Malta (Malta Teasers) Maltesers ...

Day 5 - Tuesday, September 12th, 2017 today we were teased by all that Malta has to offer.

And here I will tell you that in my opinion you only get "a taste, a tease" of the many ports of call while you are cruising.

It's impossible to get a real feel of the life and culture of your destination within a few hours. 

Originally we were just going to use our own "trotters" and wander the streets to explore Valletta but as we disembarked the ship there were many offerings for the tourist hop on / hop off  bus. 

Tickets bought, top deck seats and we were off ... 

We toured the island via the red line for two hours on this very hot, hot day! 

From our roof top seats we viewed the good, the bad and the ugly. 

How sad that this "solarium" has been neglected, it such a beautiful piece of architecture. 

I can just see it full of tropical plants and many pottery pots full of colourful plants! 

After our tour we wandered along the waterfront harbour lined with honey coloured limestone buildings housing tiny shops, boutiques and many cafes and restaurants. Perfect since we were ready for some refreshments. 

Now back to the luxury of the ship for some pool deck r & r after a light lunch. 

Señor Honey found a great read in the library ... doesn't he look relaxed? 

The view from the ship ...

Tonight we had reservations for one of the specialty restaurants "Red Ginger" serving contemporary Asian cuisine. 

It was a fun experience, exotic decor and great service from choosing your own chopsticks to the individual tea service. 

We were sharing at a table of six this evening with a couple from Hawaii and another from British Columbia. 

Remember the "Caramelized Tiger Prawns" that we learned to make yesterday during the cooking demonstration, they were on the menu and I chose them as my starter. 

Sweet and spicy ... scrumptious shrimp! 

The charger plates ...

My choice of chopsticks ...

As the pilot leaves we say goodbye Malta ... 265 nautical miles of cruising and we will say hello to another country, Palermo (Sicily) Italy. 

Star Chefs and Culinary Delights

Day 4 - If it's Monday, September 11th we are at sea enroute to Valletta, Malta, travelling 635 nautical miles.

We departed Palma de Mallorca at 6PM Sunday, September 10th with expected arrival at the dock in Malta at 8AM on Tuesday, September 12th, 2017. 

There are many activities happening on the ship. 

We are looking forward to a day of not doing too much; at least I am! 

One program that piqued both our interests is the scheduled "Cooking Demonstration with Senior Executive Chef Frederic Godineau & Chef Biaggio Gallo. 

Happening in the Riviera Lounge at 11:15AM for approximately an hour, we arrived a few minutes early and were able to get front row seats,allowing us to watch the activity as the kitchens were set up on the stage. 

We were introduced to all the chefs onboard ... there were many! 

Our presenters today were the Senior Executive Chef Frederic Godineau (French) who is in charge of all the cuisine on the ship and Chef Biaggio Gallo (Italian)  Toscana Restaurant. 

They toasted each other with a glass of Proseco and the show began. 

They shared recipes, explained techiniques and bantered about the difference between French and Italian cooking ... it was an informative, entertaining demo.

 

Chef Godineau prepared the Veal Involtini and Caramelized Tiger  Prawns.

Chef suggested using turkey breast, chicken breast or pork tenderloin also. 

Chef Gallo demonstrated and prepared the pasta dough and gnocchi ...

Chef's tip for the gnocchi is to use baked potatoes! 

This post is for my "foodie" friends ... hope you enjoy preparing and eating these dishes. 

A Peak at Palma de Mallorca

Day 3 (Sunday, September 10th, 2017) we arrived this morning and docked at our last port of calls in Spain ... welcome to Palma on the island of Majorca (Palma de Mallorca).

Again, we are free-lancing our sight-seeing. If you haven't figured us out yet we prefer to manage our own time, picking and choosing what we actually want to see. Plus there is the advantage of staying longer in one place.

So we jumped on one of the many shuttle buses provided by the Cruise Line. 

We were dropped off at La Escollera, the seaside promenade opposite the Cathedral in downtown Palma. 

La Seu Cathedral overlooking the harbour ...

Of course today as we started our exploration walk a fine drizzle started to dampen things, us included (and no we didn't bring the umbrella)!

Then the heavens opened with a downpour. We quickly popped into a shop that had rolled out a rack of umbrellas, purchased one and we were off ... now  truly damp and wet (soaked)! 

Time to pop in somewhere for a coffee and warmth ... ah, look there's a Cappuccino Grand Café here too! 

Wonderful start to our day in Palma. 

Ah that's better and we continued with our walking tour. 

What a beautiful city! Both Señor Honey and I commented that we could do a long stay here. 

As I'm writing about the beauty, lushness, the old and new of this city ... I'm searching for some photos and then realized they are on my camera from which I'm unable to download to my iPad. 

So, I'll will do an updated post once we get home to share the other pics (which I think are more reflective of the beauty that we saw in Palma).

Also, realized I have many photos of our first day in Barcelona plus our day in Valencia.

La Llotja is an unique building designed by the architect Guillem Sagrera   ... the School of Merchants, the guild behind La Llotja was founded in 1403 by the King of Aragon. They controlled and protected the local commerce and were responsible for the maintenance of the Port of Palma until the 19th century. The building was originally built as a Merchant's Stock Exchange. 

It has had many uses over the years, a grain warehouse, barracks and during the Peninsular War (1808-1814) it was a cannon factory. 

Gothic style chapel circa 1600

Look at these solariums, many of the buildings here have them ...

After our self guided tour, we returned to the ship for a late light, lunch and some pool side napping  ... tonight dinner was at the Polo Grill (Steakhouse) where we enjoyed the most delicious melt in your mouth filet mignon followed by some scrumptious, sweet treats! 

Key Lime Pie ..

A "Quintet" ... a sampling of everything! The best! 

Tomorrow we are at sea all day ...