As part of the package deal the Essex boy sold us, we had a day on the hop on / hop off bus. We chose to do the northern part of the island tour as Sandra's ex father-in-law, came from a place called Hamrun which was on the north tour line.

Unfortunately the bus did not stop here, it just passed through . So we hopped off at Ta’Qali crafts village. This is a former World War II military aerodrome that was converted into a hand-crafts centre. There were lots of Medina glass & ceramics places, along with lace & jewellery shops.

Of course we spent some money & came away with interesting pieces.

Next stop was Mosta as Sandra wanted to see the church with the unexploded bomb. Mosta is a busy market town & lies in the heart of Malta. It was also our lunch stop, one of the worst meals on the hole trip & overall I found Mosta very underwhelming & we didn’t even see the unexploded bomb!!!

Next was Mdina (not misspelt, that is how the locals spell it). Mdina was just beautiful, it is the old capital & its origins can be traced back to 1500BC.

Its medieval name was Citta’ Nobile, the noble city. It has impressive palaces that line the narrow &

Mdina is considered one of Europe’s finest examples of an ancient walled city & extraordinary with its mix of Medieval & Baroque architecture . Unfortunately we had very little time here as we had spent so much at the other stops. We caught the last bus which continued around the north end of the island through Mgarr, a typical rural village surrounded by rich farmland, past the Golden Bay &with its long sandy beaches & St Paul’s Bay which has a quaint little fishing harbour. It also has the oldest standing watchtower from the period of the Knights of St John & St Paul’s shipwreck chapel, a revered spot here the locals lit a fire to warm & welcome St Paul after his unforseen arrival on the island.

As it was now getting late & we had an early flight the next morning we decided to hop off at St Julian’s for a farewell to Malta dinner on the waters edge.