Navigate the check in process at Frankfurt international airport…with only machines for assistance….human assistance limited to raised eyebrows to indicate “I’m coming”….then don’t…meanwhile your screen keeps timing out and threatening to close….meaning re-entering of all my details (times like these I do wish my email address was shorter!)

I got there in the end and am now somewhere between Frankfurt and Houston Texas…above the Atlantic sea…west of Scotland and Ireland!

Roll back to yesterday’s journey.…woke up to drizzle in Zurich, but by 9.30am, when I needed to leave it was clearing up….

Moritz was either wanting to come with me or making sure I left….I’ll take the first option, someone in the world will miss me!!!

A short stroll to the bus stop…Verena pushing her bike and me dragging the suitcase!

I (and bags) took the bus and Verena rode to me meet me at the first train station…making sure I caught the right train to the Zurich Central!

The famous Swiss train cl0vk…

Getting there with a bit more than half an hour before my long haul (milk run) train left for Frankfurt… I found the platform and waited there for my train to arrive and Florian to pop down from work to make sure I got on the right one!

Four hours of stop start…train ride, my window seat was actually a wall, so there was nothing scenic about my journey…and my travel buddy hadn’t showered for a few days! Needless to say I was quite pleased when I disembarked into the jungle that is Frankfurt Main station in the middle of the city!

I had a plan that I would exit the station and walk a couple of blocks away before ordering my uber!

Exiting the station was the first challenge…then lugging aforementioned suitcase across a couple of blocks… oblivious of direction…venturing into a very Arabic (men’s) quarter decided it was probably time to order my taxi!

Made it to my hotel…around 4.30 and waited for the bar to open at 5pm to reward myself with a nice cool beer after my large transport day!

The bat a museum of German aviation!

The trouble is with us Bonnici’s….one is never enough….and three or four pints later I stumbled into bed setting my phone alarm for an early start….needing to be at Airport check-in at 7am!

Woke this morning with a slightly (ok very) dusty head…forced a bit of breakfast on my protesting tummy, couldn’t take a coffee (that says it all) sipped on water, while waiting for shuttle bus to airport terminal…and waded my way through the overwhelming ,earlier mentioned, check in process… while trying keep my stomach on the inside

And just to test my limits…yes the gate Z69 was the furtherest away! thank goodness for travelators!

With two hours before take off…a doze and finally a coffee! I almost felt normal before boarding! And hitting the airways!

And the plane is very empty…I have a row of three seats to myself…,and have spread out in a lying position with my nose in my new book!! “I’m off then” a story of one man’s journey on the Camino I walked….so far…there are many parallels!

Yes folks…days have passed as you have probably guessed and I’m now in Lake Jackson Texas… but I will do another story soon!

Yesterday was family day, Florian had the day off and we collected his mum and took her to the Zurich Zoo….so my pictures are for the kids (or kids at heart!)

First up the penguins!

Then the pink flamingos…thriving and breeding in captivity….note the fluffy grey balls, they are the babies!

Then Trudy’s (Florian’s mum) favorite…. the Gelada Baboons!

It was another very pleasant 25 degree day with a bit of cloud cover!

As we headed towards the African wild lands…

The Baobab tress, looking very real, but are not! These are native to Africa, Australia and Madagascar and have been artificially replicated here in Zurich(for animal satisfaction) …….and like the Auckland zoo, there is a fine line between human satisfaction and animal satisfaction!

A zebra safari plane…not going anywhere!

The meerkats busily on display…this mumma feeding its baby while keeping lookout!

These rhinoceroses playing ball for the humans….oblivious of how close they are!

A Safari bus…no longer running…

The Zebras finally came close enough (while we were eating our sandwich) for a photoshoot! In the distance, there were ostriches, giraffes and springboks! But these guys were definitely taking advantage of the animal privileges of roaming on the far side!

Around the corner…one elephant (there are three evidently) was circling his domain and giving us snap happy onlookers a good photo opportunity!

We then went in search of the big cats (lions, leopards, pumas etc….this was definitely an animal satisfaction area and human viewers were not rewarded…we did however reward ourselves with an ice cream here after an uphill climb!

Then it was the monkey area!

The gorilla spent several minutes eyeballing me(or so it seemed!…maybe the white hair!)

While the gibbons were just hanging around!

