Home again

We arrive back from Malta yesterday afternoon, and it was rather depressing to leave cloudless sunny skies and return to rain laden clouds of England. Who would have thought we were in a drought, eh? Indeed on the flight home you could see the change in conditions as we flew. The Mediterranean was cloudless and beaming sunshine; the south of France was sunny with a few scattered clouds; the north of France was a bit cloudier still, but generally looked nice down there. The channel was where it all changed, the clouds thickened, we hit some turbulence, and our descent was through thick layers of rain clouds.

The main square in Bugibba, where most of our cocktails were consumed

 

A side street where we used to dine at get our late night gelato from......

 

After gloating slightly about the lovely weather in the blog, it was some degree of karma that we were greeted by rain. Still, that is England for you and in a strange way it is nice to be back (I must be mad!!). Anyway, as is usual, here are the thing I have learned from my trip to Malta.

 

Cuisine

1. The salt cellars are always full of wet salt the rice they put in to absorb the moisture cannot compete in this humidity.

2. Cider options in the majority of restaurants consists of Woodpecker or Strongbow

3. Starter portion sizes are often as big as a main meal.

4. If you don't order bread and oil as a starter the restaurant will bring you out a basket anyway and not charge you for it.

A lizard takes a liking to my cocktail fruit.....

 

Travel

1. The fun bus is not any fun at all, it is an hours worth of embarrassment as you are paraded past pubs and eateries so all their patrons can see who was foolish enough to buy a ticket.

2. It may be a small island but it takes a while to get from A to B by the bus. That said, it is very reasonably priced, and the service is thorough.

3. The sightseeing tours are not really worth the money, as most of the places they take you are not worth seeing. Also for the ladies, it is advisable to buy a hat when sitting on the top deck.

4. When arranging for a private tour, ask for Ralph - you won't regret it. I am sure he will have some new death stories to impart as well.

 

Culture

1. When visiting Malta, pre-book a visit to the hypogeum, by the time you get in country, it will be too late as they are usually booked a month in advance.

2. Skorba temple is not really worth the entrance fee.

3. Temples are the most unvisited part of the island.

4. You can't get good catacombs pictures with an iPad camera.

One of my many pics of the catacombs - clear as mud.....

 

Well, that is about it for this year, I need to return to reality and start saving up for the next adventure....so this is Mouseburger signing off until the next time......