Monday 7th September - Craft Village We went off to have a look at a craft village that has been set up in the Quonset huts left over by the British after the Second World War On the way we learnt that Malta has 420,000 people and the island is 290 square kms. The Phoenicians have had the biggest influence on the peoples of the island and the Maltese language is largely developed from the Phoenician language. Even today Maltese can understand the Syrian p...

Monday 7th September - Mdina We were taken for a walking tour of the old town of Mdina. The streets were only 3 abreast in places and others wide enough to take a bread van. The Cathedral was built on the remains of a Norman in the 13th century and was destroyed in a huge earthquake in 1693. It was rebuilt and finished and consecrated in 1703. The Cathedrals ceiling is covered with frescos and with a painting depicting the life of St. Paul, who is the pat...

Sunday 6th September - Lunch is at 1.00pm We had a long lunch and sat and chatted. It seemed strange to be chugging along at about 12 knots and the water rushing past. There were a couple of other cruise ships passing by during the day and we could see the boot of Italy 24kms off in the distance. We chatted to Captain Nicholas and asked him exactly where we were on the vast ocean and he told us we were opposite the big bay on the foot of Italy and that we...

Sunday 6th September - Day at sea Happy Father's Day We got up a bit later this morning as we were going to be at sea the whole day. Last night there were winds of 35 knots and a sea of 2 metres. There was a little rocking in our cabin but nothing to put us off sleeping. We went to breakfast at 9.00am and just sat in a window seat and watched the wide open ocean roll past. We had a galley tour at 10.15 am and although it was interesting we couldn't ...

Saturday 5th September - Beer and then lunch The few drops of rain made the temperature rise somewhat and the humidity was bad so we stopped for a beer at Jannie's suggestion and we sat at a lovely cafe and had a local beer, "Nitsicki" for 1 Medium and 1 Large €4.90. There was a young man playing a flute and very well it was a nice way to spent a bit of time. We chatted with the waiter who was very knowledgeable and followed rugby closely to the extent he ...