Coastline St. Paul's Bay

I've just popped over to Malta for a day &amp; 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).<br><br>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).<br><br>Anyway, I'll keep this blog short so ciao for now!<br><br>Anita x

... places we visited:<br><br>Savona<br><br>As it was raining and cold here, decided to spend the day aboard and relax and enjoy the fabulous view of the city from the 12th floor of the ship and teach the children how to play 500.<br><br>Barcelona<br><br>Walked from the ship into town, needed the exercise and didn&#8217;t want to pay the exorbitant cost of cruise transport. Hit the Paseo de Gracia (Main Street), so interesting and buzzing with ...

... group. But it doesn&#8217;t help because I still can&#8217;t make out what she&#8217;s saying beneath her slushy pronunciation. After we walk out the cathedral we continue down a long street with shops, past street vendors, and then turn a sharp corner into a narrow sidewalk that leads to an outdoor seating area ringed with restaurants. Then we realize that Juma is missing. It is 1:45pm and I&#8217;m worried by 2:30pm the boat will ...

... and The Backstreet Boys. Hearing Karma Chameleon just doesn't seem right when the bus is rolling past 500 year old buildings with it's doors wide open and people close to being tossed out! Everytime the bus shifted gears I could feel the ancient transmission grinding under the metal floorboards. Being able to see the road through the floor was a special treat as well.<br><br>The ancient bus brought me to my first stop, the ancient city of ...

... seen. I was scared to go swimming for too long though, as there were lots of tiny and not-so-tiny jellyfish swimming around everywhere.<br><br>Another day, dad and I decided to go and see the set from the Popeye movie. It seemed easy enough to get to, Malta's bus system is wonderful. Just two quick bus rides and we would be there. Well, what we didn't know was that the second bus only goes a few times a day, and we just missed the one in the morning. We asked ...

... rfecnikkel és konfettivel, mert saját bevallásuk szerint õk tiszta emberek és az ország is az (ha a Közel-Kelethez hasonlítjuk, akkor biztos, de az is biztos, hogy az EU elõírásokhoz viszonyítva nem mindig), de ennyi idõ, mire kitakarítják a várost. Meg esténként újra a kabócák és a szerelmes macskák énekét lehet hallgatni. Most megint van rendesen munka, sokat mennek túrára az utasaim, meg most hajóra is megyek megint egy napra fordítani a kommentárokat. La vita é bella!!

... a glimpse of her in her motorcade. They had to run to get back to the ship in time to make the sailing. FYI, a cruise ship will leave you in port if you are too late. It then becomes your problem on how to get to the next port which could be a huge problem since you don't have your passport! Also in the fine print of our contract, the cruiseline could charge $1000 per person if they incurred any port charges because you were late. Ouch, so don't be late.

... watchtowers built by the Knights of St John to prevent the Turk's from landing. I only spent a few hours at Bugibba, but I saw enough to feel I'd done it justice. The massive tourist development just wasn't my scene, and given the beach was pretty average I decided to make my way back to Sliema. I only had a day left there before I went to Gozo, and I knew I would be better off saving my energy to see as much as I could there.

Saturday June 9th was the beginning of a great weekend exploring Gozo by pedal and by foot. The initial idea was to explore by care of a scooter. However, my hopeless attempt at balancing one with Stace on the back failed miserably. I didn't want to end up with grazes of yellow sandstone all over me after all! So rented mountain bikes. Saturday was stunning weather, clear blue sky, and of course, hot. Our destinations - The megalithic temples of ...

... myself and no slots until the 13th of June!). Anyway, back into town on one of the world's cruellest buses and then out again to the divinely named Marsaxlokk (pron. Marsashlok). By the time we got there using the most bone-crunchingly circuitous route possible I was ready to bail out the back through the Victorian-era emergncy door. So that's why all the ...