After a slow morning we found a good cafe opposite the theatre for coffee. While we were waiting for ours to be made a man ordered tea with five sugars and the owner made him pay extra. When he asked me if I wanted sugar I laughingly told him I wanted five. He was a little surprised to find I'd followed the conversations. We returned to tourist mode and did the excellent tour of the Co- Cathedral, St John's with the audio tape, recommended on Sunday by cousin J...

We decided to devote the day to some of Valletta's history. After yesterday's effort we needed a slower pace! Our location is fantastic in terms of access to the main attractions. We were keen to revisit The Malta Experience - an audiovisual overview of Malta's long history from prehistoric settlement to the present day. We also wanted to have a look at Fort St Elmo itself ( opened to the public since our last visit) and the War Museum - which, as it turns out, ...

M:Brace yourselves, folks. My cousin Marthese was going to take us for a drive, and she didn't leave too many sights out! We should have kept a record of all the places we saw as we went, because there were lots of them. This is our best effort at recollection! First stop was Marsaxlokk, a fishing village which hosts a daily market that peaks every Sunday. All along the waterfront there are stalls selling everything from Maltese biscuits to Chinese kitchen gear,...

Saturday, and, as we had learned, the feast of the shipwreck of St.Paul. This was a fact from which it would become hard to escape anywhere in Valletta in the course of the day! Once again the weather gods were smiling on us, although they did give us a little scare. We had decided to walk along the water's edge to Sliema, then get the ferry back to Valletta. All set, stepped out the door and there were a few drops of rain. After a momentary indecision we grabbe...

M: The day dawned fine, and there was that stupendous view again. I don't see how one could ever tire of it. We were going to catch up with my cousin Marthese at 7 for dinner, so the day was ours, and we already had plans. First breakfast - made possible by the thoughtfulness of our host who provided some milk, cereal, bread ,marmalade and tea and coffee. Then shopping at one of only two reasonably sized produce shops in Valletta - but both are ridiculously over...