Visit Malta where Gladiator 2 was filmed

 

The film industry in Visit Malta.

This was at the World Travel Market at Excel in London in November 2024. The next World Trvel Market show is 4-6 November 2025.

Useful Websites

World Travel Market

https://www.wtm.com/london/ 

What your family is missing in America, Germany and Malta - the Playmobil Fun Parks

 

Playmobil Park, Malta. Source, Wikipedia.

A Singaporean mother in Singapore told me about her last trip to the USA. "We went to San Diego, which has a big ship out in the ocean. Didn't see that. But the one thing I regret not seeing is the Playmobil Fun Park. You know Playmobil?"

I said, "I've heard of it. Is it like Lego, and Legoland?"

"Playmobil has lots of fun characters, like gardeners and princesses. More people and scenes for them, rather than construction. My little boy loves Playmobil. I find it fun, too. Next time, maybe next year."

So, whether or not you know Playmobil, here are some useful pointers.

Playmobil comes from Germany. 

Regarding the activity parks, the founder wanted children to get exercise, not just sit passively. 

Lots for children to do in the FunPark which people visit for a day or two, plus other places in the area including a zoo, and a themed hotel.

Playmobil

Nuremberg Toy Museum.

Legoland

The Nuremberg Toy Museum

The museum is known in German as the Spielzugmuseum. Spiel means game. (I know the Yiddish word shpiel, meaning game.)

The Nuremberg Toy museum has Playmobil toys on the top floor. You may find this more appealing than the adult-appeal museums such as the German, Goethe and other museums.

(On a trip to Nuremberg, the trials are a top attraction. Even if you don't think the main German Museum is a top attraction for children, the columns outside in multiple languages are impressive. https://www.gnm.de/en/museum/plan-your-visit/) You can hold children's birthday parties in the museum. (Guided tours have been suspended due to Covid 19 when I checked in December 2021 - so check the latest regulations.)

Places to visit

GERMANY

Playmobil

An hour and a half away from Legoland is Playmobil, which has proved very popular with children aged 9 and younger as well as parents. No rides, more like a huge playground with lots of activities such as panning for gold, and milking a cow., and water features such as Noah's Ar,. 

You can buy a two day ticket. Affordable. Shop with good discounts compared to prices in the UK and Canada.

Instead of adults in costume you get lifesize Playmobil figures.

You can hold a children's birthday party here.

The letters de in a website name or address stand for Deutchland, German for Germany.

Alongside is the Playmobil hotel. You can see photos of it on Tripadvisor. Some rooms have large murals, others just a couple of themed pictures above the beds.

MALTA

PlayMobil FunPark - factory tour.

USA

Playmobil FunPark Florida

Tripadvisor said it was closed.

You could hold birthday parties here.

Interesting to read about it and hope it will re-open. Suggest you look at the ones in Malta and Germany.

Useful Websites

USA

Playmobil Fun Park, USA

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g34531-d130594-Reviews-PLAYMOBIL_FunPark-Palm_Beach_Gardens_Florida.html

GERMANY

Playmobil Fun Park, Bavaria, Germany

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Playmobil_FunPark

Playmobil Hotel

https://www.playmobil-hotel.de/en/offers

Tripadvisor

https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g644173-d606291-r57844942-Playmobil_FunPark-Zirndorf_Middle_Franconia_Franconia_Bavaria.html

Germanisches National Museum

Wiki

Malta Tour

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Playmobil_FunPark

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Playmobil:_The_Movie

https://www.amazon.sg/s?k=playmobil

Tip

Wear clothes for getting wet in Playmobil Funpark.

About the Author

About the Author Angela Lansbury

BIOGRAPHY

Angela Lansbury B A Hons ACG ALB PM5 EH5 DL5 VC5 
The Author of several books including  Etiquette For Every Occasion. Wedding Speeches & Toasts. How to be the Best Man. Quick Quotations. Who Said What When.

Blogs travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com

dressofthedayangela.blogspot.com

translateforfun.blogspot.com

Braddell Heights Advanced Toastmasters Speakers Club Vice President Public Relations (VPPR), Previous President

Join BHA 1st Wednesday 7pm and 3rd Saturday 2 pm Singapore time 

Vice President Public Relations (VP PR) of Tampines Changkat Advanced;

Secretary of weekly online Singapore International Dynamic Toastmasters Speakers’ Club;

Member and past president of Harrovians toastmasters club, UK; Past member of HOD Toastmasters, London. Past member in Singapore of: Toastmasters Club of Singapore (TCS); Tiarel; and Senja Cashew.

More details from Toastmasters International find a club.

Regular attendee at annual Swanwick Writers’ School, England.

Regular attendee at annual Writers’ Holiday, Wales.

Contributor to poetry readings, and after tea courses on: Speaking On Radio To Promote Books; and Plots And Character.

Winner of many club and area speaking contests in the UK and Singapore.

Language advisor to Empire Toastmasters club in Indonesia.

Language and speech workshops in Singapore.

Speaker on radio and TV in England, Scotland, the USA, and Australia.

Compiler of a school course on public speaking for teachers to prepare pupils for school open days with attending ceremonies before government ministers, Singapore.

Former member of Harrow Writers’ Circle, London, and two writing groups in Singapore.

Angela is on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Twitter. She would be delighted to link up with new friends.

 Please share links to your favourite posts.

Advantages of in-out Swimming Pools At Hotels

USA
I first came across an in-out swimming pool at a ski resort in the USA. It was mid-winter, ski season, freezing outside. What was the point of an in-out swimming pool? Who would swim outside in the cold? I presumed that the outdoor pool was for summer. But why didn't they cover it over in winter? I could see a couple of hardy souls swimming outside. Masochists, I presumed. Health fanatics.

After a day on the ski slopes, I tried the indoor pool. Nice and warm. Later I tried an outdoor Jacuzzi. Warm.

After a short skiing day, I was back in the indoor pool, and tried venturing out a foot, swimming under the plastic vertical strips. Pleasantly warm, view of the sky. I swam further. The water was still warm.

Then it started, snowing. I retreated to the indoor pool.

Later, I discovered another pool at a spa hotel in Umbria.

ITALY
The indoor-outdoor pool was wonderful in summer. Late afternoon, on a sweltering afternoon, in a hot coach, we reached our hotel for dinner, time for a swim.

We moved around the warm, tepid, slightly refreshing and cooling outdoor pool. When it rained, we went indoors.

Singapore
In Singapore I hesitated to swim in the haze. I could smell smoke. My husband said that smoke makes the air grey. If you can see the distant hilltop, there's no haze.

I went for a swim and got to thinking about the haze in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. Whether it is an accidental bush fire, or caused by deliberate burning of scrub in order to clear land to plant oil palms, you need to get out of the haze. If you want to swim, wouldn't it be a good idea of all public pools and condo pools had a roof you could pull over during the haze or impending haze.

USA
I've see sports stadiums in the USA, Texas?, with pull over and retractable roofs. The technology is there. All you need is the want, the will, and the money. How to find the money? Make it compulsory and government funded or subsidised. Make it a legal requirement, or get the insurance companies to demand it, then look for sponsorship, or charities raising money. As they say where there's a will there's way.

