Pictures from Malta

Blue Grotto.
The unbelievably blue water ate the Blue Grotto.
Inside the Mosta Dome.
The bomb that never exploded in the Mosta Dome.
The Mosta Dome Malta.

The Blue Grotto in Malta
The boats down at the Blue Grotto.

Arriving in Gozo.
At The top of Many more hills to come in Gozo.
The beach at Marsalforn in Gozo where we spent many hours lying in the sun.
View from our room in Valletta, Malta.
The hilly streets in Valletta with the small but painful steps.

The main Harbour in Valletta.

Malta to Italy

Well we are now in Florence Italy.

But since then we have spent 5 days in Malta. I have to say next to Ireland that would have to have been my favorite place so far. The people are so nice and will you help you with alost anything, they all speak some english, you can buy pastizzis for 28 cents each and you can lye on the beach in Gozo and get a nice tan. What more could you want? But I must advise, if anyone is planning to go to Malta do not i repeat DO NOT hire a bike unless you are extremly fit. Especially not on Gozo as it isn't the flattest of places to ride. I think Gav and I almost died after riding up the first hill. But once we got dowm one we had to go back up. Then we decided to ride to Ramala Bay, which is a big tourist sandy beach. This idea proved to be stupid. Firstly we had to climb ths extremly steep monster of a hill. Then we realise the only to get back to where we are staying is back up that hill we came dowm. And to top it off as soon as we did decide to tackle the hill. A storm hits and there is thunder and pouring rain. So take the advice, either hire a moped or catch a bus. DO NOT RIDE. On a lighter note some of the sites we saw were beautiful. My favorite would have to be the Blue Grotto and the caves around it. Basically you go in a little 9 seater boat and the driver takes you through these caves and the water is so blue it is like nothing you have ever seen, its amazing. We also went to the Mosta Dome in Malta. This was a church that during the war a bomb can through the dome and slid across the floor of the church and did not detinate. The church had 300 people inside and luckily no one was hurt. They still have the bomb inside the church but it has been deactivated so its safe to go inside. You can even see the part of the roof that the bomb fell through.

Italy has been pretty good so far. More looking forward to venice though and the gondala ride through the grand canel. The weather has been pretty good. In the mid 20's everyday compared to the mid teens that we can from in ireland. Been doing a lot of walking, which has been needed because of all the pasta we have been eating. Baically if panni's for breakfast, pasta/pizza for lunch and pasta/pizza for dinner. All topped off with wine and ice cream. Although its a bit hard to choose the wines as I can not remember which reds are which as it is all written in Italian. So if anyone has any suggestions that would be helpful.

Anyways I'll be off for now and will try and post some more pictures soon. Heading to Venice on Thursday so will let you all know how that goes. Gav and I have been having a fantastic time and I think we have got the travel bug and will be travelling again soon.

Hope you all are well. Thanks for all the comments looking forward to hearing more from you all. Say hello to everyone back home from me and looking forward to seeing you all soon and telling you about all our adventures.

To give you an idea of where we have been

Since I last left you...

Since I last posted photos. We have driven from Ballina to Galway to Cork. Then to Killkenny and finally back to Dublin. Here are a few pics of what we have seen along the way. We are having and great time. Off to Malta Tuesday (Tom) so looking forward to that.

Our Little Mitsubishi Colt. We sadly had to return her today.

The Guinness Storhouse. In Dublin.

The one place Gav really wanted to go. This place produces 3 million pints of Guinness per day. At the top of the building, is the Gravity bar where you receive a pint of Guinness and a 360 degree view of Dublin city.

Rock of Cashel. In Cashel, County Tpperary.

A spectacular group of Medieval buildings set on an outcrop of limestone in the Golden Vale including the 12th century round tower, High Cross and Romanesque Chapel, 13th century Gothic cathedral, 15th century Castle and the restored Hall of the Vicars Choral.

The Jameson Distillery. In Midleton, County Cork.

This was really interesting to see how the Famous Irish Whisky is made. We even got a free taste at the end :-)

Cahir Castle. Cahir in County Tipperary.

