More pictures and the last of our adventures...

This was our main mode of transportation around the island (when we didn't have our own mini busses to take us to certain tours), and they even have crazy horns they use to communicate with each other! Good times.  

The Maltese busses...crazy looking!

We made it to the last of the main attractions on the island, Mosta, Mdina, and of course Popeye's Village!

Beginning with Mosta, the church that has the third largest dome in the world!  

The outside of the Church in Mosta

The entrance inside, the  detail in the every wall and every painting still amazes me!

The infamous DOME!

Again pictures cannot truly depict the actual size and beauty, but it is all I have.  There was a bomb that hit the dome during a war and did not explode.  This was taken as a sign, they even have a replica of the bomb in the back of the church! 

The bomb!

After Mosta, we went on to Mdina, the silent city.  It is completely walled in like a fort. But inside there are still people that live there, they have cafes and shops and of course the Church of St. Paul. 

The dungeons, where the knights were sentenced and tortured...I heard it was creepy and graphic so I skipped that museum.

The Church of St. Paul in Mdina

Interior of St. Paul's

Another interior shot including the dome

After we got back from visiting Mdina, we went back to Valletta to visit an architectural firm that is redoing the city gates. They gave us a digital tour of the construction project and the history behind city gates.  This was a view of the streets of Valletta, and the hills!

Yikes!

On our last free day, Friday.  A few of of decided to go visit Popeye's Village, where they built the set of the 1980s movie Popeye with Robin Williams.  They actually built the set into this cove because it was all rock and no sand and had no palm trees.  They have kept the blacksmith shop and the post office and all the little pieces of the story line, and even have people dressed up like Popeye and Olive Oil!  Then in the cove they have water trampolines and slides! And while you eat your lunch you can watch the movie!

Here you can see the trampoline and things in the water!

This was the waterfall next to the cove

A view of the Village

The streets of the Village

Popeye's House!

We had a great time, and in the wood shop you could even play GIANT JENGA!!!

We played!

There was also a creepy Christmas Village.  Yes Creepy.  I love Christmas, so me of all people would be the last to call anything Christmas creepy, but this was! But I got my picture taken with the giant snowman anyway.

Me and Frosty!

It was fine on the outside, but when you went inside the creepy elves we working away and the creepy music was skipping and lights were flashing.

That night we all went out to dinner for our last night.  This was the view...

Last night in Malta

The next morning we began our long journey home...Dave, the man in the pink shirt, had been luging our luggage around the island for the past 2 weeks and was probably glad to see the heavy suitcases go!  He was a character though!

Saying goodbyes to the drivers and to Andrea

Everyone waiting for the plane in Malta to fly to Frankfort...I think we are a little wiped!

This was everyone waiting to get onto the plane. They dont' really have a system like we do in the US, its just a big free-for-all to get on and board.

We flew from Malta to Frankfurt, Germany Saturday night and finally got to the hotel about 9:30. Myself and a few others had to be up by 4:30 to get to the airport for our 8:30 flight to New York.  And given our track record with travelling for this trip, we weren't too hopeful.  But we go to the airport and even boarded the flight on-time!  Crazy right?  It was a long flight to New York, 7 hours and 35 minutes.  We had a 4 hour layover, and managed to breeze through customs and recheck our bags without a problem.  We got to the gate, and still no delays to be mentioned. We even boarded early and were taking off on-time.  It was kinda scary how many things were going our way.  I thought we were fine and homefree once we got in the air...wrong!  We were about twenty minutes from landing in Cleveland and the flight attendant comes rushing through the plane and looks at me and asks, "do you smell burning!?!?!"...and yes I did (which is always cause for concern on an airplane!).  Why he thought I knew where it was coming from, I have no idea.  I told him that yes, I did smell it. And he asked me where I thought it might be coming from because the piolet was asking...I said well if he smells it in the cockpit, its has to be a plane problem, not just coming from somewhere in hereI would assume. He agreed and went on running around.  Two minutes later the smell was gone and there was nothing more mentioned of it.  With the luck we had had, I was kind of terrified for those two minutes, let me tell you. But we ended up landing early and everyone got their luggage!  It was a great trip and nothing short of an adventure every step of the way!!

Final picture count...1670 and 18 videos!  Success.