In Trips in Malta on February 23, 2010 by Michael Tagged: malta, pictures
While London is cold, grey and dreary these days Malta is pretty warm so I decide to post a few pictures.
Malta is very photogenic and very different from my usual habitats so there is lots to “shoot” at. Especially for the Christmas trip where I had a new camera and was spending 16 days. Here is a couple of my favorite pictures and themes from this trip and others to Malta.
Malta has many cats – some are pets others just roam around.
Typical Maltese balconies can be seen everywhere.
The decorative doors and windows begs to be admired whether they are falling apart or had a new lick of paint.
Old, rustic street decorations as niches, statues and signs can be found on a lot of buildings.
Beautiful panoramic views of the sun, sea and the sandstone of Malta.
And a couple of the quirky and cute ones;
Shepherd and his sheep
Green toes!!
Japanese truck
Privte Propeirty
Last but not least I need to mention that I won two nights stay and the luxury hotel Kempinski in Gozo! They had a competition where you should write a blog post about Gozo and then the winner was found in a draw. If you are interested you can go read my piece here: Going to Gozo – A vacation within a vacation.
…and now it started to snow – again – in London [sigh].
In Trips in Malta on January 13, 2010 by Michael Tagged: gozo, malta, new year
To celebrate New Year’s Eve Ann and I joined Ann’s sister and boyfriend for a trip to the neighbor island of Gozo. I’ve been to Gozo a couple of times and always enjoy the quieter, green island for a break away from bustling Malta – this time it wasn’t that quiet tho.
Victoria, the biggest city on Gozo was putting on a New Year’s Eve party at two of the town’s squares with some local bands playing for the evening. We saw a number of bands/acts playing cover numbers and own songs. My two favorites were Carrie Haber and Airport Impressions.
There was a great atmosphere with the live music, lots of Gozitans out in their best clothes, beer and food stands and pleasant weather. A very different New Year for me without any Queen’s speech, cold snowy weather, fireworks or big bell for midnight but I really enjoyed the night.
The next day we went back to Malta – again a nice boat ride in good weather.
In Trips in Malta on December 27, 2009 by Michael Tagged: ann, christmas, church, family, malta, mass, procession
On the eve of the 22nd Ann and I made our way to Gatwick airport. We had a flight to Malta the next morning at 7.15 AM and didn’t want to count on public transport getting us out there in the morning as London was having severe traffic issues due to snow and ice. Lucky for us the the flight was almost and time and we made it to Malta without any problems.
While England and the rest of northern Europe was struggling/celebrating snow and ice we ended up in Malta’s warmest Christmas in more than 20 years with temperatures up to 24 degrees – nice!
On December 24th, while Ann was busy, I walked around the village she is from taking pictures of the Christmas decorated houses.
The last photo is a hand-painted picture on the back entrance to a bar that really have an aura of Christmas. As I walked by Christmas music was blasting out in the streets. Check out the front and side photos.
In the evening of the 24th we went to the village’s Christmas Procession where kids dressed as angels and shepherds walk the baby Jesus through the streets as they sing carols.
In the evening we went out with Ann’s siblings and partners to a nice restaurant on Vittoriosa Waterfront.
After that it was on to the university church where we went for midnight mass. The church was packed with people sitting outside watching the service on a big screen. We got a seat inside and watched the Maltese service which started with this kid retelling the Christmas story. Very cute.
Well I’m used to celebrating Christmas on the eve of the 24th but here it’s different so we had to let the gifts stay under the crib for another night before we could release the excitement.
The next morning we got stockings, opened gifts, played games, Wii and watched films.
An extra bonus is that Ann’s mum has orange trees in her garden so we could all start the day with a glass of fresh juice – delicious.
Merry Christmas!
