Photographs Open Doors Into the Past ... Which Reminds Me ....

I'm really not sure why my mind went back to this ... but it did and I'm glad it did because I would have hated not to tell you about this fabulous place.

Marsascala (or Marsaskala)

Actually whilst in Malta for 5 days, we kind of wanted to see as much as we could but what we thought would be the most interesting.

So on day 4 we did a touristy thing and got out the guide book. We liked the sound of this....

'Marsascala is an ancient fishing village in Malta, with a picturesque bay, located in the southeast corner of the island'.

And that's where we ended up!

A walk to the headland

It was a beautiful sunny day so we found somewhere to park the car and went for a walk along the promenade. 

 and looking across the water it looked so pretty.

this is such a beautiful place.  Once we had walked to the headland, we would just have to get over to the other side for a little light refreshment.  Of course, we always have to sample the local food and drink!  More later.

We stood for a while and watched the locals fishing.  It seems to be just a normal everyday thing to do here.

Ah yes, and that brings me to the ....

Salt Pans: 

As you look down from the promenade to the shore you will see the beautiful saltpan system.  It is still being used today.

A little history for you

According to remains found in the area, Marsascala was inhabited thousands of years ago.  Roman baths as well as Christian catacombs found kind of suggest that it was once a Roman port.

New houses

Apparently, Marsascala is very popular with the Maltese and many of them have holiday homes here.  This is evident from some of the newbuilds.

And this property certainly wouldn't be out of place in Sandbanks in the UK.

And here right on the edge a surprise indeed.

As we walk further around the headland we got the surprise of our life and spent ages just taking it all in.

Eeek ..... spooky.

On closer encounter we find it's a derelict hotel.  What a shame.

Lots of graffiti, which actually is incredible considering the size of it .... and how on earth do they do it?

On returning to the Hotel we did a little online research on the iPad and found some information on Wikapedia.

Abandoned Jerma Palace Hotel

This had been the largest hotel in the south of Malta.

When it opened it contributed to transforming Marsascala from fishing village to resort.

It closed down in March 2007.  Sold to Jefpet Ltd in 2008 for 18.6million euros. Wow!

In 2009 the Tumas and Gasan Group wanted to transform the hotel but didn't come to fruition.  Then the Montebello brothers planned to turn the former hotel into apartments, yacht marina and 5 Star Hotel.

On 20th August 2016, requested by the Marsaskala Council, an enforcement notice was issued ordering the hotel owners to demolish the building.  On the very same day the building caught fire and was put out by the Civil Protection Department.

I believe the derelict building was sold at auction in October 2016.

The demolition of the dilapidated hotel buildings is to cost around €1.5 million.

Please don't quote me on any of this information, as I say I gleaned it all from online research.

I'm sure there's more to tell on the story of what used to be a beautiful hotel and when we find out you'll be the first to know. :)

Now for some sustenance

After all that excitement, we head back to try the local food ... and drink of course :)

It's still a beautiful day so we should be able to find somewhere to sit outside.

Oh yes, indeed, The Stuffed Olive looks perfect.

To be honest with you, I felt stuffed!  Such fabulous breakfasts always at Corinthia Palace Hotel I really thought I ought to have something light.  So I chose a green salad and Malcolm went for the fish option. Delicious on both counts.  Great food and really friendly staff too.  

Sorry you'll need to use your imagination on this occasion.  No pictures taken.  Think I was still getting over the scary eyes peeping out of that building.

So, yes, indeed, photographs open doors into the past, whether that be yesterday, weeks, or years images are reminders of what used to be.

So until next time Ċaw għalissa - bye for now 😉

Travel Photographers, A Wedding, Prosecco and Not Costa Coffee

I must apologise but I really can't leave Marsaxlokk yet!

There's something I need to tell you ...

There was a wedding on the day we visited Marsaxlokk and we missed it!  Can you believe that?

We were so busy watching the world go by from our perch at the bar....

eating, drinking, chatting and just enjoying our Wedding Anniversary .. (oops did I mention this was our Anniversary trip?)

Wedding photographers ....

can you believe that two photographers who shoot weddings missed seeing a wedding in Malta?

It was all so obvious that a wedding was going to occur ....

and then it was obvious that it had occurred ....

Pink and silver paper wedding confetti gave the game away.

Romance and prosecco ....

How could we be disappointed at missing the romance .... we had our own romance.  

Totally spoiled firstly by my husband for bringing me here and secondly by The Corinthia Palace Hotel & Spa for the very special treatment we were experiencing.  

And little did we know, but we had more prosecco left in our room on our return. 😍

And after all that we deserve a coffee :)

And coffee with a heart.  Ah they must know we are celebrating, probably something to do with the glass of prosecco (or two).

Oh, have you spotted it?  The Costa Coffee bar?  But sorry Costa we didn't get our coffee from you.  We got our coffee from Terrone.

Thanks for visiting ..... see you soon

Rewind Back to our Travels to Malta and The Corinthia Palace Hotel & Spa

So after being swept off our feet by the friendly welcome here, we now leave the comfort of our suite to explore the grounds.

