Our day began bright and early, hm. okay not so bright since it was 4:00 AM and still dark but early yes. We took one of our favorite shortcuts today by utilizing our Greek Taxi Driver. All of our scheduled transfers this week were achieved with a Greek Taxi Driver and his BMW Taxi Cab. The two of them combined made the trips very quick and short.
Arrived at Athens Airport at 5:30 AM and caught our flight to Rome. Arrived at Rome at 8:30 AM and we were beginning to think that we will be in Malta by 12:30 PM. We even made a smooth transfer to the new terminal and gate ready to catch our transfer flight to Malta. Let’s just say it was too easy. We arrived at the new gate to find out that the flight had been delayed and instead of a one hour layover we were now faced with three hours. ROADBLOCK - some 4 hours later, three different gates, and the European courtesy of none, we were able to finally board a plane, hopefully, to Malta and take off. Needless to say our nerves were about ready to short circuit.
Arrived in Malta around 2:00 PM, rented our car and began the excursion to our resort. Hence, we begin another awesome adventure driving on the wrong side of the car and on the wrong side of the road. Cheryl, why do the windshield wipers keep coming on when I signal? Oh, the windshield wiper handle is on the left and the signal handle is now on the right. Another bad habit to break, I guess.
Located the Golden Sands Resort around 3:30 PM and spent the evening unpacking for the week, exploring the amenities of the resort and just RELAXING after all we are on vacation.
Sunday, May 3rd
First time since leaving on vacation, Cheryl and I slept in until 10:00AM. It appears that our relaxing vacation is beginning to get the better of us. Both of us our sunburn, Cheryl has developed a cold and now hives this morning. Hopefully, it’s not the Swine Flu that the world is now concerned about; even two cases were reported yesterday in Italy. Hm…we were in Rome yesterday to to speak of it. Did nothing all day…now we’re relaxing and on vacation. The only true effort that we made was to walk down to the bar near the beach for a Fruit Fantasy treat. A wonderful tall dish of various fruits and topped with ice cream. MmmMonday, May 4th
Our batteries recharged and now refreshed, we ventured out onto the “wrong side” of the road. First stop was to the ancient ruins and underground excavation of Hypogeum. This is a excavation site all underground of the Neolithic burial grounds (3600 -3000BC). This is such a significant find that they do everything possible to protect the integrity of the site which includes only allowing 80 people a day into the site. Therefore, we had a scheduled appointment for 9:00 AM to tour the site. No problem, plenty of time, think again, remember we are driving on the “wrong side” of the road and more important we have no idea where we are going.
After searching for an hour, driving pass the site 3 times (its all underground not visible from the street level), and stopping and asking for assistances 3 times we finally figured out that we were on the right street. Managed to Parallel Park the vehicle and walking up the street a bit we located a small door way with the entrance to the Hypogeum marked alongside. Okay, we are only 15 minutes late and slipped into our tour group just as the opening preview video was concluding. Ah, we made it.
Next stop luckily was the Tarxien Temples excavation site and even more important was the fact that we could walk to the site from the Hypogeum and didn’t have to move the vehicle. This site is full of megalithic structures that were excavated in 1914 and date from 3600 to 2500 BC. The remains of a large statue of a broad-hipped female figure were located on the site and is a common replica of the times. 
The remainder of the afternoon, we spent in the Three Cities area. The three cities consisting of Senglea, Vittoriosa, and Cospicua closely knitted working communities dependent upon their dockyards for employment. The largest city Vittoriosa has a population of approximately 6000 people. We parked our vehicle at the start of the port and began our walking tour of the city here. Our little walk began at the Advanced Gate 1, where the Malta at War Museum is located. Here we climbed to the top of the fortress walls and could see across the bay to Senglea. World War II air raid shelters are still visible. Next, at the Church of the Annunciation, we toured the Inquisitor’s Palace. A brief stop in Liberty Square for lunch and soaking in of the street life we moved to the Sacra Infermeria, the first hospital to be constructed b y the Knights of St. John on their arrival in Malta. It now serves as a active convent. We then wandered through the streets of the village, and saw numerous homes. 