Malta
Another place with indoor and outdoor pools, not connected. Who needs an indoor pool if the hotel has an outdoor pool and a beach? But the outdoor pool may be closed in winter because there's little demand for it in cold weather, the poolside bar is closed, and a cover is over it to keep out the falling autumn leaves. Also the outdoor pool could be closed for cleaning one day a week or a fortnight. If that's the day of your holiday when you have time in the hotel because your flight just arrived or is about to leave, so it's the only day you are not out on a day tour, you might appreciate in indoor all weather all season pool.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer.

Malta's Famous Arch Collapses Into The Sea

Malta's famous arch which collapsed in March 2017.
Photo by Angela Lansbury, 2015, copyright.
All rights reserved.

Problems
Malta's famous arch has collapsed into the sea. What can photographers and tourists do now?

Answers
This is not a new problem. The same thing happened to an arch in Australia. If you already have a picture, even if you don't, you can take a picture of the remains of the old arch and compare it with one showing the arch as it was.

The arch in Malta is one of the landmarks on the lesser known and smaller island of Gozo. The only money-making enterprises I could see were charges for car parks and the restaurant overlooking the adjacent blue pool, which is still there.

The restaurant overlooking the pool beside the fallen arch on the island of Gozo, Malta.
Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Several possible solutions:

1 Build a reproduction of the old arch nearby in a theme park for people to be photographed on the reproduction.
2 Build a Malta in miniature showing the arch as it was.
3 Encase the whole thing in protective glass with concrete supports and buttresses and install a fake piece in the middle, with windows into the original layers. (This would cost a lot. It would also destroy the 'natural' feel. But you can attract visitors to the Grand Canyon and other landmarks in the USA and China and worldwide with bridges and landmarks installed this century or last century.
4 Install an exhibition of before and after photos, from professional and mature photographers, local people and tourists.
5 Recreate the arch with either a ladder and viewpoint, or walkway up a slope to one side at the back. Use the same or another artificial arch with a waterslide into a swimming pool.
6 Create a last landmarks exhibition with all the fallen arches and other landmarks of the local area through the ages and similar items worldwide.
7 Run a competition for reproductions of the arch, made from rocks, plastic, plasticine, Playdough, toothpicks, lolly sticks, cereal boxes, plaster of Paris (with a sponsor or two from toy companies or craft companies). Show some of the original in an exhibition and photos of the others.
8 Create a model of the arch in a children's playground with safety barriers and a slide.
9 Run an annual event when a beach fair is held, with prizes for the best tee-shirt featuring the arch.
10 Make a local rock cake or meringue in the shape of the arch or a flat cake with a photo of the arch in edible icing horizontally, or vertically.

Stories
The similar arch in Australia fell. It was a popular walk along the top from the nearby cliff, out over the sea for the view and selfie photos. I heard that a couple had got stranded on the end. They had to be rescued.

What a drama. Not knowing if the rest of the arch would collapse. No food or toilet. Unable to get back to home or work.

Real Stories and Fiction
The story was nationwide sensation. According to the person who told me, this event caused more problems for the people involved. (I was unable to find the facts on the internet - so this is just a rumour. However, as the saying goes, why let the truth get in the way of a good story: Here's a drama I or you could use in a short story, or novel:

This is how the Chinese Whispers version goes. The couple were supposed to be at work. Their employers did not know the people were off work - people who not at home sick, or at work, or out delivering or making business calls. (One company or two - if you are writing a novel - your choice.

Their respective families did not know the couple were not at work. At least one of the couple was married, and the spouse saw them on the TV news. One of the couple may have lost a relationship, a marriage or reputation.

You could make this into a short comedy. A short joke or anecdote. A short story or novel.

You could write a tragedy. A short story or a novel.

Or a cautionary tale. Safety for travellers.

Tips
You will find advice on many sites for hiking and climbing areas. Most of the advice applies to a long stroll along flat ground and tourist spots as much as remote areas. The rules are helpful whether you are walking in the woods, the countryside, or along a clifftop or beach.

Notice what the devices for evacuating an aircraft include: something to support you in the sea, a whistle and a light. A lifeboat has extra items. But if you are on your own you need food such as Kendal Mint cake. You would not take chocolate covered mint cake in sunshine because it would get sticky. I once read that Hershey chocolate was developed for soldiers in hot countries who needed a chocolate bar which would not melt in the pocket or backpack.

1 Always take a phone, and a charger.
2 Leave details of where you are going, and/ or photograph your route. You might take photos you would not make public, but which will be on your website or in the network 'clould' if emergency services or family are looking for you.
3 Carry food and drink.
4 Take clothing for hot and cold weather, in the hot day and cold night.
5 Wear or carry something you can wave or use as a signalling device.
6 And use the toilet before not after taking a long walk. You never know how long it will be before you get back.
7 Guides off a trail should have walkie talkies to keep track of the group.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

A conference breakfast with Taiwan - what was right and what was wrong?

You see the little picture above - it's an address card holder. That's something the Chinese do well whoever they are - Taiwanese, in China, Hong Kong, or Singapore. Everything is beautiful. And I love the curved rooftops. Anything oriental attracts me. Ever since I was a little girl collecting stamps. I have visited Hong Kong and Shanghai and Beijing and other members of my family have been to China on business but it is something I have yet to do. So I was delighted to find I had been given an address card holder.

Speaking of cards, I also picked up a pack of playing cards. I collect cards from around the world, with pictures of the destination or fancy fronts. I will show you more of these in another post.


Breakfast Choices - Why Taiwan Stand?
I went to a breakfast at the World Travel Market in London, hosted by Taiwan. Why did I go? Because at the start of the day after an hour or longer travelling into London (despite having had breakfast at home about 90 minutes earlier) I wanted to attend one of three breakfasts offered. I looked at Greece,a country I like (as a journalist I am interested in historic Olympia and ruins and I love baklava - especially new historical sites, I have visited more than once, also offering lunch and evening cocktails - I could do them later. I saw Malta, which I like and have visited, (historic walls, stunning sea views, olive trees - I have visited), on the stand conveniently next to Greece also with more flexible hours. Taiwan I don't know, but I have heard of the gold treasures, I am a Singapore resident, love Shanghai, have been to Beijing, also several times to Hong Kong, I love Chinese food such as Peking Duck, but not yet visited Taiwan. So I opted to see Taiwan. What did they do right?

How to Find The Stand
The first thing a stand in a huge exhibition centre must do is to have a big banner and sign seen from a distance with your stand's name. I think Excel should have arrows at the end of each aisle pointing to all the stands along that aisle. You can waste time running up and down, as I did. I had got up early, arrived in time at the hall. Did not know which station to choose, and looked at the map at the end of each aisle in the central hallway - no big sign on map saying you are here. It takes five minutes to read the map and find your stand. Then race along - have to go out to check which number aisle. At last I find them - mainly because I can see a group of people on a stand so I guess there's a breakfast and/or presentation.

Organiser And Presentation
When I arrive they are grouped around a screen and have a compere. That's good. One person to move everybody along. A message about the country.

