Nov 2015 - Week 3

Monday 16th to Sunday 22nd November 2015

Monday I started first thing with an exhausting power walk. 45 minutes from here to Café del Mar and back, about three miles in all. It’s quiet out and about first thing these days and the temperature at that time of day is perfect for exercise. The Café del Mar is on winter hours now, open for lunch and dinner on Fridays and Saturdays and for Sunday lunch. Most of the cafes, restaurants and shops along the promenade are still open, but move a block inland and many others have closed up for the winter. Unfortunately, that includes our favourite Lebanese restaurant, Al Sultan, which is now closed until mid-March of next year.

Sam and I did a big supermarket shop at lunchtime. I went for another walk in the afternoon, getting waylaid at Sotto Zero as usual; Kinder and lemon flavours on this occasion. For dinner we had piri piri chicken with roasted veggies.

Tuesday was unbelievable. Imagine for a moment, if you will, what your most perfect day would be like. I’m guessing it’s warm, sunny, cloudless, virtually windless and with no humidity. Add into that the scents of wild thyme and orange blossom. Throw in the buzzing of unseen insects. Feel powder -soft sand between your toes, smell the salty sea and hear it lap gently against the shore. Watch the sparkling sunlight as it pierces the impossibly clear water and dances upon the ocean floor. See the fish along the way, blades of silver hovering in the shallows. This is a perfect November day in Malta.

And that is what we had today. I drove to Armier Bay and had a cappuccino at a charming waterfront café. Then I hiked to Little Armier Bay, on around the next bay, past the shabby weekend “villas” and on to the sink hole at the north western-most tip of Malta. It is a hole like a bomb crater cut into the rocky headland, some 30 to 40 feet deep and 20 feet across. At the bottom it is filled with clean, clear blue seawater. Some youngsters were leaping in and climbing back out using a black rope with footholds. Oh to be 20 years younger! I hiked on over the headland to Magdalena’s chapel then along the ridge and back down to Armier Bay again. It really was an amazing way to spend a couple of hours.

Back in the real world I worked, cooked some savoury rice and we ate that with left over piri piri chicken for dinner.

Wednesday Sam went for a shopping day in Sliema with Tina. I went for a drive and explored Imtarfa which is just next door to Rabat and Mdina. It’s certainly off the tourist route and although there didn’t seem to be a lot of interest there, I will explore it some more another day. I drove on to Gnejna Bay for a look around. There were a few people sunbathing on the sandy beach and the water is pretty there but the bay generally is not. Over the years locals have built little concrete beach huts at the edges of the bay which are pretty ugly! Also, dogs are allowed on the beach there so it’s not somewhere I’d want to spend the day. I had a long walk around St Paul’s Bay in the afternoon. For dinner we took the easy option and had flatbreads.

Thursday Sam had art class. We worked and walked and Sam baked a Christmas cake. We have a glut of basil at the moment, so we had pasta with pesto for dinner.

Friday I had another good Italian lesson. For dinner I made a Puy lentil chilli which was absolutely delicious. We will certainly have that again soon!

Saturday we went to Mellieha for a nose around the shops. We had very good cappuccinos at Tal-Puzzu; I also had a slice of excellent chocolate cake and Sam had a delicious bruschetta. We drove on to the Red Fort and from its roof marvelled at the 360° panorama. From there you really can see how unspoilt much of the northern part of Malta is. The views across to Comino and Gozo are stunning. We drove the long way home via Anchor Bay.

In the evening we went to Miracles for a drink, then on to Salt for the first time. Salt is an up market restaurant in Bugibba, very chic, spotlessly clean and stylishly presented. The service was spot on and the menu quite small, which is a good sign. Only trouble is, everything was way too sweet – we think they should change the name of the restaurant from Salt to Sweet! I have posted a review as you would expect! For dessert we went to Sotto Zero for ice cream. Well, we have to make the most of it before it shuts for the winter, don’t we?

Sunday we went for a late morning stroll, stopping for a cappuccino in Bugibba Square. Now that summer is behind us, the local tradition of lunching out on Sundays is back in full swing and the town was quite busy and the restaurants hives of activity. I had a hamburger and fries at McDonalds for my lunch! That is a bit of a once-a-year event and my last chance in St Paul’s Bay as the McDonalds here is closing down next week. We are not sorry to see it go. We don’t want to live in a homogenous world with American fast food restaurants and coffee shops making our high streets indistinguishable one from the other.

The afternoon was grey and threatening rain so we put our feet up and watched movies. For dinner we had left over Puy lentil chilli.