A week in the Mediterranean

We arrived in Valetta, Malta, at 11:30pm on Friday night. After a manic taxi ride across the 12mile x 17mile island, we arrived at the Bayview Hotel.

Day 1: Saturday morning started with a bus ride, full of crazy Spaniards, into the city. We had a walk around the mesmerising streets and alleys before stopping for gelato, our first of many, which we devoured by the msin square watching a water fountain show. We then stopped in St. Johns Co-Cathedral, built by the Knights of St. John in the 1560s. The whole floor is made up of tomb stones of coloured inlaid marble. Simply AMAZING. Then we went to the Upper Barrakka Gardens to watch the Saluting Battery, a deafening blast from a restored canon at 12pm. Next stop was the War Memorial where we saw the plaque for Clifton Lawrence Hughes, my Great Grandfather, who went missing in action over the Mediterranean in 1944. We then walked around the north side of the peninsula, past the forts, bastions and curtains, up to Fort St. Elmo before going to get some lunch at 'Malta's best pizza shop'. Yum. After that we went on a tour in the house of a Maltese noble family. I learnt a lot about maltese history and culture. We also got to see the WW2 bomb shelters 100ft underground! Then we caught the ferry home for a well deserved rest.

Day 2: After some miscommunication, we arrived at the dock for Hera Cruises, where a giant, luxury yacht awaited us. We sailed around the east and north sides of the Island to the Blue Lagoon. When we arrived, we hopped off and explored the little outcrop and found a little swimming hole where we took a dip before heading back to the yacht for a delish buffet lunch. After that we lazed around and read, I jumped off the boat a few times and went for one last swim before we headed home. That night, the sunburnt red tomato that I was, found a little restaurant where we had the most amazing meal, Rabbit (the national dish) and octopus pasta followed by a pear and ricotta cheesecake. Wow.

Day 3: The next morning was eventful for all the wrong reasons. We were waiting out front for the 6:15am taxi we had booked, and waiting, and waiting. I went inside and they said that he was running late, but we didn't have anytime to spare, so they got one of the kitchen staff up out of bed to drive us in his own car, baby seat and all. We got on to the ferry with not a moment to spare, and sailed off in the direction of Sicily. We docked at the small fishing town of Pozzallo and then caught the train to Siracusa. When we arrived at Siracusa, we realised that we didn't know how to get to our B&B and the lone taxi was without a driver. A really nice Italian man, with a giant belly, who spoke a little English, tried to find the cab driver for us, asking around in the pubs and things, but to no avail. He offered to drive us there himself, but we managed to get in contact with Sabrina, the B&B owner who came to pick us up. She drove us to Giugiulena, where she showed us our room and gave us a little orientation to Siracusa. Our room was on the bottom floor, the Mediterranean was right outside our door, simply beautiful. We spent the afternoon looking at the Catacombs, there are over 10 000 tombs, and it was where the first Christian community met outside of Israel in 39AD. Then we walked around and through the archaeological site before making our way back home. For dinner we went to a gorgeous restaurant up the hill where we had a divine pizza (Quattro Stagioni) and Pasta (Tonno al Gnocci)

Day 4: I started my day with a swim in the sea. Bliss. After breakfast we went over to the island of Ortiga for our Segway tour! Valario took us through all the winding lanes, to the Piazza Archimede, Fonte Aretusa, Duomo, Apollo's Temple and the Maniace. It was definitely an experience to remember. We spent the afternoon ransacking my mum's suitcase and making expensive international phone calls to try and find her lost credit card and drivers licence. We had a late dinner at a spaghetti restaurant on Ortiga.

Day 5: Our time in Siracusa was up. In the morning we caught the train to Messina and made a mad dash from the station to the ferry. On the ferry we met Daniela, a lovely Italian lady who told us all about the Eolian Islands. Other then that, the ride was frickin boring. When we arrived, we made our way to our accommodation at Baia Portinenti. After we checked in, we went down the main street for some takeaway. I had some Fagottini and Aracini, Yum yum yum. We had a bit of an explore before stopping for dinner at a pizzaria, followed by gelati. I had two WEIRD flavours: Lipari - which had hazelnuts and glace cherries; and Zaguba - Orange, caramel and bits. Weird, but good.