Yes, many stands do this. The food is covered. You have to watch the presentation to reach the food. But often the minister drones on and on with generalisations you could make about any country, about how they people are so welcoming, stuff only for the trade publications and not for the package tourist looking for something to buy or sell, yes tourism has doubled,but what does that mean, more flights, sounds great, but why would anybody want to go there? Or too much impersonal detail, charts of statistics - not memorable, no interesting, no story. Can't name a single theme park, temple or hotel, just says, visit our stand or read our brochure - I could stay at home and read on line. I've come to the show to meet somebody who has been to the country and give me a quick guide to what to see and do and what's news. A good compere must hurry along the minister - difficult to do.

(A lot of people, such as the Maltese stand, serve food, you eat and drink, and really struggle to find anybody to speak to you to tell you the latest story, not even one big picture and message.

(For example, the Israel stand served lovely food but nobody came to talk to me. I watched a film. Tel Aviv - beaches. Art deco? Scenes kept flashing up on screen. Jerusalem - the wall - if you already know it. The third time I watched it I managed to work out which place was where, for example Nazareth ? - Jesus - birth of - lovely churches and crypts.)

Taiwan
Back to Taiwan. I could see the glasses of drink and food on the table but no welcome drink. How long will I have to wait until the end of the presentation - how long - ten minutes, half an hour? Should I dash off the Greek stand for food and run back here to see more of the presentation? I decide I am already too tired and wait. I reckon we should at least have had a glass of water on arrival.

So watching a presentation was good. Also good was the fact that each presentation was three minutes by a different destination, hotel, hotel group, attraction. I only knew three things about Taiwan, and missed out on how to get there, except by Eva Air. I thought that Taiwan had wonderful gold treasures in a museum, lots of poor rural areas (I saw a film on TV in Hong Kong with a hong Kong-Singaporean friend). And I have seen pictures of a city crowded like Hong Kong. So it was news to me that I got to see that Taiwan has glamorous five star hotels. I also saw a scenic area which I think was called Nantou.

The sound system was very quiet. The compere then brought me a hearing device. I put it on over my head like the ones you used to get on airlines. The compere rushed over to show me you wore it the other way up.

Soon even the speakers were starting to say, 'we are all hungry so I won't keep you long'. One after another. Finally we got to the food.

Alas, I had gone to speak to somebody. A crowd formed around the food. The front plate was chicken, already empty in the first minute from the first 20 people to crowd around and grab the bap. (I later saw what looked like the same sold at the nearby central hall food kiosk - which always had queues. So I got a bun with sausages - against my diet, cancer societies tell you not to eat processed food.You could argue that separate types of food on each plate is better, so that you don't pick something you are not expecting, wasting your time on vegetarian when you want meat, or discarding meat if you are vegetarian. But in this instance, having missed out on chicken, I wished they had mixed the plates of food or kept one plate back.

Speed-selling - great
Then the compere - who was very good, sent us to sit at booths. The system was American style, like speed-dating. The opposite of the first presentation where we were stuck for over half an hour, it seemed like two hours. You sit at a booth for about 3-4 minutes. Then a bell sounds and you move onto the next cubicle. That way nobody else can block you from seeing a person you want to meet. You have a chance to exchange lots of business cards. You quickly escape from somebody who is of no interest. They don't waste their sales pitch on a non-customer. It's really good. Great system.

Then, stick around for a prize of a visit to Taiwan. I did not win. But I did get a great goodie bag.

Like other Chinese and Asian countries they have wonderful colourful designs. I had admired the little portrayals of monuments on many stands at the show and hoped when they left they would give them away but supposed they would need them for the next exhibition. Back home, unpacking my bag, I found a great portrayal of the skyline.

Of course I shall attend World Travel market next year if I am in the UK. I shall return to the Taiwan stand. And I now feel my urge to visit has increased, and my feeling that I know the place and like it has grown.

To sum up, if you are running a conference breakfast organise;
1 Drinks;
2 Compere / MC;
3 Giving Timing and section updates;
4 Big Badges on Staff;
5 Offer a drink on arrival (water or non-alcoholic;
6 Label Food;
7 Save second round of food;
8 Speed-meeting.
9 Ensure everybody leaving gets the handout and/or goodie bag.
10 Keep a book to staple visitors' business cards and write alongside follow-up action.
11 Offer / promise to follow-up - don't only tell them to call you. They might lose your card, lose their coat or luggage, forget, have hundreds of cards, go back to work and be too busy.
12 If you cannot help them, pass them on to somebody who can.

Save some food for the latecomers or those at the back of the crowd to offer a choice to those who want meat or vegetarian. Label the food - it slows everybody down if each of the four people at the front has to ask what's in this and what is that - or you waste food when they don't want to look picky but then leave it.

1 Have a strong compere. Update every fifteen minutes with how long the presentation will last and when you will reach the food. Otherwise people with appointments will leave without waiting for food, prize draws, or awards to your team, photo opportunities, VIP speakers kept to the end.

More photos on websites later.
Angela Lansbury, travel writer.

Wine Museums Around The World

You can visit wine museums in most of the wine producing countries.

Spanish Wine Museum
I visited an excellent wine museum in a village outside Haro, in the Rioja region of northern Spain. it has huge numbers of different vines planted outside alongside the car park with a path and plaques and notice boards, each vine labelled.

Inside was a large exhibition on wine, a supermarket size shop selling everything from bottle openers and wine glasses and books and postcards to scarves and clothes with wine bottle of grape motifs. An all day gourmet cafe and an expensive fine restaurant for lunch or dinner were also on the site, and a paid for cellar tour.

French Wine Museums
The USA Today website has a series of slides you can click on and read the text about the Cité du Vin museum. The city of wine is, of course, Bordeaux.

Wine Museums Worldwide
The Forbes website covers the Bordeaux museum but allows you to click on links to the wine museums in California, France and Greece.

Wikipedia lists other wine museums worldwide which include those in Cyprus.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-36424039
http://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/experience/food-and-wine/2016/05/31/cite-du-vin-bordeaux/85153062/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Wine_museums  Cité Du Vin
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Wine_museums  list of wine museums
http://www.forbes.com/sites/eustaciahuen/2016/05/31/worlds-first-wine-theme-park-museum-opens-in-bordeaux/#2125202453c0
https://www.thedrinksbusiness.com/2015/07/top-10-wine-museums-of-the-world/

Wine Museums:

CYPRUS
The Cyprus Wine Museum, 42 Odos Pafou (42 Paphos & Knights Street Corner, Λεωφ. Αποστόλου Λουκά, Ερήμη 4630, Cyprus

Phone:+357 25 873808

FRANCE
Hameau Dubref
There's another wine museum at 5 Square Charles Dickens in Paris.

GERMANY
I have fond memories of standing on a giant wine barrel in Heidelberg.

Mosel Vinothek and Wine museum
See reviews on TripAdvisor.
https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attraction_Review-g198633-d1873535-Reviews-Mosel_Vinothek_Wine_Museum-Bernkastel_Kues_Rhineland_Palatinate.html

GREECE
Kouksoyannapoulos

MALTA
I took a tour of the Marvsovin premises with a tasting. This is a proper organised tour with a booking, a guide, tour groups, the history of the owners family, items used in wine making through the centuries a mannequin, a mock up of an old farmhouse vineyard, and colourful and amusing modern paintings by Maltese artists.

