The Arts Society East Sussex MALTA 4th – 10th October 2018 VALLETTA CITY OF CULTURE 2018 £959.00 per person* Valetta Hagar Qim Casa Rocca Piccola © viewingmalta.com Ggantija With its striking, honey-coloured stone set against the deepest of OUR TOUR 7 DAYS - 6 NIGHTS Mediterranean blues, Malta offers an eclectic mix of influences whilst What’s included retaining a unique identity. The history of Malta is a long and colourful • Return coach transfers to/from UK one dating back to the dawn of civilisation. Our tour will show us the airport • Return flights from London to Malta fantastic highlights of the island, and Gozo, with a great variety to see. • Return assisted transfers in Malta We also include a day to relax or explore independently as you choose. • 6 nights bed & breakfast accommodation • Porterage Our hotel • Welcome drink The 4 star Hotel Santana offers a • 1 Dinner great location in the resort of St. Paul’s • 1 lunch Bay, just a couple of minutes’ walk from • Excursions and admissions as detailed the promenade, a sandy beach, public overleaf transport, shops and restaurants. The • Gratuities for drivers and guides hotel’s en-suite rooms have wifi, air • City Tax conditioning and a balcony (NB, rooms What’s not included are equipped with a kettle but tea and • 5 nights dinner at the hotel (buffet coffee is not provided). Facilities include style) supplement of £75 per person a rooftop pool and sun terraces, an • Single supplement of £114 per person indoor pool, 2 restaurants and a licensed for the duration of the tour (twin for cafeteria. All floors are accessible by lift. sole occupancy) • Travel Insurance - £38 per person. The A half board buffet evening meal option is policy has an upper age limit of 85 available at the hotel at extra cost. *Based on a minimum of 21 members travelling Mdina’s “Greek Gate” OUR ITINERARY Day 1: We board our coach from our time of 15 years. We will have a guided Day 6: After breakfast we will head local area to London Gatwick. Depart tour of the city including the Upper to Palazzo Parisio, often described on a direct flight to Malta. On arrival Barrakka Gardens for the spectacular as a miniature Versailles and with a we will be met by a guide and coach, view of the Grand Harbour, a visit magnificent walled gardens which rank and transferred to the hotel. Dinner to St. John’s Cathedral, final resting among the finest in Malta and are the at the hotel included this evening. place of knights and Grand Masters. only privately-owned gardens open to Elaborate marble tombstones and the public. We continue to Mosta to Day 2: Our guided excursion today monumental artwork adorn their visit Rotunda of Mosta, Europe’s third will focus on a couple of Malta’s burial places. It also houses the largest free-standing dome before Temples, starting with the most Caravaggio’s masterpiece ‘The heading to Rabat where we will have complex and elaborated pre historic Beheading of St. John’. We shall also time for lunch and the chance to visit temples of Hagar Qim. These temples have time to enjoy the Grand Masters the Catacombs too should you wish stand on a hilltop with breath-taking Palace and State Rooms and the (entrance fee not included). After views of the sea. We’ll continue to Fine Arts Museum*. The museum lunch we visit Palazzo Falson in the Marsaxlokk, Malta’s fishing village – presents a multifaceted overview of medieval city of Mdina, also known as it’s waterfront is lined with ‘luzzus’ art and artistic expression in Malta the silent city. Palazzo Falson is a typical painted in traditional reds, blues from the Late Medieval period to the two-storey medieval palace fashioned and yellows that add colour to this contemporary. Dinner at leisure. on Sicilian examples of its period, and peaceful bay, which was once the site *The Fine Arts Museum is currently is one of the imposing Palazzi built by of the first Turkish landing during the moving premises and due to re-open in the Sicilian, Spanish and local nobility. Great Siege of 1565. There will be October 2018. If the opening is delayed It contains extraordinary treasures time to also browse the local market an alternative visit will be arranged. of the collector Olof Fredereick stalls. After lunch (not included) Gollcher. We end the day with a visit we will the Tarxien Temples. It is Day 4: Today we visit the sister island to the lovely San Anton Gardens elaborately embellished and one of of Gozo. The day will include visits before returning to the hotel. Dinner the richest repository of prehistoric to Ggantija, the prehistoric Temple, at leisure art on the islands, untouched for a view of the traditional windmills, thousands of years. The oldest temple Victoria, Gozo’s Capital City with Day 7: On our final day we visit in this complex is some 6,000 years its impressive Citadel and Baroque the sumptuous 16th C Casa Rocca old. We end the day’s tour at a local Cathedral (admission included), and Piccola in Valletta, which is still winery for nibbles and a tasting of the the impressive Ta Pinu Church. Lunch, privately owned. Still a family home local wines before heading back to with wine, is included today. its highlights include an Art Nouveau the hotel. Dinner at leisure. summer dining room, a golden Sedan Day 5: With a full day at leisure there and 3 bomb shelters. Day 3: After breakfast we will explore will be the opportunity to explore Return flight and journey home. the capital city, Valetta. Started in the island independently. A bus stop 1566, Valletta was completed, with is located by the hotel with routes The exact order of excursions is subject its impressive bastions, forts and going all over the island. Alternatively, to change and flight time dependant. cathedral, in the astonishingly short simply relax. How to book Please complete a booking form and return with a £150 per person deposit to: Jane Hopkin, 3 Champions Row, Wilbury Avenue, Hove, BN3 6AZ Cheques payable to Success Tours Ltd.