(This is very difficult, just want to curl up in that bed to be honest!)

But the view from the balcony is inviting us outside.

Fountains and floral prettiness 

Outside it is as sophisticated as inside.  Here and there fountains sprinkle the surrounding plants.

Flowers are in bloom and fruits on the trees seem to be inviting us to take photos. 😊

Leaving the UK in November, where there are few flowers in bloom and few leaves on the trees, to see these beautiful flowers and plants was a bonus.

Spa and Poolside

As we roamed around these pretty gardens the pool looked very inviting, even though the late afternoon was getting quite cool. 

Nope we didn't take the plunge, not this time. 😌

Every corner a surprise 

Lots of places to sit and relax, like the Herb Garden.

There seems to be a surprise round every corner.

I definitely liked the look of the Athenaeum Spa.  As this was our first trip to Malta, we had lots to see and do so we put the Spa on the to do list for another time.

Smile please

Oh hang on Malcolm's pointing the camera at me!  Oh no that means I've got to try and pose.  So, try I do!  Apologies.

Those pillars are very grand though aren't they.

Time to change for the evening

Now back to our suite to change ready for our evening meal.  We booked the Rickshaw Restaurant in the Hotel for our first night.

As we're getting ready, there's a knock on the door.

Wow, delicious little canapes!  What a treat.

And just time for a quick photo of the evening lit garden beneath our balcony. 

A gastronomical delight

Wow, oh wow, good choice!  The Rickshaw served us up a feast for sure. Every mouthful an absolute delight.  

Oh dear, as we hadn't really lunched properly because of flight timings, it seemed we rather over ordered.  We were mortified because we couldn't eat it all. 😟 We asked our waitress to apologise profusely to the chef.   

However, the food was so delicious we booked a return visit for the night before our departure.  This time we didn't order as much and managed to eat it all, much to the delight of the waitress and chef too I should think.  

We have mentioned before how the staff are friendly, professional and attentive at The Corinthia Palace Hotel.  Well, there's no change here. The staff are attentive in this Restaurant too.  They make you feel very spoilt.  

We highly recommend The Rickshaw.

We loved it here

So from me on our balcony, where I found myself taking morning tea each day, and Malcolm from the desk he had become quite attached to....

Actually he looks very thoughtful doesn't he?  Do you think he may be working out a way of coming back here soon?

We loved it here ... 

and if you missed our first post you can rewind too by clicking the image below.

We will never tire of rewinding back to this fabulous place, it has wonderful memories for us of a very special Wedding Anniversary.
Thank you to Angela and all the staff who made it so very special..
and yes, we will be back for sure.

And stay with us for our day trips around the island of Malta and the Palace gardens opposite the Hotel.  See you soon.

Shhh... Only Tell Your Best Friends

We had arrived in Malta for the very first time and I was so excited to be here.

A place I had wanted to visit for many years and here we were at last.

We had picked up the hire car and ready to roll!

I want to keep this a secret

I have been so looking forward to telling you about our Hotel, but on the other hand didn't really want to.  That sounds silly I know, but you see this place is very special and we'd like to keep it a secret! 😉

But what would be the point of being Travel Photographers and bloggers if we kept everything a secret?

Get ready to be amazed

Wow, can they read your mind?

We pull up outside the doors of this fabulous building in our 'toy car' 😊

Immediately we are greeted by the Concierge.

I think privately he must have wondered who on earth we were in this tiny little car and maybe thought we'd taken a wrong turn!

Not phased at all, the Concierge bent down to speak to us via the car window (he had to bend double to see in).  We asked where to park. Before we knew it the bags were lifted from the car.

The keys were taken and the car parked.

Wow, can he read minds?  Did he know we'd been up since 3am, had rather a traumatic pick up of hire car and had been bounced around on the roads full of potholes?  Or maybe it was the dark circles under our eyes that gave it away!

We were then whisked into the lobby and handed a welcome drink.

Oh boy I can't tell you just how welcome that drink was.  Ever grateful for that!

If you have flown BA recently you will know they aren't that generous with offers of drinks!  Anyway I won't go into that now because rumour has it that soon we'll have to buy our own lunch and drinks on BA.

Guests relations are 5 star (actually I would say 6 star)

Angela, Guest Relations Manager, came to welcome us.  She mentioned that the restaurants had been informed about my nut and seed allergy (this is not something I like to tell people about,  I hate making a fuss. Needs must if I want to survive any trip without being ill).

I mention it here, as I was incredibly impressed that this had been remembered.  After all, guests must come and go on a daily basis.
To remember the little things relevant to individuals is admirable and requires a mention.

And I'm also going to mention that we could not believe how hard Angela and the team work.  Angela is hands on too!  Truly admirable.

Without further ado the Concierge took us to our suite.

Now you'll have to excuse me because whenever I rewind back to this moment I can only picture myself with my mouth wide open!

This can only be described as tasteful, beautiful, luxury and, dare I say, a little decadence too.  But none of that makes you feel uncomfortable. You feel very at home here.

