We spent nearly 4 weeks in Malta over Christmas, with a variety of happenings from Panto to John Lyons to M&S Christmas Puddings. At only one kilo of weight gained, I thought I got away lightly this Christmas
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| A walk round Naxxar | |||
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| The Christmas Market in Naxxar | |||
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| Dinner at Palazzo Parisio | |||
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| Our Christmas Day at Hilltop | |||
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| Hilltop and John Lyon's visit | |||
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| Dinner at Celini Wine & Dine | |||
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Joined one of Hilltop's "outings" to Christmas Songs from Yesteryear in a back room of the Manoel Theatre in Valletta
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We went into Valletta a number of times. We found the Phoenicia Hotel where we had stayed on our £15 trip to Malta 50 years ago
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| A walk round Valletta | ||||
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| Lunch with Chris & Ann Evans | ||||
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| Lunch with John & Meryl |
Glynis' recommendation of The Corinthian at Attard
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And a walk afterwards in the Melita Gardens. The house and gardens were originally built in the early 17th century as a country villa for Antoine de Paule, a knight of the Order of St. John. It was expanded into a palace following de Paule's election as Grand Master in 1623. The palace was used as a residence by subsequent Grand Masters, being enlarged a number of times in the process. It was the headquarters of the rebel National Assembly during the uprising of 1798–1800, and it later became a residence for the Civil Commissioners, Governors and Governors-General of Malta. It has been the official residence of the President since the office was created in December 1974. The palace is surrounded by the extensive San Anton Gardens, parts of which have been open to the public since 1882. Nice gardens , but Malta is finding difficulty in maintaining them.
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Mdina is always worth a wander. We had lunch in the Medina Restaurant, walked the streets, and quite bizarrely bumped into John Lyons
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Another outing with Hilltop to Aladdin. Years since we have been to a panto (probably about 40) . The venue was very odd , in a tented conference centre near Mdina. Not a good venue, but we did enjoy the Panto. We had not booked early enough to get to the Manoel as it was full. It is remarkable he Malta can fill two theatres twice a day for about 3 weeks - 40 performances with say 800 at each, means over 30,000 people out of the population of 500 went to a panto
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