The Last Hurrah for Crinkly - Euro tour (9/7-?) Day 41-3 (7-9) Couple chill days around the island just living life (10/17-19)

Wake up late cause we stayed up late. Go for a swim by the place and then take a shower. After we get dressed we drive around to Valletta to walk around a little bit to see the city. Then we make our way over to the ferry to catch it back to Sliema and go to the brew for dinner and drinks; the beer is ok but they are out of the porter which is a bummer for me. They have a cover band playing live music which was pretty good. After we close out, grab a scooter and head home, stopping at La Luz cause thats what we do :) 

Yeah Valleta is the old town on the island. Beautiful

Views over to the other side of Valleta

The island of many forts

Looking along Valleta at the upper gardens up there

View out from the lower gardens

Walking through the lower gardens and see this monument and fountain

Cool little statue on the side of a building

The maltese 8 point is seen all over the place. Now that I know what it is, been seeing it in other countries as well

Giant food hall in the heart of the old town

Random colored balconies breaking up the stone monotony. :)

Found one of the main squares

Beautiful courtyard

One of the first churches that has its door open

Lovely entryway

Doors and gates closed :) but looks awesome

The Royal opera house site which got destroyed during the war got turned into a live arts performance area so you get some awesome old architecture and modern seating right in the old town

The Il-Berġa ta' Kastilja building

Look at the stone work all over that building

View of the Moon from the upper gardens

Cannons ready for use

For the noon salute they fire these bad boys

Looking out from the gardens on the 3 sisters

View with plenty of firepower looking over the 3 sisters and the 8 point

Road up to the Parliament

Looking over at the bus area from the high ground

Another view of the Opera house building

New Parliament building

Walking under the lights of the bridge

Fortress set up with places to chill low and high

Beautiful fountain for some amazing night pix

This place is hilly, gotta know where youre going or your calves will be huge quickly

Good for them connecting these hot points with ferries to take advantage of their water connection.

Time for our reward

Brews at the Brew... seems fitting

Kinda a bastardization of bbq coming from texas but it gets the job done over here

In the back room at La Luz

Time to learn more of these commandments

La Luz bar :)

A better day for viewing this church

Drinks with flowers at taproom... why not.

Next day just chilled at home and did some research, worked on a few things, wrote some emails, etc. We go to play soccer again but im still hobbled so I stay in goal and take it easy (playing sweeper keeper like back when I used to play normally). Was nice taking a step back and just being there watching the ball movement and communication as it had been a long time for me to be around this and many of the players are really good. Head back to the place to shower and chill and ordered food to meet us at the house to make it easy. Next day we grab lunch and juice at eeetwell (such a great place I have no problem going back) and then I try and go swimming in a new place, there in Baluta bay. The water isnt clear at all so I get out after a few laps as half the fun is watching fish swim around. Do some yoga, shower and then we head to Valletta to meet up some other Marc friends at Taproom for some delicious drinks and amazing food while hanging out for the night. After we finish there, we make our way back to the place and turn in for the night.

The Last Hurrah for Crinkly - Euro tour (9/7-?) Day 40 (6) Island cruising (in a car) (10/16)

Rent a car for the day and head out of town. Go see the red fort which is meh but it has some great views as its on top of a hill and has some historical reenactment people firing guns and what not which is always cool. The island, even though I came expecting lush green islands like puerto rico, is incredibly beautiful with its old school stone desert look. Next stop is seeing the Dingli cliffs which are impressive looking and fun to walk around. 

Such an interesting and beautiful island

Looking out over the water

Drove by this beach and had a bunch of people especially for the season. Apparently its one of the busier beaches on the island

Island also has green and mountains. Tiny island, lots to offer

The red fort

The fort is up on a hill so that it could see the bay but also surrounding lands

Another view from the fort

Flapping flags... gotta love em

Still prepared to defend from an attack

The skirmish has begun... not sure who they are firing at but they mean business

Such a great view. 

flag, tower, beach view... noice!

Getting into formation

people protecting their fort. The car kinda ruins the time period piece but I guess so does the colored photo

Hiking and viewing cliffs

So many rocks, gotta watch them ankles

So apparently people jump in here sometimes and then theres a way to swim out into the ocean so one can get out... needless to say, I didnt jump

But look at how pretty the water is

Boats on the water

Popeyes Village from the 1980 Popeye Musical... yeah i didnt know about it either

I guess that was a dock that has since fell into the water

I feel like turning a movie set into a theme park may not be the best idea, apparently many of the buildings werent built to last (imagine that) and they have had structural issues but alas people flock there

Popeye beach chilling

Found a little church overlooking the cliffs

This is as close to inside as we can get

Radar tower along the cliffs

View from the cliffs

Finding a spot to chill for a little bit

Looking back towards the road from the viewpoint

Weve come a little ways from the radar tower

Beautiful day and view

Some more view points down below

Cliffs have some carved out areas down there

Enjoying the beautiful coastal views from Marsaxlokx

So many colors on the boats, guess you gotta so you can easily find yours when there a a million boats around

Sherpas waiting for some grub

Marc had the great idea to take the pic with the bay in the background... this is why you listen to your friends :) 

Moon providing some nice light above a gorgeous bay

English pub for some guinness and game watching

local beer... it was bad. looks delicious but no 

Quiet late city streets in Malta

Really enjoy this view from the balcony. Especially when the moon decides to join us

Bay view at night

Low key karaoke in the place

After that, stop by the popeye village which apparently was built for the movie back in the 80s or whatever and now is a lowkey amusement park but is also falling apart it seems so its kinda interesting. People were swimming in the water and enjoying their time there it seemed but also, so many people were there and I dont see the appeal by looking from the outside but I guess thats what tourism is for :) Head back to the place and change before heading down the coast to Marsaxlokk to eat at Roots which was amazing. The city is this quaint little fishermans village with tons of restaurants along the water and tons of boats in the marina; some of which were actually loading up and heading out to sea while we were sitting there eating as I guess they have a ways to go. Sunset there was wonderful so all and all a bromantic experience for us to enjoy. After dinner we head back to the place to drop the car off and rest for a little bit before heading over to Salisbury arms to watch the game (Astros were playing a playoff game I guess and Marc wanted to catch that). Have a couple drinks there while watching the game and then go back to his place with one of his friends to have a few more drinks and do some low key karaoke with them. Becomes a long night as karaoke always does :)