'Fry'day

 

Another scorcher from the start of my day, I shouldn't complain as I will be returning to a much colder UK.

I have to say that I am dreaming of a cool breeze, any hint of that would be lovely, and Malta does have a windy season ( Autumn, Winter) which is because the islands are relatively flat and surrounded by  open seas.

Something else that I found out is that  despite seeing so many palm trees on the island they rarely see the fruit come to its ripened state due to  the autumn/winter weather.

I decided to have a quiet day today, no long stroll this morning, I went off to The Village Cafe  for scrambled egg on toast for my breakfast and then  came back to sort out some of my case.

Then I headed off to the pool and  to the quiet of the upper sundeck. I even managed 40 winks ( 20 mins). which is much needed.

I started a new book, my 4th book of the holiday, I love the luxury of time to do nothing but read, it really does feel very decadent to me, who is often time poor.

As you know my holidays are usually at top speed, but I have been busy in the background making notes of other things.

My evening was equally a quiet, with a light dinner  round the corner, just homemade soup and mineral water !!!???? Yes I know, but I am being sensible because of the heat.

And that was pretty much my day, nothing much to write about, but a day to just relax.

Tired Thursday

 I started off my holiday with naps and decent sleep but as the temperatures have risen and remained high through the night even with the air con on low, I have at best had 4 hours sleep and now feel totally drained. I do not like sleeping with aircon on which goes back to me living in Marbella in the 80's and being warned not to, despite hoping that aircon is better than back then I still am loath to do it.

I know I sound as if I am whinging but heat and tiredness are not great bedfellows ( no pun intended).

I had been feeling a little out of sorts on Wednesday with eye pain, when I woke up after about 3 hours sleep, the pain was really bad and the scratching feeling warned me that a stye was incoming, so warm water bathing would be on the cards for the next few days. It didn't take much for me to realise that all the stress of the last few weeks  had probably contributed to this.

Anyway back to what I got up to yesterday. I set off on my morning bimble and headed down towards the sea before turning onto a side street. I walked along past the wheelie bins and food waste bags and found what I was looking for. The church of St Maximilian Kolbe.

Maximilian Kolbe was  a Franciscan monk who volunteered to die in place of Franciszek Gajowniczekb in Auschwitz, during WWII. He was venerated as Patron Saint of amateur radio operators, drug addicts political prisoners, families, journalists and prisoners.

Sadly the church is not open except for early morning and evening mass. It is a beautiful sandstone building.

I wandered back to the hotel via various side streets, and spotted the most amazing bedframe in a garage doorway, free to a good home, if I could have brought that home I would have loved it.

I stopped for a coffee at a little cafe about 2 mins from my hotel  and to my great surprise they had 'DRY MARTINI' on their menu.

At 9.40am even I thought it was too early but promised myself that I would go back later.

Back at the hotel it was time for a quick change and  head to the pool, I chose to go onto the upper sun deck where there was some shade which gave a little  respite for the sun ( words I never thought I would be uttering.)

By 3pm even I had thrown in the towel, and headed back to my room to see if I could get at least an hours sleep. Not a chance, so I watched France 24 instead ( 'Brexit 10 years of uncertainty ' about the UK is worth a watch).

Showered and dressed, I decided to go for a martini or 2 ( or 3) and they did not disappoint. As they didn't have whole olives they used sliced ones complete with a dash of brine, so my martinis were dirty which I absolutely love. My holiday is complete as I finally got my favourite cocktail.

I picked up a couple of bottles of water and a can of Kinnie ( Maltese aromatic fizzy drink) at the supermarket on my way back and then got settled for the evening hoping to get some sleep.

And today is my last full day here in Malta. I have decided to take it easy, watch the world go by and get myself ready for heading home.

Midweek

 Wednesday arrived with scorching temperatures even at 7am,  I can tell you now I wouldn't mind these temperatures over the summer weekends in the icy wastes of the north east of the UK.

My early morning brisk walk has now turned into a sweaty stroll, but it is lovely to take in the architecture of the town. There is a huge amount of building work taking place, mainly blocks of flats 

obviously to entice families, I had been watching some Maltese TV and on Sunday I watched a talk show where a professor was talking about just this, how they were building flats for families, but where was there space for the children to play outside and where were the  general play areas. On my walk I have noticed that they seem to be slotting these builds into spaces where houses have been taken down. There are no real beaches on this part of the island either so it does make you wonder. I know it is the same now all over the world,

I loved the sandstone architecture which gives the towns a unified appearance, and  sandstone was used for properties that it gives to homes, (heat retention and cooling properties).

