St. Lawrence Residence Birgu (Vittoriosa)

... locally produced. We walked along the water, admiring the little fishing boats, all painted bright blue and yellow and green, each having a pair of eyes painted on the bow.
We made it back to the ship in plenty of time to dress for dinner. As we left the port after dark, the forts and walls were lit up. Simply magical.
Will try to send some pics with this.
Tomorrow a sea day. home Thursday.

I've just popped over to Malta for a day & a bit (as you do!) to say a quick hello / goodbye to my parents (and bring them lots of goodies over for the last time in a while).

The weather is a little warmer than the UK, but not as warm as it's going to be in a week's time (ha ha ha).

Anyway, I'll keep this blog short so ciao for now!

Anita x

... and was going to be towed. Had difficulty trying to communicate that we were sailing on a cruise - so when we return to Italy we may be maxed out in fines on the visa card and have to beg our way home!!!

We were certainly glad we did the cruises in the order we did, The Costa Pacific is only four months old, thus is new and gleaming. It has glass lifts in the in middle which ascend 12 stories all the way up to the retractable glass roof ...

Sleeping on the upper bunk of the ship's cabin reminds me of having an MRI. When I went in for the procedure a month ago, I was rolled under a flat plate two inches above my face and my head was secured to the table so I couldn’t move for twenty minutes. I don’t think I got over that terrifying experience because even though the cabin’s ceiling was two feet over me I felt claustrophobic. When we rise at 6:00am from ...

... has evolved into, nor Trinidad's either, from what I hear. This one's definitely for kids, and they rise to the occasion, all dressed up in allegorical costume. The floats may be a bit pre-fab and lacking in individuality, but the community spirit behind it is good, and it may in fact be closer in fact to the original than any of them, hard to say now that Rome is only reinstituting its own after a long period of dormancy. It's ...

... Valletta. So after 3 days with the car (and two parking tickets) we returned it and hoped on the ferry to Gozo (a smaller island off Malta). We stayed there 2 nights, an had the best day when we went scuba diving with this cool guy who was just like the guy from "Along Came Polly" when he picked us up from the hotel he even said "are u for scuba", haha, comedy gold. With 1 more night in Valletta and a ferry ride back to sicily we have to get the overnight train to rome.

... only flint, obsidian and deer antlers. Amazing. The tour is pretty much over but we're a bit early so instead of just dropping us in the town they drive us around and give us a guided tour. Show us lots of Knight Templar related stuff. Valetta is a very beautiful place. Water all around. Lots of narrow streets and great buildings but there is an odd sense of decay? Wander down to the ...

What's up! We've made it to the island and I didn't think it could get any hotter, but oh I was wrong. It's 39-40 degrees (100F) already in the morning and it sucks to be working outside. It's a nice place with a lot of history and a lot of buildings still standing. Apparently the Greeks were here 600 B.C and built this city and wherever you look it looks really old too. Maybe it's a lack of funds as well, but who cares in this heat anyway. Hey, at least I got to ...

Friday Stace and I headed out of town so to speak (although only about 10km!), to see The Blue Grotto and some megalithic temples. These are situated on the opposite coast to Valletta. I had heard that the water in the Blue Grotto is some of the 'bluest' I would ever see. I heard right. We hopped on a little boat tour around the stunning coastline of steep cliffs and huge caves. The Blue Grotto is an streth of coastline about 1km long containing some ...

... riding in the middle of the road until we rounded the turn. Then he moved to the tiny burm and our bus almost knocked him off the road. We head a loud thud, either our bus had hit the bicyclist or he had whacked the bus in anger with his fist. I turned to mom in shock as the bus driver just kept driving, not even looking back to see if the guy was hurt. The bus was overcrowded with a group of French college students on break so two girls and an old woman ...