The Rock - Day Two

So as expected yesterday was another drinking fueled day. After having a cool beer at Keith's whilst he finished off some work we took a wonder down to Fortina Hotel and Spa - that's right a Spa day ;)

Fortina Hotel is literally 2 minutes from Keiths but the difference in view is astronomical. They have a great set up with 3 pools (1 for children, a slightly deeper one next to it and the main pool). This all overlooks Valetta which is full of old buildings making for an incredible view from your sunlounger. Keith had told me that it is 12 Euro for theday or 6 Euro after 1:30 - we went at 1:45 and the swines had changed the time to 3:30 which meant we paid 12. Keith owed me 55 euro from the night before so this time it was on him. Whilst the beer was a little more expensive it was still less than £3 for a Stella. Fantastic!

We chilled by the pool for a while with Keith dipping in. I have a bit of an issue about my back, ever since I got burnt at 14 it has become very sensitive which means that in the summer it flares up with spots looking like the moons craters or a volcanic eruption - not the best. With that in mind I decided to keep my shirt on, that soon changed and I took a dip in the pool briefly which was refreshing.
Here's the view!

 

Unfortunately, despite lathering myself in sun lotion my stomach is now a lot redder than normal - sigh!

After Fortina we left for a walk back to Keiths to change. At 8ish we headed down to Surfside to chill on the cushions and watch the football! It's a shame it was dark as the picture from the night doesn't really show the view. To give you an idea the bar is right on the sea/ beach so I had a projector in front of me, and to my left the ocean! Not bad. 

Now in Malta the locals either claim to be English or Italian - or both. This meant that after Italy's surprise victory we knew what we were in for. On the walk back to Keiths the roads were almost at a standstill with people leaning out the windows, sitting in the open boot waving their flags. Its pretty cool but very OTT.

Keith was a little tired so we posponed the night out and stopped for a tasty chicken plate which was super healthy and tasty. When we got back I stayed up to watch some poker on my laptop and Keith hit the sack. I ended up staying up until 3am ish and went to bed myself - hardcore haha.

THis morning sees the start of a festival in Malta. A great ceremony with fantastic decorations on the street - it also means that at 7:30 am they were setting off fireworks essentially outside my bedroom window. Great wake up call - and they don't show anything just smoke because it is day time!!! They were the loudest fireworks ever it felt like someone was on a gun rampage outside, ah well leave them be - probably the same people beeping their horns celebrating Italy's win yesterday that are now Maltese again ;).

The plan today is to head to the beach and chill there - less alcohol in the day for Keith so that he can be awake for a night out and I will aim to drink more water but will likely have a couple of beers on the beach front! Not a bad life right now at all Also due to the heat etc I've seen myself lose some weight here - also the fact that the food is pretty healthy in the way it is cooked and the copious amounts of salad served with it!

I'll keep you all posted!

 

A journey to the rock

So it's nearly July and my last post was back in May, wow that is poor. To be honest nothing major has happened recently,nothing blog worthy anyway. Unfortunately my knee is still really bad which is frustrating but ho hum it'll fix and if not here's to the operation.

I kind of made a promise to myself to write about my current trip as it will serve me well to look over in the future. I am in Malta at the moment in glorious sunshine and absolutely loving it. Some of the loner term readers may remember that I was living here and working for 3 months 2 years ago and I made a snap decision that I wanted to visit again especially during the Euros as the Maltese are passionate about football.

So Wednesday I woke up at 3:30 am to get ready for my 4:15 am cab to take me to Luton airport. Everything was packed and I was good to go. Cab arrived on time and after realising our M1 junction was closed for roadworks (WTF) we took a detour through Watford, always good to have loads of time in hand as it made the journey relaxing. I got to the airport at 4:45 and went straight to check in. It was pretty funny seeing the two people in front of me get to the desk and get told their bags were overweight... noobs. I had no such worry and was checked in within 30 seconds of approaching the desk - ship it Ryan Air. Interestingly as my flight was not until 6:40 Luton have a new policy where you go back outside and in through the arrivals to go through security. Again pretty damn smooth, apart from having my phone swobbed - not sure how to react to that, they clearly think either I look dodgy or I look like a genius that can bombify my phone, either way no biggy.

Unfortunately going through the arrivals means that you are entering at departure gate 1 which whilst it was the one I'd be leaving from, has very little to offer. I took the long walk to gate 26 to get my breakfast. £10 for a beer and full english (2 has browns, 2 bacon, 2 sausage, 2 eggs, tomato and mushroom... the last two were left on the plate.) Bit odd to be having a beer at 5 am but was kind of fun. My baseball team SF Giants were playing our rivals the Dodgers so I managed to get that up on my phone and chill out. At about 6:15 casual walk to the gate and was thankful I had paid the extra £10 to reserve a seat - meant priority boarding so whilst all the cheapskates were in a 100 deep queue I got to walk straight on. After a seat change due to an obscenely obese woman sitting in row 1 and therefore not being fit enough to help open the emergency exit I ended up with even more leg room. It;s a little uncomfortable having 2 attractive air hostesses sitting opposite you when you take off but I did what all men should do and flirted my way to a number. No intention of calling, it was more an ego/ confidence booster to get the week started.

Malta airport are super quick and I was off the plane, collected my bag and in my pre booked cab 10 minutes before my plane was scheduled to land. Cabbie was cool and dropped me off at my mate Keiths. Keith is a legend for letting me stay at his and it is an amazing apartment. First thing I realised is how hot Malta is again... woops. Keith had some work to do so I sat in the sun looking at the view and playing a bit of online super low stakes poker (prop bet with a mate where I have to turn 0 into a decent amount which I won't name within 6 months). Poker session went well as I span the $5 up into 50. Keith finished working so off to the bars.

We went to an awesome bar with really nice cold beer. 6 hours later and a meal finally eaten we discussed where to watch the football. By this point I'm a little tipsy and tired and paid the bill. (6 hours, a lot of beer and two lovely burgers for 50 euro between us... awesome!!) Unfortunately we had no change for a tip so I turned to the girls behind to ask for change Obviously we could of got change from the waitress but this was an easy opener. The girls turned out to be Samantha - a recruiter out here, and Mimi - a Swedish girl who she was prepping for interview over a bottle of wine! They were lovely and we persuaded them to come to the football at a bar later. We shot home to shower, I wanted a nap but Keith refused to allow me to, and we headed out to the bar.

The bar was a regular haunt for me before and after being forced to drink a Cisk the time was hitting me. Sam sent a text saying she wasn't coming and to be honest I was glad, far too tired to go anywhere after the game, and to be honest the game sucked a bit. So at half time we took the 2 minute walk back to Keiths to watch the end. Within 5 minutes he was asleep so I stayed up watching the game before hitting the sack. Great first day.

Today I woke up at 9 after a good 8 hour sleep and feel refreshed. Keith had some work to do so I played a bit more poker (up to 100 now... boom) and wrote this.

Plan today was to go to a 5* hotel to chill at their 2 pools with amazing view - 12 euro to get in for the full day. It's now 12:30 so we are just doing the PM session for 6 euro and Keith is making me a bacon sandwich. I can't really complain. I think after the pool we will shower etc and head to ether a football club or Spinola bay to watch the game - should be a good one but a comfortable 3-1 victory for Germany with Ozil getting a goal that he deserves. I imagine we will hit PV (clubbing zone) tonight and it will be a late one. I have a fair few mates in Malta that will join us so it will be a fun day.

Here's to enjoying this week!