M'dina the city on a hill

M'dina is a stunning place, known as The City on a hill, it's a small gem of a walled city.  Walking through it's streets you can easily picture yourself back in bible days. St Paul was a famous visitor of M'dina a few thousand years ago, although he wasn't so much a guest as a prisoner of the Romans -  when the ship that was transporting him was shipwrecked off the coast. The large cathedral is named St Paul in honor of his memorable time there! I hear it's quite prestigious to own a house with in it's walls, and I can imagine why. It's a quiet and well kept place,  sadly kind of unusual for Malta.


One of our favorite things to do in Malta, especially on a Sunday, (since the place practically shuts down) was to go to M'dina. We found out about this little gem thanks to our lovely estate agent Betta. Fontanella Tea Garden, Is a Maltese institution for Sunday cake and coffee! We became regulars during our stay there. We even brought all of our guests here, in this post I mostly concentrated on the visit of Jon's parents. They graced us with their presence for a few days last November. It was a short but sweet stay and was really lovely to host them!

On a side note - Beaulieu the house with the blue shutters was my absolute favorite house there. I took so many pictures of it, practically every time I walked past it. I can only dream about what it looks like inside.

Memories of Malta

Malta,
It seems impossible that we were there for 9 months last year. Looking back on these pictures it all feels like a bit of a dream... When we told people that we were spending that much time there
they said we would probably get bored.  Bored, on a beautiful island in the middle of the Mediterranean.... We never got bored. Especially during the long summer months we were always in the water.
The beauty of living right on the Grand Harbour was that we could just jump in almost from our front door. The last photo is of the view from our door.

Baby "puka" blanket

     Thanks to the encouragement of my awesome sister in law, I learned how to crochet. It all started Down Under with a bamboo hook and a few pieces of turquoise yarn. A few months, many crochet flowers, and YouTube tutorials later I am proud to say I completed my first baby blanket. I started at the beginning of summer but had to stop for a few months because it was just SO hot in Malta. Sitting crocheting with a wooly blanket on my lap was not at all practical, but now that the weather has cooled off a bit I am back to crocheting. In Hawaii these are also known as "Puka blankets" a "puka" means hole in Hawaiian. I learned this chevron pattern from this video. This guy Mikey does a bunch of awesome crochet tutorials I think there are 3 or 4 in this jagged chevron series. My plan is to make a few of these,  hopefully I will get better with each one!

Visit to Meridiana Vineyard

As some of you may know JB and I are always on the search for good wine... About two months ago we got an email from a friend wanting to introduce us to an acquaintance of his who just happened to own a vineyard in Malta. We were intrigued so we got in touch and planned a visit to Meridiana Wine Estate . We met with the owner, Mark, who personally hosted us with a tour and tasting. We were also able to sit down and have a chat with him during out tasting. We got to know the story of Meridiana and how it all came to be. Jon was like a reporter he was asking so many questions, I should have been taking notes! Wine making fascinates him.

We tried two of their wines, a delicious crisp chardonnay called Isis, (it's a great way to beat the Maltese heat) and Bel, their Syrah, which is rich and full bodied, Jon's favorite!

We had such a lovely visit, and we have been working our way through all of the wines that Meridiana Wine Estate produces. I say get your hands on some if you can!

We brought some back for our friend Jamie Goode to taste, he is a well known wine blogger.  Here is the write-up that he did for Meridiana, check it out if you get a chance.

The amazingly Blue Grotto

 

The Blue Grotto on Malta is pretty spectacular, we ended up there a few months ago when my brother and sister were visiting. We paid our 7 euros and hopped in a boat, the seas were a bit choppy and I was a little hesitant because I had brought along my big camera, I kept seeing visions of myself trying to swim while keeping my camera out of the water... but, I am so glad that I brought it along! Our awesome guide took us through a few caves and then in one of the last ones he said, "Okay, now you swim!" We were so surprised to be allowed to jump into the water.  My brother went first, he brought his new dive mask which was great because we all got a turn. You can see from the pics below that it was intensely turquoise and super clear the visibility was probably 30 meters. The actual "Blue Grotto is tiny and when you put your hand into the water it looks like someone turned on a neon blue light, it's that bright. I would have to say the highlight was our really cool boat captain and getting to jump into the water in the cave.

Trying out the new Dive mask, and my sisters feet as she jumped into the water.

Regatta in our town!

Local fans supporting their team with flags and by wearing their colors!

Andy can't believe his luck, he planned his holiday right during Regatta and "Festa"!!! Well done Andy!

Everyone watching and hoping their team has won!

Teams were often neck and neck with each other, it was hard to tell who had won.

L-Isla is out in front! They ended up winning the entire Regatta 22 years they have won!!! Yay L-Isla, I'm very proud of my adopted town!

Tom wanted me to let everyone know that he would NEVER harm the environment by throwing his Cisk can's in the water. It's more of a Maltese thing, unfortunately :(