Malta October 29th 2007
Mediterraneo Marine Park, Splash & Fun Water Park and Mdina (in the dark).
Today we decided to have a kiddies day and visit a couple of places we had spotted on the way up the coast road yesterday. The Mediterraneo Marine Park and The Splash & Fun Water Park.
These two attractions are right next to each other and make a really entertaining day out, especially if you have children in tow. So after a light breakfast in our own apartment it was into the car and off for the short journey, which is only about twenty minutes or so, another great for kids. In fact nowhere is far in Malta, which really does away with the usual 'are we there yets?' from the rear.
Personally, I am not altogether comfortable with animals kept in captivity, which does make me a bit of a hypocrite as we have had cats, budgies, fishes and triops as captives at home. I also understand that animals bred in captivity can be extremly difficult to introduce back into their natural environment.
However, The Mediterraneo Marine Park does appear to keep very high standards of animal care and environment and all seemed very happy, at times almost appearing to extract the proverbial from their trainer / keepers.
The Dolphins and their show are definately the higlight of the visit. The show and the accompanying music along with the corriography, if that is the correct word, are absolutely brilliant.
It is worth having a quick look to see if anyone is actually swimming with the dolphins in the pool set aside for that purpose. There were when we were there and it is just facinating to watch, Probably fun to do also? I think I might like that.
There are of course many other things to see at The Mediterraneo Marine Park, such as the Parrot show and Reptile collection. Overall well worth a visit if think you would like that sort of thing.
Next it was off next door to The Splash & Fun Water Park, to spend the afternoon. Sorry we didn't really take any pictures here but it actually was quite fun. Strangely empty actually. Probably the locals think it is too cold at that time of year for that sort of thing, but we certainly found it warm enough, though not baking. Daniel and Rosie especially enjoyed it and I can't say I didn't partake of a little splashing around and loafing with an icecream.
That done it was off to catch the early evening in Mdina, in the dark. Again, it did't take long to get there, twenty minutes or so. It seems as if were were rushing around a bit. Not really, it was all done at a leisurely pace.
Of course we had to stop as we approached Mdina for my photographer to take some lovely pictures of Mdina silhouetted against a setting sun.
Mdina at sunset (well almost).
Mdina does change character in the dark. It is still quiet, but the subtle use of lighting around every street corner and on every building makes it in some ways more attractive than during daylight. It's difficult to explain so I will just show a few pictures below.
Villegaignon, Mdina.
St. Pauls Cathedral, Mdina.
Backstreet in Mdina.
Mdina Gate.
Eventually we decided to find somewhere and something to eat.
The image on the right shows a lovely restaurant, The Fontanella Tearooms, where we had tea and excellent it was too. The view from the Terrace, though it did get a bit chilly up there so we moved down to the courtyard. Well worth a visit if you are in Mdina.
View along Bastion Street to The Fontanella Tearooms, Mdina.
After we had eaten we went for a quiet stroll along the quiet streets of Mdina, which is really very pleasant and then back to the car and return to Mellieha & our hotel. I think Rosie and Daniel were flagging a bit now but we still managed a couple of drinks in the hotels main bar. Then it was off to bed I'm afraid. That's a silly expression really as I don't think any of us were scared at all?
Click here to read about Tuesday 30th October.
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