To the Black Sea - Valletta Page

Dull at first & a sail-in in the dark, as we had an early slot on the pilot station. We went on a coach to Mdina, the old capital now part of Rabat, about the only Malta tour we have not done. Go to Mdina on this link. We took the coach back to Valletta at 12:40. Avis stayed on the coach & I got off by the triton fountain, to take photos I had not already got & caught up with a black woman with a stick from the ship in a parallel street to Main Street. They still have not finished mucking about with the entrance by the fountain. I walked up to Main Street & Merchants Street, finding an ATM & ending up at the Upper Barrakka Gardens, walking down the lift. The temperature was 27-28°C for much of the day, although a gentle breeze helped in Mdina. Not in Valletta, though.

Sunday 16th October 2016 At sea

Sea day with a port talk on Sochi, where, as usual in Russia, we can’t do much apart from the tour. Walked the deck & read, sneaking a listen to Maiko rehearsing. After lunch, I edited the Valletta photos except the sail-away. The Maiko photo turned up & I gave it to Anthony, who put it on the piano in the evening. Keith Muras gave a talk about the South African atom bombs & asked if any of us ‘used to’ go on demos with banners & I piped up, “Still do”, capping it with what we did on the 1964 Aldermaston March, to a small amount of cheering! I asked him to speak to our U3A. He agreed & we exchanged cards. We later got into a discussion group of obvious Bremainers. It was formal tonight. Maiko’s concert was the Neptune Lounge show & went well. I got thanked after for the photo.