Welcome to Malta!

On Thursday… I travelled 11 hours from Fumel to Malta…2 trains, bus, airplane (Ryan air of course delayed) and arrived after 10pm at night….

Sally and I left Monsempron Libos together…. On a delayed train around 11.45 am…we were hoping to get lunch in Agen before we took off on trains in opposite directions…

The young station master at Monsempron…has the same Peugeot bike as me … we had a wee chat… 1976 model, but his is only one gear (mine has three) and mine definitely needs a birthday! – Kevin brought mine back to NZ in a container in the early 2000’s …. He brought it from a market in France … project bike restore for me is in order when I return!

Sally and I managed a quick lunch at Agen…before she boarded her train for Paris and me to Toulouse…although the platform I had to run to..,seemed like I was halfway to Toulouse before I even boarded the train!

Off the train and on a bus to the airport … I had about 2.5 hours before take off … but Ryanair…one thing you can almost guarantee is that by the afternoon they are always delayed… the gate came up and 45 minutes before takeoff…the announcement came! It was kind of obvious as there was no plane for us to board!

So another hour before boarding, by which time the French rugby teams (a ladies and a men’s) sharing this flight with me were well on the way to being drunk! French rugby teams are loud at the best of times so you can imagine how the flight went…no one sat down when asked…and more alcohol imbibed, and the yelling from one end of the plane to the other got louder and louder during the two and a half hours of lockdown in this confined space!

However the sky(sun) set was spectacular…as we headed towards the tiny island of Malta!

One more final Bolt (taxi) ride…and home to Kevin’s apartments by 10.30pm…

I sat on the dusty terrace (as no one has been here for three weeks) and drank the one cold Cisk Excel… to unwind after another 11 hour travelling day.

Thank goodness the new watering system has been doing its job and for the first time in three years I do not have to nurse dead plants back to life!

Yesterday was a catch up day..,terrace clean, laundry, bank visit and supermarket shop! And a little afternoon nap…before navigating the 500 TV channels and finding Wimbledon (tennis games) and World Cup soccer…and even the All Blacks test (Rugby) against France this morning…thank you Irish TV! Seems UK TV channels have decided they don’t want to talk to me (no sound) … Sooo …. Ireland you rock!

Today…Saturday, after watching the Allblacks close out France (just).., I was off to visit my cousins in Attard…However, as my Vivienne (car) is still in the garage, I am to use Kevin’s 4 door Subaru…realising last night that he had omitted to list me on the insurance, I will not drive this on Maltese roads until coveted…I decided (at 11am to walk the 8 kms – rather than bus) to my cousins! I know 8.5!kms after Camino walking seems pathetic…but in the heat of the day….through Malta landscape…believe me it was enough! Especially with only Teva sandals that livened up my broken toe blister!

Leaving Paola…I still had a shady side of the road and the Addorata church and cemetery rose high into the now clear blue 30 + degree sky’s

I was a little nervous.., how I would get under or over the spaghetti junction of motorways at Marsa at the bottom of the hill…

However, surprisingly enough there is a cycle and walking track under and alongside… and only me on it at this ridiculous hot time of the day…

Seeing things I have never seen before…a sparkly piece of art, never noticed as I have zoomed along the bypasses in my car!

I asked google to avoid main and busy roads…so here I was heading past farmland and stables (relating to the race track)

Sandals not ideal on once again stone roads… but without traffic…and with the aromas of horses pens…I felt like I was in the countryside again! …. Which is not a common occurrence in Malta!

I went through a couple of more built up areas..found a seat almost in the shade outside the Statue of the assumption of our lady and Church … dating back to the 1500’s… church closed in the early afternoon as everything in Malta is at this time of the year… all close at midday until 4pm!

By now nursing the rejuvenated toe bluster from the sandal buckle… this route took me along country farm roads which, in all my 40 years of visiting here, I have never travelled… walking is a gift to find new places!

This garden rocking the sunflower growth …. These ones over 7 foot tall!! That is a challenge for me when I plant my sunflowers in spring!

Rows of horticulture… the downside: no shade and warm water(I could have made a cup of tea) ….still a few kms from my destination…. I had no choice…but to keep putting one foot in front of the other…with a wet T/shirt competition going on!

Stone fences and shrine to “our Lady” marking the side roads…

Some big lifestyle blocks behind stone walls and bougainvillea thriving in these dry and rocky conditions..

I finally emerged from the farmland back onto the main drag and found a pastizzi (pie) shop that sold cold drinks and had a small table inside in front of a big fan!

I inhaled a 600ml of Coca Cola (cold) and sat for 20 minutes even though I was only 15 minutes from my destination!

I finally arrived at my cousins, who all thought I was mad walking in the heat of the day…and sat in the airconned kitchen for half an hour…cooling off and drinking water… spent a lovely afternoon catching up on the last 8 months since I was here and got dropped back by my cousin (a taxi was definitely on my radar) via a favourite old haunt in Bormla ….Rouge cafe for a cool evening ‘Pina Colada’ …

Actually two…as I just made the happy hour timeframe!

My Cousin dropped me back to the apartment…and my old neighbour was on the doorstep…so I sat with her for a bit before heading up to the penthouse…

World Cup soccer on…shower soon… but a cold Cisk Excel…. (Beer) first!