Tulacz by ALMANAK

Saturday, May 28, 2011

2010 September - Malta


The Popeye’s Village



This time I had a good opportunity to visit the Popeye’s Vilage and to notice what they exactly offer. 

 
My nephew was on Malta so it made sense to go inside. The Popeye’s Village was built in 1980 for the musical production ‘Popeye the Sailor’ or ‘Sweet Heaven’ with Robin Williams as Popeye the Sailor.


Now it is a big attraction and a fun park for children.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XG4K5mX7jgk
Every day there are some events for children, all the time animators try to be active and fallow the time schedule of events.
http://www.popeyemalta.com/
We had our discount from a small brochure ‘Events’ collected in Valletta Tourist Information Office before and when we got a small map of the place and started our fun day. We had swimming suits because inside in the water there were water trampolines.



Firstly, we visited a mini golf course to play a small game between our family. There are mini golf tournaments but we missed it. Next, we went to Santa ToyTown where we found many toys prepared for children. All this big house was acquired by Santa’s Elf. 




In this house we found toy factory and my young nephew could learn how elfs prepare toys for children. Some toys were broken so elfs needed to select only the good one. 




Walking through the rooms we were watching all construction process.  When we finished our Santa tour, outside Popeye with Bluto, Olive Oyl and visitors made a movie. 



It was funny because they pulled people together and tied them with rope. Probably animators had better fun than visitors. We saw the movie about village and play with Wii Games in the Rough House.



Some time we spent on trampolines. Last event which we saw was a wedding party of Popeye and Olive. 



In my opinion if you go there with children it’s worth it but if you are only adults you can watch all the village from cliffs.    

Fort Campbell



The fort was built in 1937 to protect Mellieha and St Paul Bay from the sea.
http://urbexzone.wordpress.com/2010/11/30/fort-campbell-malta/
We got the bus to Mellieha no 45 and left it near the first round about before the city. 




There is a road sign to the Salmum Palace but we didn’t have time to go there. Before the palace there is a small road to the Fort Campbell. It took as about 10 minutes and we were there. 



We found Officers’ Mess ruins and the place where the two 6-inch guns were positioned. Now this place is in a bad condition, the defense wall has fallen into disrepair and everywhere are rubbish. 




http://www.mellieha.com/places_interest/fortifications/fortcampbell.htm
From one of the artillery positions we had a nice view by the small St. Paul’s Island and near the fort there is a footpath down to the place were you could swim to this island – it’s about 200m far.





Changing the Guards in Valletta
This beautiful Monday, 20th September 2010 the Changing of the Guard in Valletta returns after 40 years. 



They started at the City Gate with the AFM band and marched down the Republic Street to the Palace Square. The two guards then took positions facing each other on the square as the drummer united with the band. They then acknowledged each other by presenting arms. 



The ceremony drew a sizeable crowd on the square and tourists and locals applauded the soldiers during the ceremony. Now every day you can see two soldiers taking care of the palace. 


It was a nice events colorful and very attractive for tourists.

Notte Bianca in Valletta
In Valetta they organised ‘Notte Bianca’ an events similar to the night of museum open.



www.nottebiancamalta.com
There were many concerts, events and almost all museums were opened free of charge. 



The public transport was available all the night. It was a good opportunity to see some usually closed places and only one thing was uncomfortable – the crowd of people but it was expected.
Firstly, we visited St. John’s Co-Cathedral which is impressive and richly decorated. It was designed by the Maltese architect Girolamo Cassar but built by the Knights of Malta between 1573 and 1578.




Next, we visited the Manoel Theatre built in 1731 and designed by Antonio Manoel de Vilhena. We stayed there for a small show. This is a really old and small theatre but still in a good condition.


The shows were every hour but for us it wasn’t anything special and we went to the Museum of Archeology.
 


In this museum we found the famous Ghar Dalam phase (5200 BC) and the Tarxien phase (2500 BC). 



Inside we found many sculptured pieces from the prehistoric temples and statues, there were also models of prehistoric temples.
The President ‘s Palace is situated in the late Grand Master Palace. 



It was a good occasion even for Maltese people to go inside and sit on the president’s chair. This building was completed in 1576 and during the British period was used as the Governor’s administrative offices.





On the ground floor we visited the Armoury where we saw a gold plated armour of Grand Master Alof de Wignacourt and many different kinds of weapon. 




There were many attractions which we didn’t see but next time we will be better prepared for this night.   

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