Author: brisbanefrannie

Day 3: Malta

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A leisurely start to the day and a cab ride down to Avis to pick up a car. “Robbed” by the cabbie – but that is life! Took a long while to get the paperwork done but finally on the road. First stop – Marsaxlokk in the South. Very cute fishing village. We manged to see it all, and Steve bought yet another model boat! Very pretty! Breakfast and away before the tourist buses off the cruise ships in Valetta arrived!

Marsaxlokk
Marsaxlokk markets
An addition to the fleet

Driving here is a bit different – the distances are only short but the roads very narrow and extremely rough. We discovered that our little car had a very dodgy front-end suspension – and worst of all the air-conditioning didn’t work!

Ghar Lapsi

Next stop was on the West coast at Ghar Lapsi – in the middle of nowhere but a cute little ocean swimming inlet. Shared the water with some folk from Brisbane!

Bozo and friend go to Gozo

We then headed North to get the car ferry across to Gozo – the subtitle for today’s adventure is “Bozo goes to Gozo”. The landscape all over is very dry with hardly any trees and more stone fences than you have ever seen. The water is a clear and as blue as you could imagine.

We pottered around Gozo – saw some preparations for a festival (St Lorenzo?) and caught the views from the fort at Victoria – in the centre of the island and quite dominating.

Festival preparations at Xewkija

From Victoria

Then down to Masalforn for a light lunch and a swim – very refreshing. We then drove around some adjacent beaches and also saw some ancient salt pans – really interesting land forms.

Salt Pans
Xwenji
ir-Ramla

“The” beach on the island (sand!) is at ir-Ramla. No lifesavers on duty – just a statue of Madonna and Child to watch over the bathers. We had an cool drink and a look – and then the car wouldn’t start. Aided by a really helpful young local we got going (some weird occurrence in the ignition / immobiliser that self corrected!) and took off for the ferry back to the main island. Made it just in time!

Drive back to Valetta was uneventful and we handed the car back and retired to the apartment to freshen up before dinner. Special treat – restaurant called ll Horza. We were the only customers (it seats about 10 people!) which often is not a good sign. However we had the full attention of both owner and his chef and had a superb meal (including the most delicious tuna sausages) and much complimentary grappa etc to conclude. Bravo!

ll Horza

Day 2: Malta

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We did a little”housekeeping before setting off for breakfast  – at one of the oldest cafes in Valletta -Cafe Cordina. We had a breakfast smoothie then we shared a kind of bacon and egg roll – called a rather fancy Maltese name.
We got to the Palace for the 9am opening but it didn’t open till 10. So down the road to Casa Rocco -a lovely Palazzo still lived in by the family who have had it in the family for 100 years. We even saw the old owner returning from an outing. It’s a great way to see how people lived all those years ago
We had a good nights sleep – our bedroom faces the harbour and the lights outside make it quite light even at night – but we managed to sleep. The weather is very warm – around 30 at the moment, so we’ve been thrown into summer again. It’s rather humid and is like our summer.

 
Casa Rocca 
In the entry hall

Entrance staircase at Casa Rocco

View from the gardens

The boys racing in Vittorosa

One of the three ancient towns

Day1: Malta

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What a journey! Our flights with Emirates were all terrific and towards the end from Dubai via Lanarca we bonded with the cabin steward and he took some photos! Not sure if the 26+hours of  travel have me looking my best but it was good fun.
   

He  took some photos and presented them to us  in little Emirates photo frames. he took them with one of those polaroid cameras   

We were tickled to think our pilots on the last leg were Americans named Chuck and Randy and trusted with names like that they weren’t more used to driving bulls not planes.

Nevertheless we arrived in Malta to warm sunny conditions with the bluest of blue skies. Our apartment owner Michael met us in arrivals and drove us to the apartment. The apartment is (as friend Jill said “fairly modest”) but in a great position and has wonderful views of Valetta harbour.

Grand Harbour from our apartment
From our apartment

We quickly freshened up and wenт off to explore Valletta.
It’s a gorgeous old town with lots of up and down sloping streets. The afternoon light made it seem so beautiful. It’s on a peninsula with the Grand Harbour for big ships on the side our apartment is on.

 

our apartment
our street

We walked around the streets and found our way to the water and just walked. The buildings are built with the softest pink stone and look wonderful –  even the crumbling ones look great.

Steve has already brought his Mediterranean trip hat, and I have as well. It’s always our first stop: new hat, map, check out the sights and then a beer for Steve and an Aperol spritz for me.
So all is good!

The man in the hat
Palazzo

Joshua tree

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Arriving at Joshua Tree National Park. It’s about an hour and half from La Quinta. Such a desert landscape.
We left home at around 10am and we scrabbling over the rocks by midday in a completely different landscape 

Thank you Tom  for  driving us to the National park. 

What a great day. It was such a terrific experience .  

Markets, houses, burgers and music

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Today I started with a swim at the country club house pool , breakfast and a trip to Old Town La Quinta for the Art under the Umbrella markets. 
All very nice : white washed buildings, white umbrella, lots of stalls with arty things: paintings, pottery, beads, cards, dog accessories, ( yes they love their dogs so much some people wheel them around like babies in carriages) . We wandered the streets but didn’t buy anything, had a coffee and headed home for lunch.. 
After a recharge Tom took  Jim, Audrey and myself house hunting. He is so funny. Knows the agents from his years of checking out the property market in the area. 
We saw a collection of houses starting with the 3.2 mil one which was in a very select gated community and was one of the lower end properties! It was so Italian in feel I thought I was in Italy . I could have moved right in. Four bedrooms and a casita ( a separate bedroom apartment at the entrance to the house) it all opened up at the back and had views across the pool to the golf course. The next one was 1.8 and again I could have moved right in . 3 bedrooms and a casito. Not as grand as the last one but so comfortable. Next one 2.8mil a BIG disappointment . Very tacky and over done. True to the  – Money doesn’t buy taste. 
Home via the food market for the makings for dinner. We are having home made burgers compliments of Jim and Audrey.
Lynne made us the usual margarita and we sipped out the back of the house after all preparing the burgers and salads. Lovely night THEN we decided to break with tradition and went to the fish market ( not for fish) for the live music in the bar area outside. 
It was terrific fun. A really good band  with 3 old timers from apparently famous bands of the past. Then a young girl guitar player who was very good . All together a great few hours jigging along to some favorite old songs and a few new ones

Dinner out

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Tonight we went to the home of another school friend of Tom and Jim. David is a doctor and now has Parkinson’s. his wife Madeline is a lovely lady who had prepared an Indian feast.
They own a house at Lake Mirage in Rancho Mirage about 1/2 hr drive away. It’s set around a lake and has a pool out the front of the house. All very swish .
There were other people there – all very friendly though a certain gentleman nearly bored the socks off me! Lynne was very naughty and kept asking questions to change the direction of the conversation but that just set him off on another long story.
 The Calgarians head to the Palm Valley area like we head to the coast. They play tennis, golf , shop , ride bikes and generally hang out like we do at the coast- though probably a little more active and energetic.
So home and to bed!