Mountain Mania

peru’s sacred valley

I have always loved mountains. I've never really been fond of beaches, although I love coastal paths and rock pools, but mountains have something about them. I've worked in travel for the past 20 odd years and have been lucky enough to have visited some amazing places both for work and holiday, but mountains always get my vote, especially our own home grown ones.

I've put together a little selection of some of the amazing mountains I've been lucky enough to have seen.

Aconcagua. argentina - the highest mountain outside asia, in the southern and western hemispheres at 6962m

the matterhorn, swiss alps 4478m

mount cook or aoraki, 3724m

the north face of the eiger, grindelwald, switzerland 3970m

Andean scenery, ecuador

the columbia Icefield. the rockies, canada

Sagarmatha herself, Mother Goddess of the Sky - Mount Everest - from tibet

Malta Part 3: Heading home

As always seems to be the way, just as we were feeling relaxed and refreshed, it was time to go home. Our flight wasn't until 5pm, so we had plenty of time for a final wander.

Early that morning, we turned away from Valletta city and walked a little of the Historic Trail in the quieter part of the city which was lovely and calm. We looked at churches, war memorials. tiny shops and bizarrely, a cat hotel. We also spent some time in the beautiful Hastings Gardens with its tree sized cacti and views of Marsamxett Harbour.

After a leisurely coffee, we wandered back to Upper Barakka Gardens, a real hub for people of all ages and watched a lady with a film crew obviously making some sort of travel show about the history of Malta, and crikey, we could recite it word for word before they moved on. We also saw the firing of the noon day gun at Saluting Battery which drew a crowd as it presumably has been doing for the centuries the custom has been observed.

valletta’s narrow streets

the noon day guns

After lunch we wandered back to the hotel and sat by the pool soaking up some warmth before plunging headlong back into an English winter again.

Although our pre-booked transfer to the airport didn't arrive, the flight home was thankfully uneventful and we felt much better for the break.

upper barakka gardens

last minute sun soaking

I would thoroughly recommend Valletta for a short winter visit for some sun, fascinating history and lovely beaches. Just check the bus timetables. Or better still, hire a car.

Malta Part 2: Exploring the island

medieval mdina

On our second day in Malta, we thought we'd be really touristy and take an open top, hop hop off bus round the north of the island, ending at medieval Mdina. Typically, the weather changed as soon as we took our seat on the top deck, with a nasty cold wind and spitting rain driving us back downstairs. Our first planned stop was the Argotti Botanical Gardens which were beautifully calm and peaceful after the bustle of Valletta. The weather also thankfully brightened up.

Although there were some impressive trees, the flowers and shrubs were a little lacking except for a lovely hedge of violet Bougainvillea. A surprising number of feral cats and an enormous, stinking chicken coop provided some additional interest. However, we didn't want to miss the bus, so off we went to the stop and waited. And waited. Then waited some more. An hour later, our plans for 3 or 4 other stops en route vanished but at least the bus arrived, although the driver insisted loudly and a little aggressively that we had missed the previous bus because we’d been in the wrong place…

STUNNING bougainvillea

st paul’s cathedral, mdina

mdina’s narrow streets

We whizzed through the countryside in beautiful sun, seeing miles of prickly pear bushes, farmland and small villages. Stopping briefly in Mosta, we carried on to hilltop Mdina.

Mdina is a the old Roman capital of Malta; a beautiful small walled city with narrow streets, tiny houses and large churches. We walked it in its entirety, then had coffee and cake in a tiny cafe perched on the outer wall with beautiful far reaching views over the countryside, back to Mosta and the sea beyond.

Once out of the city, we crossed the main square and headed for St Pauls Catacombs in Rabat - Roman catacombs representing the earliest evidence of Christianity in Malta. I love anything spooky or creepy and I've been in a couple of catacombs in South America where they arrange thousands of bones in interesting patterns, but these were particularly creepy because we were the only ones down there. Deep underground, quiet, dark, very narrow and cold, there were bits of bone in nooks and crannies everywhere, but it was fascinating. Also nearby was St Paul's Grotto, where St Paul was said to have lived and preached during his three months in Malta.

stunning views from the city walls of mdina

in a tight spot!

think this might have been a grave

dark and a litle creepy

However, we had another bus to catch, and for once it was waiting in the main square. We decided to make a stop at Golden Bay in Bugibba which had a beautiful stretch of beach and lovely turquoise sea. We walked around the headland, but by now were a little paranoid about the bus, so wandered over to the stop, hoping it would come within 10 minutes, as it said on our timetable.

An hour and a quarter later it arrived, the ticket office having failed to tell us the schedules changed in February from Golden Bay and the buses were every hour from there......After that, blow it, we stayed on the wretched bus all the way to Sliema and caught a water taxi back across the harbour to Valletta which was lovely. A glass or three of something chilled in the hotel lounge relaxed us sufficiently to decide  No More Buses, although enduring the ear splitting Stevie Wonder tribute act butchering You Are The Sunshine of my Life saw us retire early.

golden bay

Malta Part 1: Heading for the sun

Continuing in the spirit of doing something different this year, we decided we needed a bit of sun and booked a long weekend in Malta in the middle of February. In my job in travel, I'd heard that Malta was a bit of a love it/hate it place, but it was good value and warm, so we though we'd reserve judgement till we got there.

The flight was fine, but Cyclone Charlene was hovering over Malta (what is it with us and storms this year?), so we were a little nervous about the landing and rightly so, as it turned out to be a real white knuckle ride that had us both sweating and clutching at the armrests. Bro actually grabbed my hand at one point so it must have been bad!

Somewhat shakily, we got to the hotel and lovely it was too, right on Valletta's harbour front. We even had a balcony courtesy of a room upgrade which was a nice start.

valletta - like rome in miniature

The next day, the weather was warm and calm and we set off to walk right round the city which actually isn't that big. With my professional hat on, Malta has a huge history going back to prehistoric times and everyone seems to have left their mark from the Romans to the British, and the result is a beautiful honey coloured city that looks like Rome in miniature with a really friendly feel.

We walked about eight miles along, up, down and through all the main streets and a fair few smaller ones too. We saw St Paul's wrist bone, beautiful war memorials, lovely parks and lush, flower filled gardens. The weather was wonderfully warm and we felt much better and more relaxed.

In the afternoon we took a ferry across to the Three Cities area; we actually went to Birgu (or Vittoriosa) and wandered through the marina with its vast collection of huge yachts including what we found to be the world's largest mega sailing yacht, the Maltese Falcon, (owned by a woman I’m proud to say), narrow cobbled streets and stunning views back to Valletta.

Getting to the ferry from the Valletta side was a little hairy; you need to negotiate the monstrous Upper Barakka Cliff Lift or else walk miles round to the Grand Harbour. The lift is 58 metres high but we didn’t actually fancy it, so we decided to walk down the hundreds of stairs which spiralled round quite tightly with a horrible little open viewing area at the bottom of each flight letting you know how high you were. We did go back up in the lift which wasn't so bad.

the maltese falcon

yes, you walk the plank to get in

the narrow streets of birgu

The evening's entertainment was provided by a drink and a snack in the lounge of the hotel looking down on the dining room with its huge Chinese buffet. We watched in amusement as people wandered round, picking at dishes they obviously weren't sure about, or those who took huge platefuls and went back for seconds and thirds. The highlight was a lady dropping a dumpling, looking round to see if anyone had noticed, then nonchalantly walking away. It was then a matter of waiting to see who would tread on it!

What do they say; little things please little minds, but bigger fools look on........