Florian and I had a bit of a workout! When it came to pushing Trudy’s wheelchair up hill…she did walk some of them which was good…. even though, I have a few butt muscles I can feel today!

After several hours of zoo meandering we headed home around 3.30! Via the bottle store and supermarket

A meter of beer on offer….and for those less ambitious…..

A half meter! I splashed out on a mini bottle of fireball whisky as my throat was getting sore again…and took only a small shot (it was terrible tasting) when I got home….then slept for an hour an a half before our dinner date! Sore throat gone so my medication worked! And I was ready to party again… as if my 10000 steps (from the zoo) was not enough we walked to the restaurant another 1.5 kms..,

To meet Florian’s brother who is also a Camino addict….so we could swap stories! The ones you don’t write!

Benjamin, Verena and I…after our pizza! This time I avoided the calzone option and ordered a small one (that was still the size of a dinner plate) and slightly familiar….a Swiss Hawaiian version with a couple of pieces of pineapple on it!

As we walked home the lightening and thunder was rolling in and we had rain overnight…

And this morning….as Benjamin was off to school with his brolly!

While Verena worked, I repacked ready for my travels to Frankfurt (Germany) tomorrow…

Gave the cats their new pine cone toy (I had collected from the Zoo!) And finished my book (one less thing to pack)

This afternoon it cleared up and Verena shut her computer and we were out the door to walk through the farmlands…

Cabbages… we are only 5 minutes from the apartment and in the country!

Deer…the Bambi type with spots!

Apple trees….

Grapevines….also pear and plum orchards, fields of lettuce and corn and even a newly planted olive grove! Then on to the animal farm area….

The water buffalo’s…this big baby still drinking from his mum..,

And this little baby just wanting an ear scratch!

The big boys under cover licking up the last of their feed.. they are all very friendly and gentle and come to humans for a pat!

Stretching the legs for another 10000 steps…as tomorrow will be an upper body workout lugging my suitcase around train stations!

This evening Florian arrived home in full kit…

It was the annual new uniform issue day at work…and Verena got very excited as she hasn’t seen him in full uniform for years (now not on the streets) !!! But she does love her man in uniform!!!!

Sunday is a family day and the plans were for a hike in the Rigi mountain area! When your hosts secure the deal of the century – an all day transport pass, that included….Buses, trains, Ferries, gondolas, and special trains in the mountains….you take them all, and we did following a carefully planned itinerary to include an 8 km hike in the mountains!

Departing at 8.15am we caught the Bus to Zurich Oerlikon train station and train to Zurich central….

From Zurich main station we took the train to Lucerne…a town on the edge of Lake Lucerne

Timed perfectly to catch the Ferry to Weggis (pronounced Vegas) a town at the base of the Rigi Mountain range….heading towards our hike!

Looking back at Lucerne…

Soaking up the sunshine and the views of the surrounding mountains from the Ferry ride…

The sky was clear with a few clouds wafting in and out!

Not quite there yet…and as we didn’t want to start the hike with a practically vertical climb, it was gondola time! My height aversion swallowed with a gulp!

Sticking to a tight timeframe we had a 15 minute (run) up hill to Gondola which would take us to the start of our walk!

Standing room only in a very crowded claustrophobic space…I kept breathing…

As we ascended suspended!

Higher and higher, leaving the town of Weggis looking like a bunch of Lego blocks in the distance! ….

To Rigi Kaltbad (elevation 1433 meters above sea level)

To where we started the walk….the panoramic circuit…to finish in the mountain village of Rigi Scheidegg(elevation 1659 meters above sea level)…feet on solid ground and breathing back to normal! So off we went…Florian and Verena honing their geo caching skills on the way!

While I soaked up the views (and the cool mountain air) and Benjamin…

Took the chance to rest!

It was a gradual incline, with a couple of steeper bits only elevating just over 700 feet in total…not much downhill which is good for the knees, which have been lying low for a while!

Heralded all the way with the clanging of cow bells…very noisy at times as these guys were continually chomping at the grass, nice and lush in these mountain areas!

As We kept on walking….while the geocachers did their thing in our wake!

The clouds rolled in and out…and on the odd occasion we could see the higher snow capped peaks in the distance!

And looking down to the flatter areas in the distance…as we were following an old railway trail, that closed down in 1942 due to lack of funds for maintenance….

This trail would not be complete without a tunnel!

