Malta Trip - Day 1

I'M BACK!! What a wonderful experience!! Gone for 10 days, it will take me a few days to get everything on the blog!
Our team consisted of five of us: Bo and Elizabeth, Becky and Jeremiah, and me.
After 12 hours in the air, and 12 hours at 3 airports, we finally arrived at our destination in Malta!
After checking into the Castille Hotel in Valletta, Malta, we had a short orientation before going out to explore the capitol city. We were very centrally located, between the Prime Minister's office and the Stock Exchange office!! This is a wonderful old hotel, with lots of history.... click on the name above to link to their site for all of the details!! We knew we were getting a real feel for the country!! Becky and I shared a room, on the second floor, corner. (Windows with red shutters on the left ...counting the ground floor as zero...in the states we would be considered the third floor.)
The Prime Minister's office, located right next to the hotel.

Becky and I shared this room:
This was the lobby, complete with marble staircase and floors:
The desk with the beautiful arched ceiling:
When looking out our windows (we had two at the front, one on the side) this is what we enjoyed!
The side window offered a view of a window at the Prime Minister's Office:
Straight ahead:

Right below us, in front, across the street:
To the right
To the far left was the Maltese Stock Exchange
Next to it to the right was the Grand Harbor:

Between the hotel and the Stock Exchange, was a gate to the upper Barracca Gardens. I can imagine in the spring time they must be even more beautiful!


This is part of the original wall surrounding Valletta:

Later in the week there was a cruise ship in the harbor, so Becky and I ran down to the gardens to catch a few pictures of it leaving the harbor. The cannons in the foreground were shot off at noon each day, but we were never in town at that time to watch the ceremony.
The views across the harbor of the "Three Cities" were just absolutely beautiful!

The "Three Cities" were Vittoriosa, Kalkara, and Senglea. We only viewed them across the harbor, but did not visit any of them.
We ended the day with our first meal with our hosts in Malta