Made it to Malta!

We set off on the last day of January to Southend Airport, driven in our car by Summer’s dad, to stay overnight in an accessible room at the Holiday Inn Express. The room had a carer’s room adjacent with connecting door, which is always convenient. It wasn’t the largest accessible room, but it did for a night. The next morning we made our way to the terminal building, finding a luggage trolley in a car park which made it much easier to manage our two large suitcases two large backpacks, small suitcase and assorted other small bags. Racheal doesn’t travel light!

Southend airport was easy to navigate once we had dropped off the hold luggage, and before long we were being called to board our EasyJet flight to Malta. We were settled in our seats before the other passengers boarded with Racheal between Summer and me. The three hour flight passed without incident, except that Racheal didn’t like the ‘ding’ before each announcement, her bottom lip trembling each time it happened.

Our first stay in Malta is on the island of Gozo. The hostess of the Airbnb that we had booked had kindly arranged for a wheelchair accessible taxi to pick us up from the airport. The driver had to get a special permit as taxis from Malta are not usually allowed to carry passengers on Gozo. The journey involved driving to the west coast of Malta then taking the ferry across to Gozo followed by a short drive to the village of Xaghra (pronounced Sharah). In all it took nearly 2 hours, arriving at our apartment at around 6.30pm. We needed two trips in the lift to get our luggage and Racheal up to the top floor of the four storey building, where we found a spacious flat with three bedrooms, a big open plan living area and balconies front and back with wonderful views. We had just an hour to get ourselves organised before heading out for an evening meal at a tiny restaurant in the village square, 10 minutes walk away. It was a bit of a squeeze to get in, but the meal was tasty and reasonably priced. While we were there it started to pour with rain so we lingered longer until the rain stopped and we could get back between showers.

After a good night’s sleep, we spent the first day in the village. In the morning we stocked up at the tiny supermarket around the corner, then after lunch set off for a walk to get our bearings and see the local sights.

The main attraction in Xaghra is the Ggantija Temples, Megolithic structures said to be the oldest surviving temples in the world. Racheal was more interested in the palm branch we found on the ground!

An interesting first day.