Last day in Malta

Other than the Hypogeum, our visit to Malta has been a rather sedate affair, with plenty of relaxing, drinking and eating followed by afternoon naps, so it is not quite as action packed as usual. But it does allow me to contrast the difference in Malta between the last time I visited and now.

A seven pint pitcher of Cisk (the local beer) served in a bubblegum dispenser.

Whilst there are still a large number of tat shops (also known as souvenir shops), it does appear that the nature of the objet d'art is shifting. The rows and rows of plastic Maltese knights you could buy has lessened and been replaced by plastic ashtrays of Rastafarian men displaying their very impressive manhoods!! I can't for the life of me work out a) what connection this has to Malta, and b) who on earth would buy such a souvenir. 

Random merchandise in the shops....

Still, it gave us all a good chuckle at the strangeness of it all. The food has changed slightly in my opinion. It seems to be less expensive than when we came her before, but also some of local restaurants we used to like coming to, had either closed down or had become very average indeed. Maybe it is just that my taste buds have changed.

The answer to my Rastafarian souvenir question was soon answered, as I saw Dan queuing up with a particularly impressive example, whose modesty was only spared by an amazing banana sheath that was strategically placed!!! He explained to me that it was a present for a friend, but I fully expect that item to be pride of place in his house next time I am there!! 

Another thing was that the fun bus seems a little bit less fun than what I can recall. Maybe it is out of season and so doesn't do the late night runs where it goes through all the back streets, ringing its bell and press ganging all the people on board in to waving embarrassedly at all the diners staring at them wondering what the commotion is.

The above is all just filler, as today, being our last full day in Malta, we have done a few of the necessary tourist bits, like shopping for presents and the like. The aim was to get stuff done and have an early night as we needed to be up early in the morning.

So we just went to the aquarium today, to idle away a couple of hours. I have to say it was not a bad experience at all. While it was limited in size, it was lovely to visit all the tanks and not have school parties of screaming children running around and blocking your view. It was slightly spoiled for Dan and Symmie, who seemed to get collared by an enthusiastic helper inside who stalked them throughout the whole aquarium pointing out the various fish.

Some aquarium snaps - a Lionfish

Not sure why they have a submerged statue of Jesus in the aquarium...

A silver fish thing, which I have forgotten the name of, so lets pretend it is a Sea Bass.

 Still I had my own issues to deal with as right at the end of the tour, there is a mahoosive tank with the largest crabs you are ever likely to see in (aquaria always seem to save those until the end). Sarah has a very strong dislike of crustaceans, and so i had negotiate her way around the end of the tour like someone leading a blind person!!

****Sarah, if you are reading this, look away now******

Biiiiiggggg crab. The Japanese spider crab (Sarah ran when she saw this!)

After the aquarium we did the necessary packing up before going for a final meal. The weather here has changed fore past couple of evenings as it has been a bit cloudier during the day, which has actually made the island more humid and sweltering than at the start of the week. It has also meant that in the evenings there have been some very impressive thunderstorms. 

Still that is about all the is to say from our return to Malta, it has been a lovely surprise holiday for me, and now my thoughts turn to returning to reality again. The next adventure will be our honeymoon to......well that would be telling, wouldn't it.  ;)