July 2016 - Week 4

Monday 25th to Wednesday 27th July 2016

Monday I went back to Naxxar again to sort out contents insurance.

Late afternoon we went to Ghardia beach for a swim. Sam enjoyed it but I really didn’t. First I have to lash on loads of sun tan cream but then when I get dressed my clothes stick to me. We then drive 15 minutes to the beach and when we get there, there is nowhere to park. You can’t wear your decent sunglasses because some bugger may nick them, so you spend the whole time squinting. When you do finally find a parking space you join the thousands of other people almost shoulder-to-shoulder on the beach, not to mention the gazillions of noisy kids throwing sand about. The sea is freezing so you don’t stay in long. If you manage not to get smacked in the face by a miss-thrown ball or stung by a jelly fish it’s a miracle. To cap it all, you then get baked to a crisp in the sun when trying to dry off. Sand gets stuck under your swimsuit and between your toes. Your skin crawls as you have to get dressed again for the drive home. You have to sit on a bin bag to drive so the seat doesn’t get wet. If you are lucky you can park nearby; if not, it’s a walk home in a damp swimsuit. Here’s the question. Why on earth would any moderately intelligent person do all that?! Nah, swimming sure isn’t my thing!

Dinner was good though – left over Mexican Puy lentil chilli.

Tuesday we shopped and started to get ready for our trip to the IOM and UK. In the evening we had a couple of beers in O’Reilly’s. I’m not sure what to make of O’Reilly’s. The beer is good with a few choices of draft beer and the décor is typically pub-warm and woody. But it is packed with large screen TVs all showing different sports and the staff clearly couldn’t care less if you never came back. But, by Malta bar standards, it is certainly one of the best.

Anyway, we went to Acqua Marina for dinner. It was absolutely brilliant! It’s not posh by any means but it is quirky and the staff are great and welcome you like you are one of the family even though they hardly speak any English and our Italian is fairly rubbish. The chef patron, who is the spit of Albert Einstein, is effusive in his welcome and explains the menu in such bad English that we haven’t a clue what he is on about but his enthusiasm is so infectious that it’s clear that every dish has that essential ingredient that makes this restaurant so special; LOVE.

To start they bring complimentary bruschette. Then our starters; a Sicilian mixed platter for Sam of baked Feta, aubergine rolls, caponata, pecorino and meat balls in a tomato sauce. For me a bufula mozzarella caprese to die for. Our mains; a seafood risotto for Sam and a so-good-it-brings-tears-to-your-eyes tortellini with pancetta, tomato and cream for me. Then a complimentary smooth-as-you-like sorbet with a limoncello top. To drink I had three glasses of unbelievably good Nero D’Avola and we shared a bottle of water. And the bill for all this was £20 each. That is another good reason to love Malta!

Wednesday we were in all day preparing and packing for our trip. For dinner we had pizzas. I’m signing off now until my return in a couple of weeks.