park with a small lake in the middle..,maybe more of a pond, but big enough for row boats. Super chill with lots of folks sitting around enjoying the scenery. My favourite part of Bucharest was the Village Museum and further afield it was Bran Castle. As lovely as Romania has been, I am looking forward to moving on to Malta. For a change of pace from all these hotels, we rented an apartment in Valetta right in the heart of all the old timey stuff we want to see. Plus, ... read more

'There's a fish market on a Sunday market' they said, 'we spent over two hours there' they said. I'd love to find out who they are and why they made us drive almost as far as you can on Malta without driving into the sea. I've been to the fish market in Seattle where they're chucking huge whale size cod (well almost....) all over the shop. Now that's interesting. Lining up a few fish in front of you on a market stall isn't. Tagging it onto a tat market with a few fruit and veg stalls isn't exactly a tourist mecca. Fine for the locals I'm sure with a nice array of fruit and veg stalls as well but, and you may have guessed this already, I won't be rushing back... Lovely little bay though and ... read more

The Man in the Middle approached a landmark birthday. After the success of our “warm weather” training mission to Malta in 2014, a plan was hatched for refreshments with football in the winter sun. The Motor Man flew back from the Jacaranda City for the occasion, fresh from relaying Page 48 and Page 49 of the secret manual of success for the natives. They must have been impressed. A return journey to run through Pages 50 and 51 has been pencilled in for March. The Python booked himself on the trip. A rare appearance for the now married man – missing in action since Portugal 2004. He turned up, doing a passable impression of Paddington Bear. A label carefully pinned to his chest in case he got lost – “Return to Meadow Lane, Nottingham. NG2”. There ... read more

Hi Everyone, This weekend was Valetta, the capital city of Malta, a tiny island in the Mediterranean just south of Sicily. Despite it's small size, it's an island that's absolutely full of history, acting as a key point in controlling shipping in the Mediterranean for hundreds of years. It's old cities are often centred around giant fortresses built to defend against invasions by the Ottoman empire - this was Europe's front line defence against invasions from the Middle East. This makes for some great views from atop the walls looking out into the ocean. The walls are usually pretty badly damaged though, since Italy bombed the living daylights out of the place in WWII. Here's the WWII background story: Germany had a campaign going in North Africa that constantly needed supplies - an army runs on ... read more