Malta Days Four and Five

Had a lovely few relaxing days on the island of Comino.

Most people in the hotel (a surprising number of Russian children amongst them) were staying on an all-inclusive basis, and I had to stay half-board, which meant breakfast and dinner were included. The food was pretty terrible and the entertainment every night pretty cheesy, but the surroundings were lovely. The hotel had its own pool and a couple of private beaches. There were also water sports you could do - hiring yachts, wind surfers etc.

But the highlight was the ten minute walk around to the famous Blue Lagoon which was one of the most beautiful places I've seen - especially after 4pm when the day-trippers had gone and the residents had the place mostly to ourselves! The water in the lagoon is absolutely turquoise and just stunning - a few fish swimming around and I even saw an octopus one day!

The other benefit of only going to the lagoon in the early morning and late afternoon was that it was much cooler. The heat was intense and at the lagoon especially there was no shade from the sun, apart from hiring a sun umbrella.

Spent quite a bit of time on Comino reading and catching up on new music on my iPod. Really enjoyed the new books by Nick Hornby (A Long Way Down) and Ian McEwan (Saturday), both of which gave different views of London life. Saturday is set on the day of the big Anti War march in February 2003, a day which many people, myself included, remember vividly. So this was quite an interesting concept, showing what happened to one man on that day.