Big City Lights

We did not realise before we came that Malta was going to be so much fun. There was so much to do that we ended up staying more than 2 weeks, instead of the anticipated “couple of days” we often give a place.

Being in Malta was a chance for us to do some “big city” stuff. We are usually in quiet bays or small seaside towns, so this made a nice change! We had not been to the cinema for ages, since most countries we have visited do not show films in English (or Dutch…). So being in bilingual Malta, we just had to go to the cinema! We made a big deal out of it, sort of a family date night. We had overpriced weak coffees and lollipops first at Costa Coffee (Sicily spoiled us with cheap delicious coffee on every street corner…). Then we made sure we went into the theatre with buckets of popcorn, M&Ms’ and sodas. We saw The Incredibles 2 by the way. It was fun.

Almost every evening during our stay in Malta we were entertained with fireworks! Sometimes they consisted of just loud booms, sometimes they were jaw-dropping gorgeous displays. We also heard the cannons fired from Valetta every afternoon at 4pm. Oh and for about a week a guy came to set off fireworks right next to us every morning at 8am. I met him just before we left and he apologised! He said that he had to do it as part of his job, without elaborating further and I did not ask… I just love Malta!

Einstein and his dog

We went back to the Esplora science museum to see a film in the planetarium. The kids loved it. We also joined in some activities and a workshop about bubbles. Beau was called up as a volunteer but was bit too shy to say much… He later said he enjoyed it though.

In the weekends Rinella Bay, where we were anchored, got really busy, mostly with small motor boats. It was good fun though, very lively and festive. The bigger boats with the loudest sound systems tended to stay a bit further out so they did not bother us much. There was even a speedboat passing by now and again to sell ice cream. The ice cream boat was manned by a hilarious duo of a man with wild grey hair, reminding me of the pictures of Einstein, and his chihuahua. The chihuahua was on a leash. Once, I saw it slide off the boat, nearly getting dragged along underwater. Einstein quickly yanked the leash to pull the dog back onboard. The chihuahua flew back into the boat, gave a little yelp, then settled down again. It did not seem too traumatised. I had a feeling that they had done that routine before…

Bianca Kindler