Nearing the top and more than ready for the celebratory beverage…the panorama of the hills, lakes and mountains unfolded before us!

The place of beverages…which halfway through my rather large bottle of beer, it was decided that we needed to get a wiggle on and race for the downhill gondola! With a more traditional resealable top, Florian bagged up my beer and off we went to catch another breathtaking (literally) gondola decent!

Distracted only by some playful goats…to queue up for the 14 person claustrophobic, stomach churning ride down!

As we waited at the top….we were once again at a tight timeframe to meet our next transport option in Krabel

We made it without me passing out with only a minute to spare…to catch this Special cog wheel powered train to Arth….the town at the bottom!

From here we rode the Bus to the lakefront in Arth…to catch the late afternoon Ferry…

With half an hour up my sleeve, I managed to finish my beer and decompress after the hurried steep decent!

The Ferry arrived and we boarded to spend an hour cruising Lake Zug to Zug township!

A roof top terrace (open air) table was secured…and a leisurely hour snacking and rehydrating was had by all!

A March through Zug town to catch the Train to Zurich central station, change over and another Train to Zurich oerlikon, filled by a Bus home

12kms! Walking….lots of public transport, a few refreshment stops, geocaching and a good break in for my new Salomon’s (tramping shoes…

Yes I am in Zurich now!

However, my last week in Malta was spent with my brother Kev, as I coughed and sweated the days away with a busy social calendar!

The weekend began with catch ups with friends of Kevin’s…. Lunch on Friday in an air conditioned cafe in Birgu, and drinks on the Paola terrace Saturday evening…I though I was working through my cold quite nicely, although it is difficult to tell if one has a temperature or one is just generally hot in the Maltese long summer! and culminated in a family dinner on Sunday evening with the cousins!

I had ordered a Pizza, but it turned out it was an enormous Italian Calzone! A folded in half pizza, which I shared around the table, complemented with copious glasses of water to stave off the throat tickle!

And followed by a night of disturbing Kevin (me coughing) which encouraged me to get back to the doctor Monday morning!

After a 2.5 hour wait (hearing everyone around me bark like I was) at the clinic I spent 5 minutes with the doctor who gave me a dose of antibiotics and cough mixture!

Neither of which worked for the next couple of days…as I lay low out of the heat in the aircon! Sleeping and reading!

Wednesday we ventured out…in the morning bussing to Valletta…I was in search of a book! But before hitting the madness of Valletta streets with the boat people we wandered around the Argotti botanic gardens in Floriana(just out side Valetta)

Only a sprinkling of humans and some shady trees!

This is where Kevin every year in his duties as honorary NZ consul did his Anzac wreath laying!

Just outside the gardens is this Neo-Gothic building, completed in 1883, and was originally the Floriana Wesleyan Methodist Church, House of Protestant. It was the first building in Malta to use the electric light bulb. In 1975, the building came under the control of the Maltese government and was inaugurated as a centre for cultural activities.

Today it is used by the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra.

The building also houses a subterranean hall, which was known as the Lamplough Hall which, during the last war, accommodated British servicemen, as was the case with the adjacent building, which was known as the Connaught Home and is presently used as an old people’s home.

We then wandered over the bridge and into Valletta – taking a left climb up to the Hastings gardens on the northern wall of the city….again a path less travelled by the masses with fantastic views over…

Manuel Island, with Sliema in the background…

Statues

And out to the Tigne point headland!

It was then time to join the throngs of people and get to the bookshop! Escaping as soon as we could to have a light lunch back in our village of Paola…followed by a long afternoon nap!

Thursday was clean up day before travel day, and also Kevin’s birthday…..the first one we had spent together in years!

I had by now managed to subdue the cough with a cocktail of antibiotics, cough mixture, probiotics and antihistamines! Enough anyway to get to the Senglea waterfront for a celebratory lunch….we walked the 3 kms and sat by the sea in the (warm) sea breeze!

Watching the fish enjoying dim bread scraps another diner had thrown in…

Cooling off with a cool drink (of course)…

Watching the Luzzu rocking in the breeze, moored for the afternoon siesta!

It was a quiet evening as Kev was leaving on a 6am flight back to France and I was leaving on a 3pm flight to Zurich the next day!

I said goodbye to Kev at 4.45am and didn’t really go back to sleep… so got on with the last load of washing, rubbish clearance and close up procedure…. Actually filling in most of the morning and closing the bags for their next journey!

