Back from Malta

July 13th 2014

 

It was difficult leaving Malta….it  was a really memorable  trip, as any holiday is, but it went on and on for 3 months and I liked the serendipitous quality of the trip…..not too much planning only asking for dates that friends were arriving – asking them what they wanted out of their break, for example,  sightseeing or beach or just lazing around with good food and wine.  In the early weeks the weather was much cooler with daylight ending around 5pm, so we set off for the day to see more of the south of the island, as we pretty much knew the north area, or so we thought.  About a week before we left we uncovered St Paul’s Bay because the road to St Paul’s Bay horseshoed off the only road to take you away from the north and we kept saying “we must drive up that way” but never did until a couple of weeks before we left.  We had a request from a guy we met at a beach bar to come to his new restaurant/bar venture to have a drink….which we did.  We had found a beautiful bay that we would like to see more of, which we will next time we go. Malta is full of hidden gems and although I prefer the drive around the coastline….inland there are some beautiful villages that are totally unspoilt.

Upon arriving home to Kent we were pleasantly surprised when we saw the garden, although overgrown, it wasn’t too bad.  So the next couple of days we spent clearing the weeds, mowing the grass and cleaning the cobwebs from the house. Luckily we had come home to good weather. The next thing we had to tackle was the floor in our lounge and hallway, as before we went to Malta we had a leak from the tap in the bathroom that flooded our wooden floors……it had been leaking for nearly two hours! The day after the leak, the hallway floor and part of our lounge floor had swollen and lifted so we knew we had to renew the whole area.  It’s all been done now which was an epic task as we had to move all the furniture out of the lounge area and box up all the books and knick- knacks into other rooms. The washing machine had also been leaking so we replaced that too!  The car didn’t pass its MOT…..so I guess that’s the third thing to happen and hopefully the last! That’s life!!  We took a lackadaisical approach to all this work……..I think our 3 month trip did us the world of good.

Rip off Britain comes to mind when I think of Malta.  Don’t get me wrong, I love the UK, in so many ways as it offers such diversity like Snowdonia Mountain in Wales and the lush green open spaces of the West Country (including the historic Jurassic coastline and distinctive coastline and villages of Devon and Cornwall …..that I know so well).  The North of England  (like Cumbria and Scotland and it’s Islands, that I don’t know so well and it’s cold up there!!).  I plan to visit beautiful Ireland - as I have only been to Dublin (shame on me…having got Irish connections!).  Malta doesn’t offer any of that, although the coastline, being a small island, is stunningly beautiful (jagged, rocky and unique, it surrounds you everywhere you travel.  Malta is not noted for its beaches and the sea is usually calm and serene but the sea has always called me!  There are other places in the world I would like to see but if for some reason, I couldn’t - I would be more than happy to have spent a few months in Malta.

It’s great having free time to explore and be ‘be selfish’ in a free society like Malta …we can move about  Europe  so easily and we want to and will explore more of Spain.  Which leads me nicely to ‘Our trip to Spain’