Malta

On Monday we had a smooth journey; our trains to Gatwick and our flight were all on time. We purchased a weekly bus pass and got on a bus to Sliema where we are staying for the week. Kath had landed 90 minutes before us but her bus went round the houses so she hadn't been at the apartment for long before we arrived at about 5.30.

The apartment (Airbnb but all to ourselves) is great. Two bedrooms and a good sized kitchen and living area. It's on a fairly quiet street but church bells ring very early in the morning.

We went out for a meal then stocked up for the week at the supermarket.

On Tuesday we walked along the coast to St George's bay. It was a hot, sunny day.  This was one of my planned walks but it was punctuated with stops at every dive shop for Kath to check them out. We had our packed lunch by the bay and couldn't believe how people were roasting themselves on the beach without shade. We walked back to Kath's preferred dive shop and she booked in for 6 dives over 3 mornings.

We then caught a bus to the capital,  Valletta, about a 20 minute ride. Valletta is lovely and, after visiting the Fortress Builders exhibition we walked around on the walls.

I wanted to see the cannon fired at 4pm so I left Martin and Kath walking round the outside and cut through the streets to the Upper Gardens. Although I knew the cannon would be fired it still made me jump. The other two caught up with me and we had an ice cream and a rest in the gardens.