Valletta II

Without anything booked we enjoyed a sleep in, just catching the hotel breakfast before it closed at 10am.

We decided to walk around the outside (sea side) of Valletta to see what we would find. The answer was a reasonably constant stream of good viewing angles plus a theatre which shows a short documentary about Malta's long history. 

The full circuit brought us back to the main gate of Valletta in time for lunch in the shade (now 26 degrees).

The cannon that they fire at 12pm and 4pm. They also seem to fire several of them (if paid?) by departing cruise ships.

Here's the cruise ship leaving later in the day, through a small port opening.

After lunch, and the wedding, we decided we really needed to get out on the water for this perspective of the city too.

We are not sure what we will do tomorrow because Sundays and religious observance seem to mean that many attractions are closed.

Wedding Crashers

As we walked around looking for the next highlight we came across a wedding (about to exit the church) so we claimed the best photo position and waited. 

Ultimately we had to make room for the professional photographers 😁

Wedding drivers asked someone to take their photo 😂 

Mother of the bride?

Pistacchio Maids

Finally, patience is rewarded

Drinks started outside, with a champagne waterfall of glasses.

So we moved on.

Malta

We had heard good things, but Malta was an immediate revelation for us. It's a very cool place to visit; especially Valletta.

It has a very long history but the physically impressive area of Valletta is 'only' 500 years old, through to about a mere 200 years old. Most of which needed to be rebuilt after constant attack during WWII.

We have booked a day trip to Gozo and should get ourselves over to the oldest part around Mdina too.

We were up early (5am) to reach out flight so being too early for the hotel meant we dropped our bags and headed to a food tour. Always a winner.

Our group learning about gardens and canons (below) that still fire at 12pm and 4pm.

Everywhere has food markets. 

Food rationing system during the war.

Coffee and chocolate shop. Which (sorry) is the only food photo that I took! You'll have to trust me that we had a lot of yummy local food.

Restored old buses for tourist circuits.

Everywhere has a favourite fountain 

Nice new architecture sitting amongst the old.

The view from our hotel balcony is very pleasant too.

There are so many lovely streets and lanes to enjoy.

Filming a TV show by day...

Drinks and food by night.

Art, not washing.

For a change there seems to be no graffiti, except for these old scratchings from the 1800s recording the arrival of the British fleet to take over from Napoleon.

The Pellegrino party is over!

After two rounds of hugs the Pellegrino travellers have boarded separate Mercedes vehicles and headed off in different directions.

We hope to keep in touch with some of the group, where crossing paths is a chance. 

We have come back to Catania for the day before flying to Malta in the morning. 

The middle of Catania is far more pleasant and attractive than the surrounding suburbs that we experienced first time we passed through. 

It is similar in age to the other areas we have seen, which actually implies plenty of rebuilds when you consider that Sicily has a deep history (thousands of years).

The centre of the city has a buzz both from design and to appeal to tourists.

Elephant = Good luck and protection from Mt Etna 😂 

Protection from the.... Rain

Impromptu (?) Choir started singing in the Piazza.

We sat down in a lane with music playing for some street food and the 'staff' offered to take our photo and came up with this: 

So we took one too!

We have a very early flight ✈️ tomorrow so no Sicilian partying tonight.

No sign of the Godfather, but I guess that's how he prefers it.

Syracusa

Sadly our week together has reached its end, faster than we hoped but evidence that we have had a great time this week, as we hoped. 

Tomorrow we all head off on the next legs of our journeys. 

We spent today in the Syracusa area and learnt about the Greek history of the area and Archimedes (before the Romans killed him).

Art in an old quary.... Used for building things like theatres...

and aquaducts

or churches!

Surrounded by historic communities.... Rebuilt after 1693 make earthquake.

And food markets.

Before heading back for our final dinner together. It really has been a fun week together. 

Nicky at the head of the table and my fellow 'bloke' Colin at this end. 

Tomorrow we have a day in Catania before heading over to Malta.