Blogs from Malta, Europe - page 6

Now time to explore the island of Gozo before going to the island of Malta. Just don’t be confused, both islands are part of the country of Malta. Malta is made up of 4 islands and we will get to two of them on this trip. Malta has a very long history and has seen its fill of struggles due to its strategic location in the Mediterranean. On our first full day in Gozo we got a lot of sightseeing in as we hopped on a bus first thing in the morning. We road into Victoria and caught another bus to get out to visit the Ggantija Temples and the Ta Kola Windmill in the village of Xaghra. These temples date back to 3,600 BC and are located in a wonderful area of the island with ... read more

Wed: Valletta & Three Cities I woke up starving!! Maria said Busy Bee is a cafe nearby that all Maltese go to. Excited! Unfortunately, it wasn’t what I expected. They have cakes but no pastry, just pastizzi and sandwiches. I got 3 pastizzi because they were uber cheap and I thought they’d be puny. Wrrrong! They were good size pies loaded with filling. 2 of them put me over the top! Today will be a Valletta day. Right off the bat, we were at St John’s co-cathedral. A handful of people were at the door, waiting for 9:30 am opening. Let’s knock this one out. 10-euro entrance fee comes with the audio guide. Inside is lavishly decorated with zero empty spot anywhere including the floor! So much to see, especially with the help of audio guide! ... read more

Another lazy start to the day - I'm starting to get used to this and will be in for a rude shock tomorrow when I need to be at the airport by 7:15 lol. Headed down to the Point in Sliema for a morning swim. It was occasionally overcast today but when the sun came out it really had a bite to it. I enjoyed my time swimming the length of the 'pool' and taking the occasional view of Valletta in. After swimming and sunning for the morning, I headed back to my apartment, stopping along the way to have an espresso macchiato. After showering I headed out again to meet up with friends of Clare & Pete's - Mary & Peter. They were delivering a lens that's Clare was lending me to replace the one ... read more

This morning I met up with my cousin Rosie and second cousin Lucas at Giorgio's for breakfast. It was also an exciting morning because the Eagles were playing the Demons in the prelim final and the match was well underway when I woke up! Daniel was in Amsterdam so we were 'chatting' throughout. i could safely leave the apartment to meet up with Rosie & Lucas by three quarter time lol. It was so lovely to see them! Lucas had only arrived at about 1:30 this morning (from London) as his flight had been delayed. We enjoyed a nice breakfast and especially enjoyed the coffee this cafe served! We chatted about what we all wanted to do while we are here and decided we would jump in a ferry and explore some of Valletta and then ... read more

Those earplugs worked a treat! I did wake at 4am though with a cramp in my leg. After dealing with that I got up to look outside, as I knew thunderstorms were predicted for today. I had heard a very loud clap of thunder (through the earplugs) sometime earlier, so I wanted to see what the impact had been. The sea was quite high and there were even small waves washing up the steps in front of the hotel, which was interesting. The next morning I could see one of the restaurants hosing down their floor so I assume the water came up that high. After breakfast I chatted to the guy at reception about options for today. I wanted to see the Citadel but was also interested in a boat trip of some sort. There ... read more