Malta - Bus Tour

We hopped aboard a Citysightseeing tour bus, this was a bit of an adventure for me, as I have never had the opportunity to travel much, this was a chance for a bit of time with my husband to do the "touristy" bit in between his many conference obligations.  The offer of a Harbour Cruise on the Captain Morgan boat was enough of a temptation to overcome his initial reluctance. So we booked up to go on a 90 minute bus tour called the Violet Tour with an immediately following hour long boat ride.  What fun!

I must point out that this was a close as we got to going on the Harbour Cruise as you will find out, I took this photo before we left on the bus tour whilst we were waiting for our bus to arrive.   We hopped on the Hop On Hop Off Bus and we set off, the sun was gorgeous and the open topped bus was just the perfect vehicle to let you take photos as you pootled about the main towns of Malta.

However, things went wrong about half way round our tour when the sound system of the bus was reported to the driver as not being working, so we were very quickly transferred onto another bus, except the bus we were transferred to wasn't doing the Violet Tour but the much much Blue Tour so instead of 90 minutes on the bus it was 3 hours on the bus!  Not what was intended but on the bright side we saw a lot more of Malta and got lots of great photos.  No Harbour Tour though, so when and yes I did say when we come back to Malta that's got to be on the list along with the Craft Village which was unfortunately shut it being a Sunday. 

These are some of the photos (only some, I took hundreds) from the tour.

Love the mix of old and modern architecture in Malta

Ultra Modern Conference Venue

As an island Malta is actually really small with only a small population of 400,000 (ish), but the history of the island is fascinating as it has been of strategic importance to so many difference conquering nations and each conqueror has left a piece of their culture behind especially in the impressive churches and fortifications.

A lot of central Malta is dedicated to farmland and growing the fruits and vegetables that we have enjoyed during our trip.  In particular the peaches and strawberries here are just divine.

Love the amazing scaffolding

Angry Birds in real life

Welcome to Malta

I'm not a great traveller, never really had the funds or the time to go anywhere really, so getting the chance to tag along with my husband on the odd work trip is always a treat.  This trip is to Malta, never been here before and I genuinely can't say what I was expecting. So the island and its people has been a really pleasant surprise.

The first thing I have noticed about Malta is the level of construction going on, it's everywhere, right around the airport complex and along the coastline is just a forest of cranes and half made buildings.  Malta is obviously undergoing some major investment.

We are staying at the Hilton Malta, it's a gorgeous building, very new and fresh, with wonderful architectural lines build along a natural harbour. 

Each room or suite features its own terrace. ours is big enough to hold a party on... although not planning that.  Considering this is a techie geek conference I have tagged along to I can't see any of them going for it.   Anyone know what a collection of Geeks is referred to as?  Is it a Byte?  A boredom of Geeks.  Oh I like that one... a boredom of geeks. Wonder how I can get that coined and turned into a proper verbal reference.

Anyway back to the bits I am loving about this trip, obviously the boredom of geeks isn't a big player in the list. 

This chap is one of a pair that sit outside the entrance of the Hilton Malta,  I love them, I think they have real character and I have named them Laurel and Hardy... this one is Laurel.

Hilton Malta Entrance

Not had a single bed since I was about 9 so this has been different and definitely haven't been in a single bed since I got married.  But having said that there is something to be said to not being stuck to someone else all night long.   The room is lovely, clean, bright, airy and pretty much everything you could want with a fabulous en-suite bathroom, but really what you expect from a Hilton.  But not entirely sure why we have duvets, it's 78 degrees here and even at night it hasn't gotten cold.  

And finally for this post... the view from the balcony,  this was after 6pm when we arrived... can it get any better than looking out at that!