Malta, Day 1, Mellieha, HF: Arrival day

HF: = HF Holidays booklets xreference

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17-09-23 - Solana Hotel, looking downtown.

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17-09-23 - Solana Hotel, uptown. Watch that left-hand traffic.

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17-09-23 - Oh-oh, portal. DR's already busy ... staking out his preferred subject matter.

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D454 17-09-23 Malta, Day 1, Mellieha, HF: Arrival day

Malta, day 2, HF2: Northern Peninsula

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17-09-24 - We take the scenic route to the bay.

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17-09-24 - But drizzle happens.

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17-09-24 - See last year's Portofino yacht pic.

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17-09-24 - Tempting path. But drying out is our current priority.

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D455 17-09-24 Malta, day 2, HF2: Northern Peninsula

Malta, Day 3, HF3: Valetta sightseeing

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17-09-25 - Rotunda Church, Mosta.

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17-09-25 - With lovely dome.

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17-09-25 - Unaccustomed as I am ... to public speaking ...

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17-09-25 - Saint Derek Peter. I think I probably wasn't named after the founder of the Church. My mother's cat was called Peter.

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17-09-25 - Panorama L2r. 5 pics. See "all"

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17-09-25 - Lunch by the Russian Cultural Centre. Then we go on a harbour cruise.

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17-09-25 - Another of those ominous-looking yachts.

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17-09-25 - Valleta hbr. Major ship servicing stuff.

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17-09-25 - One of the smaller service vessels.

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D456 17-09-25 Malta, Day 3, HF3: Valetta sightseeing

Malta, Day 4, HF4: Dingli Cliffs, Mdina

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17-09-26 - Archaeology: Nickname: Clapham Junction. Believed to be the remnant of neolithic cart or sledge tracks.

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17-09-26 - Inside a more recently lived-in cave.

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17-09-26 - Our guide sums up.

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17-09-26 - Merle inspects NATO's outer defences.

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17-09-26 - Bel Epoque style? Dunno. But these glassed-in porches do seem to appear on many Gay-Nineties buildings. The basic architecture of the town owes much to the Baroque tradition.

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17-09-26 - High-style fortification. Vauban? Compare Fort George, which has more of a rough-hewn wilderness-chic-y personality.

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07-07-30 - Fort George, NOTL.

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17-09-26 - Elegant.

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17-09-26 - Parapet panorama. L2R 6 pics. See "all"

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17-09-26 - Juliet's balcony?

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17-09-26 - A most elegant Cop Shop.

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17-09-26 - Jesus, the cab driver, slumbers.

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D457 17-09-26 Malta, Day 4, HF4: Dingli Cliffs, Mdina

Malta, Day 5, HF5: Rest day

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17-09-27 - Mellieha beach. Our hotel on the hill in back.

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17-09-27 - Hi there! Glad you could come.

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17-09-27 - Trempe l'oeil stairs.

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17-09-27 - Bubby knits while DR (sun)burns. Back at the hotel.

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17-09-27 - That ominous yacht from another day. Visible from the hotel roof.

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D458 17-09-27 Malta, Day 5, HF5: Rest day

Malta, Day 6, HF6: Marsascala

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17-09-28 - Today we start at Marsascala Harbour.

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17-09-28 - Lonely?

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17-09-28 - Old salt drying pans down the coast.

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17-09-28 - St Peter's Pool. An informal tourist resort. Side roads crowded with people picnicking and swimming here.

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17-09-28 - Taking the plunge.

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17-09-28 - Hoodoos

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17-09-28 - Harbour destination, Marsaxlokk.

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17-09-28 - This is a watch-boat, watching YOU. Remember the watch-bird series in Ladies Home Journal?

More detail.
D459 17-09-28 Malta, Day 6, HF6: Marsascala

Malta, Day 7, HF7: Mdina, Roman villa, Beach

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17-09-29 - DR in desert-rat-type baggy shorts.

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17-09-29 - Guard tower badly situated for defence. But convenient for lunch. Should probably have been on the opposite headland. Then it could have defended two bays instead of one.

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17-09-29 - She's seen enough.

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17-09-29 - People walking on those ridges.

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17-09-29 - Golden Sands beach.

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17-09-29 - Merle went swimming.

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D460 17-09-29 Malta, Day 7, HF7: Mdina, Roman villa, Beach

Malta to Gozo, Day 8, Mgarr, HF1: Arrival

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17-09-30 - Ferry to Gozo.

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17-09-30 - We enter harbour.

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17-09-30 - Seems well-churched.

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17-09-30 - We're at the Grand Hotel.

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17-09-30 - A stunning outlook.

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17-09-30 - From our room's balcony. Should be a wine bottle on the table. Sorry about that.

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17-09-30 - Day is done.

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D461 17-09-30 Malta to Gozo, Day 8, Mgarr, HF1: Arrival

Gozo, Day 9, HF2: Xlendi, Victoria

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17-10-01 - Sunrise from our balcony.

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17-10-01 - The White Cliffs of Gozo.

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17-10-01 - A thin line of trekkers.

