When, months ago, my parents mentioned they were going to Malta for a week with one of my sisters and my niece it wasn't long before I asked if we could tag along with visions of beaches and sunshine filling my brain.

Then I was informed that not only did Malta not really have any beaches, but we would be going in February and my expectations dropped down a bit.

For the past week I have been scouring weather forecasts hoping against hope that one of them will predict the sunshine and Vitamin D I am craving, but no luck, they all say wind, dark and rain. Still at least no snow was predicted so I was looking forward to escaping that as we set off yesterday.

I have flown a lot recently but yesterday was the first time ever I have been sure I was about to miss a flight.

Bad traffic took our hour or so journey to well over 3 and then when we walked into the airport all ready to drop off our bags, confident we would just about make it, we joined a queue of hundreds of people with just 2 desks open. Half an hour later and still hundreds of people in front of us, we resolved to meet the rest of my family out there the next day- hopefully.

Then from across the terminal I noticed a man saying (not shouting, or announcing, that would be far too helpful) 'Is there anyone for Malta?' Fortunately my eagle ears picked it up and we ran like bats out of hell to drop our bags in, speed through security and panickedly find our gate long after it said it would be shut- only to sit there for half an hour. Still it gave my heart rate a chance to return to normal.

I know nothing about Malta apart from it being small and politically and geographically significant during the Second World War. I was so busy before we left that I hadn't even looked up on a map where it was. But as we got ready to land just how small it is became apparent- you could practically see the whole country through one window.

Safely landed, and in our hire car, we tracked down our hotel (the fabulous Hotel Fortina) and admired the scenery as we drove.

I don't know what I was expecting, but it wasn't this. The country seemed such a mix of influences and every time I looked I was confused as to whether I was in Egypt, Italy, Morocco or Paris. Whatever I expected it wasn't anything as beautiful as this.

We arrived at the hotel late and wandered out to find somewhere to eat. It was only as we walked that we realised just how warm it was... I tried to not get my hopes up, but if it was this warm at 11 at night what would the days be like...

Fed and watered we headed to bed to recover from the day and see what the morning brought.

Waking up the day seemed dark and then I threw back the curtains- wow. Not only was the sun blazing but we had the most incredible view of the harbour and over to Valletta (we were staying in Sliema).

As soon as we were fed we headed off to Valletta where my parents had been before and they promised us a good market to wander around- always a draw for me.

We weren't quite sure where the market was so asked someone who happened to be going there and the poor man then set off again on his walk with us following behind him at a very leisurely and meandering pace whilst he obviously worried we were all going to get lost. He needn't have worried as we got there in the end and I managed to buy the one thing I wanted, an old key (for a future project) along with some great lenticular pictures of kittens and Jesus for presents.

Market done, it was time to stop for a drink where we discovered the Maltese beer Cisk, before heading off to Marsaxlokk (which also happened to have a market on) to look at the beautifully painted boats, stalls selling food and people out for a Sunday afternoon walk.

All the sea food around us was too much to resist and I had a salad with fresh smoked salmon before we headed off.

Back in Sliema we had a swim and did more wandering before heading to dinner and then bed- hoping tomorrow would be just as sunny.

If you want to see more colourful photos then check out my colour blog here and some palettes from those photos here.