Arriving in Zurich after a 2.5 hour flight actually on time!!! With Florian and his son Benjamin meeting me at the gate! And home to my hotel (their home) for the next few days! Verena in the throes of preparing a delicious BBQ!

And a mere un humid 22degrees…it was heaven!

I had a great sleep with my new bedmate “Moritz”….

He is 7kgs and makes his presence known when he launches himself from the floor to the duvet…with me under it!

Today was Saturday and the plan for the day was a cross border road trip to Liechtenstein which is a small principality, area 160square kms and a population of 35,000…situated on the eastern border of Switzerland and western border of Austria!

Still with a royal family in residence!

On the way there through the mountains…we encountered a car park on the motorway, so had to make a comfort stop 20 minutes out at a BP petrol station overlooking Walensee lake!

Arriving in Vaduz, the capital of Liechtenstein (population 5,000….plus tourists)

The streets dotted with art, cafes and architecture…,

And mopeds lined up….for display?

My Zurich family in front of the Government house…

And no village complete without its gothic church (in this area) St Florin Catholic Church.

A wander through the town…

Glancing at the hill to climb to the royal castle…and taking refreshments before the uphill excursion…

A view from halfway up…over the town and the mountains surrounding…

Arriving at destination castle! The princely house of Liechtenstein dating back to the 12th century and monarchy since this time.

Zooming past was a beautiful red mustang, while we caught our breath overlooking the castle!

From here it was all downhill back to the township….zigzagging on the steep bits to protect those knees…

Perusing the monuments

And enjoying a well deserved iced coffee, ice creams and a cold beer for me!

An executive decision was made at this time…that we would continue north to visit our third country for the day and cross over into Austria..

Leaving Vaduz we looked back at the castle from where had been…

And crossed the border into Austria…stopping at the town of Feldkirch…

Another gothic style church as is the architecture in this part of the world..

Colourful streets…

Innovative lighting options….

And traditional Austrian houses.

Flower balls suspended from the powerlines?

And a vineyard at the edge of town!

A quick, or not so quick, visit to the Spar supermarket…for a cost effective (compared to switzerland) shop before continuing our journey home…with our Michelin chef Verena whipping up a risotto and salads for diner! Three countries in 10 hours! With lots of strolling and relaxing included!

As I said, I am being throughly spoiled and entertained!

The last evening in Palermo provided another great dinner and a surprise venue…,

While waiting for our restaurant of choice to open at 8pm…we found a rooftop bar…

With a pool! And amazing views of Palermo in the setting sun…

City side….

And back to the mountains behind!

We then headed downtown to a seafood restaurant…on the terrace in the heat! The meal was fantastic….but the lack of fans in 40 degrees meant we were red faced even without wine!

Saturday we had a full day and just wandered off in another direction exploring the less travelled streets of Palermo.

Ending up once again near the cathedral on the back side…

With a glass house like structure covering ancient rock (building) excavations… it kind of looked like this may have been Roman baths, but (with google help) these are remains of houses from the Roman era on the streets behind the cathedral.

We escaped the vicious hottest part of the day and retreated to our air conditioned hotel for a very late breakfast … a quick pack up and a visit to the underground spa…for Turkish bath, sauna, swimming in the pool under the caves and a massage!

As our plane was not leaving until 10.30pm we felt it appropriate to hit a local bar for a last cocktail and snack before checking out!

Pina Colada and bruschetta….what more could a girl want! Trying to ignore an increasingly scratchy throat! And cure it with kindness!

While being entertained by the local buskers belting out catchy music….

All good things must come to an end, and around 8pm it was time to go and collect our bags and head to the airport.

This is where the day became difficult…the uber driver could not get up the streets to our pick up and…we had to run a couple of blocks to meet him…we got to the airport with 20 minutes before bag drop closed and we were last in a queue of about 100 others. There appeared to be a problem with the bag rolly thing which kept stopping…there was a young girl in tears, another bunch of chaps getting cross with the staff and a very loud American lady who let everyone knew she could swim to Malta faster!

Meanwhile…having exhausted my water supply…throat was starting to scream at me! Needless to say an hour later(half an hour after bag drop off closed) we unburdened ourselves of the backpacks and headed to customs clearance…only half an hour before scheduled departure! More queues and frustrated people queue jumping….rather chaotic really!

