Panorama Mellieha

... if they would let him drill for it. They took that bargain and had it until Malta joined the EU. Then the EU said they could no longer do business with Libya. so Malta lost a great deal and now has to pay the same as everyone else.
The last stop was across the island at a fishing village. I had great fun bargaining with the vendors for food items: Sesame sticks, date bars, nut crunch and sea salt ...

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

... the madness of the old Souk. The Souk is a rabbit warren of narrow streets lined with shops off all kinds, with every owner vying for custom. We walked past yet another vendor yelling “hello American, Dutch” and when didn’t reply pointed to Ryan and said “Mr Bean, Hey you Mr Bean, come and buy” we laughed and laughed and on our way back through pointed and referred to him as Mr Bean again. Chris tried to ...

... history of Malta, and head back on the bus to the ship before 2:30.

At dinner Jenny tells us that she and nine other people were abandoned by their tour guide in Malta, so they ended up taking a cab back to the boat. I doubt the parents would have thought to do that if they were lost; we probably would have ended up yelling at each other and in the process get robbed. I am so lucky to have survived another day on this trip.

... at Hagar Qim and Mnajdra, they’re the world’s oldest surviving freestanding structures dating from 3000 BC. While they might be the oldest they definitely aren’t the most impressive as they have nothing on either the Pyramids or even Stonehenge, which is what I kept thinking about as I was walking around them. I wondered if my cousin Jenny would come here if she were to visit Malta, since she always laughed at me for ...

... the facilities were excellent and we found the prepaid taxi service easily. They had prepay rates for Melliha at 30 Euros which was great to pay off and not worry about. The taxi was good but the driver was on a mission to Mars clocking 100mph on roads designed for barely 50. We got to the hotel at around 3:15am. The hotel was called Riu Seabank Hotel on Melliha Bay and I must admit, it was awesome. We had somehow managed to get the Presidential suite here so the room ...

... get ourselves into). So we found out there was no direct bus down there so we had to jump on a bus to Valleta and then transfer, should take like a hour or so. Once we got within the city border, we realized that Carnaval was not something to skip out on, so like any good travelers, we all jumped off the bus and headed into the most amazing day(period)... it is the biggest holiday in malta and it is amazing. Pictures are the only way to describe this ...

... look of surprise when I said no. My second observation was that many of the young children are obese. It was something that I found more difficult to come to terms with. I am talking children from the age of 4 - 12 being remarkably overweight, and it did not take long to see why. Bottom line is the Maltese people enjoy life, they are often laughing, joking and singing and this includes eating to excess. There was platter after platter of seafood, pizza, pasta and bread ...

... Before I even found my room, two young Aussies, one of whom was half Maltese himself met me, and before I new it I was in Paceville, the cluster of pubs, clubs and restaurants in the heart of St Julians. I wasn't up for a big night though. I had a job interview the following morning, and after a plate of spinach ravioli and a pint of 'Cisk' I called it an evening. My interview at the 'Elanguest' English school in St Julians, just 15 minutes walk from my hostel, went swimmingly and ...

... the walls is a strange place and an inward-looking populace, which is to be expected given the uniquely colourful history of this isolated nation. More on that later. Valletta is a hard place to picture and imagine. Everything is built with the warm yellow limestone of the island and it's all on a large scale. Think grand cathedrals ...