When we woke up this morning the weather didn’t look that great.

So we decided to do something locally in Valletta. Firstly Nicola wrote some postcards and we then went to post them. On the way back home we went to visit St Paul’s Co-Cathedral.

This cathedral was built between 1893 and 1944 and was financed by Queen Adelaide who was the aunt of Queen Victoria. It is called a co-cathedral, a church with cathedral status with the principle cathedral being in Gibraltar.

The cathedral is built on the original site of the German Auberge and in one of the small chapels, the Lady Chapel, is a small table dated 1571, a relic from the German Auberge.

The cathedral also contains a Bishops throne and an elaborate organ. The organ was originally built for Chester cathedral and Handel is said to have played his Messiah on it.

The spire of this cathedral is over 60m high just slightly shorter than the dome of the Carmalite church nearby. It is a well known landmark in Valletta, unfortunately it was mainly covered in scaffolding when we were there.

When we left the cathedral the weather had started to improve so we decided to get the bus to the Blue Grotto. On the way we passed through the town of Qrendi and the beautiful baroque church of St Mary’s.

We got off the bus at the nearest stop to the Grotto but it was still a good 20 minute walk down to the grotto itself. On the way we passed the chapels of St Matthew. This was previously two chapels that have been amalgamated together with a small sacristy. The smaller chapel is thought to be one of the oldest chapels in Malta and was built after the Norman’s expelled the Arabs from the island, probably in the 15th century.

The walk down to the blue grotto was quite pretty and we came across some large cacti.

At the start of the final path down to the blue grotto there is a historical shrine.

And one of the coastal watch towers is also here, called Torri Xutu.

The blue grotto is a large natural arch in the cliffs, around 30m high, formed through erosion. Its believed that mermaids used to live here as the water flickers with different hues of blue.

This is a naturally beautiful area. You can go swimming and diving in and around the grotto, it has a series of around six caves. But when we were there the water was too rough for the boats and there is no other way to get in and out of the water.

The site got its name from a British soldier who compared the grotto in Malta to the Grotto Azzurra in Capri and decided to name it the same.

Following our exploration of the grotto we decided to get the bus to the nearby Hagar Qim and Mnajdra temples as these were only a few minutes away. These temples were built between 3600 and 2500 BC (prior to Stonehenge) and are the best preserved of Malta’s Megalithic temples. Before we went down to see the actual structures we watched a short 3d video about how they think the temples were formed.

The main entrance to Hagar Qim temples remains mainly intact and is pretty impressive, all of the stones neatly interlocking with each other.

Inside the temples you can see a doorway that has been carved into the rocks which is framed by three stones with pitted designs. This is one of the best pieces of original stonework still in its original place at one of Malta’s temples.

There is also a massive stone in this temple complex. It measures 21 sq m and weighs 20 tons. There is no known reason as to why such a huge single stone was used instead of breaking it into smaller pieces.

There were a number of alters, potholes and other internal rooms and steps to look at and it’s amazing how good they looked seeming as they were 5000+ years old.

From the Hagar Qim temples you could just take a short walk, further down the coastline, to the Mnajdra temples. On the way down you walk past the Hamriga tower and the Congreve memorial. The tower is one of the coastal protection towers and the memorial commemorates General Sir Waler Norris Congreve, who was Governer in Malta. He was buried at sea somewhere between the point of the memorial and the islet of Filfla.

The islet of Filfla is a small offshore islet and is now a wildlife reserve and is apparently great for bird watching.

Just as we got to Mnajdra it started to rain but luckily the temples are kept under cover to protect them from the elements.

We had a good wander around the three structures making up the Mnajdra temples as we kept out of the rain.

The South Temple is the main building and this was built in such a way that its main doorway is aligned with sunrise during the spring and autumn equinoxes.

We saw pitted doorways leading to inner passages, doorways cut from single slabs of stone, alters and small niches.

The temples here were slightly different to the others we had seen as they used a different type of limestone for the interior walls. This is known as globigerina limestone and is softer and easier to shape.

We stayed under the shelter of the temples for a little while but the rain wasn’t abating so we decided to take the walk back to the visitor centre – I got soaked despite wearing a raincoat and sharing Nicola’s umbrella!

We got the bus back to Valletta but decided to get off a couple of stops earlier and explore Floriana which is just outside the city walls of Valletta.

The first place we went to visit was the very impressive parish church, St Publius. This church was built in several stages over the 18th and 20th centuries.

The circular stones in the square outside the church are where cereals and grains were stored and is known as the granaries. Malta can be quite a dry island so it used to be essential to store grains etc when it was available. The granaries were one of the first constructions built by the knights of St John. There are 76 silo storages in Floriana and each one could store 50-500 tons of grain and grain could be stored for 3-4 years.

The inside of the church is also very impressive inside, like most of the churches in Malta.

From the church we walked down to the main street in Floriana, St Anne’s street which has a rainbow zebra crossing.

Our next stop was the lion fountain which has guarded Floriana since 1728.

We walked past a couple more statues. The first one was of Pietro Paolo Floriana who designed the Floriana lines and after whom the town has been named. The second statue was of Dante Alighieri, an Italien poet. The monument shows Dante standing on three rocks representing Heaven, Hell and Purgatory from his work ‘The Divine Comedy’.

We continued walking down to the Porte des Bombes which is the main gateway into Floriana. Originally the gateway only had one arch but the British Government funded the construction of the second arch. The arches columns are built as upright canons.

From here we walked to the Church of the Immaculate Conception, which is a Roman Catholic rotunda church. This church was designed by Mattia Preti who was a painter and this is the only church he designed.

Our next stop was Robert Samut Hall. This building used to be the Floriana Methodist church and was the first building in Malta to use the electric light bulb. Robert Samut composed the national anthem for Malta and the building is now used by the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra.

