Hometouristing:Malta

Marsaxlokk

Who knew how hectic it could be to tourist in your "own" country?

I have my parents here for a week, and I've been holidaying since Fridaymorning. First of all, the old folks are staying at Pebbles Aparthotel in Sliema and it turned out to be an excellent choice. The studio they've got is nice and the view over the harbour from their 6th floor balcony is breathtaking.

So, after running som errands and making a last quick stop at work on Friday, I finally got to start touristing by sitting down for a coffee and some pastizzi and qassata. I love pastizzi, it's a fried little pastry with either a ricottacheese or a peafilling.(I go for the cheese always).Qassatas are a bit similar,only they are baked with a quite heavy crust. Fillingwise it the same choices, plus a version filled with spinach and tuna.

Once I started to realise that I can stop stressing, we started to make plans for the day. We decided to take Mdina first, so off we jumped on a bus to Valletta and switched to the next one to take us to Rabat. Sure, Mdina is a nice old city and the view is brilliant but once you've seen a few you old streets,you've seen them all.


But, what I can definitely say about is Rabat (Mdina is a minipart of Rabat),is that I had my best dinner yet there. We were looking for some late lunch, but ost of the restaurants were closed. On a small street we found a little café, Toffee&Co. The chalkboard outside recommended the daily lunch: Cheese and bisquits, lasagna or macaroni, a glas of wine or half pint beer, tea or coffee and a slice of christmas log for 6e. We figured we'd give it a shot, and it was wonderful. The cheeses were so good, the lasagna homemade and one of the best I've ever had, the christmas log sweet and tasty. The wine tasted a bit baaah at the beginning, but it actually went perfectly with the lasagna. We were so stuffed when we walked out of there that we had to skip our dinnerplans for the evening.


On Saturday we headed north, taking the ferry over to Gozo. We spent most of our time wandering around Victoria and of course the Citadel. More breathtaking views and more old streets and buildings. Nothing special over on the other island, but the busride up to the ferry and the ferrytrip itself was worth it. I got us a bottle of wine from the store at ferry and bought 3 cheap touristmugs so we had a nice time enjoying the short seafare.
On our way back we made a quick stop in St.Julians to get some scandic foods for christmas and then it was time for the supermarket and homemade dinner.

The Citadel, Gozo

Today was again a rise early,this time the plan was to get to the market in Marsaxlokk. A nice market, nice seaview. we met up with my friends and their family and had an alright foodwise fish lunch. Always great to eat in a bigger company and to have kids around.

Traditional Luzzu, Marsaxlokk

Now,thankfully, we've been north,south,west and east of the country, so now we can move over to christmas preparations and just hanging around. Merry christmas everyone!

But but..I wanna fly with Kitty!

A wild chat with my "big brother" is again making my imagination fly high.

Or to be exact, fly with Hello Kitty. I mean, EVA Air has complete range of Hello Kitty flights, that would fit so perfectly now on my "turn 30 in HelloKittyLandia".

You can see the routes and info here: http://evakitty.evaair.com/en/FlightRoutes.aspx

But, how do I fit in Taipei to my already way too hectic travel plan?

Still....

 That is the cutest thing ever, right?

By the way, do you know how I ended up dreaming about Hello Kitty flights in Asia? By joking about one of my big dreams, "to Sarajevo by train" since "big bro" is planning a roadtrip to Kosovo. I'm not exactly normal, ain't I?

Post-vacation blues

Sorry folks, after my return from Dublin, it's been real post/vacation blues going on.

I've been insanely busy at work, and the weekend went by with Christmas parties and other stuff that's going on...

You will be getting a post about one of the greatest pubs in Dublin, but I'll return to that later.

In the meantime, a bit about what is going on.

Next week, I'll get my parents over to Malta for some Christmas celebrations and I'm really looking forward it. First of all, I get a family christmas for the first time in a few years. Secondly, since I'll be having some days off I get to actually play tourist on this little island of ours. So you might get some "What to see in Malta" posts.

Travelwise, next trip seems to be my Asian tour unless I somehow find the money to make to Finland for a wedding in July. And I might try to make some "closer" trips before that, just can't wait that long to be travelling!

Speaking of which. There is one big thing on my mind regarding all this. My current flat's lease ends in March and I've already decided that i need to move. There's so much mold that I'm really sick all the time.

I really like living on my own and I really like having a nice flat. And I want to have the possibility to host friends and why not surfers as well.

But...IF I would move into a shared house, with just a small room, I'd save a nice amount of money every week that I could spend on travels. But is it worth it? What have you guys given up on to save for your travels?

My Dublin

Alright, writing this from the plane so when you read this, I would have returned from Dublin.

I had a great plan. I was gonna spend the days doing stuff I never had proper time for when I still lived there. Walking around St Stephen's green. Go to Wicklow. Go to the museums. See a theater show.

And then I got there. And I realised that 6 nights will barely be enough just to enjoy My Dublin, and I would rather have my Dublin than a tourist week.

My Dublin is noisy and gritty. My Dublin is messy pubs, pints by a fireplace, bad jokes,silly stories and laughter.

My Dublin is sharing bloke stories with a girlfriend. And lying Sunday evening watching bad movies with a friend and kebab pizza.

My Dublin is knowing without thinking which bus route is the quickest and easiest.

My Dublin is laughing at the knackers and giving a street sleeper a cigarette.

My Dublin is knowing the best store to buy green hair dye. And actually still melting in with the crowd after you've dyed it.

My Dublin is strangers chatting and friends hugging. Taxi drivers who fill you in with the latest news.

Most of all, My Dublin is the people you love.

It doesn't sound like much, even though it's so much more than can be explained.