That done, it was off to the gate…….where we finally found out our scheduled flight was delayed an hour….no seats, endless queues at the one cafe (to get water), we hung around the gate, leaning, standing, floor sitting and sweating. Yes the aircon had once again given up the ghost in the heatwave!

Sooo….are you all getting exhausted? We were!!! And thirsty (and in my case throat getting to closing stage!)

Another hour after the scheduled hour delay we finally started moving to embark! And a half hour flight turned into a three hour ordeal! We were due to land at 11.30pm…but we ended up getting in around 2pm….

Raiding my brothers cupboards for a much needed lemsip drink and half a gallon of water later, we finally got to lie flat about 3am Sunday morning!

Jill only had three days left here in Malta, but we had to take a rain (joke) check Sunday for me to sleep away my now full blown summer cold! And Jill to just sleep!

Monday…I dragged myself out of bed and took Jill to the Senglea swimming hole…

Where she cooled off and I sat in the shade breathing in the salt air!

Watching a grandad and his grandson fishing with rolled up bread for bait!

We then went to Birgu (one of the old cities)!for our morning coffee and brunch!

The streets closed and adorned with bunting and angels for the town feast – that has either just been or is coming up next weekend!

Yesterday, Tuesday, we had a quiet morning…me feeling a bit better, with a plethora of drugs I had found in Kevin’s cupboards, we went to our favourite sports bar in Marsascala for lunch and watched the morning session of the European Athletics championships…while filing our tummies for the day…which was then home and rest (for me) and pack for Jill, who left this morning for her next adventure in Istanbul!

Well, if you can’t beat them, join them…we have resigned ourselves to rubbing shoulders with the boat people (cruise ship visitors), independent tourists(lots of French!) and the street vendors!

As we drip our way around the streets of Palermo…stumbling on the sights and sounds and smells (mainly fish and sewerage), we headed deeper inland today, in search of a must see for Jill….the catacombs dei Cappuccini (no not a coffee place)…. But on the way we passed through a street food market…

Along with the usual souvenir “stuff”…this market was full of fish and fresh produce! A big hit to the senses at 9am…

A call with my family back home filled in my market time, while Jill perused the market…and grabbed herself a coffee! I had google mapped the destination to avoid busy roads…and our journey took us up paths less travelled…

Narrow and dusty…but with very little precipitation in the last two months this is to be expected…

A large hotel with planter boxes…a little colour in the otherwise grey and yellow streets of cobbles and sandstone!

As we arrived at our destination point…a funeral was in process, so we had to respectfully skirt around the outside to enter the catacombs….A mere €5 to enter the underground chambers where Sicilian humans have been embalmed and rows and rows of skeletons were on display! Not my cup of tea, but this appeals to Jill’s macabre interest! It was a no photo zone….and seriously why would you?

That done…we headed back towards town as we were now a couple of kms out of the town centre….

Passing through the historic gate into the old town of Palermo…and to our right the palace….

Which is also an exhibition hall, currently showing a collection of impressionist paintings…

By none other than “Monet”

The queues…and the marching processions of boat people meant it would be another frantic run around and one, by this time, we were not in the mindset to handle! The foremost thought in our minds was a cold drink and snack as we had skipped breakfast to get an earlier start!

We walked on, downtown to our tried and tested cafe, with brilliant cocktails (at 11.45an!!!!) and a plate of bruschetta to share…the cocktails were so good, we had to take a second one!

Next attraction….was the No Mafia Museum…

Cool off time before entering into the world of the Sicilian mafia Story…from the 1950s…to the 1980s…all those who tried to stop these drug running, criminal, controlling families and all those who lost their lives (brutally) trying to expose and put a stop to mafia activity in the 1900’s….

Photographed and journaled for future generations!

The gangs of the time…

While the end of this era appeared to happen in the late 1980’s… a lot of innocent lives were lost on the way! And is it over?

Some incredible images captured and shared!

Another deep interest of Jill’s, I left her to it as I was now feeling rather dehydrated and retreated back to our air conditioned room before I threw up!

A couple of hours to bring the body temperature down…and we are good to go again….last day in the town tomorrow- the town with so much going on….

