Luton Airport

We left home at about 9 in the morning and  had a good run the the Purple Parking parking area and were soon on a bus to the airport. Unfortunately we couldn’t check our bag in until 3 hours before our flight and so get to the departure side for some lunch, however once our flight check in opened it was very smooth and efficient with several Ryan Air desks open. The only queue we had was for security, I think I would pay the £4 next time for fast track. Once through boarder control we found a very nice Italian restaurant to eat at and the food was lovely. 
Needless to say our flight was delayed for an hour and that would of course knock on. One couple got pulled up for oversize cabin bags and had to pay for them to go in the hold. We boarded and found our seats, in one way we were very lucky beside the emergency exit so plenty of leg room but no window and our under seat bags had to go in the overhead locker. The Captain put the seat belt sign on a couple of times for turbulence, but it was nothing to really bother anyone, just a slight shaking,

 

COMMING HOME

WE hadn’t paid extra to book seats with Ryan Air so it was pot luck what we got, this time row three, but Diana had an Isle seat one side and I had a centre seat the other side, The lady I was due to sit beside immediately offered to swap with Diana so we could sit together, now the strange bit, the window seat was vacant so Ryan Air could have given us adjoining seats anyway. Again this row, as there is only row 2 ahead of us had good leg room.
As we were again late getting away it was quarter to one in the morning when we landed and a very short walk to the arrival hall, my heart sank, there were huge queues at all the Boarder control kiosks, but we were directed to the automatic passport control and were through in minutes, long before the baggage arrived. Overall we were quite impressed with Luton Airport.

Outside to bus stand E and wait for our bus, the wait was longer than I expected and the weather, although I now had an extra shirt and fleece felt very wintery. When the bus arrived we all packed on and returned via the back streets, a much longer route to the carpark, it also involved passing through a police incident. The carpark is fully automated, scan your receipt and a little cupboard opens with your key in it which has a label to tell you where the car is and another bar code to open the barrier at the carpark exit.
From here we made our way to the Premier Inn and it soon became clear why the busses were slow, this time more police and a multi vehicle accident on there normal route, It was 2am when we got to the hotel for a good nights sleep and drive home fresh in the morning.

 

 

 

 

Gozo click HERE

Valletta Click Here

Mdina Rabat Sightseeing Click HERE

Rabat, Mosta and Mdina +sightseeing

We did lots of sight seeing both under our own steam and organised events. We visited Mosta on a couple of occasions, once for an organised evening dinner, not something I was looking forward to as sometimes these events can be a bit naff, but this evening went very well indeed.

We also visited Mosta on one of the excursions which included going into the Rotunda. This was hit with a 500lbs bomb in the second world war, during mass, which penetrated to roof and landed on the floor but failed to explode. The replaced tiles in the ceiling are still visible today a slightly different colour.

While we there they were preparing the statues of the risen Christ  to be carried through the town on long shafts on Easter Sunday , depending on the size of the statue  the number of men carrying it on their shoulders  would be between 4 and 10

When we went independently we had lunch by the Rotunda and workmen were busy erecting illuminated crosses ready for Easter . There are two clocks on the front of the Rotunda, one standard and the other a calendar.

From here our included excursion took us to Rabat where we visited St Pauls Grotto below the Church of St Publius, which is said to be the birthplace of Christianity in Malta. It is also said that St Paul used the Agape Tables for religious ceremonies  During World War II the catacombs were extended into air raid shelters as Malta was very heavily bombed and held under siege almost starving the population. 

	Church of St Publius

We had bit of a walk around the town and lunch, which in our case was a very good freshly baked pizza eaten while sitting on a low wall watching the lizards. One thing I have never seen before is a Foundlings Wheel where a mother would ring the bell, the wheel in the wall would rotate to open the door so that a new born baby could be placed inside, the wheel was then rotated and the baby removed for the other side to be cared for, never to knowingly see its mother again. The statue is one of several on Malta by Anton Agius

Our travels continued on to The Mdina. This sits on the highest part of the island and was once the capitol for its defences.  The views from its wall are quite spectacular and on a clear day you can see to the coast . Note the twin clocks again in the bell towers, very common in Malta.