Entries about history

Once we had all arrived we took the long bus ride from one side of the country to the other (lasting a massive 10 minutes) to join a beach barbecue for Daniel's friend's birthday. It was here we also met back up with Julia, who had visted Daniel for over a week back in Bremen last June.

On the Wednesday we took a lie in, before visiting the hotel where Daniel works and then going to the outskirts of Valletta for the Isle of MTV festival, where Jessie J, Rita Ora and Rudimental were performing.

The following day we rented a car and took it to Gozo, exploring the more traditional parts of the country and viewing the Azure Window, followed by a night at the Karaoke bar down the street.

On Friday we visited the capital Valletta and the Three Cities, some of the most historical parts of the country.

Friday night also marked Amalie's birthday, with the majority of us spending it with her for the second year in a row after Venice 1 year previously. Saturday marked the last day for Onur, and after taking him to the airport on the last day with the car we visited the hills in the middle of the island followed by Sliema, overlooking Valletta and finishing in a feast in Ħal Qormi, where for us non-natives the fireworks were a little too close for comfort.

On Sunday we moved to Balzan, and spent the last day with the girls in Paceville, whilst on Monday me and Daniel went to see the Malta 5D experience detailing the history of Malta, before meeting up with my penfriend Denise, and then visiting the oldest settlement in Malta - Mdina and the feast in neighbouring city, Rabat.

On the Monday, we made the trip to North Wales, where we stopped at the small town of Conwy, visiting the remains of the Castle, the city walls, and the port side (where the smallest house in Great Britain is located), giving us some traditional Welsh heritage. Afterwards we carried on further into the country, crossing the Menai Straits onto Anglesey, where there were some stunning views of not only the strait and the bridges crossing it, but also of Snowdonia.

We then arrived at the town of Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch (the place with the second longest name in the world), where we had some photos taken outside the signs, and visited the gift shop, before driving to the other end of the island to Holyhead, where the ferries leave to Dublin. Shockingly enough, it was even necessary to use sunglasses!

The following day we visited the historic town of Chester, walking around the city walls and looking at the beautiful buildings. We then made the trip up the Wirral to Birkenhead, where we got a view over Liverpool - staying just a few minutes before quickly exiting Merseyside

The following day was our last full day in the area, and was also the nicest, reaching 24˚C, spending it at Alton Towers. Despite arriving at park opening time, the queues for the largest rides were still over an hour long, however we did manage to ride most of the biggest rides at the park that day, topping off what had been a thoroughly enjoyable few days in the area.

Next stop, Malta!

The city is famous mostly for the Palace of Parliament, the second largest, most expensive, and heaviest building in the world - containing several different functions of the running of the state. It is also open for tourists to visit, and on the second day of my trip I took a tour, visiting many rooms (including state meeting rooms and a theatre), the basement and the rooftop terrace.

The building is almost completely made out of marble with huge chandeliers, and has some impressive views. The balcony overlooking the 2 mile long boulevard was particularly impressive, and just standing on it even made me feel very powerful! I imagine that anyone with real power must feel incredible! Despite the tour lasting almost an hour and a half, we still only saw 8% of the building.

The whole area was redeveloped after 12% of the city was demolished, and it now looks absolutely stunning. With many fountains and beautifully landscaped boulevards. However one thing was immediately clear...it was very grubby. With a good clean it would be absolutely beautiful and could really increase tourism to the city.

Also visited were some of the many churches and monasteries, parks and gardens, theatres, and famous sites in the history of Bucharest - such as Revolution Square, and Arcul de Triumf.

Interesting too was the Village Museum, where traditional houses and other buildings had been moved from all over Romania to show urban dwellers what the countryside is like. This gave me the opportunity to see what traditional houses were like without actually having to go - and with the entrance fee being just 50p, this was well worth the visit.

Bucharest on the whole was pretty cheap, and gave me a packed three days of sightseeing, and there was beautiful weather to go with it! Even at 18:30 it was 27˚C, as well as being sunny all day long!

We first visited Sierra Nevada National Park, where we found a significant amount of snow had already fallen, leaving the area with a very Alpine feel - including much black ice that almost everyone slipped on.

After a few hours we then took the coach back down the mountain and towards the coast, which we arrived at a few hours later, giving us our typical view of Spain for the first time.

We then spent a couple of hours on the beach relaxing, before walking back towards the centre of Salobreña, and taking the coach back to Granada for the evening. It was this evening that I met up with my Spanish Erasmus friends for the first time, all of whom live in Granada, and we went for Tapas. Although it was only a couple of hours I spent with them, it would not be the last I would see of them this week.

We started off the day by walking into the centre, and then taking the route into Albayzín and Sacromonte, two of the oldest parts of the city, where great views of the Alhambra (the Islamic Palace that overlooks the city) and cave homes can be seen.

In the afternoon we were then going into the Alhambra itself, where spectacular Arabic designs can be seen, somewhat similar to the Topkapı Palace in İstanbul. It was here we were spectacularly photobombed by a Chinese man! We then finished our tour of the day by visiting the summer gardens - the Generalife.

With everyone else wishing to go back to the hotel before going for dinner I decided to leave the group and visit parts of the city by myself, as I knew going back to the hotel with the levels of tiredness I was experience would end up with me not wanting to leave again, and so I visited the Elvira Gate, the Gardens of Triumph and the Royal Cathedral, before grabbing some food and going back to the hotel via the supermarket. As I has still not fully recovered from the previous nights sleep, I then took an early night in the hope I could then enjoy the rest of the trip.