Day 2 in the vibrant city of Palermo…A slower start to the day for more than one reason…

A late night, making the most of hotel aircon, awake for a couple of hours in early hours of the morning (sharing the livestream of my daughter in laws dads farewell with my loved ones) and a slightly dusty head from the Italian Moretti beer!

We decided to head out of the buzzing old town towards the sea!

Well the port at least…taking shaded side streets and once again soaking up the culture…

Decorated windows…

Street bar… with this three legged thing (ornament) that appears in many forms in Sicily! It’s called a Trinacria and represents the triangular shape of the country, the centre Medusa head is a Greek mythology symbol to ward off evil…and the wheat between the legs represents fertility…anyway I find some of these a bit creepy! Actually most of them!

Another street bar, dedicated to orange and aperol spritz…a very popular drink here…

Street Art…

Bar art…

Jellyfish streets with brolly art..

Antique furniture and painting art…just creativity at every corner…However the street walking was building up a sweat (both) a sore knee for me and a thirst for all. Getting closer to the sea, there was a welcome breeze and a cafe in the shade!

Jill and the horses…both wearing white hats!

We had a coffee and wandered off to the neighbouring park for a bit of nature wandering…

Shaded with these enormous Morton bay fig trees…growing up and down…roots as big as the branches..

We found ourselves close to “The Antonio Pasqualino Puppet Museum” and thought we would have some light aircon relief and culture time! We were wrong about the aircon- it was hotter inside…but the display of puppets and marionette’s were vast…a snapshot…

A cluster of knights in shining armour…

Shadow puppets….which are played behind lighted screens…

International African puppets…

A pile of puppet parts portraying aversion to war…

The crusades…

And the darker more sinister puppet stories told!

Having not cooled off…we headed to Portside…

Two huge cruise ships in port…possibly explaining the hundreds of people in the old town…but not this part of town on the east port side we found ourselves in the poorer, less fortunate heart of Palermo…. The Portside parks(which we walked through) housed the homeless population…sleeping on makeshift beds, under trees, the odd park bench…with their worldly possessions scattered around them…making the most of the shade and the sea breeze.

Loitering in this area was not an option…and we headed back from where we had come…

Past the old port structures…to a very Sicilian corner cafe…under some more large trees..

Desperately needing more fluid…

A bottle of water later…followed by a spritzer for Jill and a (small?) beer for me! Our waiter must have thought I looked really thirsty if this is the small one!

I found my favourite Italian steamed mussels on the menu for a mere €8….And as always they were delicious….Beer and mussels, what more could a girl want?

By the time we left this cafe there was not a vacant seat…most filled with locals!!

We had a bit of a hike back to the hotel for an afternoon siesta…more water and a cool off!

Once again navigating the street markets and cafes…with eager sellers of souvenir stuff and lots and lots of Tourists! (Like us I guess at this time we are tourists!)

Nearing 6pm now…(yes past 5 o’clock) we know what this means!!!

As Jill and I ducked and dived in and out of the shaded streets of Malta…and the heatwave sun set….

We sat on our front terrace in the shade….deciding we needed a side trip to another town, another country!

Malta is good for this! So after a couple of beers (for me) and G&Ts (for Jill) we started searching nearby destinations that neither of us had visited!

We have both been to Sicily, but not the northern area…so when a Palermo airfare for €100 each popped up we grabbed it! Then booked ourselves in a luxurious hotel for five nights! Oh well we only live once, as we are both 65 years young.

The weekend passed with meandering around our local area, a visit to Mdina/Rabat on Sunday where we “stumbled” across a street market! And dehydrated ourselves in the late morning heat!

Monday was a shopping excursion to Fgura and a big afternoon Nanna nap!

Tuesday, our day of departure (evening) , we went to st Thomas Bay for an early morning swim…

Glorious morning dipping and drying off on the lookout above the bay…

And the deep swimming holes …. Clear to the bottom… before the heat haze rolled in… after cooling off, we went to the beach pub for coffee and brunch! Which took soooo long and we did not get back home until after 1pm. At which point we needed to wash laundry, shower and pack for our evening departure!

Arriving at the airport (Malta) a little under 2 hours before take off, we were subjected to a small area…malfunctioning aircon, and a 3000 punters waiting for flights! No seats….limited food and drink options….and a sauna for two hours before boarding the plane to Palermo!

