Days 557-558, 21-22 Dec '15, Travel Day/Recovery Day. Yaniklar (Fethiye, Turkey) - Qrendi, Malta.

It was a crazy, foolish, early day before we even started - We are the people who get to the airport nice and early and score exit row seats and today was no exception. We were up at a very chilly 4.30 am for final packing, tidying up and breakfast then off to Dalaman at 6 am - enjoying the sun rise as we approached around 6.40 am. Once through a couple of layers of security and with our prized exit-rows in hand, it was barely an hour before we boarded for Istanbul and stretched out. It is a sorry state due to so many budget carriers in Europe, but we actually love flying a full service airline like Turkish Airlines these days - Wow! You're going to give me a sandwich! And juice! And a coffee! Woo hoo! Flight was over relatively fast and we took the long trek between Istanbul's domestic and international terminals. Amazing how heavy an 8kg shoulder bag can be when terminal hopping. Made it to international and through security (again). Feeling entirely secure by now, our airport "pre-search" paid off and we decided to try a paid for airport lounge. For 5 hours at say Singapore's Changi airport we wouldn't bother - free wifi, 3 terminals to "bar hop" from one duty-free tasting counter to another, massage chairs, movie theatre, butterfly garden and inexpensive food... there would be no need. At Istanbul however, there is nuffin'. No wifi, no nuffin' without Pay Pay Pay. So we paid our 60 lira each (A$30) happily and spent hours surfing the web, knocking back Ballentines whisky, enjoying sandwiches, soups and snacks and generally getting our money's worth (and tireder by the minute). Next flight was at 3.20 pm and we landed 30 minutes early into Malta's Luqa airport - instead of landing at 5.10 pm we were on the ground, through immigration and picking up the rental car at 5 pm - great stuff. Made it to our new home in the village of Qrendi and settled in by 6 pm. Our friends had dinner prepared and we chatted for hours... right up until an audible clunk could be heard and our wheels actually fell off. 11 pm was 12 midnight Turkey time and we'd been up since 4.30 am. Hmmm. That'll do it. Tuesday 22nd? Productive but tired. Went to Lidl and bought, most importantly, an iced Christmas cake. And lots of other groceries. Took a big nap. Had a stroll around Qrendi and took in the tranquility and pervading sense of history. Lovely to be here almost 3 weeks... Tomorrow we hit Valetta! (Pictured is Qrendi's Octagonal Tower - dates from 'probably' medieval times. It was used to house the Captain of the Knights of the Order of St John of Jerusalem. The walls of the tower are 12 feet thick in places. You'll be thinking a lot about St John soon... think Maltese Cross... St John's ambulance etc!)