The Great Escape

  July 21 - Marsascala   Only a walk to St Thomas’ Bay today as there’s a need to do some research and booking of accommodation and flights.  We’ve decided that in August we’ll be taking off to Italy for a few weeks but as yet nothing’s booked.  On the beach at St Thomas’ we came across some great facilities provided for the elderly and disabled.  They’re a fantastic idea and obviously well used judging by the numbers of senior ‘cit’s’ in the water.  We’d also seen something similar for wheelchair users on the beach at Den Haag.  A hard surface pathway, wide enough for two wheelchairs and level with the sand, it just enabled easier access to the beach and sea for anyone struggling to walk.  Bottom R: An impromptu swim on our walk. 

  July 20 - Marsascala (Day trip to the Ħaġar Qim Temples) A bit of a history lesson today as we bussed ourselves around the southern coastline to the ‘Ħaġar Qim Temples’.  A megalithic temple complex dating from around 3600 BC (earlier than Stonehenge and about 1000 years before the Pyramids!), the name Ħaġar Qim means ‘worshipping stones’, and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  It was a great place to visit but it also raised quite a few questions.  “Who were the people who built the temples?”, “Where did they come from?”, “Did they use slaves?”, “Are they the original Maltese?”, these were just some among many.  Unfortunately though, as Heritage Malta don’t employ guides on site, there was nobody around to assist.  A model (from above) of the temple site Our next port of call (literally) was just along the coast to the Blue Grotto (Taht il-Hnejja) where we took another boat ride. This grotto, part of a beautiful group of sea caves, features a 30m arch, a...

  July 19 - Marsascala (Day trip to Marsaxlokk) A day trip today to a nearby fIshing village by the name of Marsaxlokk (I swear I’d never get the hang of this Maltese language! 🤔😳😂 ).  Although looking a little bit more modern than where we’re staying, Marsaxlokk was actually used as a port by the Phoenicians and Carthaginians, and still has the remains of a Roman-era harbour here. However, to be honest, there were parts of town that looked like the last time there was a maintenance programme was when Caligula was a boy!  Still very nice but leaning towards being ‘touristy’ as well.  After wandering around town for a while, and being suckers for religious architecture, we paid a visit to the local church, ‘The Parish Church of the Madonna of Pompei’(!).  This is a lovely looking building and, for what really is quite a small town, really colourful and ornate inside.  JEM’s recent penchant for water travel meant that our next move was for a boat r...

  July 18 - Marsascala Our first full day in in Malta and a big change in pace from the last few weeks.  This morning we took off for a walk along the coast towards a local national park, Xrobb l-Għaġin Nature Park. About 10k return it was a real mixture of scenery and terrain.  Starting off from the promenade outside our place we soon came across the local salt pans. Looking a bit chessboard-like and dating back to Roman times, these pans used for salt production are carved into the coastal rocks to contain sea water.  This water is then left to settle for for a few days while the drying process forms a thick layer of salt, and this is then harvested. This salt, although used for normal daily use, was especially important during the islands many sieges when, with limited supply of fresh food, the production of salt became more important for preserving food.  Passing on we then came across the half finished and derelict remains of a General Gaddafi financed ...

  July 17 - Haarlem to Marsascala (Malta) A travel day We had a bit of an eventful journey on the train to the airport but, that aside, all was well for our final day in The Netherlands.  We really have had a great time here and even more than I expected tbh.  We’ve seen some beautiful small towns and cities, there’s been some magnificent museums and artwork, the people have been really friendly, we’ve had some great food and beer, and the weather’s been sensational, what more could you want?   Moving on though we’re now about to start the next part of our trip, here in Malta. The journey here was actually quite comfortable as, for this flight, we were up the ‘pointy-end’.  Not something we’d normally do but when buying the tickets Business Class was €80 cheaper each than Economy!  The journey from the airport to Marsascala however was a little different (karma? 😊 ), a bus dated from the ‘Ark’ and a wannabe F1 driver certainly made for an interes...

