Hello all .. apologies for not communicating very prolifically over the last year unlike certain a other blogger I can think of …. http://www.gorgeoux.com/ ….
anyway we have been on holiday in the above mentioned place and had an interesting time really …
however ..
. This is a 4 star hotel in which the coffee has to be argued for each morning …. I find that a bit difficile 1st thing (before a coffee …) The manager this morning was somewhat rude as well which didn’t really help me or him after we had finished our ‘conversation’ I apologised afterwards and we are the best of mates now ….after all he is the guy who makes the coffee you see …
… Had quite an epic sail yesterday … The forcast had been for 18 mph wind which would have been quite nice , I texted the sailing school owner thinking that he wouldn’t be about on sunday (strictly catholic country ) and as his yacht had moved from the mooring, but got a reply about 12.45 saying he was about, followed by a call and met him 2.30 and went out. Its been really nice being able to sea sail in the waves and know there’s a safety system in place in case something goes wrong … about 15 years actually since I have done any sea sailing … anyway the sky clouded over and the wind got up and the forecasted wind came in and it was great .. Then the tiller (rudder holder) broke while I was about a mile out so had to struggle in and get to the outskirts of the harbour waving the broken tiller in front of the harbour so he would notice, which he did and zoomed out in his outboard motor and rubber duck and lashed a new one for me and off I went for some more fun.
The problem happened when I was being towed in (!!) .. Had the ropes a bit tight and got my foot stuck under one and over I went !! … Then found I couldn’t right it so Paul Debono http://www.fairwindsailing.com.mt dived in and rescued me !! … All watched by Gill from the hotel window !!! …good sport and good spectator sport as well .. Gill says she’s not letting me sail again til I lose a bit of weight ..
Anyway a felt quite exercised yesterday and needless to say slept rather well afterwards !! …. All excellent and such a good reason to stay in Malta and in a somewhat less than 4 star hotel .. The staff are quite nice really and are really one’s friends .. But the operations manager is very rude (and still unrepentant ) he offered to take us to another hotel after we complained about the room on the 1st day (next to the lift and 1st floor over the hotel entrance …. ) .. We fixed it next day through the agent though and ended up on the 5th floor.
So .. Its been good .. Weather, restaurants and sailing that is (hotel .. no further comment) .. it’ll be good to be back … And to see you all soon ..
So about the pictures , the collection is here and will write an explanation soon ..
however … until i get organised have a look at this picture ( zoom your browser to read the text , to zoom go to the bottom right hand corner and click the + sign … not sure about apple macs sorry
) ….
Ok so here are some of the nicer pictures .. this was our favourite pizza place … thin crust and with the ancient busses chugging round the bay … the view from the ferry on the way to Gozo …. this and this and this was the church built by the villagers between 1950 and 1971 …. We visited the Ggantija Temples which are a world heritage site and represent the oldest freestanding manmade structure in the world ? see here and here and here . We visited the ‘citadel’ in Victoria , the centre of Gozo and admired the views from the top and here and here . The rest of the pictures are various shots around St Juliens. This is a shot of some fossils embedded on the Limestone on the shore at Sliema . Without doubt the best pizzas and views were from this place in Spinola Bay
We also visited in September when Gill had a private tour of some of the nicer parts of Malta.
This was St Paul’s Church in Malta which was the actual site of St Pauls incarceration in Malta after the shipwreck see here and here ..
… we were treated to a guided tour of Ndina the ancient city of Malta with its beautiful Cathedral in which our guide was married see here here ( the amazing marble floor … ) and here do browse the pictures from here . There was a trip round Valletta by horse and trap with a visit to the other Cathedral there replete with many Caravaggio paintings therin (no photography) all in here
Here is a nice sailing video .. “footage of extreme sailing”
Here is my favourite Laser sailing video …
“When we went out sailing it was 25 knots, with big waves. However, after half an hour the wind increased to over 35 knots, wtih gusts over 40. We were quite far upwind by this time, and the video shows our mad dash back to the safety of the SailBase.
www.sailcoach.com“
Richard