Close by is a water tower which has a 3m high pedestal and a rounded tower above. This tower formed part of an aqueduct system which bought water from Mdina and Rabat, via gravity, to Valletta and Floriana. The inscription reads ‘From the turret decorated with a lily, I raise my head to see in the City the fountain of the water of life’.

We then visited the Botanical gardens, Argotti gardens. A lot of the gardens were closed off to the public so we could only wander round bits of it.

These gardens form part of the University of Malta and are the third oldest gardens in the Commonwealth.

The sun was just starting to set as we left the gardens.

On the way home we walked past the Archbishop’s Curia and the Police headquarters, both lovely buildings. The Curia was originally a Jesuit home and there is a statue of Mary holding Jesus over the door. It has been used as barracks for troops from France, Naples and Scilly and also as a military plague hospital.

The police headquarters building was originally used as a place for homeless women were they were taught basic skills. During the British occupation is was used as a general hospital and a shelter was dug below the building for patients who couldn’t easily be moved during WWII. It is the only known underground hospital in Europe

On the way home we bought a ricotta pastizzi. It was quite tasty but not amazing.

I noticed quite a lot of stray cats in Floriana but they all seemed to be well looked after. Apparently there are 1000 cat carers on the island looking after over 3000 strays.

As we walked back through Valletta we walked past the statue of Queen Victoria. This statue is carved out if marble and Quern Victoria is westing a shawl made from Maltese lace.

We went to the supermarket on the way home, well it was around a 10 minute walk from the flat, to get some beers and food, so we cooked some food and stayed in.

We decided to have a game of pool. Seeming as I have never really played pool I was quite happy that we won one game each – decider match has yet to be played!!

So on the flight over from Germany, Nicola got chatting to the people sitting next to her on the plane. One of these was a young man called Jacob. During the flight she found out that his mum owned a cafe in Malta. So on Sunday morning we decided to go and visit the cafe for breakfast in Marsaskala. This is a lovely sea side town in the South East of Malta.

We spoke to the lady at the cafe who was Jacob’s mum who originally came from East London. She phoned Jacob and he came and met us at the cafe. It was really lovely to meet him as the reason the cafe came into being was because of the trauma he and his family suffered. Jacob survived a near fatal illness that left him disabled in early 2013 and the family are now using their experience to support other survivors of trauma. It is the first social enterprise in Malta and more information can be found on their Facebook page.

The breakfast was delicious and set us up for the day and it was so nice chatting to Jacob and his Mum. After breakfast we caught the bus to Marsaxlokk which is a gorgeous traditional fishing village.

We walked along the colourful waterfront into the town, passing some really lovely buildings and fishing boats known as luzzus. These boats are said to owe their design to the ancient Phoenicians who were in Malta around 800 BC.

We walked a little way into the town to the Parish Church of Our Lady of Pompeii. This is a really impressive church which was built bear the sea coast to save the fishermen travelling to churches further away.  Unfortunately we couldn’t go in as there was a service going on.

We then decided to have a wander through the market. As it was a Sunday the fish market was in full flow.

The market stalls were selling a whole variety of things including other food, souvenirs and clothes and it went on for miles!

After a long wander around the market we decided to walk to St Peter’s Pool. It was a really hot day and the walk was around 2.5km and quite a lot was uphill! The initial part of the walk was in the direction of Delimara point. This was a lovely area but the views are now spoilt by a huge power plant.

As we walked away from Marsaxlokk we took some pictures looking back at the town.

Eventually we made it to St Peter’s Pool. This is a lovely natural swimming area and a lot of people also use it to jump off the cliffs into the water, we did see a couple of people doing this while we were there. There were a few people there but initially only 1 person was in the water. We did think about getting in as we were so hot but the water was really choppy and there didn’t seem to be any easy way to get out of the water once you were in there.

We had a little rest at the pool before heading back to Marsaxlokk. As it was only early afternoon we decided to get a bus over to the Ghar Dalam Cave. Initially we got on a bus going in the wrong direction so had to get off and find one going in the right direction, but luckily we didn’t have to wait long.

As we walked down to the cave we walked past an old pill box. This was part of the fortification system during the second world war and its purpose was to engage with the enemy should an invasion take place. It used to be armed with machine guns and manned by six soldiers.

Ghar Dalam cave is the oldest national monument found in Malta. A collection of 180,000 year old bones were found in the cave belonging to long extinct animals. The bones appear to have been deposited here at the end of the Ice Age. You can see a lot of the bones in the museum that is attached to the cave and they have made up whole skeletons of the some of the animals that used to exist. This cave is also where the earliest evidence of human settlement in Malta was found, some 7,400 years ago.

The cave is 15.5m above sea level and is 144m deep but only the first 70m are open to the public. There are five different layers to the cave; a clay layer, a hippopotamus layer, a deer layer, an ash layer and a cultural top layer. The cave was also used as an air raid shelter during WWII. The stalagmites and stalactites were pretty impressive.

Today the caves support a unique ecosystem for a variety of animal species. Ghar Dalam hosts over forty different species of life form including a unique endemic creature, a tiny woodlouse known to science as Armadillidum ghardalamensis. It has no sense of sight and is highly sensitive to light. This is why the inner part of the cave is kept in complete darkness.

We still had some time left before we wanted to head back to Valletta so Nicola went on the internet to see what else was nearby. Being in a cave exploration mood we decided to go and visit another cave called Ghar Hassan. This cave is so called because during the Great Seige it is believed that this is where a Turk called Saracen Hassan hid after he kidnapped a Maltese girl. When he was found by the Maltese people, rather than be captured, he jumped into the sea taking the Maltese girl with him and killing them both.

This cave was not easy to find. Firstly we stayed on the bus too long and missed our stop. This meant we had to walk back on ourselves for around 20 minutes, but we did pass a playmobile land!

Once we found the small car park you had to go through a gap in the fence to start the walk down some steps to the actual cave.