Photos by Angela Lansbury. 

We had previously taken the ferry over to Gozo where we saw a sign for free tasting and stopped. 

UK
Vinopolis, London;
 Berry Brothers wine shop in a historic building in London near Piccadilly. Berry Brothers hold wine tastings in their cellars in the evenings, must book, quite expensive.

Drive out to Denbies, on a summer day and you can book and pay for an indoor or outdoor wine tour. They have a ground floor cafeteria and a large shop, plus a grander upstairs restaurant.

The most striking thing about the outdoor tour, chugging uphill on a motorised 'train' was seeing the two vineyards on opposite hillsides, one in sun and the other in shadow, and suddenly realising what the French terroir or territory is all about.

Photos by Angela Lansbury.
Were we 'happy' with our indoor tour. It looks like we were.

I recommend both the indoor and outdoor Denbies tours. Luckily I did the outdoor tour first, and finished in the restaurant.  Once you've had the three glasses of wine included in the indoor tour, you are ready to eat.

USA
Drive north of San Francisco and you come to a wine region with a series of vineyards, shops and tours.

California Wine Museum
Americans have contributed to the funds need to develop the wine museum in France.

I shall give the last word to the French.
Napoleon said of Champagne, "In victory you deserve it; in defeat you need it!"

See my previous posts on wine tastings, wine fairs and museums.

Angela Lansbury, author of Quick Quotations, travel writer, researcher and photographer. Author and speaker.

Signposts and memory aids for photos, souvenir and recommendations

When you come home at night you remember the name of your restaurant and your friends, the nearest station, the city. A year later when you want to caption the picture, or find it, or recommend a hotel to a friend, the name escapes you.

The simple answer to this is to take a photo of the name of the city, the street, the hotel, the restaurant, the taxi number.

What's the restaurant name? Table at 8? Restaurant at 9? After 8 Restaurant? Table at 6 or 7? Table or tables at 7? Ah - Table at 7.

When you want to caption your photo, argue with your family about the name of the restaurant, find out if the place your friends visited the year previously was the one you saw this year, or phone about your lost wallet or umbrella, you have the name instantly, complete with the visual reminder.

Was I in Clarke Quay or Boat Quay? The map shows they are adjacent. My photo tells me.  I was in Clarke Quay. Clark or Clarke? It's Clarke. 

Take the photo on arrival, when you have nothing else to do or are waiting for others to arrive. If it's a place you visit often, the chances are that the first time you visit you will be impressed enough to want to take a photo. By the following day or week it will be raining, or dark. Later, you will be bored, or your family will say, 'Stop - enough photos' or, 'We're in a hurry.

Statues and Landmarks In Sunshine
I remember visiting Nottingham, England on a press travel trip. We passed the statue of Robin Hood. It was sunny and I wanted to stop. The guide said, "You can do it later".

The next two days it rained. On the last day we took a short cut back to the station and didn't pass it. Besides we were hurrying to catch a train.

I've never forgotten. That would have been my landmark statue.


Yes, the tourist board can send a picture. But it's their copyright. The photographer may have rules about entering his name in the caption.

The photo might be a year old. The magazine may have used the generic photo already or not want the same photo that the rival magazine or newspaper is using. Maybe they already have that picture on file. They already covered the story last year.

Why should they take my text? A glance at the accompanying photo will tell the editor that he or she has seen this before.

I always find a new angle. I might want myself, little me, in the picture to show the height of the statue.

Human Interest and History
My face adds human interest. My face added proves that I visited the place. This is up to date and a personal story, not a press release put out by the tourist board, identical to that published in every other newspaper.

But clothes can date a picture. So can cars. And your face growing older. Somebody can look at you and ask, "When was this taken?"

Historic photos are useful. If the building is demolished later. O to show your town through the ages.

I might get paid for my own picture. I can't get paid for somebody else's picture.

If I'm told, "You can do it later," I reply, "I'd rather do it now and strike if off the list of things I have to do." Or I say, "Let's do it now while the sun is just right."

Obstructions
A day later the cathedral is covered in scaffolding. (Umpteen times in England and Europe.)

Two hours later when we walk back past the church with all the statues it is in shadow and a fast food van is parked in front of the church. (That happened to me in Malta.)

Handy Captions
A caption of a hotel or museum is useful. Why did I take that buildings with columns? Is it the hotel where I stayed? Budget b and b? Or five star luxury? Or a national museum?

Signposts
The photo as a signpost to the reader. If it's not visually appealing, use it small as a signpost or opening to your title page on the slide show. It's also a caption writer for you, saves hours of searching though maps and distractions on the internet.

Where was I? River Valley Road.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

Losing your car at an airport:: what to do

Have you ever lost your car in a car park? What a worry. Is it stolen? Moved by the police? Moved by the parking people? Will you ever find it?

Who will help? How quickly? Where do you think you left it? Which car park?

What is the numberplate? The colour? The make of car?

Lost Car
A relative of mine lost their car for about half an hour on returning to S t a n s t e d airport. The driver noted the car park (three huge car parks) and the nearby bus stop for the link bus to the airport. But when they came back they could not find the car.

Trudging around a car park, although brightly lit at night, when you are tired from travelling and its raining and you are worried is not fun.

Websites
I went on line to try to help. The help lines go off at 6 pm. Nobody to call for help. I remember once something similar happened to us as Disney, I think it was the one in Florida. They had a bus to drive people around. Each car park was named for an animal or something memorable. At least you were driving in the warm. And there was no charge for the help.

Stansted
Back to the problem at S t a n s t e d. (Predictive text called it stagnated. Yes, the driver was stagnated.)

Valet Parking
Valet parking sounds a good idea. Unfortunately the cost is £45! I presume that's on top of the cost of the parking charge. If you are highly paid and on expenses, maybe.

Photos
My solution in an unfamiliar car park, at a supermarket, is to take a photo of both my care and the parking place and the exit I use. I can show any helper the car I have lost. I have a record of the number plate. I know the model of the car. I can't do what has happened a couple of times, forget I am looking for my relative's car instead of mine. If it's a hire car, I know the numberplate.

Number Plates
No good just remembering just the first three letters or the last three letters. I've done that, either deliberately or accidentally (having forgotten the beginning or could not read my writing. It may turn out that all the city's cars have that ending which happened to me (in India), or all the country, or all the state, or all the county (Middlesex), or all this year's cars (UK), or all hire cars have the same prefix or suffix (Malta).

Success
The good news is I got a call half an hour later to say the car had been found. What was the reason for the problem? Two nearby bus stops, went to the one ahead of the car and not behind it, the furthest not the nearest.

Remote Control Sounds
Eventually the driver had thought to try using the remote control door opener. The lock or unlock flashes twice as it does when you get into or out of the car. So you walk along the rows and whether the car is right or left, even a few yards away and in the dark, the remote locates it and alerts you. If you are really desperate you can press on the warning triangle which makes the siren.

Happy ending. But remember not to rush off in your haste to catch the plane, and end up delayed on your return. As the saying goes, more haste, less speed.

Remedies
At least one of the Disney theme parks has or had characters (animals) in the names and visual reminders of the car parks. A multi-storey car park in Paris has or had different colours or murals on each level.

