From the beautiful and sunny English Lakes, we return to the, not quite so sunny, island of Malta, before our wonderful adventure fades from memory.
While we were in Malta, we went on a blanket tour. No doubt many of readers will know all about these tours, as we gather they're quite common across Europe, but we'd never heard of them, so we'll explain for the benefit of the uninitiated.
What happens is that at your resort welcome meeting, someone comes along and offers you a free excursion to a area of interest that is slightly off the beaten track of the main tourist trail. In return you attend a presentation of some sleep products for an hour or so.
Our tour started with a coach pickup and a drive down to the resort of Sliema. On the way we had some very interesting commentary from an ex pat who has been living in Malta for several years. We enjoyed this as, while the local Maltese buses were very good, they didn't include any commentary.
Our destination was a posh hotel and we were welcomed with glasses of bucks fizz. We settled down to enjoy our presentation which was surprisingly entertaining and informative. We learnt all about how to get a good night's sleep and, being outgoing bears, Yorkie and I volunteered for some of the demonstrations. We really didn't feel the knife, fork and plate under the mattress topper!
At the end of the presentation we rejoined our coach to head out on our 'reward' excursion. We went to 'the 3 cities' area which to quote the Visit Malta web site, 'offer an intriguing insight into Malta and its history. Left largely unvisited, these cities are a slice of authentic life as well as a glimpse into Malta's maritime fortunes.'
This picture gives you a good flavour of the area. We were taken on a walking tour by our ex pat guide who was a mine of fascinating information and showed us lots of things we would otherwise have missed. A lot of the tour was along the waterfront and we passed lots of huge luxury yachts worth millions of pounds each, no doubt.
It was fascinating to compare these playthings of the very rich to their historical backdrop. There was some incredible architecture which, in Malta, somehow seems to be very much taken for granted.
We learnt that Malta only had a railway for a very short length of time, so we felt a bit sorry for this lovely steam engine, left high and dry and very redundant.
We knew train buff Blue Bear would want to see it, so we took several pictures for him. He'd not come with us as he'd heard that there were no trains in Malta!
And did the blanket tour persuade us to part with any money? We have to report that were sufficiently convinced of the benefits of merino wool bedding that we have subsequently bought a merino wool pillow for our female minder and she simply loves it!
Lots of love, George and the Malteser bears xxx
SJ254784 - nr Llanfair Hill - 430 m
8 years ago
1 comment:
So that is what a 'blanket tour' is. Pola has been telling Ruppie and Rajh about the new pillow and says he will show them during their Easter visit. They say they are going to bed early tonight ready for a quick start in the morning.
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