Malta

This year we decided to take advantage of the long weekend over Labor day, and take a trip to Malta.  It was a quick plane ride from Catania.  As a matter of fact, on the way home, the pilot got on to update us on the trip before takeoff and said we would be in the air 20 minutes!  We were barely at altitude and then started to descend, it was great!

We got there pretty early on Friday and were not able to check into our rooms right away, so we walked around until one room was ready.  Once we could check into a room, Sam, Mike and I went to get on the hop-on-hop-off bus to get a look at the island.  This was the only planned event for the weekend.  I just wanted to sit by the pool or beach and relax.  Tommy wasn't even up for the bus ride, so he stayed back at the hotel.

That is a pool right on (or in) the sea with water polo set up in the sea.  Tommy wants us to put in a request to move long distance champs to Malta so he can swim in this pool.  It was clearly set up to be a competition pool with lane markings and blocks.

There were marinas everywhere!  

A view from the upper deck of the bus

I am not exactly sure what she is photographing,
but she had to climb and hold on tight to get the shot!

There were some really narrow roads!

I loved this little cove, with all the colorful fishing boats.

It was interesting driving around the island.  Clearly most of the people live by the coasts, and there are some farms and wineries on the interior.

Our first night, we decided to eat Maltese food.  On the bus, we had learned a little bit about some typical dishes.  So we found a restaurant not too far from our hotel and had a sampling of Maltese food, wine and beer.

Bread served before dinner with a couple of different sauces

A complimentary starter.

The kids both got fried raviolis, a traditional Maltese dish

Fried cheese, with a strange sauce none of us liked

Mike decided to try something new because it is a traditional dish, he had some fried rabbit.
Tommy had a bite of it and they both said it tasted like chicken.  I could not consider trying it,
and Sam wasn't happy it was even on the table!

I just had the chicken

The next day we went down to the beach in the morning.  The beach wasn't big, but it was sandy and the hotel had nice lounge chairs.  We were able to get 4 right up at the edge of the sea.  We all waded around in the water, which was calm and warm.  After catching some rays, we took a break got some lunch and walked around a little bit.

This was the beach where we spent our morning.  There were lounge chairs, not tables there at the time.  It looked like there was a wedding reception there that night.  What a great spot!

Not all the beaches are sandy.  In the background you can see the rocky beach.  They even have ladder put into the rocks to make getting in and out a little easier.

Our hotel was in the touristy area of Malta, and we had a Hard Rock across the street.  While there are often Hard Rock Cafes in the cities we have visited, we have never stopped there before, but we decided to give it a shot.

One thing we wanted to do while we were in Malta, was to go to the Blue Lagoon.  We checked out the tours, but they were all full day events, and we just didn't want to devote the entire day to a tour.  So we rented a little boat for the afternoon, got a map and some directions, and headed there ourselves.  The boat was a good idea, but the one we got was not so great.  We had a lot of problems with the engine stalling and were afraid we might get stranded at one point.  So while we would have very much liked to have stopped and jumped in at some point, once we got it going, we didn't want to take a chance on stopping again!  In addition to seeing the beautiful Blue Lagoon, we also went over near the island of Gozo.  The woman at the boat rental place told  us that Angelina Jolie was there filming a movie.  Of course we didn't see her, but we can say we were in Malta with her ;)  There have been a ton of movies and TV shows filmed in Malta, and it is easy to see why.  It is beautiful, diverse and the people were all very friendly.  It was a great way to spend the weekend and say good-bye to summer!

not a great picture of me and Mike, but this is the Blue Lagoon.  While the water looks nice here, the picture just doesn't do it justice!

A view of the old city from the water.