To get to the entrance you have to walk down some steep steps carved into the cliff face. The entrance itself is around 5m high and 6m wide and is 75m above sea level. You definitely need a torch as there isn’t much light when you start walking into the cave. The cave is around 400m long. As you walk down you come to some iron bars which are there to protect some rare mouse eared bats.

Just before the iron bars is an opening on the right and if you walk down this tunnel you come to a viewing point, and the views from here are gorgeous.

If you keep on going through the tunnel, past some fallen rocks you come to another viewing point.

Just beside this viewing point is a small door that leads into a small circular chamber. It is believed that this is where Hasan was hiding.

Now at this point you could turn round and go back the way you came but we had read a blog that said you could go down one of the side tunnels and end up back at the first viewing point – so we decided to give it a try. It was a bit narrow at times and a bit low so you had to be careful you didn’t bang your head.

You just had to keep going until you saw the light at the end of the tunnel.

As we came back up from the cave the sun was just starting to set behind the cliffs.

We walked back to the bus stop we should originally have got off of and got the bus back to Valletta. The bridge into the city was really colourful as we walked home.

In the evening we went to Luciano restaurant which was right by St John’s Cathedral in the city centre. Nicola had the traditional beef bragioli which were delicious and I had a very tasty vegetable risotto.

The restaurant the other side of the Cathedral had live music so when we finished dinner we went over there to have a look and they were all doing greek dancing.

After a busy schedule to date we decided not to set the alarms and just get up when we woke up. We were both awake around 830am so not a long lie in!

Our apartment is huge, loads of space but kind of a wierd layout in that there is just a curtain between the bedroom and bathroom. Also, because of the age and style of the building the walls and ceiling crumble a bit every day so the floor and furniture can get a bit dusty.

The stairs in the photo above are where you can climb out the window onto the fire escape stairs that lead up to the roof terrace.

We had heard that there was a boat race happening today and that the boats would be leaving from the Grand Harbour – right outside our apartment! With a bit of research we discovered it was the Rolex Middle Sea Race and there were around 114 boats taking part.

As we were having a relaxing morning we decided to cook ourselves an English Breakfast which we ate upstairs on the terrace. The Maltese sausages are called Wudys and are like hot dogs and they have cheese in the middle of them.

We prepared ourselves for front row seats for the race, balancing our chairs on top of pallets so we could see over the terrace wall, and arming ourselves with a bottle of fizz.

We could see all the sailing boats and a few catamarans gathering in the Harbour. The first wave was sent off with a blast from the cannon and it was the catamarans.

The next few waves all seemed to be similar style boats. You could see from their sails which country they were from.

The last race of the day was the larger racing boats and they were really impressive. As they headed out to the gap before the sea they all had to lean really hard one way.

I don’t know anything about sailing but it was exciting to watch the start of the race. Apparently the boats race for 2-3 days past the shadow of Mount Etna, through the Strait of Messina, around the active volcano of Stromboli, along the north and west coasts of Sicily down to the island of Lampedusa, off Tunisia, before returning to Malta.

As it was a relaxing day and the sun was shining we thought we would spend the afternoon on the beach. Having a quick look on google we settled for Fond Ghadir beach in Sliema.

It was quite a rocky beach and the sea was a bit choppy so it wasn’t that easy to get in and out. But we did go in and had a snorkel to see what we could find. There wasn’t a huge amount to see.

So we took some pictures of each other and ourselves instead.

It wasn’t the prettiest beach but it was close by and a nice spot to sunbathe.

Nicola went back in for a swim a bit later on but I stayed out in the sunshine! You can see some salt pans in the photo below. The shore around the beach is very rocky and wave action deposits water in the hollows in the rocks. When the water evaporates, salt crystals are left behind. At some point this natural hollows were made into salt pans to try and produce salt for commercial purposes. Salt was known as ‘White Gold’ during the medieval times as it was used to preserve food.

This is a view looking back over the beach.

We walked along the coast line for a bit to St Julian’s Tower. This is the 5th of 13 towers that were constructed to defend the coastline of Malta. Each of the 13 towers were built so that they were within sight of the next tower. Therefore, when one tower saw a raiding party approach from the sea, a signal would be passed from one tower to another and started a chain alert. During the day signals were passed by means of smoke signals and during the night it was bonfires.

As we carried on walking we saw a massive blue cat on someone’s roof.

After getting the bus back to Valletta we made a reservation at one of the restaurants for that evening. As we walked home we noticed a little shrine in the wall in the tunnel we walked through.

The photos below are our flat from the outside and the roundabout just at the end of our road.

Our meal at Il Ristoranto Italiano was delicious and we had a lovely bottle of white wine to go with it.

After dinner we wandered around and then made a stop down one of the small side streets for a cocktail as they had a singer there too.

It was a nice relaxing day.

It was another early start as I had booked tickets to go to the Hypogeum prior to the holiday. They only let 80 people in every day so its quite hard to get a spot and when I booked, the only slots available were the early morning ones. Just as were having a coffee and tea a huge tanker went past, through the Grand Harbour outside our window.

As we walked up to Valletta bus terminal we passed through Victoria Gate. This gate was built by the British in 1885 and named after Queen Victoria. This gate is the only surviving gate within the walls of Valletta as all of the other fortified gates have been demolished. The two arches have the coat of arms from Malta and Valletta and the British coat of arms is at the top.

We had to be at the Hypogeum for 9am and luckily it was only around 20 minutes by bus. At the bus terminal in Valletta we bought a 7 day bus pass which we certainly got good value from throught the holiday.

We arrived in Paola a little bit early so had a quick look at the parish church – Basillica of Christ the King. Unfortunately we didn’t have time to go inside and explore.

At 9am a few of us were gathered outside a very unassuming building down a small side street, it didn’t look like it housed anything spectacular. You were not allowed to take any photos inside the Hypogeum (I’ve borrowed some from the internet) but it was pretty amazing. To think that it had been built over 5000 years ago.