Malta had numbers on each marked parking place.

Call To Action
If you are a regular user of an airport or have any kind of clout please write and ask the airport to address the problem and to provide ways of remembering.

I hope you will always find your car. Happy holidays.
http://www.stanstedairport.com/parking/

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, speaker and author.

Author of How To Get Out Of The Mess You're In

"Who took a cork out of my lunch?" Champagne. In victory you deserve it, in defeat you need it

WINE QUOTATIONS
"Who took the cork out of my lunch?" That is my near miss quote of W C Fields. However, he probably made the same joke every time he started his act and got quoted or misquoted many times. You see lots of versions of his quotation. So mine is as good as the next. Very apt for the World Travel market where I tried many wines. In this post I shall tell you some chatty stuff about World Travel Market but also where to try wines on tours around the world.

Like so many exhibitions, at WTM you are offered wines and spirits, totally unsuitable for visitors who have to walk around stand all day, walk home up and down stairs not he London underground or tube, and keep their wits about them for negotiating. I would like to suggest to organisers a rule that before 6 pm your stand can serve only wines up to 4 per cent alcohol, which would mean beer and the wine I have recently discovered, Lambrusco, 4 per cent.

My other favourite quotation is about Champagne. 'In victory you deserve it, in defeat you need it.' Napoleon. I tried a lot of wines at World Travel Market in Excel in London. I didn't like any of them. (Which is funny because last year and the year before I had some delicious wines from central Europe, the new tourist countries, like Croatia and Serbia.)

COFFEE
My fondest memory is of being able to revive my energy with the Greek coffee on the Greek stand. (Of course a similar coffee was on the nearby Turkish stand called Turkish coffee.)

WINE EXPERT VIEW ON cool northern and southern regions
I wanted to try new wines at the World Travel Market. From which countries and regions? Back home and on the phone I keep consulting my family wine expert (who achieved level 3 of the Wine and Spirit Education Trust exams - from Jan 1st the letters will change from AIWS associate of the institute of wine and spirits - it will be changed) to something people at first will not know and recognise. My home expert is now doing exams in level 4 - two exams were yesterday in the middle of the World Travel Market. )

 I have only done level one which was 20 hours of studying from the manual and a six hour day of demos, slides and tastings). I was thrilled to bits (excuse the cliche it's too early in the morning to invent new metaphors) to find my exam was an NVQ.  About half the people on my course were in the wine trade already, either as sommeliers or trainees in restaurants or hoping to go into the business or working in wine shops, retail wholesale or marketing.

At home my tame wine expert says you are more likely to find the best wines at a wine fair for experts. However, for relative novices like me World Travel Market is a good introduction to new wines and products from around the world. Especially as I want to see what is offered to the tourist in terms of winery tours.

What did I leave until last ? Places I already know and have visited: Champagne in France (I wrote an article for Take Break magazine, a lovely double page spread. Their house style was to start with a quotation and end with three tips. That's a great style for any travel article.)

In north the west London a recently opened restaurant and bar is called Pizza and Prosecco.

PROSECCO
I went to the Italian stand and had a long chat with a lady from the Prosecco region. I asked which wineries offered tastings. She looked puzzled and told me they all do. She found me a route from Heathrow to Italy on a budget airline (every stand I visited to my amazement it was the same story. The first place mentioned was not the capital city and the national airline but the regional airport and one of the budget airlines - even when the destination was a five star hotel.) So good news for travellers. Spend less on the airfare and more to spare for the hotel, restaurant and tours.

What did I miss?
 I wanted to see Lambrusco. It comes from the north  of Italy where whether is cooler, just as Champagne is from the north of France. Tasmania off Australia is also a slightly cooler region which has a wine industry. Rich tropical wines don't make good sparklers. You need crisp acidic white wine.

Americans have devised a formula for the number of days of sun you need. The EU also has six or seven zones based on another formula, and rules on how much sugar you add in the north or in the south the acid . I know it sounds like something you can't drink. But it is tartaric acid equivalent, the domestic version is cream of tartar, the second most common acidic M a l i c which you find in apples. (The one in lemons is c i t r i c  a c i d.)

Wine tours and shops
I have already done extensive tours including wineries of the USA and Canada, France and Europe, Cyprus, South Africa and New Zealand. If you want supermarket size shops selling everything thing for those who drink wine or don't, the place is California north of San Francisco where one year my family drove for a day or two visiting winery after winery. In Europe for Champagne the big tours of the cellars are in Rheims and so popular you often need to book tours.

In South Africa and Australia wineries are all countryside and more natural and family run and tours  and tastings and souvenirs are hit and miss. Restaurants at vineyards where you might see a souvenir or buy a bottle. Not the huge tourist attractions with crowded supermarkets.

Spain - Rioja, has a wine museum out of the main town of Haro but on the wine trail, and it has an excellent restaurant, a big tour, a huge supermarket with everything from books and cards and tee towels and aprons and ear rings and table mats and coasters and so on, decorated with bunches of grapes, and bottle openers and more. Everything you need for yourself as a souvenir or an amusing yet useful gift for the people next door who while you are travelling will water your plants and reliably feed your cat, drag out the dustbins and answer the post and or the house sitters who say boo to burglars.

Another great place for wine tours is Malta.

Plus of course England where the big place with the supermarket and restaurant and outdoor tour (in season) and indoor tour is Denbies. (I have several previous posts on wine tours.)

In London the food and drink business is really humming. You can enjoy wine tastings at many restaurants in central London and around the country.Wine shops have Enoteca machines offering small tastings for £1 or more or free with a card you stick in a slot in a machine displaying half a dozen wines.Why don't the wine regions have Enoteca machines at the World Travel Market!

Next year World Travel Market will be at Excel November Monday 7th to Wednesday 9th 2016 at ExCel in East London on the DLR (Docklands Light Railway). Please follow my posts and like my pages and follow me on Facebook or link to me on LinkedIn.

Angela Lansbury, freelance travel writer and photographer.

Waterside Restaurants and Waterfall Hotels

For a romantic meal, a romantic holiday or a scenic photograph or selfie, look for waterfalls with nearby restaurants or bridges and hotels which are waterside, lakeside, seaside, have outdoor waterfall, indoor waterfalls, or are near waterfalls where you can take a day trip. Here is a list of my favourites in the UK, USA, Malts, Singapore and more. Plus tips on how to find and photograph waterfalls.

I have fond memories of:

Waterfall hotels in Singapore:
Hyatt Hotel, Scots Road Singapore. Waterfall into pool, accessible to residents and if you book a table for food and drink at the poolside bar
Shangri-la Hotel, Singapore.

If you don't find a hotel or free spot by a waterfall, invest in a day trip to the indoor gardens with the huge waterfall - a half day trip. Gardens By the Bay, Singapore.

Wedding Photos in Singapore/Malaysia Brides often take a trip to a waterfall in Singapore or Malaysia, dressed in bridal gear. The photo can be blown up to life size as a welcome sign at the door of the wedding reception venue. Afterwards the picture can be made into a poster of framed, or made into a mock oil painting with a canvas effect and framed. Other uses of your picture are wallpaper or a photo over your bed at home.

