Qawra Palace Hotel

... about the knights of Malta. We learned a lot. The knights are of the Order of St. John. They still exist. The Grand Inquisitor lived here. Most buildings here are because of their efforts. This place has been under siege so many times the people are almost apathetic. They are beautiful people, swarthy but refined. They speak Maltese, and Italian, and French and English. A bit of everything. They ...

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

... fountains several times over, he ran out of time. Finally located the Avis office at 1.15pm to find it closed. Parked the car outside and thought about throwing the keys through the metal grid in the Avis internal parking area, but envisaged a resourceful person with a bit of wire……. so took them with him instead, and popped them in the post. He then headed off to the train station to catch the train to the ship, but while ...

... group. But it doesn’t help because I still can’t make out what she’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’m worried by 2:30pm the boat will ...

... that looks like a fort. To the left, stood an old watchtower built by the Knights to provide security and advance warning to the population in case of invasion. I had to walk over there and get up close and personal! Another place I would have liked to spend more time. Below, I had a good perspective of the sea and it looked so inviting. Several backpackers were walking back up. I bet they had a good time down ...

... gate to the tracks needed to be opened to get to the platform. I was inquiring at the desk how to get the gate open when an Englishman came up to me and said they were headed to Gatwick, had a taxi arriving in a couple of minutes and that I was free to join them. Sure beat waiting in the cold for the train and not knowing how to get to Easy Jet from the train platform at the airport. I covered the tip and got to airport earlier than I had expected. Check in with Easy Jet was OK ...

... The winery looked like it was in the middle of the desert and asn't quite a winery. It was in stark contrast to the lush valleys of champagne. The wines were delicious though and the guide was a really funny man named Roger. The store wasn't a huge fully marketd showroom like Moet et Chandon. E had two reds and a white. After this we went back to the ship and read. I think this was the night we ate at Tequila and had sizzling fajitas.

... of local craftsmen who had got together to setup workshops and shop fronts where they made and sold their wares. The highlight was the "glass blowers" that made numerous glass ornaments and figurines by moulding and blowing into glass (via a long pipe) when it was still hot and malleable. We were able to watch them work in their workshops and then browse the finished products. I bought 2 things here, a silver ring with a series of Maltese ...

... whilst over that way were the ancient temples of Hagar Qim, and Mnajdra. The age of these temples is absolutely ridiculous. Hagar Qim dates back to 3200BC and Mnajdra to 3600BC. These and other temples on Malta and Gozo are regarded as the oldest man made structures ever discovered. It is almost impossible for me to get a gage on how old that really is. Coming from Tassie, where most structures date back 150 years at the most, I thought stuff 2000 ...

... had hurt him and how it was his road. Then, like a freaky apparition in Sixth Sense, the biker reappeared in front of our bus at the next stop. I was afraid the driver was going to run him over but instead there was more shouting and the biker hit our bus a couple times. We sped onwards, skipping the next couple of stops so the biker wouldn't be able to catch up. So, after using public transportation for the first time we were all a bit startled and shook up. I ...