Malta - Mediterranean Sunshine

 We tried to take a small break and explored the Mediterranean island of Malta. Not many countries in Europe drive on the left like the UK, but the Maltese do; ex-Britisih-colony etc. However, the sunshine and food is not British. 

We stayed in Sliema and travelled on Valetta on one of the days. 

It was a lovely boat ride across the bay.

One could see the St. John's Cathederal from the boat.  

And the Fort St Elmo too. 

The narrow streets of Valetta reminded me on Souther Italy.

The Cathedral had an entry fees of €15/person

The roof was stunningly beautiful

There were some gory scenes.

And, I'm not sure I was ready to watch a beheading. 

We did manage to click some photos.

...and also walked around the 1st floor. The views from here were even better.

And Queen Victoria was pleasantly relaxed in the Med Sunshine.

We also visited some more churches of Valetta. 

This one had lovely paintings inside.

And the roof was nice too.

We went to Fort St Elmo and the four guards were useless at stopping us. They did charge us €10 though.

A CCTV from 14th Century. 

We also found that the Maltese love their wooden doors and windows.

Green and gold goes very well together.

and a Fish Door knocker seems like a good idea.

and growing bougainvillea over your door is even a better idea...

...while some had a massive knocker on a bright blue door.

The next day we went to Rabat and Mdina in central part of the island.

Mdina is an old fort and around 250 people still live here. 

Sunshine brings out the best of us.

..and big smiles too.

back in Sliema we went to the beach.

The next day we hopped on a boat again, but this time on a longer boat ride to Camino and Gozo Islands.

Citadel in Gozo Island is a nice walk up the hill.

Did I mention Med-Sunshine and big smiles?

Another Church in Victoria.

And this had a spectacular Mozaic Art. 

Back on the boat after lunch and we went to Camino to Blue Lagoon.

The little boat ride was nice....

but as we reached the beach and saw no place to keep your towels, we laughed at ourselves "why did we even come to this beach?" 

Overall a nice break, but avoid the crowded beaches if you can.

Norwegian Winter Wonderland

 After being in the tropics for more than an year, we thought why not go to the coldest part of the planet; i.e. the Arctic Circle. 

On the flight to Tromso, we saw the Northern Lights. 

This was absolutely stunning.

While landing in Tromso, we found beautiful lights on the island.

We also went on a romantic date to the "Northern Most McD's in the world!" 😂

From our place we saw the hills and the Northern Lights and off we went out in the freezing cold.

And, wow! The sky really became colourful.

The lights really danced.

And it went on and on for hours.

The morning was beautiful with snowy mountains and white roads.

We went to the town centre and spent some time there.

I couldn't believe that humans used such boats in the cold weather to travel seven seas.

The Arctic Cathedral was decent, nothing exceptional.

However, the view of the City was gorgeous! 

The next day we drove out of town and visited the Fjords of Norway.

And in the night, the same Fjord was lit green with the Northern Lights.

The light kept dancing all night. 

It was a beautiful morning though and the town was frozen.

We drove to some of the mountain tops and enjoyed the view. 

The drive all around the the mountains and lakes was stunning. 

On the last day, we also visited the beach, a bit different though.

And the sun rose at 10:30 AM and set at 2:30 PM.

We would like to visit the same town during summer.