For a long time, I’ve been too scared to fly. But when my parents offered to take us on a family holiday I put aside my fear and went for it. I chose a destination that interests me, Malta.

The worse part for me was take off, but then I was surprisingly relaxed and even enjoyed the view.

Views from our hotel -DB Seabanks.

The hotel was clean and cool, and the all inclusive food was excellent with plenty of opportunities to be more adventurous with food choices. The staff were friendly, and it was a great location for the beach / sea just across the road.

  Trip to the Blue Grotto

This cool looking rock shelter

A look at the Maltese wildlife and fauna

Bee in a cactus flower

Lovely lizard

Biggest cricket I’ve ever seen

I didn’t spot much in the way of wildlife or fauna. Malta is a very hot and dry country. We were told it hadn’t rain for a while and even some of the cacti looked in need of a drink. Along the roads there were lots of beautiful shrubs / trees with vivid pink flowers, but I didn’t get to find out what they were.

A day trip to Gozo

We enjoyed a boat trip around the Azure window (apparently it’s been made famous by the Game of Thrones series, which gives me the perfect excuse to re-watch it for a glimpse of the amazing natural phenomena.) I wish there had been more time to get some shots from land as well.

Gozo was gearing up for its Fiesta celebrations

The Cittadel and the view from the highest point in Gozo

A view of the island of Camino and the Blue Lagoon.

The main reason I chose Malta / Gozo was its history and the architecture.

From the small, every day buildings…

To the magnificent churches like Ta-Pinu.

I’ll finish with some shots of other buildings seen from afar.

I hope you’ve enjoyed my brief tour of Malta and Gozo. There is so much more to see, maybe I’ll be lucky enough to go back one day.

Note – Photos taken on my Sony Xperia camera phone and faithful old Lumix (some picture quality is poor due to being taken through coach windows).

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I’d like to dedicate this post to my parents and take the opportunity to thank them for taking us away with them. They’ve helped me get over my fear of flying, and now I know there is a whole world out there waiting to be explored.