A room with a view

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Geo: 35.9564, 14.3622

First day and after a fairly relaxed start we found ourselves braving the 40oC plus heat and headed into Mellieha - an old, traditional Maltese town on the north-east coast of the island. Mellieha is one of the quieter towns in Malta, no wild nights for us here, but it's famous and popular for having the biggest sandy beach in what is, a predominately rocky island. Head north and you'll find delicious cafes and restaurants. Head south and you'll find good cocktails, sand and beautiful sea. It was a hard choice so we decided to start in the middle at the Mellieha Air Raid Shelters. Run by a man whose uncle fought in the war, we headed underground to see a long network of tunnels and rooms dug by the Maltese to escape the Nazi and Italian bombings. There were a couple of birthing rooms, a doctor's office and many small rooms, each with a small alter cut into the rock, that were used by families. If a family had more than six members they could dig their own room as long as all extracted materials were above ground before sunset.

After this we decided not to brave the buses and instead to walk down the hill, past the allotments below our hotel, to Mellieha bay and the beach. Lunch and a cocktail later and in the water I went. Chris didn't bring his swimmers and so was resigned to the sidelines. The sea was warm, crystal clear with a few fish, and the sea floor was a nice bed of sand, and as we'd kept away from the glut of parasols and deckchairs further down the beach, it was nice and empty too. After this we (well, I) wanted to check out the feet-nibbling-fish just next to the beach, so off we trotted to 15 minutes of ticklish, fish nibbling, dead skin removing, heaven.

We chickened out and took the snail-paced bus back up the hill to the hotel where our room, the swimming pool, and the terrace all had amazing views back down the allotment covered hill and over the bay. Just beautiful! Our first taste of Maltese cuisine in the form of rabbit was part of a delicious dinner and set the tone for what became a glutenous trip.

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