Our (free) taxi driver was waiting as we walked out of arrivals….10.15pm! This is the good part! We ran after him to his Taxi, not a word exchanged…he threw us in the back, still no communication, drove at 150kms….to our hotel! OR was it…slammed on his brakes in a busy street 11pm…threw our bags on the street and pointed to a very large closed door! Which happened to be 2kms from our actual hotel! Oh well… (there’s no such thing as a free ride!) However, in good Sicilian culture the world is alive at this time and we trucked through crowds, night markets, bustling cafes…following google maps until we arrived at our destination. Luckily booking an expensive hotel…meant the night porter was waiting…and took us to our air conditioned room explaining the logistics of the hotel! Midnite…,

Breakfast at 8am… on the rooftop terrace overlooking the city of Palermo…our first glimpse of the landscape, as arriving in the middle of the night does not really do it justice!

We then wandered out through our hotel…a 3-400 year old palazzo!

First stop supermarket, water, milk, beer and wine to stock up our fridge! Then off wandering….a thing I do on the first day in any new town. Palermo is the capital city of Sicily, with a population of around 800k(more than Maltas total resident population)

At 9.30am the street were buzzing with market stalls and humans!!

First we stumbled on the four corner fountains…. On our way to the Palermo cathedral….

Cafe’s beckoning us in….

The No Mafia museum…a visit on the to do list…

Street stalls…a dog lover selling doggy adornments….(who Jill annoyed by dropping his merchandise on the street)….move on!

And the cathedral!

Free entry…. Unlike Spain where you had to pay to enter a church….

The alter…

And the outside….a beautiful church! Having done the pilgrim thing….we were once again becoming dehydrated and very damp from sweat! it was time for refreshments…

Alesandro beckoned us into his cafe, where we sat under brollies and had our first Sicilian cocktail on ice (and extra ice!)

Cooled off enough to move again…and perused the locality…looking for a frock that we could wear braless and that didn’t touch our bodies! We got close, but gave up after an hour or so and plonked down at another side street cafe, inhaled two large bottles of water, followed by a beer and wine!

A little more wandering….

Puppets….

Fountains and churches….

Time for a shower before we join the evening throngs for dinner and entertainment!

Another two weeks in Malta have flown by…filled with village feasts, family time and my new flatmate arriving….

Last weekend…began on Thursday evening…with the Paola feast festivities… as the footpaths filled with decorations…

Fireworks lit the skies…

And fireworks banged from daylight to midnight!

Interspersed with music and marching bands..

The village lit up like a Christmas Tree!

And fireworks Ferris wheels cluttered up the squares… culminating in Sunday’s feast!

By Monday afternoon…the roads were open, street bunting removed, lights off and back to business!

The week leading into all this chaos, I spent with family…cleaning, shopping, dinners out and trying to stay in air conditioned spaces, as we weathered the end of the 40-45 degree heatwave…terrace dining was out of the question!

Monday…Brought some cloud cover and a few drops of rain, contractors to repair and paint the back terrace and the arrival of my friend Jill from NZ for a visit…cooling down the temperatures and upping the humidity levels!

A couple of days with juggling our time…letting contractors in and out and cleaning up the plaster dust…

With some street strolling, swimming hole dips and snacks by the sea, watching the boats roll out! We have been cooler this last week, with a breeze (warm) moving the air and finally blowing the clouds away!

Wednesday…we took a bus to Valletta..

For breakfast…got more than we bargained for…as Jill and the waiter had a bit of a communication issue…poached eggs on toast became a full cooked English breakfast!

We then bussed to the university and caught up with my cousin Claire, and after this we decided to walk from there to the coast (Sliema)

Through the university, under tunnels (street art)…

Past the sports fields…actually dirt football pitches and very hot tired trees, barely holding their feet in the ground…dusty backstreets, construction sites, pitted pavements…where my street shoes struggled…with the odd stumble or two! To the (now) hot, tourist filled waterfront of Sliema! Not my favourite place!

Gasping for a cool drink, my non beer drinking mate actually shared a beer with me..to replace some of the lost fluid from our walk!

Thursday was a beach day…a northern sandy beach! Leaving home around 9.30am…we hit the Maltese highways and byways! Navigating by my nose…as my data plan decided this was a good time to run out!

Until we arrived at Riveria bay (or Għajn Tuffieħa) where I could log in to the cafe internet and purchase the next month of data! On arrival…the beach was filling up but comfortable for our couple of chairs and brolly! By midday…

We could have held hands with our neighbours… the beach had filled up with tourists…not many locals frequent these popular (well known) “best” beaches in Malta!