The Hypogeum has three levels and lots of halls, chambers and passages carved out of the living limestone. It covers an area of around 500 square metres.

The upper level dates back to 3600 BC and was mainly a large open space with burial chambers off to the side. It was the first level that was constructed and was originally made by enlarging a natural cave. The entrance triathlon can be found on this level.

More burial chambers with examples of stone carving and decoration can be found in the middle level. One of the most impressive chambers on this level is called the Holy of Holies. The rock has been carved to give the impression of built masonry. No bones were found in this area and it appears to be positioned so that the light from the winter solstice would have illuminated it from the original opening above.

Also in the middle level is the Oracle room. There is a little niche at the far end of the chamber and if you make a deep sound into it, the sound resonates all over the chamber. The ceiling of the chamber is decorated with ochre swirls which would have looked amazing in fire light.

The lower level, which is 10.6m below street level, is reached via uneven steps. The steps lead to chambers which were probably used for storage.

The Hypogeum was accidentally discovered in 1902 by a stone mason who was laying the foundations for a number of houses on the site. He was building the cisterns for the houses when he dug through a roof of a chamber.

Remains of around 7000 individuals and artifacts were discovered at the site. It is thought that the upper level was built for burials and as the cave filled up new chambers were cut deeper into the rocks.

The microclimate of the Hypogeum is strictly controlled and only 10 people can visit at any one time. This necropolis was definitely worth a visit, travelling back in time and it was amazing to see.

After the Hypogeum we decided to go and visit the Tarxien Temples as this was only a 10 minute walk away. These temples are the most complex of the temples found in Malta.

The eastern side of the temple has mainly been destroyed and only the lower part of the walls have survived.

There are three other structures and many of them have a central area with a number of apses coming off this central area. Little is known about what took place within the buildings  but it is thought they were an important communal centre for social, religious,  political and economic activities.

One of the stones had a bull carved onto it and a number of animal bones were found in the temples which indicates that animals probably played an important role in the rituals that took place here.

Many of the alters and rocks had spirals or other decorations carved into them. Most of the artifacts found here are now displayed in various museums.

It is thought that in the Bronze Age the temple was used as a crematorium as in some areas the walls of the temple have been blackened.

It was a really interesting site to walk around and hear all about the history from so many thousands of years ago. When we were walking around the temples we got bitten quite a lot by some sort of gnat or mosquito and both of us came away with a number of itchy bites.

After the temples we decided to walk to Birgu, one of the 3 cities, the other two being Cospicua and Senglea. It was around a 45 minute walk, but the weather was sunny so it was really nice. As we got towards the 3 cities we passed through the old city walls.

We also passed by the church and monastery of St Margaret. This church was built for the carmalite sisters and was built on old medieval chapel. It was initially a home for destitute girls.

Birgu was the Knight’s first base in Malta. The old entrance into the city has been replaced by a very impressive main gate.

Just inside the city gate is a statue of St Dominic.

We walked down the main street to the Inquisitors Palace. This is one of the very few surviving palaces of its kind and is also known as the Sacred Palace. It has a long and varied history starting from the 1530s.

On entering the building you find yourself in a beautiful courtyard. There was a pomegranate tree in the courtyard. I tried to get some fruit off it but all the low hanging fruit was rotten and I couldn’t reach the higher branches.

The main staircase is really impressive. It was purposely constructed to present a powerful image of the inquisitors and the place where they lived.

The inquisitor also had his own private chapel.

But the most interesting part of the building was obviously the area where prisoners were kept and where the inquisitions were carried out.

The tribunal area was where prisoners or witnesses were bought for trial and where sentences were given.

The prison itself was divided into communal cells, mainly for those awaiting trial, and penitentiary cells for those who had been sentenced to imprisonment. Prison sentences were normally quite short, months and not years, and quite often prisoners escaped.

There was also a communal toilet for the prisoners which was basically a massive hole in the ground. It can be seen at the left of the photo below. I can’t imagine how bad that must have smelt.

In terms of torture, there were three main types of torture carried out. The most common one used was that the person would have their hands tied behind their back and then pulled up and let down a number of times. Another method was to squeeze a person’s foot between two blocks of wood, or to stretch the body using weights.

Crimes that could lead to punishment included blasphemy, apostasy to Islam, bigamy, solicitation during confession and magical beliefs. Most sentences were of a spiritual nature and included fasting and prayer. Physical punishments included public flogging or rowing on the galleys.

From the Inquisitors Palace we walked down to the waterfront past the Victory Monument in Vittoriosa square. This statue commemorates the Great Seige of 1565.

We also passed St Lawrence Church and the Freedom Memorial. This memorial represents when the British left Malta on 31 March 1979, even though they had gained independence in 1964. The mound the memorial sits on is made from stone that comes from the Dingli Cliffs and shows a British sailor saying farewell to a Maltese worker with a handshake. There is also another Maltese worker and a bugler.

The waterfront at Birgu is really nice, it reminded me a bit of the South of France.

We walked past the Maratime Museum which is housed in the former Royal Navy Bakery and is an impressive building. Apparently its facade was inspired by Windsor Castle.

By now were pretty hungry so we stopped off at one of the waterside cafes to have some pizza and wine. The pizzas were huge so we ended up taking the remains with us in a doggy bag.

We had a lovely view across to Senglea, you could just about see the top of the basillica dedicated to Our Lady of Victories. The church was destroyed by an air raid during the second world war but was rebuilt in 1956.

After lunch we walked down to Fort St Angelo which is at the peninsula of the city.  The only resident knight on the island lives in this fort and only the upper area of the fort is open to the public.

The vocation of the fort is to guard the Grand Harbour and it has done this successfully over many years and many sieges.  It has been used by the French army as their headquarters, followed by the British Army and the British Navy. It has undergone restoration works over the past years and since 2018 it has been open to the public. You get some great views from the upper part of the fort.

