Maybe it’s an age thing, maybe it’s a me thing…as I successfully fill in my days wandering and relaxing….and enjoying my people time and just me time!
Malta is Malta, warm, loud, busy and always never ceases to fill my heart with something that is just part of me! The sunshine (every day) possibly has something to do with it and I can’t help but feel a little sad for my family and friends getting through their winter chills and rain!
A week has flown by and i have filled it with swims….
Balluta Bay – which entailed two bus rides each way, some standing…an hour floating in the cool water with my friend Charles, a coffee before and a cool beer at a cafe afterwards!
A visit to Valletta (by bus again)…
To meet my cousin and her baby, a cool beer for me and an iced cappuccino for her…
A car ride to Pretty Bay in the south…sandy beach….where I dipped in and out of the water and read my book.
Car maintenance, Vivienne was a little reluctant to get going in the mornings so took her to a mechanic (English speaking) who cleared the Maltese dust from her starter motor hoses and check the spark plugs…meanwhile I walked to the three cities, my favourite part of the island.
Playing dodgems with cars as I raced through the tunnels of the gates – this one St Helen’s gate to Bormla – now restored, as the top of the wall had been crumbling away for years and was only serving as a dog toilet last time I walked on it!
Green spaces now finished at the entrance to Birgu, the next old city I wandered through looking for a bank machine so I could get cash to pay mechanic!
This is one of the most beautiful of the three cities, most buildings lovingly restored to their original state….unlike the more touristy and residential areas where the old structures are being torn down in favour of high rise apartment blocks!
The money machine there out of service…so down to the harbour..
And a familiar sight of all the $$$$ siting in the sea…being July, the holiday season here…all the big boys (super yachts) are all out on the Mediterranean, entertaining the rich and famous!
Still in search of that elusive money machine (that worked) last stop back to Bormla to the bank…
More green spaces being well tended…I am really impressed with the areas that have been made back into grass around the cities, making for a much less dusty environment and attractive open spaces! The morning was now getting hot…after a couple of days reprieve with a sea breeze blowing in so I bused it back to where I had dropped the car…expecting another hour or so to fill in!
Steven, the Maltese/English speaking mechanic phoned me not long after I arrived and I marched up to collect Vivienne…€20 later (who gets anything done in their car in NZ for $40) we headed to the supermarket and home….
For another afternoon of book reading and Tennis…yes I have managed to navigate the 500 internet channels here and find Wimbledon…which is now down to the last 4 players standing!
All who wander are not Lost girls 