Friday 18th May

After breakfast across the way we caught a local bus to the airport & spotted about 6 flamingos still at the salt lake well after they should have moved on.

The flight of 2.5 hrs was quite pleasant & we were picked up at the airport to be taken to our apartment, which is clean & neat if a little spartan but not that well located. Then the fun started.

At last we had our mobile phones working again but the first message from the bank was that Dick's Visa had been frozen & to ring them. This he did only to find that there had been a big spend up on Itunes which tripped the system. Luckily most of our expenditure is on the UK cards but his phone is out of credit & he can't recharge it as it needs the Aus Visa account.

We set off to explore & found ourselves not too far from the ramparts of one of the bastions of the harbour, which is very busy. Eventually we found a restaurant & had a fair meal before walking back to the unit once more.

Surprisingly it is quite cool here in the early 20s with a stiff breeze, quite a contrast to Cyprus.

Saturday 19th May

Woke up to a dark cloudy morning in every sense before it rained a little.

After a scratch meal & a lot of messing around with the computer which will not connect to te internet we went out.

We walked from Floriana where we are staying, about 1km towards Valletta, where we were last night, found the Tourist Centre & picked up some pamphlets etc. Then we found a tiny bar a few doors away & had a coffee before wandering along the main street, ducking into a shop for a Lonely Planet of Malta & down to the walls above Marsamxett Harbour to the west of Valletta. The old houses, all of limestone are spectacular even though some look pretty neglected. The city is grid shaped with steep stair cases beside the roads climbing towards the centre.

We returned for a cup of tea, a biscuit & a rest.

Went to bed at 7pm without dinner & slept until 6am.

Sunday 20th May

Met with the unit manager this morning to pay & ask for a few things to be fixed. Then went out walking to Valletta & ass it was an open day at many sites we visited the Grand Master's Palace for free to see an exhibition of Picasso etchings & Miro paintings. It is an impressive venue built after the Great Siege in the early 1600s when Valletta was developed. The Armour collection must rival any in the world & was particularly well explained.

From there we went down to the National War Museum another brilliantly explained collection of artefacts & audio visual displays from pre history to the present day.

Leaving there we walked to the bus station & bought a 12 ticket bus pass before taking the bus to the northern corner of the island to the ferry terminal for Gozo the adjoining island. The next bus took us back home & the 2 trips took about 2.5 hours.