  July 16 - Haarlem (Day trip to Lieden) An easy train journey through some beautiful countryside took us to Lieden this morning.  We arrived in the middle of what was market day and, after a bit of a wander around all the food stalls, we settled down for brekky in the sun, lovely! This is yet another picturesque Dutch town that takes advantage of its canals, with dozens of bars, restaurants, and coffee shops all lined up along the waterside, it’s just fantastic! After much more meandering around town we ended up at the Lakenhal Museum.  Housed in a beautiful old building that was previously a wool cloth exchange, this museum is all about art, artists, and history, all from a Lieden perspective. One of the more well known sons of the city was Rembrandt who was born here, and the museum has a number of his works alongside many other ‘masters’ of his era.  There’s also a few rooms of local ‘glassware’ type art as well which we both liked.  Further wandering arou...

  July 15- Haarlem A nice slow start this morning  as we only planned to spend the day exploring the sights that we had been passing for the last couple of days.  We started off in St Bavo’s, a 15th century post-reformation Protestant church and former Catholic cathedral, located in the middle of Grote Markt (the central market square).  Similar to some of the other ‘converted’ churches we’ve seen the church is huge as well as being really quite decorative on the outside. On the inside however it’s not so ornate but does have a pretty spectacular organ to make up for it. This organ, apparently one of the world's most historically important, was built in the early 1700’s and on completion was the largest in the world.  Adding to its fame some pretty well known musicians have played this organ as well, with Mendelssohn, Händel, and even a 10-year-old Mozart, amongst the many.  While in the church we found out the origin of the term ‘stinking rich’....

  July 14 - Haarlem (Day trip to Amsterdam) A bright and early start today as we were doing a day trip to Amsterdam. Although the big city is only 15 minutes away from Haarlem the only reason for the early start is that we’d booked a 9:00 start at the Rijksmuseum. Opened in 1885, this magnificent building is also known as the ‘Museum of the Netherlands’ and is the most visited museum in the country. Telling the story of Dutch art and the Netherlands, from the Middle Ages to the 20th century, this is a fantastic place to visit and is home to works from artists such as Rembrandt, Vermeer, Hals, Van Gogh, and more. The permanent display here also includes many other magnificent pieces by some of the less well known ‘masters’ as well.  In addition to the paintings the ‘Rijks’ is also home to many collections of decorative arts, furniture, and many other outstanding items as well, although I must admit weapons really aren’t ‘my cup of tea’!  Something else that was a stando...

  July 13 - Delft to Haarlem   Left Delft this morning, not quite with regrets, but it certainly is a place we could have spent more time there, it really is a nice town.   One thing I forgot to post when in in Delft was this: After scrolling through the reds, whites, and rosés on the wine list we came across the above and thought “OMG, even the owners think these wines are expensive!”  Once translated though it just seems that they happen to think that they’re very, very, nice wines!  (still bloody expensive though! 😂) On arrival in Haarlem we had a few minor issues before dropping off our luggage but once sorted we took off for a canal cruise to get our bearings.  First impressions are that, although a bigger city than Delft, this is going to be another nice place to stay. 

  July 12 - Delft There were no day-trips planned for today just spending time checking out a few more places in this lovely town of Delft.  Our first visit was to the belfry of ‘The Nieuwe Kerk’ (The New Church).  Built early in the 15th century this tower is over 100 mts tall and has nearly 400 steps to its highest walkable point. Compared to most other towers that we’ve climbed this trip an unusual feature of this one is that most of its steps are made from wood and it also has gaps in-between like a step ladder.  Due to years of use they’re also very ‘shiny’ and loose which certainly makes for an ‘interesting’ climb.  😳😱 After recovering from our climbing exercise we then visited the Prinsenhof Museum, housed in an old palace.  This palace, originally built as a monastery in the Middle Ages, later served as home to William of Orange, ‘Father of the Dutch Nation’ (not the English one but his great grandfather).  This royal connection continues ...