Norm & Felicity’s Travel Diary

 Hi all, We are really enjoying Malta. Yesterday we ventured to the North Coast of the main Island and took a boat ride to the Island of Gozo with Gozo Pride UTV tours. Luckily Norm wasn’t allowed to drive on the pretty average roads there! We strapped in for a tour which took us the length and breath of Malta’s second biggest island. Even though they are part of the same country, we did pick up a bit of Malta vs Gozo vibe - an adversity that stretches back to WWII, when it was claimed that Gozo extracted an unfair price for supplying food to the devastated, heavily bombed Malta. For such a small island it has its share (71) of churches, some like this one are in the middle of nowhere. We drove around the coast road, with some great cliff views, to the town of the Inland Sea - Dwejra.  We were able to take a short boat ride through the “Azure Window” out through the cliffs to the ocean beyond- well worth the 5 Euros! There were plenty of coastal inlets to visit, including Xlen...

 Hi all,  Yesterday we travelled only a short boat ride over to the opposite shore of Valletta to the three cities. The ferries are the traditional gondola, with outboards these days! The three cities are all within walking distance and are the original 16th Century “suburbs” of Valletta, outside the protection of the city walls. Of course, they have plenty of churches! And the streets are almost untouched since for 500 years. The window boxes are a particular feature of the area. This Norman house is reputed to be the oldest in the city, circa 1550. There are plenty of reminders of the constant threat of invasion that this city faced over the centuries. After a very pleasant visit we took the 3 Euro ride back to Valletta, through a fair bit of maritime “real Estate”. Today we took the local bus 40 minutes into the island interior to the original Malta capital of Mdina. It is a very well preserved hill top city almost unchanged since the 1500s. Including its own Cathedral of c...

 Hi all, Yesterday, we said farewell to Lecce in Italy and made our way to Bari by train, then by Ryan Air to Valletta. The lovely Mathew picked us up as planned at the airport and weaved his way through the narrow streets of Valletta to our abode for the next 8 nights - the U Collection panorama suite. As usual Normie has booked us into the heart of the city, in a pedestrian only section. Our street is pretty cool, sitting between the Cathedral of St John and the Masters Palace. But the apartment is even better - siting three stories above the very active streets below. We had a quick unpack, found the wifi and headed out for dinner at the Malta dinner time of 8pm. The view from our abode is below: The dinner was magnificent - Normie couldn’t resist the local specialty, Rabbit casserole - he was in heaven. After a quick local supply stop for essentials (milk, bread and wine) we hit the sack after a long but enjoyable travel day. Today we walked only a few kilometres, as Valletta i...

 Hi all, we had a quiet Sunday in Lecce before taking on a road trip yesterday around the Salento peninsula. This area was originally settled by the Greeks in 600 BC and still has a huge Greek influence, including a local Greco/italian dialect. The architecture is a real mix of Romanesque and Baroque, with a little Moorish thrown in! At Galatina we visited the Franciscan church, the second established in Italy in 1391, including many frescoes that are in great condition. Still stunning after 600 years. Then it was on the road again to Otrano, with its Spanish Castle of Aragon, and surprisingly a Romanesque church with a heavy Moorish influence on the ceiling. This Church of the Martyrs is dedicated to the 800 souls who were killed by the invading Turks (who had a short occupation of the town). Roman mosaics on the floor, Moorish gold on the roof! We went further south to the extreme southern tip of mainland Italy, on the heel of the boot, to the lovely seaport of Santa Maria Di Leu...