Malta

The final stop on our cruise in May was Malta. I have been wanting to visit here as my Dad was stationed at the Navy Hospital in Bighi. He was a sick berth assistant and often worked with the dental surgeon, he was only 19.

I have a few if Dad's photos and one in particular was always special. He is standing outside Villa Bighi, the main hospital, in his full navy uniform. The building is quite distinctive with the Roman numerals above the doorway.

Our daughter and now husband holidayed in Malta in 2019 and managed to find the villa. Once in port Hubby and I took an Uber, lovely driver, and he dropped us right outside. Although the front and paving looks very different now, it's a wedding venue, the building and doorway is the same. It was quite a moment standing there. We now have a photo spanning three generations and nearly 80 years!

Malta is a beautiful place, I can see why Dad had fond memories of it and why our daughter fell in love with it. The stonework is a lovely sandy colour, looking vibrant against the sea and sky. We docked in the Three Cities area and once back at the ship from visiting Villa Bighi we took the water taxis across to Valetta where the views were amazing. 

To us our cruise ship (left in the photo just over the tree) is large but it is tiny compared to some, like the MSC (right in photo). I'm not sure I'd want to be on such a huge vessel.

From the dockside in Valetta there's a lift up yo the city. My Dad's photo is of an old, maybe wooden structure, his comments say it all. Nowadays it's a solid metal lift that takes many passengers each time. 

Always happy to try local we enjoyed a pint if Maltese beer, Cisk, recommended by our daughter, very refreshing.

I'm always up for a ride on a petit train, Hubby does keep telling me it's just a tractor but I love them. We had a great tour of Valetta through narrow streets, up and down hills with views across to Sliema.

Cruising is a great way to see many new places but you don't get long in each and it was soon time to leave Malta. The views leaving were as beautiful as arriving, especially seeing the harbour entrance as Dad often told stories of how they used to swim across it.

It was a superb end to our cruise, one more day at sea before flying home from Corfu. I loved every minute of it and will certainly be cruising with Tui again.

Here's my final sunset and time tracker I've added links to each of my blog posts too.

Funchal 20.42 UK time

Gibraltar 21.03 UK time plus 1 hour

Motril 20.57 UK time plus 1 hour

Palma 20.39 UK time plus 1 hour

Cagliari 20.15 UK time plus 1 hour

Valletta  19.49 UK time plus 1 hour