We had an overnight flight from Vancouver to Frankfurt, connecting to Malta in the afternoon. We caught a bus into Sliema and checked into our apartment-hotel. We ate at a Turkish restaurant and crashed out.

We spent the better part of our first full day in Valetta, reached by a foot ferry from Silema. Malta was invaded or attacked by just about everybody and it has an incredible history. The fortifications around the various harbors attest to their determination to resist and their greatest and impressive victory was against the Ottomans. We found that communication was easy as English is widely spoken in Malta .

On Good Friday religious processions are held across Malta. Zebbug has a notable procession and was a bus ride away from our apartment. Hundreds of actors dressed as Roman soldiers, Jewish priests and important Biblical figures strolled to the beat of brass bands.

On Easter Sunday, towns celebrate the resurrection of Christ with a short procession with the statue of the Risen Christ. Birgu is well known for its Easter Sunday celebration. Afterwards, the Maltese headed for home or restaurants for lavish lunches.

We had four days in Sliema to adjust to the time zone and we took a bus north and made a walk that included the Pembroke coast and touristy Bugibba.

Gozo Island is a 25 minute ferry ride from the main island of Malta. The Gozo coastal walk is 50km long and easy to follow (keep the sea on your left or right, depending on what direction you walk around the island). We went around the island in a clockwise direction and kept the sea on our left.

On Day 1, we walked around Mgarr ix-Xini inlet and passed along some impressive cliffs at Ta' Cenc and Ta' Seguna before halting at Xlendi for the night.

On Day 2, we continued west and then north. We met another couple walking around Gozo (and no others on the entire walk). There were a few day-trippers in Dwejra Bay but there were bus loads of tourists at the Azure Window area. The Azure Window had featured in the Game of Thrones however, the window had collapsed in a storm less than 2 months earlier. There were a number of people looking at where it was, in disbelief.

We then made our way up towards Gharb through San Lawrence and a lovely B&B that we had booked. We also wandered up to visit the Ta' Pinu church near Gharb.

On Day 3 we walked from Gharb to Marsalforn. We walked through agricultural areas before reaching more cliffs on the north shore of Gozo. The cliffs gave way to a flat sandstone shoreline and then several kilometres of salt pans. We reached the seaside town of Marsalforn and took a bus into Victoria for a couple of nights.

On Day 4 (and the afternoon of Day 3), we wandered the old town of Victoria and the sandstone Cittadella. We took a local bus to Xaghra and the UNESCO World Heritage site of Ġgantija and its megalithic structures. We also visited a surviving section of the aqueduct that was built by the British in the early 1800's to bring water to the Victoia Cittadella.

On Day 5, we put our packs back on and caught a bus to the NE coast of Gozo to complete the circuit of Gozo. We took the ferry at Mgarr to Malta and a bus onto Mellihia . We had booked an apartment for two nights.

We walked the northern peninsula of Malta in the morning and returned to Mellihia to visit the tunnels that were built to escape WWII air raids.

We took a bus to Mosta for a look around and then onto Rabat where we an apartment booked for two nights. We used the unit as a base to visit interesting Mdina and then the western coastline and the impressive megalithic temple complex of Ħaġar Qim.

We had an evening flight so we checked out of our apartment and took buses to Marsaskala to walk the east coast of Malta. We had a late lunch at Marsaxlokk and then made our way to the airport for our flight to Pisa, Italy.