What a long awaited holiday - well deserved after a busy few months for us both at work. We got to Malta (thank goodness) despite all the security threats at London airports. Although a bit dicey having to check on all our valuables & only carrying passports, wallet & keys in a plastic bag...
Anyway we arrived in Malta at around 5am on Sunday morning & took it easy for the first day. The weather was fabulous at early 30 degrees most days & nice balmy evenings.
Our first full day we ventured on a tour of the main attractions of Malta - its not a huge island so pretty easy to cover. The attractions included the Mosta Dome (the 3rd largest unsupported dome in Europe after St Peters & St Pauls), the Blue Grotto, a crafts/glass blowing market & the ancient city of Mdina. It was certainly an amazing country - it had such an interesting mix of influences in buildings & culture (mix of Arabic/Italian & British influences).
We visited a village Festa on tuesday night (these happen during July & August). Each village has their festa to celebrate their patron saint. The town we visited was Mqabba & their were celebrating the Santa Maria Festa which involved lots of locals, decorated streets, a parade & more fireworks than you imagine. Oh & a guy ringing the town bell for about 2 hours - his arms must have been so sore - lucky its only once a year! It seems the Maltese have an infatuation with fireworks as they were busy letting off fireworks on the harbour at 9am when we headed on our boat trip.
The full day boat trip from Malta to Comino & Gozo was great. It involved seeing the beautiful coastline & stopping at the Blue Lagoon & Paradise Bay to snorkel etc.
In between our travels around - we also made time to relax by the sea & pool. We also ate far too much with nice breakfasts & dinners at the hotel every day - need to work some of it off now!
Finally we went swimming with dolphins which was brilliant. We visited Mediterraneo which is a Marine Park only 15 mins from Valetta & our hotel. It involved a Parrot show, Sealion show, Dolphin Show & then our Dolphin experience. It was such great fun & they are the most amazing animals & so wonderfully trained. However our Dolphins (Sol & Mar) were a little distracted as it was the breeding season so not always that keen to do their tricks...
Anyway back to work but off to Scotland this long weekend so stay posted for some more photos etc.
|
