Community Highlights Europe Our last day in Malta

Our last day in Malta

With no plans until 10.00 this morning I took my time getting up and ready. Some of us enjoyed a leisurely breakfast sitting outside at the pool. Later one of the receptionists told me that the manager had agreed to refund my one night's stay to compensate for the shower fault on the first few days.

Exploring Sliema

I met up with Isa and Colin to go for a walk around our immediate part of Sliema, the oldest and most authentically Maltese. We took lots of photos of various building details.

I was especially taken with the many signs of the devout faith of the Maltese people, although Tony (our guide in Valetta and Mdina) had told us this was in decline, the churches losing 1% of church-goers each year. There were statues of saints on many of the street corners.

And very many houses had little images by the front door.

Ballutta Bay

It was another hot morning so when we found ourselves near Ballutta Bay we made our way down a steep street to a bar overlooking the sea where we enjoyed drinks (my ‘Virgin Mule' was excellent).

Isa then went in search of lunch while Colin and I made our way back up the hill to cool off for a while at the hotel.

Harbour cruise

In the afternoon we were all going on a cruise around the two harbours. I decided to walk down to the departure point with Isa and got a few more nice photos on the way. We even passed a bar displaying a Newcastle United scarf! But Isa was confused about where we needed to be, so we had to get a Bolt in order to be there on time!

Once everyone arrived we boarded the boat. It wasn’t a private tour and was pretty full, but I managed to get a seat on the upper deck with Isa and many of the others. However Isa, Colin and I spent much of the time standing and taking photos of the cities and coastal scenes.

When we got back to the dock Diana shared out some cakes she had bought to mark Jonathan’s birthday. I had some traditional Maltese bread pudding which was very good. I then went for a drink with some of the others on a nearby terrace with great views. We enjoyed watching the different sparrows who came for the many crumbs dropped on the floor!

We then took a Bolt back to the hotel to freshen up and change for dinner. I checked in for my flight tomorrow, sorted some photos and did a little packing.

Dinner was in Valetta, in Nenu the Artisan Baker restaurant, the same mini chain that owned the restaurant where we had lunch in Mgarr. The menu was very similar to that one but with even more variety in the starters and fish as well as meat for the main course. Oh, and the pasta dish was lasagne rather than rigatoni.

For me this was the nicest of the three places we had our official dinners – better food than on Friday evening and not so hot and noisy as on Saturday. We lingered rather longer after the meal, with lots of goodbyes to be said, and of course lots of ‘See you next year in Liverpool’.

PS

There is little to say about the following day. Many of my friends had left very early but I had time for a leisurely breakfast by the pool with Malena, who was staying on for a couple of days to do some hiking.

The Bolt I had pre-booked for my transfer to the airport cam slightly later than planned but still in plenty of time. My chatty driver pointed out some sights as we drove and, when I commented on the amount of construction, replied that he thought Malta would sink into the sea under the weight of it one day!

I had time at the airport to do a little bit of shopping (chocolate to take home to Chris and a sandwich and drink for the flight). When my gate was announced I had to go through passport control, with a longish queue, and there was also a delay in boarding, but we took off only a little late.

I’d managed to secure my preferred window seat for the flight home and had great views soon after take-off. I could see the stretch of coast where Malena would by now be walking., and Gozo beyond.

The flight passed quickly. I ate the sandwich I’d brought on board, read a bit and sorted through some photos. Soon we were landing at Gatwick. I took the train into London Victoria and from there the Tube back to Ealing. Euromeet was over for another year.

This featured blog entry was written by ToonSarah from the blog Travel with me ....
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