Malta part 3

Merħba!

Yesterday I promised you beaches, fish and grapes, so that's what you'll get plus a little more.

While most of the coastline is rocky, Malta does have some nice beaches. When we there it was a little too cold to go swimming. It was after all in February. But it was nice just to sit on the beach and enjoy the sunshine.

When we'd had enough if the beach we went the the national aquarium.

It was interesting. They had some pretty scary sharks, but I was so nervous that I forgot to take a selfie with them. I did get a picture of this guy, though:

They also had an exhibition about all the special birds that live on the islands. Julius quickly made a new friend.

We also took a trip to the capital Valletta. It's a very interesting city built by the Knights Hospitaller. But as you can see from the picture walking around Valletta is hard work. Most of the street are very steep and I have tiny legs, so I just didn't have the energy to take any good selfies in Valletta.

Even though Malta is very dry it's still a very fertile place. Look at these grapes we bought in a local supermarket. I know it's hard to tell from the picture but they are the size of pingpong balls!

Here's another Maltese produce. The cactus fruits are called prickly pears and you can use them to make a liqeuer.

Now I think you know everything there is to know about Malta.

Ċaw ċaw!

Malta part 2

Bonġu and welcome back!

As I promised you yesterday, here's another post about Malta.

North of the Island of Malta is the Islands of Gozo. It's really called Għawdex but the English couldn't figure out how to pronounce that so they called it Gozo.

We went to Gozo to see the Azure Window. It's a very impressive natural limestone arch.

Well, I say is, really the correct word is was. Just two weeks after we were there the whole thing collapsed in a storm! Julius insists that he had nothing to do with it but I have my doubts. Here's a better picture of the arch.

If it looks familiar it's probably because you've been watching Game of Thrones. It was used as the filming location for the Dothraki wedding scene in the first season.

The area around the arch is very moon-like. It's full of tiny craters. Here's me enjoying my own reflexion in the water in one of the craters.

The locals are also very proud of the fact that they have an "inland sea". It's technically a lagoon that looks like a lake. Coming from a country that has almost 200 000 lakes it didn't seem that impressive, but come to think of it, it's kind of fascinating that Malta doesn't have a single lake or river...

The main town on Gozo is Victoria. Again, that's not what the locals call it. It's real name is ir-Rabat, but given that rabat just means suburb, the English decided that that wasn't good enough and gave it a proper name; Victoria. The main attraction there is the citadel. It's located on a hill on an otherwise fairly flat island, so you get a fantastic view of the island from there. Here's me and Julius on the wall of the citadel with the countryside in the background.

Here's a selfie from the citadel. The church in the background is the Cathedral of the Assumption.

On the way back to the harbour came across this wonderful concept. It's just an empty frame on the roadside, but it's situated at a place with a nice view of one the the many local churches. So you can take a picture of yourself and pretend you're in a painting. Unfortunately it was human-sized, so we look pretty insignificant.

That's all for today, folks. Tomorrow: beaches, fish and grapes! Ċaw!

Malta part 1

Hello friends!

I'm sorry it's been so quiet for the last few days. But now I'm back!

When I started this blog the idea was to show people my awesome selfie skills and to tell you guys about my travels all over the world. Lately I've been distracted by all the interesting things that have happened here at home so I've posted a lot of everyday stuff. But this time I have a proper travel post you for; Malta!

A couple of years ago Julius and I went to Malta for a week in February. And yes It was as wonderful as it sounds. In Helsinki it was –10 °C and dark and miserable, but in Malta it was spring and everything was green and yellow.

Malta is a fascinating country. Did you know that the Maltese language is a form of Arabic sprinkled with Italian and English words? I managed to pick up a few words, il-mowbajl is a mobile phone but can you guess what il-ħomwerk means?

The history of the country is fascinating too. The Phoenicians, the Greeks, the Romans, the Arabs, the Normans, the Italians, the French and the English have all left their mark on the Islands. It is, for example, not hard to tell that Malta was a British colony until 1964...

Even before the Phoenicians showed up there were people living in Malta, and they built some pretty impressive megalithic temples. We went to see the Ħaġar Qim and Mnajdra temples. They are both at least 5200 years old. Which makes them some of the oldest religious sites on the planet.

The nearby museum had some toy stone blocks that you could use to build your own temple. I found that much more interesting than dusty old stones outside.

The first temple in the world dedicated to me.

The temples are located on the west coast of Malta Islands. It's a very beautiful rural area. Here's a picture taken from a little further down the coast. Not a bad view, right?

And here's a selfie I took on the cliffs above the Blue Grotto. It's a cave that's only accessable from the sea. The sunlight reflects off the surface of the water and produces blue patterns of the walls of the cave. 

I think I'll stop here for today, but in the next post I'll tell you about Gozo, the other island in Malta.

By the way, Julius made some pretty shady friends in Malta. Check them out here in my post about travelling with the little rascal.

Travelling with Julius

Hello! I think I've told you almost everything about our recent trip to Italy. I'll probably post some more pictures later but for now let's talk about what it's like travelling with Julius.

Travelling is fun and probably my favourite activity but it can also be a hassle. Especially when travelling with an annoying kid like Julius. Or well, he's also annoying when we're not travelling. The little rascal is completely spoiled and is always bugging me for icecream, candy or money.

Julius is in the Moscow metro

Here are few of the things that you can't do when travelling with Julius.

• having a beer without Julius taking a sip if he gets the chance.

I left him with uncle Jevgeni for a couple of minutes and this is what I saw when I came back.

• you can never relax because you always have to keep an eye on him. Once he even ran off all the way to Russia (maybe he was planning to join the Russian circus?), that little rugrat...

Julius somewhere in Russia. No idea what he's up to but even Peter the Great seems to think he is annoying.

... and came back two weeks later with this guy.

• Julius is such a gossipmonger! He always makes me look bad in front of our friends just because I, for example, sometimes forget to feed him or accidentally left him on the train a couple of times.
• He always gets into trouble. Look at the "friends" he made in Malta. Just look at their faces – I don't think I have to say anymore but they still give me nightmares.

• He has an incredible ability to ruin the mood whenever I make some new friends. I never get any privacy. Wherever I go, whatever I do his squeaky annoying voice is always in my ears.

The party was just about to start when Julius barged in...

As you can see it's quite a challenge to live and travel with the kiddo. In conclusion: leave your kids at home when travelling. They'll be fine.