I indulged again in a couple of pastizzi with a decaf latte before heading back to the hotel, to lay on a sun lounger take in the surroundings, cover myself in oil and rotate myself like a pig on a spit for a few hours.

The pool here at the hotel is now my best friend as I try to get in 20 lengths a day, I have eaten lunch most days at the hotel pool bar, where the food is very good and has a decent menu. The staff at the pool are a tad lacklustre in their performance of anything.

EXCEPT the daily job of taking 20 sunloungers away and stacking them up and then an hour later unstacking them and scraping them across the tiles back to where they  removed them from. No idea why but it happens daily!

My evening involved heading to an 'Irih pub', not somewhere that I would ever frequent abroad as I always try to go local , but I was tired and didn't want to walk too far. So off I went to 'Molly Malones'. I was looking forward to a Bloody Mary or 2  and some pub grub. Ahh the disappointed when  all that was on offer was pizza and as for a Bloody Mary, bloody hell no chance, and not a dry martini either (all the ingredients were right in front of me over the bar, yes I could have got a measure of each I know but. it would not have been in the right glass and that makes all the difference.)

So pizza and wine was the order of the evening.

A slow walk home through the streets made me realise how run down this part of St Pauls/Bugibba is, I passed 2 hotels that were closed down completely and wonder if these will be replaced with flats. This area must have been a great holiday spot  in the 80's/90's I guess.

I was tucked up in bed by 10pm, tired and feeling a little out of sorts.

Today is hot and sunny and I am off to check out aa local church.

busy busy

 I had decided to go and do some sightseeing yesterday, however was not sure how long it would last.

I decided to do the hop on , hop off bus which would be there every around every half hour if I decided to go back to the hotel.

We took off at pace, with the first stop being Silema. I sat up top just to catch a breeze, but as we left Bugibba, I caught a familiar smell, a fresh, briny smell, something I was used to on holiday many years ago in Torrevieja. We rounded a bend and there were The Bugibba salt carts, the area for the production of sea salt, I was breathing in the smell, which gradually faded into a lung full of diesel fumes.

Silema was a nightmare to get into due to masses of building work, it was sad to see the beautiful centuries old architecture being swamped by blocks of flats and high rise buildings ( like the hideous skyline of London now).

We headed on to Valetta my first stop. I had decided to head to the Co- Cathedral to see the only signed Caravaggio in world and it did not disappoint. A monumental painting approx 12ft by 17ft, it was commissioned by the Knights of Malta

As you know, I love a cathedral so just taking the time for quiet reflection was a huge part of this visit.

I won't bore you with the 3564789244 photos that I took.

This was my main reason for the visit to Valetta and as I have plans to return in cooler months I headed back to get the bus to Mosta.

The rotunda of Mosta is very well known for the fact that a bomb dropped by the germans in WWII  did not detonate, and the 300 people in the church survived. The pilot of the plane that dropped the bomb did return to Mosta to apologise to the people, something that they admired greatly.

As we were approaching the drop off there were so many people waiting to get in that I decided to stay on the bus and head to Mdina, this in turn was much the same and in the heat of the morning, I headed to the roman villa and then back on the bus half an hour later. As I have said I intend to come back to Malta and revisit these places properly.

The bus drive back took us through the countryside, the small vineyards and many poly tunnels producing some of Maltas potatoes and tomatoes. The side to the roads full of huge prickly pears, the fruit for human consumption and the cactus used as animal feed if needed.

I was back at the hotel by early afternoon having left at 7.30am, it was time for  a shower to try to cool off slightly.

I had a late afternoon sleep at the pool, and then decided to get ready  for dinner.

I have taken to wandering the back streets of St Pauls and Bugibba in search of food rather than heading down onto the main strip, last night did not disappoint. About 2 streets behind my hotel and less than 5 minutes walking I found a lovely restaurant where I had spaghetti, with mushrooms, onions and sour cream. Oh my days it was delicious, as was the rose that I washed it down with.

For once I even had dessert. ( and a white Maltese wine )

This was all freshly cooked and was exceptional, and extremely good value.

Today I am heading to a local wine merchant, one of the most respected in Malta to  see what they have to offer.

Pool day

 

My early morning walks seem to be getting earlier, as I try to avoid the heat , which is nigh on impossible, it is 6.40am now and 21c, the temperature having remained a constant all night.

I had noticed how few people were using balconies and how curtains remained closed all day, everyone seems to be trying to keep the heat out. Yes there is air conditioning, but I never run it when I am asleep.

Anyway back to the day that was Monday, I was out walking for over an hour which was more than enough and included a drinks stop and a sit down to watch the world go by.

Back at the hotel , it was time for a swim and pick my choice of sunbeds

This whole set up of loungers fills me with dread, if they were all full it would be horrible.