On the upper part of the fort we found the chapel of St Anne, a small chapel that has also been previously used as a store room for arms and ammunition and a school.  The chapel also has a crypt and some Grandmasters used to be buried there.

Some more views of, and from the fort.

After looking round the fort we headed back to the church of St Lawrence. We tried getting in via the front door but unfortunately it was shut. However, just as we were walking around the side, someone opened the side door and we went inside.

This church was used as the first conventual church of the Order of St John in Malta. This was because when the Order first settled in Malta all of the langues were based in Birgu. Like many of the churches in Malta, the inside is baroque in style and looks amazing.

We then headed into the older, medieval part of Birgu, known as the collachio, where all the auberges of the knights were first established. Unfortunately both of our phone batteries had died by then so we couldn’t take any photos. But here is a picture of the Auberge de Angleterre, the only English auberge in Malta as when the knights moved from Birgu to Valletta the Reformation put an end to the English role in the order.

For dinner we had leftover pizza and then headed out to the Bridge bar, literally a minute away from our apartment, as they were having a live jazz night. Unfortunately all the steps and tables were full so we sat upstairs at the italian cafe where we could still hear all the music.

It was a very windy evening but we had ordered a bottle of wine so we stayed out until we finished it.

A lot of the steps in Malta are very shallow. We learnt that this was done on purpose to help the knights who were walking up and down them in full armour.

Last night we booked a trip to Comino and the Blue Lagoon. So we were up fairly early and following a light breakfast of croissant and coffee for me, and toast and tea for Nicola, we headed over to the Phoenica Hotel where the bus was picking us up.

On the way we walked past the statue of Christ the King. This statue commemorates the 24th International Eucharistic Congress where Roman Catholic cardinals, archbishops, clergy and lay people from around the world gather together for a series of ceremonies. This was held in Malta in 1913.

A little bit further down is the statue of Independence. The statue shows a lady stepping forward to freedom and holding the Maltese national flag.

Eventually our tour bus came to pick us up and drove us to the harbour in Sliema where we then boarded our cruise boat that would take us over to Camino.

I thought we had booked on a Catameran but that was a different trip so the boat we were on was bigger than expected and with quite a few people on board.

At Sliema you could look back to get a view of Valletta and also across to St Juliens which is the party area in Malta.

The boat stopped at Bugibba to pick up more passengers so we got to see the statue of St Paul on St Paul’s (Selmunett) island, from a distance. This island has been uninhabited since WWII. It is believed that St Paul was shipwrecked here on his way to face charges in Rome.

We passed by Comino as we went on to Gozo – which we weren’t expecting. Apparently some passengers were getting off at Gozo to do a bus tour around the island. We had a baguette for lunch on the boat and some soft drinks.

You could see the Comino tower on the island which is also known as St Mary’s tower and was used to protect the island from pirates. Now it is used used as a lookout to protect migratory birds.

We eventually ended up at the Blue Lagoon in Comino. Here we jumped on a speed boat that took us on a little journey around the caves of Santa Marija.

These shallow caves are a complex consisting of more than 10 caves and are a popular dive spot in Malta.

The speed boat tour took around 30 minutes and was exhilarating and fun. As we made our way back to the blue lagoon you could just see the elephant rock which is a natural formation of the rock.

It was quite busy when we got back to the blue lagoon but we managed to find a little area to sit down and where we could leave our things.

We decided to go for a swim and snorkel in the lovely crystal clear turquoise water. It was pretty chilly and as you headed out to the rocky areas you could see some fish.

We swam over to the smaller island of Cominotto. There was a small cave / tunnel that you can swim through to get to the other side of the small island. The water was really rough do we didn’t swim too far out.

I was getting a bit cold so swam back to Comino whilst Nicola did a bit more snorkelling. I saw some more fish swimming back

The Blue Lagoon is advertised as one of the must see places in Malta, but to be honest, whilst the waters were lovely and clear, I found it a bit underwhelming.

I took a couple of more photos looking out to Cominotto before we left.

We then headed back to the boat which was moored the other side of the lagoon and on the way we bought a cocktail.

As we headed back to Valletta the sun was setting behind us over the water which looked amazing.

It was also lovely to see Valletta all lit up at night.

When we arrived back in Valletta the Triton fountain was all lit up too, as was the bridge through the main city gates.

The opera house and cathedral were looking great too so I just had to take a photo of them as well. And Nicola took a great photo of one of the other buildings.

And lastly the lanterns were all alight down the side street.

We bought a large sausage roll by the bus station to eat on the way home.

This was a very busy day. We had booked a city walking tour in the morning so we could find out about the city but also to help us find our bearings.

The tour started just outside the new Parliament building. Whilst quite a modern building it has been made to fit in with its surroundings. Parliament met for the first time in the building in 2015. The glass at the bottom of the buildings is supposed to represent the transparency of parliament. This building was designed by the same architect as the Shard in London.

Our tour guide gave us some facts and figures about Malta: It has 365 churches, there are 14 bank holidays per year and despite being a small country they are 5th in the world in terms of owning cars per head of population. The name Malta comes from Mahler which means honey.

Valletta itself is a very small city, only 1km by 600m. It has no garages so it is often difficult for people to park their cars near where they live, and it appears the Maltese drive everywhere.

We passed through the city gates,over a little bridge to the Triton fountain. Tritons are half man / half fish figures and there are three of them rising up from the seaweed as part of this fountain.

From here we headed up to Hasting Gardens, located on top of St John’s bastion, where you get a good view over the harbour to Sliema. There is a monument in the gardens to Francis, Marquis of Hastings, who was a governor in Malta.

We came across a Carob tree in the gardens where I learnt that because every carob seed weighs exactly the same, the seeds were used to determine the weight of diamonds, and that’s why we now have carats in terms of diamonds.

Malta gained its independence in 1964, became a republic in 1974, joined the EU in 2004 and Valletta was the European capital of culture in 2018.