Once the stronghold of the powerful Butler family, the castle retains its impressive keep, tower and much of its original defensive structure. It is one of Ireland's largest and best preserved castles. It is situated on a rocky island on the River Suir.

Charles Fort. In Kinsale in County Cork.

Constructed in the late 17th century on the site of an earlier coastal fortification, Charles Fort is a classic example of a star-shaped fort. As one of the largest military forts in the country, Charles Fort has been associated with some of the most momentous events in Irish history.

Cobh Island. County Cork.

This is the Island that we stayed on in Cork. It was the Titanic's last stop before it hit the Ice berg.

The Blarney Castle. In County Cork.

Another major tourist attraction in Ireland. At the top of the Castle you can kiss the Blarney stone. It is said that locals like to urinate on the stone. But you can not come to Ireland and not kiss the Blarney stone. Its quiet scaring when you are kissing it, as you can see the floor below you.

The Burren: In County Clare.

The Burren basically a hugh area which consists of various flora and landscapes that can only be seen in this area.

The Cliffs of Moher. County Clare.

A major tourist attraction in Ireland. The view from the top is amazing.

Portumna Castle: In County Galway.

The great semi-fortified house at Portumna was built before 1618 by Richard Burke or de Burgo, 4th Earl of Clanricarde.

The Ulster American Folk Park.

On Thursday we went to the Ulster American Folk Park in Omagh in Northern Ireland. Basically it is an open air museum which tells the story of the emigration from Ulster in Ireland to North America in the 18th and 19th centuries. It shows both the old world and the new and illustrates the various aspects of emigrant life on both sides of the Atlantic. The museum was really interesting and some of the houses from Ireland were the original houses of the emigrates that have been restored and others were replicates of what the originals looked like. They had people dressed up as people from that time who told you about each site that you walked into. Some where baking bread other showing us how they use to make medicine and others showing us how they printed papers.


Ulster street. The traditional Irish street. This was a recreation of the shops from the 19th century. The shops included a chemist, spirit grocers and a printers. The machines in the printers shop was an original from the 1700's. The man in this site printed us an exact replica of what a ticket would have looked like in the 18th century.

Weavers cottage - Inside a typical weavers house.

Mellon Homestead: A small part of the birthplace of Thomas Mellon, who emiograted at age 5 with his family in 1818. The house stands on its original site.

The meeting house - This was a replica of the Church in the town.

This was on the American side. The first house that one emigrate Thomas Mellon occupied when he first arrived in America with his family.

We took heaps of other photos but didn't want to over kill it with the museum stuff. Anyways Today Friday is our third last day with the family. As of Monday Gav and I are off on our own. Saturday we are heading back into Sligo for his Grandparents 50th wedding anniversary. Sunday we are heading up into County Mayo to see the Ceide Feilds then to his aunt Mary's for dinner and then Monday is D day. We head down to Galway first. Today (Friday) we had a pretty chilled out day, we were so tired (went out the night before and had a little too much to drink) so we walked into Donegal town and Gav sat in a nice little coffee shop while I went looking round some shops. Found a nice new dress. Then went out on Marie and Peter's boat in the Bay. Was a relaxing day but was needed.I will try and keep you all posted as much as possible but it may be a bit harder as we won't have a computer available to us all the time. Missing you all but at the same time having a fantastic time. The weather has been pretty good and touch wood we haven't had much rain.

Love to you all stay safe and will keep you updated

Bec and Gav

xoxox

The Donegal Castle and Slieve League Cliffs.

On Wednesday we walked around Donegal city centre which doesn't take long as it isn't that big. Then went to the Donegal Castle.

Outside the Castle.

The remaining walls of what was once the Kitchen and pantry area of the Castle.

The dining room area.

Gav and I inside the Castle.

???

We then drove to the Largest Cliffs in Europe, Slieve League which is on the Coast of Donegal. The view from the top was amazing and the wind was a lot bettter then the day before so we weren't getting blown away.

Half way up.

We thought this was as high as we could go but we thought wrong.
Looking out over then cliffs.

Gav standing too close to the edge.