The pool was welcome relief and gave me a little bit more exercise as I put in 20 lengths.

I decided to have lunch and once again it was exception and way too much

The sandwich filling of goat cheese, tuna and olives was a perfect, I will definitely have this again. Everything was washed down with water, of which I have at least 4 bottles in my fridge in my room. Best to keep hydrated.

I slept and swam most of the afternoon and eventually wrapped it up and headed back for a shower about 5pm, it was still super hot.

I had a travel business call booked in , so took the call whilst having a walk around the area of the hotel ( more about this later).

After the call I thought I would have a 'dry martini', ahhhh how silly I was to think it would be that easy. Yes  2 ingredient drink is impossible to come by, but you can have a Long Island Ice tea, or Negroni or espresso martin no problem. I settled for a Bloody Mary which has become my new go to drink and of course counts as one of your five a day! 

tiredness and the need to get up early today meant that I was tucked up in bed before 9pm, just in time to have a quick chat with Tracey.

And today, well I am up, and ready to head off for a little adventure.

Have a great day.

Sunny Sunday

 

I was up and out of the door very early yesterday morning, wandering through the side streets and taking in the quiet of Sunday, there were lots of people out jogging, I chose to walk  at pace.

I found the a swimming spot and have decided to have a couple of early morning dips in the sea before I head home, I love a sea swim.

I stopped for a decaf coffee at a lovely little cafe, and a had a local delight a pastizzi, well I had 2! These are either filled with ricotta or curried peas, I opted for the peas and they were delicious. Also delicious was the price, large coffee and 2 pastries €3. You can hardly get a coffee at home for that price.

I headed back to the hotel and then to the swimming pool, straight in for a dip and then a little nap on my lounger. by 1pm it was scorching so I headed back to my room and had another nap. I decided when I woke up to go for another swim and then get showered and ready for a late afternoon meeting.

When I was flicking through X on Saturday I spotted that my friend Anthony was on Gozo, so messaged saying I was heading to Malta. When I got here we were exchanging  messages and it turned out that they were in a hotel about 10 minutes walk from mine. we arranged a meet up.

You just couldn't make it up!

What a fabulous early evening, sitting by the sea drinking negronis/ espresso martinis and chatting with friends. Such a tonic for the soul.

Sadly Anthony, Kate and Edward are heading home today, but just wonderful to meet up.

I headed back to the hotel by a different route and stopped for some dinner on the way.

It was after 9 when I got back to the hotel and I was in bed and fat asleep in no time at all.

I am now up and showered and heading off for my morning constitutional, and to check out the buses as I will be heading off on some jaunts over the next few days.

Off I go

 I had decided to stay at the airport on Friday evening, so that I  could have an extra hours sleep.

However I woke up in a panic, thinking that I had slept through my two phone alarms and convinced it was 6am and I had missed my plane, only to find that it was actually 1.15am. I then didn't dare go back to sleep, so had numerous cups of coffee whilst watching rubbish freeview channels.

I headed over to the airport at 3.30am and was feeling quite deflated and very tired. Obviously the Easyjet ground staff were feeling the same as they were most unhelpful. 

Through security without any mishaps and finally getting myself a glass of champagne, well it is the law!

We were called to board the plane and here Easyjet excelled everyone called in an ordered manner. I headed out to the rear steps just wanting to get sat down and have a nap, getting to the top of the steps I only recognised  one of the crew!!!!, it was Kurt who I have known since he worked Saturdays in my hairdressers (my hairdresser Jacquie is his auntie). After a hug from him , I felt much better, and after 4 bottles of Prosecco ( yes Prosecco)  I was feeling on top of the world.

We flew over the Swiss Alps and yes there was snow!

We arrived in Malta and I was on the mini bus in record time, I was the only person for this particular hotel, and as my room wasn't ready I headed to the pool, where some 'jobsworth'  stopped me and said I couldn't go to the pool. I said I was waiting for my room to be ready, he still wouldn't let me through. So back to reception and given a key card holder to 'prove' I was staying there.

I decided to have a spot of lunch, choosing 'bruschetta as I thought it was a light option, and then it came

wowsers!!!

At 2pm my room was ready and its very big,  three beds ( in case anyone is over here and needs a bed), sadly no balcony, which put my people watching in the evening on hold.

I decided to go for a swim, to chase away the tiredness, then had a couple of hours lying in the sun, and its hot!.

There was lots of messaging going on too, but more of that another day.

I was really tired and decided to have an early night 

And now, I am up, had a fruit and yogurt breakfast and heading out to get my bearings and see whats what.

Happy Sunday