As we walked along we heard about how parts of the city were being restored. You could see quite clearly the buildings that had undergone restoration and those that still needed some work. A lot of the buildings in Valletta, and in other parts of Malta, had blue shutters and doors which looks really nice against the limestone. In Valletta you are only allowed to paint your doors and shutters certain colours.

We walked back into the city centre via some little side streets. The post boxes and telephone boxes are in the old british style and one of the streets was decorated with lanterns.

We made our way back to the old royal opera house. This was hit by a bomb in 1942 and never fully restored. It is now used as an outdoor performing venue and called Pjazza Teatru Rjal. The architect of the original opera house was the same person who designed Covent Garden Theatre in London.

We then walked past the statue of Grandmaster Jean de Valetta. He was the head of the Province Auberge, one of the eight orders of the knights of St John, and became Grandmaster in 1557. After the Great Siege of Malta, he ordered the construction of the new city of Valletta  in 1566 , laying the first stone with his own hands

Our next stop was the Auberge de Castille. This used to be one of the knight’s houses but now houses the offices of the prime minister of Malta. There were eight Langues (national branches) of the order of St John and each one had it’s own inn, or auberge, in the 16th century.

It is the building that is at the highest point of Valletta and overlooks Floriana and the Grand Harbour area. Floriana is a town that grew outside of the huge city walks that protect Valletta. It too has city walls but they are not as thick as those of Valletta.

We walked on to the Upper Barrakka Gardens. From here you can look down on the Saluting Battery which was mainly used for firing ceremonial gun salutes and signals. Canons are formed here every day at 12pm and sometimes at 4pm and this is what we heard yesterday when sitting on our roof terrace. You could see our roof terrace from the gardens.

As we looked over the Saluting Battery a huge cruise ship was just passing through the Grand Harbour.

From the gardens you could look out to the three cities and Fort St Angelo. Currently only one knight from the order of St John lives at the Fort. Knights were originally from noble families only and would be the 3rd or 4th son of the family. They had vows of chastity, poverty and obedience.

From the edge of the gardens you could look directly down to the ground where the lift is. It was quite disorienting.

From the upper gardens we headed down to the lower Barrakka gardens, past a trackless train and a number of statues that appear on a lot of the street corners.

One of the street corners had a large hook on the wall. Apparently they used to tie criminals hands behind their backs and then hang them from the hook. This meant that their shoulders would often dislocate and it would be really painful for them.

Most of the houses and apartments in Valletta have balconies. Apparently up until 1970 married women were not allowed to work so they used to sit on the balconies and chat to each other. Also, to save people who are a little bit older walking up and down the stairs all the time, when the bread van comes round in the morning, they lower baskets down from the balcony and the bread is placed in the basket and hoisted up via the balcony.

Walking to the lower gardens we walked down a pretty street where all the houses had been restored. A number of the houses had carvings of gargoyles around the doors, or even a medusa. These are around the door to make people look away to maintain the privacy for the people within.

From the lower gardens you can look back to the upper gardens and the saluting battery.

Personally I think the lower gardens are nicer than the upper gardens as they are smaller and prettier.

Across from the gardens is a tribute to everyone who fought and died for Malta in the second world war in terms of the Seige Bell and the Unknown Solider monument.

Sausage trees can be found in the lower gardens. You can eat the fruit from the trees and many people use it as a vegetable. The flesh of the fruit is sweet and subtle and tastes a bit like cucumber.

From the lower gardens we walked back through some of the side streets to the Grandmasters Palace. On the way I noticed lots of interesting door knockers.

The Grandmasters Palace was originally built for the Grand Master of the Order of St John. The Palace occupies a city block and is the largest palace in Valletta and is supposed to be haunted by a number of ghosts.

There is a plaque from Buckingham Palace which commemorates the awarding of the George Cross to the Maltese people by King George VI for their courage, bravery and heroism at the start of WWII. The cross was incorporated into the Maltese flag and remains part of the flag today.

Opposite the Palace is the Main Guard and this was originally built as a guard house by the Order of St John. It is now one of the main symbols of British rule in Malta.

Within St George’s Square where the Palace and Main Guard are is a statue commemorating 7 June 1919 known as Sette Giugno. This commemorates a day when the Maltese people rebeled and rioted against the British rule due to the poverty they were all suffering because of the increased price of wheat and bread. The British fired into the crowds killing 4 people. 2 more people died from their wounds a few days later which is why there are 6 people as part of the statue.

This was the end of the walking tour. As we hung around by St George’s square a very elaborate organ grinder came by. It was really nice at first but the music was so loud that it became annoying after a while.

After a spot of lunch in a cafe down one of the side streets we decided to visit St John’s Co-Cathedral. This is the main cathedral in Valletta and looks like a giant fortress from the outside.

But inside it is amazing with marble floors, lots of gold, intricate carvings and loads of paintings and frescoes.

The floor of the cathedral is covered in marble tombstones. 400 knights are buried here and a lot of the symbols on the tombstones remind us of the inevitability of death.

The cathedral also houses the famous painting of The Beheading of St John the Baptist by Caravaggio – it is very rare as it is the only painting he actually signed. Caravaggio was himself a knight but was stripped of his knighthood, apparently in the same room in the cathedral where his painting hung.

Each of the houses, or Langues, has it’s own chapel within the cathedral. These are all extremely lavish and highly decorated as they competed with each other to be the best chapel.

The cathedral also has a crypt where the Grandmasters are buried.

The gate to the Blessed Sacrament was originally silver bit was painted black to foil Napoleon’s troops as they were taking everything that was made of silver.

We climbed up the stairs to get a better view of the cathedral, and particularly the high altar. At the centre of the high altar there is a relief in bronze which shows the Last Supper.

From the cathedral we walked to the courts of justice courthouse. This is built on the original site of the Auberge de Auvergne.