Philippines:
Shangri-La, Manila.
Peninsular Manila had waterfall but it was turned off last time we went there.

Waterfall hotels in the UK:
Fishguard Bay Hotel, (by Goodwick and Fishguard station), Wales. Restaurant with best views from tables for two or six seats by window. (Others tables with part view, or no view, against wall or obscured by pillar!).

Malta:
Grand Hotel Excelsior with outdoor pool (seasonal).  Indoor pool. Tiny beach, might be viewable but accessible only at certain times, not when I was there.

Waterfall hotels in the USA: (Being researched - updated later.)

Reasons For Closing Pools
When using pools or waterfalls for a holiday swim or just a photo, check before booking that the pool will be open in the dates you are visiting. Get the reply in writing and make it clear if your booking depends on this (i.e. a refund or free drink as compensation will not do).

Ski, Gym and Swim
Years ago we stayed at a Best Western hotel at a ski resort in the USA. We'd booked the hotel because of the pool so the non-skiers in the group would have an alternative entertainment and exercise and meeting place. The pool was shut with access blocked by a huge roll of flooring. We were offered a free drink as compensation. This did not make up for the embarrassment as we had booked for ourselves and friends as we had boasted about our hotel and planned to invite them to our hotel and show off.

Nor did it cover the wasted weekend for some of us. The hotel was getting renovated elsewhere. When we sent pictures to head office, the organisers were horrified and we got a full refund. I could have saved my family, the hotel, and the umbrella organisation embarrassment, and money, if I had made a phone call and follow up email confirming that the pool was open during the whole of our stay.

If you are at a ski resort or on business and want to use the pool, poolside bar, or waterside restaurant, in the evening and weekends, check the opening times. Especially if your flight arrives late in the day and you want dinner on Sunday evening in the waterside restaurant with the view.

Malta
In Malta the riverside restaurant's buffet had closed and last orders were taken and chef gone home after we had checked into the room, got our luggage, showered and changed. We had to have bar food with no view instead. We got the big restaurant with the view next day at breakfast time.
On the smaller island of Gozo which we visited by ferry for the day, we found a restaurant serving lunch overlooking the pool with a waterfall near a public beach. We had lunch elsewhere at a grander hotel with views over the swimming pool.

Droughts and Water Restrictions
What else could interfere with your view of water? Drought and flooding. Rarely the waterfall reduces to a trickle.

Water can be turned off because of restrictions on water usage in high summer in a country or city drought. More local problems include hotel renovations, or pool cleaning. The pool may be drained for cleaning, or to stop people falling in, or covered to stop autumn leaves, in the off-season.

Pools are also shut in cold weather (perhaps because of the lack of heating, or cost of heating water). Or lack of demand. And dismissal of lifeguards required in some US states - when we lived in Maryland, USA, by insurance.

Late Night Pools
Outdoor pools can also be a source of noise at night from official parties or revellers. Or they could close at 5 pm, 6 pm or 8 pm, when the door through the leisure centre where towers are provided is locked at night.

Closed Pools
I have found the outdoor pool inaccessible off-season in Malta (although the indoor pool was available).

Securing Views
Free seating (Fishguard Bay Hotel, Wales, on Writers' Holiday every July) means you have to arrive early to bag a table with the best view. A little research and the romantic retreat can be yours.

Angela Lansbury, BA Honours, travel writer and photographer, author, speaker.

Wine & Food of Malta and Gozo

Malta

Maltese wine is not well known elsewhere so trying Maltese wine is one of the pleasures of a trip to Malta, as well as sampling Maltese cuisine.

We had our first taste of Maltese wine on the evening of our arrival, in the bar of the Grand Excelsior Hotel.

Restaurants
Then we paired wine with food at the Legligin restaurant. The restaurant name means glug-glug.

During the day we passed it and we booked dinner in the evening, and came back to try the tasting menu including fish, Malta being an island, and rabbit, which is a local speciality.

I suggest you splash some cash on the truffles, as we did, three per person, absolutely wonderful.

After eating here I went back next day to meet the owner, Chris.

We had researched the wineries on Malta before going there and had received a reply and invitation to call from the Marsovin winery in Valletta, the capital of Malta.

Malta
The Winery, Wills Street, Marsa, Malta.
Marsvin.com
In the entrance you see the old cart which was pulled by a horse and used to deliver wine to customers in the old days.
Upstairs in the tasting room you see the artwork used for the bottle labels - commissioned from local artists, different each year.
Excellent tour of the 400 year old cellars below, years ago used by the Knights of St John. You learn about the grapes, the wine development and the bottling and corks.
Up the spiral staircase - to finish with the wine tasting. In addition to the wines you get a few snacks such as cheese.
 The tour and tasting costs about 10 Euros. Prices are different if you do this tour as part of a package with a coach pick up.

Gozo
Ta'Mean Estate, Gozo
On the main road from Victoria to Marsalforn Bay.
www.tamena-gozo.com

What are you interested in? Red wine? White wine? Tomato jam?

The owner is friendly and so keen to tell you about his wine business. Outside the bleating goat and trotting peacock are trying to get attention.

Their leaflet says, 'Every Saturday, weather permitting, we do a tour of the estate followed by a wine and traditional food tasting session. Pre-booking is recommended.'

Airport - Last Chance!
At the airport we had a last chance to look at the wine, now with greater knowledge, recognising the grape varieties and wine makers. We did not want any more wine, having already bought enough, not just the cost but the weight, both carrying it and not being overweight with luggage restrictions on Ryanair. However, how could we resist the tempting bottles.

Emmanuel Delicata Winemaker

The red bottle has the red wine and the white bottle has the white wine. These wines are not too alcoholic, only 11.5% for the white and 12.5% for the red, so you can drink more of the white without getting too tipsy. As the back of the bottle tells you the wine is produced and bottled for the Nuance Group by Emmanuel Delicata winemaker at the Winery on the Waterfront at Paolo. 

I thought the red and white bottles were rather jolly, to display when talking about my travels or Maltese wine to a group such as Toastmasters International Speakers clubs. Afterwards when the wine has been drunk, you have a rather jolly pair of bottles to display or use as flower vases.

Wine Festivals
EVENTS
Wine Festivals are held every year on both Malta and Gozo.
Marsovin summer wine festival.
The Marsovin tour guide told us they hold a wine festival in the second week in July with wine, pop up restaurants or food stalls, Maltese food, pasta, sushi, and entertainers, four or five bands, from 7 pm until sunset, in a public garden in Valletta. Contact them if you are interested. You can see pictures of the last event on their website.
....................................
Aug 6-9 2015, 7 pm to midnight
Upper Barrakka Gardens, Valletta, Malta.
Buy a souvenir glass and wristband and get tastings.
Maltese grapes are Girgentina and Gezlewza.

More details from delicate.com/nadur-gozo-2015
Local food specialities likely to be available include fried rabbit.
www.visitmalta.com

trabuxu wine bar, 1 Strait Street Valletta
www.trabuxu.com.mt
tel 2122 3036.
run bearded Kris Fenech Soler.
Tues-Sat 7.30 til late,
email info@trabuxu.com.mt

Look for the What's on in .January / February / ... December   (whichever month you are visiting) which may contain discount coupons as well as handy maps.