We concluded our walking tour by walking down onto the warf where we could see the Fort St. Angelo and taking a harbor cruise in a small boat around the port of the three cities. During the harbor cruise it was pointed out how during World War II, the military utilized this harbor to stage their command area. Even still gun installations can be seen. Thus ended the day and back to the resort just beating the rush hour traffic.
Tuesday, May 5th
After getting back from our travels yesterday, we thought that maybe there is a better way to explore the sites then driving each day? Hence, we book with the resort a bus tour of Mdina and Rabat. After traveling in a small bus transferring to a large bus and realizing that half of the group spoke German, we actually began the tour an hour later.
Our tour gave us a taste of the areas of Mdina and Rabat. First stop was the Mdina fortress again built by the knights of St. John. Outside of the inner city Mdina offered sites such as the St. Paul Cathedral, the Catacombs of St. Agatha,
and the Dingli cliffs which extend some 274 meters above the sea level providing a strategic location for defending the island and monitoring the air space above.
In Rabat, the Ta’Qail craft village, the remains of the air force airfield during World War II, was Cheryl’s favorite. Here a glass blowing factory and store to purchase the glassware. Handmade crafts and shops of a wide variety offered, tempted and often times succumbed too kept her attention.
Our final stop was the Mosta Cathedral Dome, the third largest in the world. This dome cathedral was constructed over the original church and when close to completion the original church was removed from the site. A beautiful church which depicted scenes from the savior’s life around the circumference of the dome. The miracle of this dome was during World War II, 300 people were inside the church when an air raid took place. During the air raid, a German bomb crashed through the dome but did not explode and thus 300 people were saved. A replica of the bomb is located here in the church today. Tomorrow we take the vehicle back out and head to Valletta.
Wednesday, May 6th
Valletta was the destination today. After several rounds of consideration of options, we decided to take the shuttle bus to Valletta from the hotel and parked our trusted vehicle for another day. Once at Valletta, we walked the city streets and within the few short hours (6 hours) accomplished in seeing the Malta Experience, a 45 minute history of Malt;toured the Casa Rocca Piccola the Palace of the ninth marquee.
We then made a very quick walk through of St. Johns Cathedral; and finally the Upper Gardens of Barrakka a birds eye view of the surrounding cities and the Grand Harbor.
Satisfied that we had seen everything possible that we could see, hm… well at least tired of walking up and down the stair lined streets and exhausted we caught the shuttle back to the hotel.
Thursday, May 7th
The end of our Malta Experience came to a conclusion by spending the day on the island of Gozo. During our drive to the ferry, we came to learn about a village they call Popeye Village. Hm, that is right Popeye the movie we believe was filmed right here on Malta. The ferry boat ride was only twenty minutes long and we were off the boat and onto our bus to begin the tour of Gozo. First stop was the Azur Window at Dwejra where we with our new English friends John and Irene stepped into a small boat and explored the caves and observed the Azur Window. The colors of the sea were numerous and beautiful. 
Indeed, the highlight of the whole day was riding the waves and enjoying the scenery. Lunch at Xlendi Bay and then onward to the citadel of Victoria where one could see a 360 degree panoramic view of the Island. 
Our last and final destination of the day was the ancient Temples of Ggantija. This was a beautiful day and a great way to end the day and week on Malta. ROADBLOCK – I hate these dam roadblocks! Evidently, during one of the stops of the day, suspected school children rummaged through my backpack and took my cell phone, I know, dumb I but it left a damper on a great day. After a thorough search of our luggage and a few e-mails we had achieved in disconnecting the phone and felt at ease for the remainder of the trip or until another roadblock surfaces.
Despite the events of the day, some interesting facts include: a low crime rate where the home owners will leave their keys chained to the front door; the homeowners will name their homes after the places they have lived in previously; the bus drivers all own their own bus and belong to an association that maintains equality amongst the drivers for fares; and their language has an Arabic base with Italian and English influence. Indeed our Malta/Gozo experience has been an experience.
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