Malta

Well Andrew and I have now been in Malta for the last two weeks. I think this place has been quite an eye opening experience for Andrew and has taught him a lot about why my family is the way it is.

Our visit started of with L'Imnarja, which is a festival celebrated in the town where my parents come from called Nadur. During this festival the town celebrates the feast day of the patron saints of the town church, St Peter and St Paul. There are several brass band marches, often parading around a statue of the two saints, lots of fireworks, food, and most importantly, catching up with family. And boy is there a lot of it!

I have a few uncles who still live in Malta, so not only did Andrew get to meet them, but also my great aunts, second cousins, third cousins, and even fourth cousin. Heck I even met a relative I didn't know I had :-)

With the festa over we were finally able to start doing some sightseeing. I have now taken Andrew to see most of the main sights of Gozo (the Maltese island where we are staying), including Dwejra (Dway - ra) and the Azure Window, the inland sea, the General's rock, ramla bay, the Citadel with it's Cathedral and various museums, as well as a spectacular view of the island, Ggantija (Jigantiya) temples, Ta Kola windmill, Mgarr Ixeni (Im jar Isheen ie), Hondoq, top of the Nadur Church, San Blas, Marsalforn, Dahlet Qorrot, Xlendi Bay, etc.

Mary Ann, Romeo and their daughter Maria also took us on a tour of some of the sights on mainland Malta. The took us to Valetta (the Capital City of Malta), Mdina (the old Capital City of Malta), and the Mosta church. They did an excellent job of showing us around, explaining the significance of certain sights and pointing out things of note.

We also caught up with my cousins Lee Ann and Jolene the other day and went to the Blue Lagoon, which is a beautiful natural lagoon that exists between the islands of Camino and Caminotto and is an excellent swimming spot.

For the last week or so my parents have been away on a cruise so Andrew and I have had the house (and car) to ourselves. This has meant that we've been able to do lots of exploring and get ourselves lost on purpose for the fun of it. I'm looking forward to mum and dad coming back though, as some plans have had to be put on hold until their return.

Today we are going to spend another gorgeous afternoon at the beach. We are hoping to go to Ramla bay again as this is one of the best swimming spots on the island with gorgeous red sand and shallow water. However this beach can be prone to jellyfish due to it's warm water. The local Authorities have a flag system to let people know when jellyfish are around so it's easy to know if it is safe to swim.

All is not lost if there are jelly fish though. My cousin Michelline showed us, on a previous beach day we spent together, that if Ramla bay has jellyfish, generally Hondoq Ir-rumein will not as it is on the other side of the island and has colder (but still swimable) water. The only issue with Hondoq is that it is a stone beach rather than a sand beach so it is a little harder when just relaxing on the shore.

Anyway, off to the beach!