See my post on hotels for restaurants with good food, notably Grand Hotel Excelsior in Valletta, Malta, and on the smaller island of Gozo, The Kempinsky Hotel.

I've seen advertisements for but not yet tried:
De Robertis Rooftop Restaurant, entrance through Castille Hotel, Castille Square, Valletta, Malta.
Tel:21243678, 21220173.
www.hotelcastillemalta.com
email: info@hotelcastillemalta.com
Highest point in Valletta. Near Upper Barrakka Gardens. In February their advertisement offered a free bottle of local wine for 2 persons booking lunch or dinner on presentation of the advertisement.

Malta and Gozo - My Trip and Future Plans

Malta is the European capital of Culture in 2018 and many areas are being refurbished with signs saying that the projects are jointly funded by local sponsors and the European Union. How do you get there from the UK?

Flying to Malta
Stansted airport has a short term car park beside the terminal or you can take a shuttle bus to the long-term car park. My family found you did less walking and dragging luggage by taking the shuttle bus, rather than walking to the far end of the short-term car park. Also the short term car park is so expensive that a few hours delay bumps up your parking charge which is by the hour.

Flight on Ryanair.
The flight of just over three hours went quickly. Seats, three across, were very squashed. More room sitting in the toilet! But we slept on the journey out. Great price flights for a last minute bargain break long weekend.

We had our own healthy salad. Cheese and biscuits, two small crackers and only one small morsel of cheese in foil seemed poor value . It would be cheaper to buy one of those circular boxes of processed cream cheese which gives you about six small portions. Also invest in a pack of crackers. Olives were good value, several for each of two of us.

Let's Go magazine has travel articles and food and drink and gift illustrations and prices. The small bottle of Prosecco at 6.50 Euros seemed fun. The gifts included lip balms tasting of Coca Cola, six of them for 13 Euros. The biggest delay was queuing to collect our hire car.

Malta - Introduction
Once we arrived it was delightfully easy. The two main languages are English and Maltese, which is an Arabic base with words from Italy and other countries. The religion is Roman Catholic, with many statues of madonnas and saints on the outsides of buildings and numerous churches and cathedrals and chapels. The only word I learned or needed was Triq which means street. Once you've worked out that San is saint, Triq San Anna is Saint Anne's Street. Foreign words are most the same, just spelled funny. The Maltese ones are all translated by your maps and guide books. A tourist office in the airport has lots of brochures. Hotels also have leaflets.

Population 400,000 approx.
Size - small, 316 square kilometres.
Weather: www.maltaweather.com

Saturday Flight Stansted-Malta on Ryanair
Hertz hire car from airport, an automatic which are apparently less in demand than manual cars. Very good value, about £10 a day, but more if you buy insurance.
Excelsior Grand Hotel Room overlooking front garden, lovely. (Sea view cost extra but you can see that from the hotel's rooms downstairs.)
Snack supper of cheese plate in bar with live music.

Photo by Angela Sharot from Valletta's Great Siege road looking over to the three cities which have two harbours between them, one for the cruise ships.

Sunday
First view of the yellow historic UNESCO heritage city by daylight. Walked around Grand Excelsior hotel, whose outdoor pool was shut, as was the tiny beach, the only one in Valletta and looked at the harbours opposite.
Breakfast in the hotel with great view of the harbours and cruise ships.

Walked along Great Siege Road, where a plaque tells you about the Great Siege of 1565, past impressive bastions, overlooking the three cities.
Saw statue of Vallette who defended the fortress and said the Turks would come back. He built a wall big enough to protect thousands of people. The city was named in his honour.
around Valletta.
We swam in the Excelsior Grand hotel indoor pool.
Dinner in Valletta at the Legligin (meaning glug-glug) restaurant.

Monday
MALTA - main island - Drove through St Julian's.
Over-developed skyscraper seaside.

GOZO - island of Calypso, where Ulysses delayed, according to Greek legend.
Ferry
to Gozo. Very simple. Just drive on. No ticket needed. Like driving into Wales over the Severn bridge, going there is free - you pay on the way back. Passed the midway island of Comino which has a blue bay, and side trips.

Gozo Sights:
1 Capital city Victoria, small, originally called Rabat but renamed for Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee in 1897. Everything was closed on an off-season lunchtime Monday last February.
2 Lunch at the wonderful elegant hotel Kempinski.
3 Drove to Azure window, a see-through arch out over the sea (a picture you see at the airport , the tourist office, restaurants and many places), and another arched cave in a cliff face above a blue pool, overlooked by the clifftop opposite where a cafe/lunch place offers a great view.
4 Craft village. Watch the crafts people at work.
5 Winery shop.
6 Ferry back - you pay on the way back - confusing slip roads, this one for the ferry, no that's for lorries, take the other one for cars, but, oops, the third one to buy tickets. The ferry heaved and rocked sideways a lot so I sat in the middle. Before we had time for a drink it was time to land. First I looked out of the window to see Comino as we passed, uninhabited except for a hotel and tourists there for the day, so no major building, then I looked around the handy shop. I bought two Guidebooks, one on Malta, one on Gozo.

Valletta, capital of Malta.
Monday night we drove back into narrow Strait Street to see Chris at the glut-glug restaurant.
Evening meal in Excelsior Grand hotel, which has buffet starters and desserts. You order your main course from the a la carte menu.

Tuesday
Winery tour. Wines include Franc named after founder.
Back to our hotel for our luggage where I bought from the hotel shop the magnetic notepad holder we'd had in the bedroom.
Drove to the Three Cities.
Mdina, hilltop 'silent city, used to be the capital until Valletta was built. Outside the walls is a cafe with view over the plain.
Mosta Dome Rotunda interior with magnificent exterior, interior, and replica of the bomb which nearly destroyed it in WWII (see separate post). Cake shop.

Rabat - another tiny town where you drive into the tiny central square, look for a parking place take the road out and in twenty minutes, unless you've stopped at the main attraction, connected here with St Paul, you've driven around the place three times. 

For us the main attraction is the small Parruccan confectionary kiosk, Publius Cutajar Parruccan Confectionary where a jolly man beckons you to the kiosk and offers you a free taste of something, nuts and sugar, okay.  If you don't immediately buy he offers you another . Then another, answers all your questions, his late father started the business. He lets you try the home made traditional confectionary he makes, including macaroons with Gozitan bitter almonds, Maltese honey rings, nougat, dried figs and orange marmalade in fruit tarts. Some of them are quite dry but my family loved them. The owner is smiling and chatty. 

Bought red and white bottles of Maltese wine from duty free shop:
The Winery on the Waterfront
Paola
Malta
www.delicata.com

***********************
My next trip:
WHAT to see in Malta
Valletta
Malta 5D show with shaking seats, water spray and scents.
Mdina Dungeons Museum. Looks gruesome. www.dungeonsmalta.com 10 am-4pm
St Paul's Catacombs, Rabat.
Marine world Malta national Aquarium complex in Qawra, has La Nave Bistrot and cafe del Mar.
Siggiewi - limestone heritage, in a quarry, diorama museum and 30 ft waterfall.

