Hotel Flora Bugibba

... self rule now, but it means nothing, as the European Union calls the shots.
We made many stops to enjoy the view and learn about the various forts. At one point we boarded little boats that looked rather like gondolas, six to a boat, and toured the harbor. Our guide was great. We discussed politics, health care and taxes. He is not happy with the EU. Qaddafi offered Malta oil at $10/barrel, forever ...

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

... places we visited:

Savona

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.

Barcelona

Walked from the ship into town, needed the exercise and didn’t want to pay the exorbitant cost of cruise transport. Hit the Paseo de Gracia (Main Street), so interesting and buzzing with ...

... duped by the online descriptions that make the walk into the city sound rough.

Our tour guide is a dowdy English woman who is wearing a flower print dress and speaks with a breathlessly nasal English accent. “Thish ish a shtashtue of Shaint Jamesh, and-a….” she speaks like this as we follow her along the cobblestone streets lined with stone buildings. Our first stop is the Upper Baracca Gardens, a ...

... we would be staying in a hotel for the first two nights because the students from last semester hadn't moved out yet. So, we were shuttled off to a five start hotel where we had to pay 15 euro for four hours of internet. Luckily, there were a bunch of us that were staying there, so we all got to know each other a little bit. After getting our rooms, we met with one of Jenna's friends that is studying here for the entire year, and she showed us where important ...

... még parti sétánynál is végig tud menni megállás nélkül. Kaja... nemzeti étellel még nem találkoztam, mert ők a calzone szerű cuccokat, meg a pastát kezelik annak, márpedig ez ellen az olaszok, és minden olaszt szerető ember hevesen tiltakozik... de tovább keresek. Meg persze itt vannak még a brit időből megmaradt mindenféle piték. Viszont a szoros olasz kapcsolatoknak köszönhetően majdnem mindent onnan importálnak (meg ...

... trip but I did miss seeing her today. We chatted online in the afternoon so that was good. I was grateful for the day I had and also going to Sicily will be good to change my surroundings and get me into a positive mood for the rest of my trip. For the first time I have been thinking about returning home and seeing everyone again. I don't want it to come any earlier than it is but I think by next Monday I will be ready. For the time being bring on Sicily!

... me, and today was certainly going to be special. After Marsaxlokk Alfred drove me around the country side to some of the remotest parts of Malta all the while enabling us to talk about Malta, Australia and life in general. It was really great to get some one on one time with him and someone who knew so much about Malta and its current place in the world. He showed me some of the projects he had worked on as a project manager and also a few great highland areas where the ...

... P.S. Dani, they had built a new room for Marisa with the baby being born, but she moved out 3 months later, so we got to use the new room. After dinner, Malcolm and Gerechiella (yes, mum, MALCOLM) took us for a drive to Dhingli cliffs and to Mdina, which was gorgeous. It is the old capital and has been fully restored and has views of the entire island. We had an evening snack overlooking this view. On Monday Antoinette took us for a drive around ...

... cannot use for most of the year, timeshare allows families to purchase a fractional share in a vacation property. This share could be one week per year (i.e. 1/52 share) or more; some resorts offering one week every other year (1/104 share) or four weeks per year (1/13 share). Some timeshares are sold as fractional ownership in a trust that owns one or several resorts. This is the funny part. We actually went to see what is all about and let the man think we were ...