Opposite the courthouse is a shrine to the Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. She was assassinated in 2017 and the state has recently been found to be responsible for her death. She died in a car bomb attack and was responsible for exposing corruption in the country and abroad.

We still had some energy left so decided to walk down to the Seige Bell and WWII monument of the Unknown Solider.

From the memorial you could look out to the opening of the Grand Harbour which is flanked by two lighthouses – St Elmo lighthouse on Valletta side and Ricasoli on the other side.

On the way back into town we walked past St Elmo Fort. This is a star fort right at the peninsula of Valletta and now houses the National War Museum.

We stopped for a much deserved rest in the cafe opposite the cathedral and tried one of the local beers – to be honest it was a bit watery.

On the way back to the apartment we visited the Basillica of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. This is a Roman Catholic church and is very close to St Paul’s Co-Cathedral, an Anglican church. The story goes that when St Paul’s was built it had the tallest spire in the city so the Roman Catholic church was built to be slightly taller.

The Carmalite Friars were among the first religious order to build a church and monastery in the new city of Valletta that was dedicated to Our Lady. The inside is amazing with a large dome in the centre.

We did then try to visit St Paul’s Co-Cathedral but it was closed. But the church of St Paul’s Shipwreck was open so we popped in there. This is also a Roman Catholic church and is one of the oldest churches in Valletta. St Paul was shipwrecked on 10 February in 60 AD and started to convert people to Christianity.

This was another beautiful church and contains a fragment of the pillar on which St Paul is said to have been beheaded and a relic of his right wrist bone.

We then actually walked back to the apartment up and down the many steps in hilly Valletta.

In the evening we decided to go to St Paul’s restaurant as recommended by Jimmy, the taxi driver. On the way there seemed to be an event going on by the waterfront.

The restaurant served the traditional Maltese dish of rabbit so we both decided to have that with a different local beer.

We stopped off at the Cafe Society on the way home to have a glass of prosecco, sitting outside on the steps.

Just before we got home we walked down to the ferry port infront of the apartment and took a photo looking back onto Valletta.

It was an early start, leaving home at 7am to get the bus to the airport. Because of coronavirus the buses aren’t running as frequently so I had to get one earlier than I normally would have.

I had plenty of time at the airport so took a while eating breakfast and drinking coffee – as it meant I didn’t have to wear a mask.

The flight was on time and it was pretty uneventful. I had a little snooze and read a book on my kindle.

As we started to descend you could see the island of Malta and surrounding islands.

At the airport the bags came through pretty quickly and Jimmy picked me up from the airport (arranged via air bnb host). On the way to the apartment he gave me a mini tour of the area of Valletta we are staying in.

Nicola had already arrived at the apartment earlier in the day, it was so nice to actually be with each other rather than over zoom or WhatsApp.

We had a couple of drinks on our rooftop terrace overlooking the grand harbour.

There is a canon just above where we are staying and this went off at 4pm, made me jump even though I knew it was going to happen.

Later on we wandered into the city centre – its up quite a lot of steps but the streets are really pretty.

We had a lovely salmon and prawn pasta dish at D’Office as well as some Maltese wine and on the way home we stopped off at The Pub for a g&t! Apparently, Oliver Reed drink himself to death at this pub during the filming of the Gladiator movie.

It was a lovely evening and the moon was out too!

So after several bottles of wine last night we didn’t get up too early, but we did make breakfast!

Faye and I were woken up by a very loud and large seagull on our balcony.

The botanical gardens were right by our hotel so we decided to pay them a visit. These gardens are also called La Alameda gardens and span around 15 acres. The gardens were commissioned in 1816 by the then British governor of Gibraltar, General George Don. He wanted the soldiers stationed in the fortress to have a pleasant recreational area to enjoy when off duty. An area where they and could enjoy the air protected from the extreme heat of the sun.

We entered via the side gate and the first thing we saw were some butterflies feeding.

We immediately passed the workers memorial which was placed in the gardens in 2018. Unite the Union believes there should be better laws in place to protect the safety of workers and placed the memorial to remember the dead and fight for the living.

There were loads of beautiful flowers and amazing trees to see.

We also had a little posing session amongst the plants.

If you come in the main gates you come across a huge statue of George Augustus Elliot guarded by four 18th-century howitzers.

The gardens are also home to a very small animal park. The Alameda Wildlife Conservation Park began in 1994 as a collection of parrots, tortoises and monkeys,  all confiscated from illegal traders who were passing through Gibraltar.

The park has also become important for the care of native species that are considered for future re-introduction to the Upper Rock Natute Reserve.

I think my favourite animals were the otters.

After the gardens we sat by the pool for a bit before heading into town for some lunch – chips and gravy.

We then wandered down to Morrisons with the intention of buying some cheap gin, but they didn’t have what we wanted so we picked some up in town on the way home.

In the evening we had some pre-drinks on the balcony.

We ordered a taxi to take us to to the restaurant and as we waited we watched the sun setting.

We had a really delicious meal at The Ocean Restaurant.

After a very filling dinner we walked down to some little bars which were very lively.

We walked back to the hotel and then left for home the next morning.

After a very tasty breakfast at the hotel we decided to explore the Rock. I suggested we walk up it rather than getting the cable car – and managed to persuade everyone that this was a great idea!

From the hotel we walked to Jews Gate Cemetry.

Located on Windmill Hill near the southern entrance to the Upper Rock Nature Reserve, Jews’ Gate Cemetery includes the earliest known Jewish burials in Gibraltar. It is the burial site of a number of Gibraltar’s Chief Rabbis, with the earliest known dating as far back as 1746. The cemetery was actually closed for burials just over a century later, on the 6th May 1848. To date, nobody knows for certainty the reason behind the Jewish community burying members of their dead at this specific location.