WHAT to see on GOZO
Megalithic monument - two Gjantija Temples, buy ticket.
Windmill.

COMINO
Blue Bay.
Second optional excursion to a cave.

TOUR OPTIONS
Hire a car from the airport.
Get collected by your hotel's car and then travel by chauffeur driven car tours; hotel Transport office direct line(00356) 2319 2229. or within the hotel extension 2229..
Take local buses.
Open top bus hop on hop off (see Tripadvisor).
Captain Morgan Cruises. www.captainmorgan.com.mt
Jeep Safari.
Underwater Safari.
Dragonara Casino. wptdeepstacks.com
dragonaracasino.com

EVENTS
Malta Wine Festivals are held every year
....................................
Aug 6-9 2015, 7 pm to midnight
Upper Barrakka Gardens, Valletta
Buy a souvenir glass and wristband and get tastings.
Maltese grapes are Girgentina and Gezlewza.
details from delicate.com/nadur-gozo-2015
Local specialities likely to be available include fried rabbit.
www.visitmalta.com
Marsovin summer wine festival.

Malta is only 93 km South of Sicily and tours go to Sicily.
Media photos from viewingmalta.com

A Grand Hotel - Grand Food to go - or is take away a no-no?

We loved the Excelsior Grand Hotel in Valletta, Malta. It has great views and great food.

Just so you know I tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, I'll tell you the minus points, as politely as I can.

What's it not got?
Hard to get food to take away.

In my experience you will have to order breakfast and dinner in the bedroom if you want to eat the minimum and save the leftovers for later, or graze (eat small amounts every two hours instead of every four).

In the evening I had to leave behind my crumble from the buffet. I was saving it until last. My family threw a fit at the amount I was eating, or proposing to eat.

I conceded that I would have it wrapped up and have it for a midnight snack, or later, then share it. However this was not to be. It was only with rest difficulty that we got the leftover meat to go.

We had trouble persuading them that we were staying in the hotel, that we had ordered our main course from the a la carte menu and were therefore entitled to save the leftover meats - which they eventually allowed us to wrap in silver foil.

I know lots of buffets make a fuss. But every restaurant and every hotel in the USA offers to wrap up food to go.

As for the argument 'but we don't know what you will do with it', neither do all the pizza parlours, hamburger joints, Costa Coffee Bars, Marks and Spencers and Waitrose food to go sections, salad bars in Morrisons.

If they want you to take less food, make the potions smaller, spoon size, instead of huge slices nobody could finish. Let everybody try one of each. They will come back. Next time they will take only the item they liked.

I once asked a hotelier in Spain how they made a profit on buffets. He said that if people are staying for a week, the first day they pile their plates high with everything, next day take what they want, by the end of the trip are bored and over-fed and eat minimal amounts. The big eaters are balanced by the girls who eat only a lettuce leaf. What you lose on the food, you gain on not paying waiting staff.

Do they want you to be complaining for days and years afterward? Or praising their food, re-living it, sharing it, sending others to try it.

The Hilton's Super Wrap-up Service
My anniversary dinner at the Souffle restaurant in the Hilton in London years ago served a huge steak, too much to eat, plus large desserts. Not only were they willing and able to wrap up our food, they did so with style. The chef turned the silver foil into a bird, with a swan neck, head and twisted beak, and elongated forked tail, so that we felt not like criminals, but honoured guests with a prize.

Leftovers wrapped up by grand hotels. Charging high prices. Wanting repeat business from customers. And goodwill and good reviews. It can be done on Malta, too. The Kempinsky hotel on Gozo gladly gave us a container for our leftovers.

I still dream of the dessert I never ate at the Excelsior Grand Hotel.

For the Phoenicia Hotel in Valletta see my next post.

Rabbit and wine and a multi-course meal at Legligin Restaurant, Valletta, Malta

Legligin means glug-glug. (That should stay as g l u g but either my typo or spell check keeps changing it to glut, which is rather amusing as you might say this is a restaurant for gluttons or gourmets. I think it must be a typo because my headline turned multi-course meal into multi-curse meal, which was definitely not what I had intended.)  

You will get lots of chances to choose to drink interesting wine to accompany your a multi-course meal at Legligin. As the outside shows you, it's on one of the steep pedestrian or almost pedestrian only narrow sloping streets on Valletta, the capital of Malta. The yellow limestone walls are typical of the entire island.

We scanned through numerous sets of restaurant reviews and found one of the most useful was from England's Daily Telegraph. About a dozen restaurants sounded interesting, offering local food from a proper chef, interesting local wines - and this one was both in Valletta and open on Sunday night.

Here I am with genial owner Chris. Notice the horizontal bottle holes in the wall. This restaurant has great character.

The tasting menu costs EUROS 23.50. Lots of little dishes.

Plus the cost of any drinks you order. They have interesting local wines you won't see anywhere else.

PLUS 5 EUROS for the three truffles - highly recommended.

Legligin Wine Bar and Bistro

119 St Lucia Street, Valletts, Malta

Tel:+356 21221699 =356 79932985

E-mail: legligin@hotmail.com

Angela Lansbury BA Hons, travel writer.

Photograph by Angela Lansbury. Copyright 2015.

Taking a Trip To Malta - Travel, Airport, Airline and Package Options, Passenger Rights

We travelled to Malta booking Ryanair from Stansted, very pleased with the low cost of our Ryanair flight, and the price of rooms at the Excelsior Grand Hotel, a top class hotel with an indoor pool in the capital, Valletta.

However, views differ. Our neighbours who have a timeshare and have often flown to Malta told us they now preferred to pay just a little extra and go on Air Malta. Our friends said they preferred Air Malta which provided wider seats, from another nearer airport.

But with a timeshare, their accommodation cost was already taken care of. They were just looking at the cost and convenience of flights. Their timeshare was in an all-jumping resort complex, far away from other places, except for a taxi ride to a small town with an authentic rabbit stew restaurant. We were quite satisfied with Ryanair.

What other options are there? What if you want a complete package, trips to pre-historic monuments, underground caves, museums, numerous cities, all organised for you?

I have a travel brochure from the UK's Sunday Times. (I mention UK because Singapore also has a Sunday Times.)

The travel brochure title is European and Worldwide Escorted Tours. Having just returned from Malta, I was interested to see what was included. Prices for 8 days from £819 per person (sharing) at Golden Tulip hotel Vivaldi in St Julians, more for another hotel. The cheaper hotel has a restaurant and two pools. You can fly on Air Malta from Heathrow or Gatwick.

St Julians is a waterfront resort. If you are taken around it doesn't matter where you are because the island is only about half an hour 's drive across. (Although this extending to an hour's drive in peak hours depending on traffic and road works diversions, especially with detours on narrow lanes blocked by coaches, delivery vehicles, cranes outside building works, you name it.)

We chose to stay in the capital, within walking distance of the centre which we walked around on Sunday. We could not take more than four days and flew with Ryanair from Stansted and stayed in Valletta the capital, a city holiday rather than a resort-based holiday. The advantage of the escorted tour is that you see much more, as well as having company.
timyriviera.co.uk

Air Passenger Rights
ec.europa.eu/passenger-rights

Angela Lansbury BA Hons, travel writer and photographer.