Holiday hijinks

Carboot successful if somewhat sweaty – imagine a dust covered soccer pitch in 35 degrees- 8 am in the morning! Dragging thru piles of second had clothes with Everyone else that had ventured out early on a Sunday morning!

The haul! €8 euros each – something for everyone! We will keep you guessing!

Throwing the stash into the boot of our car, I cracked my head on the latch and had a few minutes of dizziness and an ongoing egg just above my temple – feeling a little queasy it was a wander through Birgu (before the sun hit the south side), a coffee (actually 2) in the square and along this area and through the narrow division to the north side…

The isthmus that separates Birgu from Fort St Angelo! And the super yacht harbour…

We watched this big girl come to rest a couple of days ago! Then, being a Sunday we took a quick visit to the supermarket before 1pm closing! Groceries unloaded we the needed an ocean dip – A harbour plunge and coctail (strawberry daiquiri) and a refreshing salad for a late lunch!

Monday, no work(just a couple of email forwardings) and I took Jill to St. Peter’s pool, before the crowds! Today, Monday, was a public holiday – St Mary’s day, the day the US arrived in 1942 with supplies that rescued the impoverished, hungry and almost ready to throw in the towel Maltese people!

It was a quick dip as the southerly winds were creating a bit of a swell into the rocks and there were jellyfish in the upper reaches of the pool that we wanted to avoid!

We had booked, the one thing I really wanted to do – the underground tunnels of Valletta (the capital city fortress) tour at 1pm. Easiest to catch a bus and time for a relaxing coffee at a Maltese bar beforehand…

In the shade and coolness of the stone Arches!

Then, “Underground Valletta” the water tunnels from the 1500s, and later the war shelters for 38000 residents of Valletta in the Second World War – when Malta was the most bombed country in this seige! The Maltese lived underground for up to three years, in damp tunnels and on very strict food rations! Their homes razed to the ground by German bombs!

Small 3×3 carved out rooms housed families up to 8 people!

The ancient water reservoirs(from the 1500s) letting in oxygen and a small glimpse of the outside world!

Tunnels dug out and crisscrossing the full fortress (area of the city under seige above) Valletta – electricity minimal(and unreliable) with the bombings and candles lit the way – cooking only done at the entrances so as not to decrease the oxygen levels! A tour certainly worth doing for anyone visiting Malta to experience the darkness and dampness of underground living in WWII – I can certainly understand why my grandfather chose to leave and make a new life in New Zealand as a young man!

We emerged cool into the mid afternoon heat (after an hour underground) and headed to the Upper Baracka garden cafe for a cool beer before catching the bus home!

Showers, washing and packing for our excursion tomorrow to Gozo(the smaller Maltese island) for a couple of days! Road and car ferry trip! 6am wake up call!