The Pillars of Hercules can also be found here -one of two promontories at the eastern end of the Strait of Gibraltar. The northern pillar is the Rock of Gibraltar, and the southern pillar has been identified as one of two peaks: Jebel Moussa (Musa), in Morocco, or Mount Hacho (held by Spain), near the city of Ceuta (the Spanish exclave on the Moroccan coast). The pillars are fabled to have been set there by Hercules as a memorial to his labour of seizing the cattle of the three-bodied giant Geryon.

We were going to take the Mediterranean steps up the rock but we took a wrong turn and ended up taking a short cut to St Michael’s cave.

On the way we came across some of the local residents – the Barbary macaque apes. These apes are originally from the Atlas Mountains and is the only wild monkey population on the European continent.

We ventured into St Michael’s caves which were beautiful. The caves are often host to concerts and theatre productions with a 600 person capacity.

The caves were originally thought to be bottomless and this gave rise to a rumour that there was subterranean passages between Gibraltar and Africa.

It’s believed that in 1704 Spanish troops spent a night in the cave after climbing the precipitous east face of the Rock. Another story about the cave recounts how a Colonel Mitchell and another officer were said to have descended into the cave at some unspecified date before 1840 and were never seen again.

During WWII the cave was prepared as an emergency hospital, but was never used as such.

At some period during the history of this cave, part of a stalagmite became too heavy on one side and fell, possibly thousands of years ago. It now lies on its side at the far end of the main chamber, cemented through the years by nature to the floor of the cave. In 1972 a slice was cut off from the top end which revealed the interior structure of the stalagmite in a most dramatic fashion.

Leonora’s cave is a system of caves within St Michael’s caves and as they are difficult to access they largely remain unspoilt.

Graffiti found on some of the rock date back to 1801 and early reports mentioning “passages leading off St. Michaels Cave” suggest that the site was first explored in the 1700s by British troops; however, it was only until 1864 that Captain Frederuck Brome explored this system extensively and realised its beauty. In 1867, he named this cave after his wife Leonora saying the site was “of unimaginable beauty”.

We spent quite a bit of time wandering around the caves and exploring.

Back out in the sunshine we came across more of the monkeys- one who was abiding by the hand sanatising rules.

We walked across the rock to the Queens viewpoint.

Before heading off to the Windsor Suspension bridge. This bridge was officially opened on the 21st June 2016 and is 71 metre long and suspended over a 50m deep gorge.

At one end of the suspension bridge is Hayne’s cave battery. This was first occupied during the Great Seige of Gibraltar (1779-1783). The battery dates from 1788 although it has a plaque labelled “1903” It is named after the nearby Hayne’s Cave. This battery was named after Captain Haynes who was the garrison quartermaster in 1787-1788 and who began the construction of Queen’s Road. You can see the remains of one of the two 4-inch QF gun positions which were installed in 1904 and are about 40 metres apart. In 1911 the guns were removed in favour of superior 6 inch guns.

We carried on down the Royal Anglican Way to Apes Den, and then on to Queens gate.

Most of the macaques monkeys sleep within an area of 22 acres around the Queen’s Gate. This is also the point where we started to climb up the huge amount of steps to the top of the rock via Charles V Wall.

The Charles V Wall is a 16th-century defensive wall that forms part of the fortifications of Gibraltar. It was built in 1540 and strengthened in 1552 by Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. The wall remains largely intact and has around 660 steps.

At one point a monkey was sitting on the steps. The signs warned you not to get to close if they were on the steps as they might feel threatened if they didn’t have enough space. So we waited for the monkey to move before carrying on our climb.

We tried a YMCA photo on the steps but not sure it was that successful.

The views from the top were beautiful.

Most of the beaches on Gibraltar are on the eastern side of the rock. This photo is looking down at Sandy Bay.

We walked over to the Skywalk which is 340m above sea level. The Skywalk is built on the foundations of an existing WWII base structure, and is designed to withstand wind speeds of over 150km/hour and can carry the weight of 5 Asian elephants, or 340 people, standing on it at the same time. The floor and balustrade panels are made up of 4 layers of laminated glass, with a total thickness of around 4.2cm. Laid out side-by-side, the 42 glass panels would cover more than 750m².

On the walk up to the restaurant at the top cable car station we came across some baby monkeys – they were so cute.

There were some more lovely views from the restaurant.

We decided to stop at the top.for a glass of wine and some nibbles.

We decided to get the cable car down, the entry had it’s own little guardsman.

It was only a few minutes before were back at the base of the rock.

We headed back to the hotel to freshen up before dinner at the Lounge restaurant at our hotel.

There was a beautiful sunset as we had our pre-dinner drinks.

The dinner was really tasty and the wine went down very well too.

Well, I didn’t think I’d be travelling anywhere this year, at least not anywhere that involved getting on a plane. And to be honest, Gibraltar was not top of my list. But it was for a friend’s birthday, it was going to be hot and sunny, it was only around 3 hours on a plane and there was no need to quarantine on return. But I was actually pleasantly surprised.

It was an early flight out of Heathrow, and we obviously had to have a 6am beer. The flight was actually quite busy but I slept for most of it.

When we arrived in Gibraltar we were planning on getting a taxi to our hotel – but there were none to be found and we couldn’t book an uber.

So after some discussion we decided to walk to the hotel. Not the best idea as it was a 40 min walk in 29 degrees sunshine, with suitcases and up a very steep hill! But we made it.

Our rooms weren’t ready when we checked in so we got changed and went to the hotel pool. The pool was lovely – salt water and quite cold.

After some time by the pool we went into town. It didn’t take very long to wander down the high street to Casemates square. This square  takes its name from the British-built Grand Casemates, a casemate and bombproof barracks at the northern end of the square completed in 1817. It has lots of restaurants and bars so we stopped off for a beer and some very sweet sangria.

After a couple of drinks we headed down to see the super yacht- Sunborn.

And as it was happy hour we stopped for a cocktail or two! The bar staff were pretty useless though as they didn’t really know what they were doing.

We had dinner in the Ocean Village – very tasty fish and chips!