I can't believe that it's November already. The year is whizzing by. I said that I would post more photos, lovely to bring a bit of warmth to an autumnal day. The last day we had in Malta we spent some time on a harbour cruise in Valletta. It is quite a large harbour with Sliema to the west and Paola to the east with several large inlets which are big enough to hold fishing boats, a marina of larger vesssels and sailing boats, some cruise ships and once had a shipbuilding industry which is now no more.
This is Tigne Point, in Sliema and on the far right is one of the watchtowers not far from the outer harbour wall. There is still some building going on here with a lot on new apartments and a shopping mall under construction. The tall yellow building is a hotel.
A lot of the harbour has tall fortified walls to repel invaders. The first of these is Manoel Island where there was once a hospital
Just round the corner from here were a few little boats
And this one above is said to belong to a Mr Abramovich (one of a fleet I suspect). There were some more yachts nearby that were moored in readiness for a boat race around the Mediterranean islands that weekend.
Below the gun battery in Valletta were some visiting cruise ships. It seems to be a popular stopping off point for several cruises as we saw half dozen ships when we visited the town during our stay. Here are two of them.
This one is fuelling up for its onward journey
We later saw this ship outside the harbour wall
When inside the wall it proceeded to turn 180 degrees so that it could reverse into it's berth. Fancy trying to parallel park something as big as that!
Amongst the many vessels visiting was this Canadian warship
And we spied a Sunseeker boat (they're made in Poole) so had to take a photo.
Our last visit was to Marsaxlokk (Marsa-shlock). A small fishing village not far from Malta airport. Some lovely sights there with traditional fishing boats and this charming little sculpture.
A lovely little town to sit and relax watch the sea before contemplating coming home again. To think all this was less than two weeks ago.
I have got some sewing and knitting stuff to show soon.
Lovely colours on those last fishing boats! hasnt the time gone quickly! back to work and normal life!
ReplyDeleteGreat photos of your harbour cruise. That tall yellow hotel is the Fortina which is where we stay when we go to Malta :) Haven't seen that lovely statue in Marsaxlokk, wonder if it's new, must look out for it next year.
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