We sardined it out until about 2pm..reading and swimming, before we tried to grab lunch in the now packed cafe…there is only one on the beach! There was a wait list to sit down, and with 50 or so waiting in front of us…we decided to make our exit!

Up the 200 stairs (felt like 2000) in the hot afternoon sun! Leaving the loungers to an afternoon of hand holding and trying to avoid eye contact with the strangers 5 inches from each other’s half naked bodies!

Starving! We had a quick stop at the cousins on the way south…and continued to the sports bar in Marsaskala..to devour a healthy lunch/dinner in a cool empty space!!! Away from the maddening crowds!

Today is Friday…TV coverage of the Commonwealth games athletics (in Glasgow) is limited to a french channel in the evenings…which is a little odd as the French are not competing!

While my other home in NZ is keeping the fires burning (literally) Malta and me and everyone else in this Northern European world have spent the last week hunting down air-conditioned spaces and swimming holes to keep cool, with average daily temperatures reaching 42 degrees!

My Swiss friends Florian and Verena joined me for a four day mini break from last Thursday and we sweated through our days filled with laughs and fun exploring (mostly the south)

Never leaving home without the swimming gear on board…

The blue skies turning to white in the heat haze that sat heavily on our shoulders from 9am each day…

We took (air conditioned) buses to Sliema to watch the All Blacks test against the Irish on Saturday morning with some other Kiwi expats!

Followed by a a visit to Tigné Point shopping mall to cool down – the malls and shops cranking up the air con!

Busing back to Bormla and Cafe Rouge for some cool cocktails….before

A plunge in the Birgu swimming hole!

A late lunch and uber home!

For our refreshments of choice…after the sun had set!

Sunday we headed off (in car) to Mdina before the crowds…

For coffee and cake on the terrace cafe, a slight breeze overlooking the Malta vista…heat haze rolling in!

A quick peek in the Mdina Church, mass was in progress and we weren’t appropriately dressed to join.

Now, these guys, when on holiday, have this hobby of geocaching…. Finding hidden caches and locations around the world (off a phone app) However in Malta…there searches took us to very exposed places…out in the midday sun!

This playground outside Mdina…was deserted, as it would have been a case of cruelty to send your kids in here for third degree burns!

We took a cool drink in the gardens, before heading to a supermarket followed by a swim on the way home for a late afternoon nap before a big night of football…the World Cup final between Spain and Argentina! Our local (Paola) square was gearing up for a big night with all the cafes big screens lighting up and competing with the pre Feast decorations building up for next weekends celebrations – The feast of Christ the King!

Each day… more bandstands, fireworks regalia, bunting and statues adorn the streets…

By the weekend it will be standing room only, as all the streets will be closed and the footpaths, roads and square will be full of people eating, drinking and celebrating…music and fireworks…

Back to Sunday night….after a ho hum dinner at the band club and an atmosphere level of zero, with about 5 old men chewing the fat…we left and joined the more excited crowd in the square….

Finding a table to watch the game…which started at 9pm our time and didn’t finish until after midnight…the final result sending the local’s (and us) into a loud happy place!

Needless to say…it was a slower start on Monday morning, and as my friends weren’t leaving until the evening…we drove to Senglea…

Took the ferry across the harbour for a visit to Valletta..,

A couple of hours of Geo caching…again in the bright sunshine.. me diving for any street shade…inhaling fluids at every chance!

We sweated out way up and down as we circumnavigated the outside of the city!

Back on the ferry, a cool cocktail, and a dip in the sea…before it was time to say goodbye (for now) … I will visit their home in Zurich when I leave Malta!

This heatwave it’s taking its toll on the terrace garden, even though they get hit with the watering system each evening, so after the sun goes down and before it comes up I give them an extra drink! One for them one for me!

This week is cousin time, before my next guest arrives next Monday! And a bit of housework….washing is a breeze(the shower laundry of the Camino a distant memory) as it dries in 30 minutes on the terrace (day or night)

The thirsty ants are more of a problem (for me) invading the penthouse looking for water! But for anyone that knows me, knows how much I love ants (not) I am winning the war!

It’s now 7.30am and 35 degrees already… so time to hit the cool spots…