Fabulous furnishings, thick white robes and towels and lovely little bottles of Espa toiletries.  Very happy with that after having travelled light with only my little bag of essentials.

Oops, not sure I mentioned it was our Wedding Anniversary?

After being shown round the suite, the safe and all important mini bar, the Concierge left us to it.  

It was then that we saw the beautiful flowers, card and book as an Anniversary gift from the Hotel Management and Staff.

What a lovely thoughtful touch and something else remembered by Angela.

Hang on a sec - a knock on the door!  My oh my, bubbly too!

Another quick photo of these beautiful surroundings and, well, I think we'd better drink that bubbly immediately.  It'd be very rude not to and in any case, as I said before, that flight made us very thirsty!

Where's my man?  Open the bottle darling! 😗💕

I'll point out right now, that I am just not going to be able to keep this to one blog!  Far too much to say and so many photographs that have to be shared in order that you get the feel for this amazing place.

In any case I may just have to take a nap.
 
All that bubbly, I now feel totally relaxed.

Stay with us to view the Hotel gardens and our travels around the beautiful island of Malta.

Destination Corinthia Palace Hotel & Spa San Anton Malta

Corinthia Palace Hotel & Spa 
San Anton - quite central and only about 20 minutes from the Malta International Airport
Restaurants in the Hotel are quite popular, so our advice is to book before your trip.

Fasten Your Seat Belts We're Travelling to Malta

An early start for us

Up at 3am to be ready for our pickup from our favourite Airport Travel Company.

Our getaway this trip begins at Gatwick Airport once again.  

We are going on a 5 day trip to Malta for our Wedding Anniversary. 

We are now getting accustomed to travelling light - see our Travel Notepad for some tips - and ready with our correct size bag of liquids this time! 😉

Woo hoo straight through!

However, together with our prompt Airport Chauffeur and clear roads, we were actually at the airport with lots of time to kill!

Never mind after checking in online, we may as well get on with it and go through security checks.

And now we pat ourselves on the back, because we go straight through without a hitch.

Window Seat on plane

Malcolm loves a window seat, consequently I get stuck in the middle of him and .......sometimes good and sometimes not so good on t'other side!

He also loves to tell me exactly what is happening out of the window. 😖 Good job I love him 💕 

Anyway on this occasion I was lucky enough to be sitting between Malcolm and a very interesting chap.  An Antique dealer from London. We passed the time by exchanging Social Networking, photography and photoshop tips.

Hello Nicholas Wells if you're reading this 😊

Bumpy ride

As you know, I'm not keen on flying!  Still if you don't do it you can't get far.  As we're travel photographers and travel bloggers, needs must.

So all's well until we get a little turbulence - eeek.  That does not go down at all well with me.  Just think 'bumpy road' and you'll be ok, I tell myself.

Always glad to be on the ground and onwards to our destination.

Hiring a car in Malta

Our first hurdle to overcome was to pick up the hire car from the Airport.  I say hurdle because actually it did become one.

We arrived at the Avis desk and as the young lady tried to print out our paperwork for the car, her printer ceased to work!  

Oh dear there seems to be a queue building up behind us ... not a good start.
(a few tips when hiring a car at foot of blog)

Albert!

Finally we are given our paperwork, but before I go on I must tell you that everyone was exceedingly patient in the queue behind us and were still smiling as we left!

'Go to see Albert' the lady said and he will show you where the car is. 

After walking across to the other side of the airport, we find Albert and our car, which seems to be the one in the corner blocked in behind rows of cars.  

Keep smiling ..... not tired at all .... have only been up 10 hours - no problem.

Albert says 'she's given you the wrong car'.  At this point I must add that all is very laid back in Malta (until you get on the roads, but that's another story!)

Is that a dent?

Whilst waiting for the keys for the correct hire car, we can't help but notice every car seems to have either dents or scratches!  We are horrified and still trying to keep our sense of humour. 😦

Eventually, we get to know which car we will be driving (I should say that Malcolm will be driving).  It is still a car backed into the corner behind the others.  However, we go round the car with a fine tooth comb marking each and every mark down on the paperwork given to us.

It has to be said that our hire car seemed to be rather less damaged than the others.

Superb SatNav Nokia phone  

Whew!  Finally we are off and suffice it to say you have to have your wits about you on the roads in Malta.  And, shhhh, don't tell him I said it, but Malcolm is actually quite good at that.

However, I'm hopeless at navigation.  Out comes the Nokia phone with its superb satnav.  

20 minutes later we arrive at the Hotel.  Yes I know, it does look rather like a toy car next to Malcolm and he could probably hurdle over it (ah maybe not then) 😉 

And relax........

I can't wait to tell you about the Hotel ...... watch this space ....

A few facts:

• Flight Time from Gatwick to Malta International Airport Approx 3.5hrs
• When hiring a car take out excess insurance before you go.  It's cheaper (that was a tip from my son which I'm glad we took notice of.) 😯
• Remember that the Hire Car Company take details of your credit card and keep them for 14 days after you return the car