Day 6: We had a leisurely morning wandering around and eating granitas. We bought a picnic lunch for the supermarket: salamis, rolls, cheese, baked ricotta, salad...Mmm. We met the boat at Marina Corta to begin our voyage to Stromboli. First stop was at Panarea. We sailed through the bluest bay before stopping at the town where we had our picnic on the rocks. After some relaxing and reading, we took a wander around the island. Panarea is very exclusive, but very beautiful.

We hopped back on the boat and headed on to Stromboli. We sailed around the Strombolicchio before heading to the village. We went for a swim at the black sand beaches. It was so so so nice and calm. Absolutely amazing. The water was so warm too. Once we had dried off, sunbaking and reading, we found a beautiful restaurant up the hill to have dinner - aubergine pasta and squid spaghetti. So good. We hoped back on the boat and watched the sunset before hanging for some Stromboli eruption action. Unfortunately we only got to see 3, but still I saw a volcano erupt, which is pretty cool I think.

Day 7: Mum was not feeling well this morning, so I headed off solo. First I bought our ferry tickets and then had a wander around in the blistering sun. I strolled down orange tree lined streets and under fruiting fig trees before heading back to the B&B. Mum and I went out to find some lunch, ending up at the takeaway joint again with some divine 1.50 pizza slices. Then we went up to Lipari Castle, a site which has been occupied since neolithic times, through the greeks, romans, normans and spaniards. That night we had stuffed squid for dinner, a Eolian specialty.

Day 8: We were up at the crack of dawn to get ready for the 6:45 ferry to Reggio Calabria. After a relatively uneventful ferry ride, we had a far more interesting trip to the airport. We couldn't find anyone between the port and the bus station who spoke english, so after some enthusiastic charades and mum's fragmented Italian, we got the message across that we needed to go to the airport. The bus driver said, what we thought, was yes. We drove all through Reggio Calabria. After about 30 minutes, we were back where we started! The bus driver reassured us (we thought) that he was on his way, and after he took his 15 minute break, reading the paper, we set off again. In another 20 minutes or so, he pulled up at the airport. Yipee! And he didn't even charge us. What a champion. Then began the wait of all waits, for our plane to Venice. I perused the single shop in the airport before boredom overcame me. We got to Venice, finally, I whipped out the map, and we set off to our next accommodation. We found the Laguna, and a nice message left from the owners. After we settled in to our room, we set off again to find a concert to go to that night. We stumbled upon Vivaldi's 4 seasons. Jackpot. We got some dinner at a little cafe, the cheapest we could find in the ridiculously overpriced Venician market before heading off the the most mind blowingly amazing concert I have seen in a while. The ensemble, music, presentation, venue, everything, was perfection. On the way back, we got some gelati which we ate on the Rialto bridge, before hitting the hay.

Day 9: We started our last day at Mass, in San Cassiano. The nuns, dressed in white, lead the singing. There were even nuns on guitars! The church was beautiful as well. So ornate. The language of the readings and sermon was mesmerising too. After that, we marked our last day in this amazing country with a big shopping spree. Zigzagging through the streets finding the best bargins, the perfect necklace, the right coloured bag, presents, jewellery... After 6 hours straight, we were exhausted! We had some lunch sitting on the grand canal, watching the boats float by. Then I caught the ferry over the St. Georgio Maggiore, a setting from Vikram Seth's book, An Equal Music, and I saw some inspiring art and photography displays over there too, while mum took a well deserved coffee break. We met up again and did the final shopping rounds before going back to the hotel to get our bags and head home.

I could recount the... eventful trip back home... with almost every airport error obstructing our journey.. but I would rather not.

All in all, an AMAZING week. I cannot WAIT to go back there in August! Yippeeeeeeee.