Day 567, 31 Dec '15, New Year's Eve 2015 - Valletta! 50,000 people they said. Leave the car at home, they said. Risk never getting home again by relying on buses, they said. Naaah! Leave home at midday, have lunch at our favourite cheap eats cafe Dolceria Croce Bonaci (baked rice, vege omelette, salmon pie and two lattes - €10). Then we had a movie marathon - finally got to see Spectre, the latest James Bond movie and also Starwars, The Force Awakens. Super ...

Day 566, 30 Dec '15, Ta'Qali Crafts/Valletta Walking Tour. We spent a couple of hours this morning strolling about this artisan craft village. Obviously a lot of tourist tat and we have a sneaking suspicion that not all the silver filigree was actually hand-made (and certainly not in Malta). But still fun. Highlight of the jaunt was seeing glass blowing at the Mdina Glassworks. Compared to the other glass manufacturers this stuff is a cut above. Home for lunch...

Day 565, 29 Dec '15, Vittoriosa/Birgu... and again with the alarm clock. Seriously - 7 am? After yesterday's massive day out exploring, it was somewhat more of a struggle - but we had a mission. Vittoriosa/Birgu's Tuesday morning market. And as we've learned before - it really is a morning thing for the marketers of Malta - on by 6 am and closing up by midday. This is considered to be the big kahuna of the Maltese markets and where the locals come to buy their ...

Day 564, 28 Dec '15, Blue Grotto, Dingli, Rabat, Mdina, Mosta. Next week we will launch into sightseeing overdrive and get 400% of our money's worth on our Malta Passes... Which means this week is driving about, seeing natural wonders, wandering the streets of walled cities and generally having a relaxed few days. Well that was the plan anyway. Obviously it was a HUGE day as evidenced by our "been there" list above. We started with, of all things, an alarm cl...

Day 563, 27 Dec '15, Sunday Market Madness - Birgu Flea Market & Marsaxlokk Market. It's not that we need anything, in fact if we buy anything non-consumable, something has to come out of our bags and be discarded to make up for it. So our penchant for markets is not about buying stuff - it's more so about the experience - the treasure - the trawl. We started the day bright and early - we learned last week that morning markets in Malta are just that... up ...