Wednesday 12 December 2012

Return to Malta (Part 8)

Events of Saturday 30th November 2012

Rain had been forecast for the day we were leaving so when I decided to have a final walk to Ghajn Tuffieha Bay, I took a packable raincoat. There was a fairly strong wind producing much larger waves than earlier in the week and rain seemed to be 'spitting'. However, I still enjoyed the exercise. Returning to the hotel past Ghajn Tuffieha Tower and along the cliff path, the rain was getting worse and the raincoat proved a wise addition. By the time I reached the hotel, the rain was sluicing down so I spent the rest of the morning working on the computer as heavy rain battered the windows. Fortunately, by the time we were ready to leave the hotel, the storm had passed.

Dean drove us to the airport at Luqa and returned the hire car. After check-in there was plenty of time in hand before boarding our Air Malta flight back to Heathrow.

It had been a very enjoyable Return to Malta for me. I was surprised at the extent of the, I suppose, inevitable changes which had occurred. My visit to the Lascaris War Rooms (described in Return to Malta (Part 7) induced me to find out more about the suffering and bravery on the island during the second world war and I've referenced a book and a film in that article.

References

During my stay, I'd acquired a number of publications about Malta which are listed below.

'Top 10 Malta & Gozo' published Dorling Kindersley (ISBN: 978-1-4053-6091-3)

I'm not a great fan of the 'Top 10 beaches ... towns ... temples ... bars & restaurants' format but there is a lot of good information in here. There are maps in the fold-out front cover and rear cover, plus a curiously-shaped pull-out map and guide which is plasticised.
'Malta History & Tradition' published BDL Publishing (ISBN: 978-99957-20-96-4)
A slightly more conventional approach produced in Malta with excellent photographs. There are maps in the fold-out front and rear covers.
'AA/Macmillan Malta and Gozo Traveller's Map' published AA/Macmillan (ISBN: 0-7495-0062-X)
This double-sided fold-up map is inexpensive and fine for most purposes.
'The mAZe Street Atlas Malta and Gozo' published Uptrend Publishing (ISBN: 978-99932-99-12-7)
This is a detailed 'A to Z' style street atlas with comprehensive street indexes produced in Malta and suitable for serious navigation.
Photographs

The photographs on this trip are grouped into a number of 'sets' on Flickr. Links in earlier posts take you to these 'sets'. All the 'sets' form a 'collection' on Flickr titled Malta.