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17-10-01 - Pause for orientation.

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17-10-01 - The group, ex photog.

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17-10-01 - Xlendi waterfront.

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17-10-01 - Queen-of-the-night flower.

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17-10-01 - Good setting for speeches?

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17-10-01 - Merle is afraid DR WILL make a speech.

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17-10-01 - Playing in town. But the locals are interested in other forms of entertainment.

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17-10-01 - What to do with old phone boxes.

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17-10-01 - Opera sung in Maltese Arabic, Italian?

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D462 17-10-01 Gozo, Day 9, HF2: Xlendi, Victoria

Gozo, Day 10, HF4: Ramla to Ggantija

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17-10-02 - St. Francis Cath. Visible from our room.

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17-10-02 - St. John the Baptist Cathedral? Rotunda Church, Xewkija, Gozo.

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17-10-02 - From the parapet.

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17-10-02 - Panorama L2R. 4 pics. "all"

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17-10-02 - Hmmm. A tower to climb. I used to love climbing church towers. Reached the top of Ulm cathedral back in the 1950s. 528 feet high.

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17-10-02 - Ggantija Neolithic Temples.

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17-10-02 - Remind us of Stonehenge, Inca ruins.

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17-10-02 - Eroded stones.

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17-10-02 - Mysterious artifacts.

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17-10-02 - Modern graffiti.

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17-10-02 - The Windmill.

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17-10-02 - Inside the restored Ta Kola Windmill. The working mechanism is restrained by wires and clips, inside and outside, to prevent windstorms from tearing the restored machinery apart.

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17-10-02 - Spiral railing. Hang on tight!

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D463 17-10-02 Gozo, Day 10, HF4: Ramla to Ggantija

Gozo, Day 11, HF7?: Nadur

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17-10-03 - Let's gather for an orientation lecture.

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17-10-03 - Six of this and seven of that.

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17-10-03 - A Fred relative. Our own Fred-the-cat, not our own BT Fred Azzopardi.

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17-10-03 - Aaaaawwww. So cute.

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17-10-03 - Rest stop.

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17-10-03 - Storage lockers carved into the cliff.

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17-10-03 - O Canada, eh. Many houses have fanciful names, often hinting at a stay overseas.

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D464 17-10-03 Gozo, Day 11, HF7?: Nadur

Gozo, Day 12, HF5: Rest, rain

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17-10-04 - Gloomy today.

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17-10-04 - Rain into atrium. Impluvium delugium.

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17-10-04 - Rivers in the streets.

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17-10-04 - Afternoon stroll, rain stopped. After twelve solid hours of thunder and lightning.

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17-10-04 - We could run a charter service, Merle. If we lived here and if it would stop raining.

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17-10-04 - No icebergs at least. For this Titanic.

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17-10-04 - Another "Sorry about the legacy, kids"? About 20million euros should do for a start on a new hotel.

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17-10-04 - We'll have to deal with drainage issues. Just like at home.

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D465 17-10-04 Gozo, Day 12, HF5: Rest, rain

Gozo, Day 13, HF3? Craft Museum

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17-10-05 - In the offing.

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17-10-05 - Lighters bringing tourists ashore. Tour buses lining up to receive them.

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17-10-05 - A little left-over bit of Britain.

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17-10-05 - We're no strangers to these things. And we still have farther to walk. Maybe ...

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17-10-05 - Sea arch lunchstop. We sit well back of the edge.

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17-10-05 - Salt pans.

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17-10-05 - Note: a bottle on the table at last. From the farm we visited. (Have to confide. I've enjoyed Ontario wine more than anything tasted overseas. But I didn't let that stop me.)

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17-10-05 - Passengers returning for dinner.

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D466 17-10-05 Gozo, Day 13, HF3? Craft Museum

Gozo, Day 14, HF?: Comino Island, Blue Lagoon, Last day

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17-10-06 - Last outing, a retrospective mood.

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17-10-06 - Cloud portrait, the Blue Lagoon.

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17-10-06 - Selfie portrait.

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17-10-06 - The Blue Lagoon. People swimming to the opposite side within a buoyed-off area.

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17-10-06 - Plumbing issues again (top left).

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17-10-06 - Malta-Gozo ferries crossing. Seen from the roof of the Santa Marija Tower fort.

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17-10-06 - We'uns.

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17-10-06 - Look, Ma, no hands.

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17-10-06 - Refreshments. Pina Coladas in hollowed-out pineapples.

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17-10-06 - They treated us to G'n'Ts. Back in Mgarr, Gozo, at the Gleneagles Bar.

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17-10-06 - "It doesnt get better than this." General agreement, as we sipped our drinks, with this observation on the scenic and companionship ambiance.

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17-10-07 - Departure day, leaving Gozo.

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17-10-07 - Across the fabled "wine-dark" sea. Back to the Malta "mainland" and Valleta airport.

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D467 17-10-06 Gozo, Day 14, HF?: Comino, Blue Lagoon, Last day

websrch:Maltese Islands HF Holidays

websrch:Bruce Trail Niagara

End of Malta show.