04/29/2016: The Three Cities

Yesterday, I made a list of all the things we want to see and do in Malta.  I think we’ll need to stay another 3 months to have time to cross everything off on our list.  Yes, there is that much to see and do in Malta.  But, today’s adventure was to the Three Cities, Bormla (Cospicua), Birgu (Vittoriosa) and L’Isla (Senglea).  The Knights changed the old names of  the cities, that’s why the names are used rather interchangeably.  The Maltese want to use the old names.

We took the #13 bus in to Valletta to first go to the Vodafone store to refill Christine’s data plan, which means we’ve been in Malta now more than 30 days.  That accomplished, we headed back to the bus terminus to get on the #4 bus Cospicua.  We got a little lost because the bus terminus has a lot of construction going on, so we went a little out of our way in finding bay A3.  And once we got ourselves reoriented and were heading in the right direction, I stepped off an unseen step and found myself on the ground.  I hate that!  Fortunately, only my pride was injured.  It is a little challenging walking in Malta because the sidewalks and streets are often uneven and slippery.  We’re constantly pointing out steps and curbs to each other so we don’t fall (where was Christine when I needed her?).  My pet peeve is around fountains.  With all the hills and street slopes, fountain steps often have graduated steps beginning with tiny little rises before the steps actually begin.  I’ve tripped up lots of those.  My head is swiveling around looking up and I’m not watching where my feet go.

But no matter, off to Cospicua.  The main reason for going to Cospicua is that Christine attended a school there as a child.  It was the Royal Naval School; Christine’s father was in the British Navy during the war and then transferred to the Admiralty in intelligence after the war.  Just before our bus turned off the main road, Christine said, “the school bus used to turn here,” and that’s exactly what our bus did.  We got off the bus down the street from where we thought the school was.  We walked through a little park going up the hill, had some trouble getting out of the fenced in park onto St. Nicholas Street, but then managed to head in the right direction.

Christine could feel we were in the right place, although all the signage indicated that we were heading to Kullegg Santa Margerita, a secondary school.  But, no doubt it was the right place.

We had visited this place back in 1985, and it did seem vaguely familiar to me, especially the large courtyard.  Some of the buildings were original, one built in 1896, but others were obviously newer.  The school is now a boy’s school.  We had checked in at the office, where a receptionist tried to find an available teacher to take us on a tour, but that didn’t work out.  So, we just wandered around the outside of the buildings.

One of the new buildings was the library.  We found it very interesting that the name of the library, and a painting of a quote on the side of the library, were American authors.

After looking at the school, we walked in to Vittoriosa, or Birgu.  Now for some history.  There have been settlements in Bormla (Conspicua) since earlier than the Phonecians.  Bormla has several hills, so the vantage point in protecting the harbor was the attraction.  In 1638, the Knights began building a line of fortifications around the Three Cities, the Santa Margerita Lines. This was a land front defense to protect the cities from invasion by the Turks.  Work ended on this line of fortifications in 1638 due to a lack of funds.  Then, in the 1670s, another Grand Master of the Knights, Nicolas Cotoner, wanted to fortify the Three Cities and so he oversaw the building of the Cottonera Lines, which were a second set of defensive walls built a little farther landside beyond the Santa Margerita Line.  It’s hardly believable how these defensive walls were built at such length and breadth around these cities.

Margerita and Cottonera Lines
Santa Margerita and Cottonera Lines

These walls were truly impressive.

We walked between the Lines all the way to the gate entering Vittorioso.

I fell in love with Vittorioso (Birgu)!  It ranks right up there with Mdina, maybe even more so because in this city, one gets the feeling that it is alive and regular people live there.  In the old section, called Collachio, the streets are windy and narrow, like in Mdina, but it’s easy to tell that most of the houses lining the streets are occupied.  You can’t really tell that along the Mdina streets.  Although you don’t see many people walking the streets, I think they’re all at work, an occasional car comes through and you have to jump up on a doorway step to give the car enough room to pass.  Fortunately, there’s not much traffic in this section of the Collachio.

This old section of Vittorioso is the first home of the Knights of St. John.  They built their Auberges here.  An Auberge is really just an inn where the knights had rooms and space for gathering.  The Auberges were set up by language of the knights, langues, and I think there were 8 or 9 different langues.  A couple of the auberges are still standing and are in use either by residents or shops.  One of the auberges, built in 1555, is home of the local Vittoriosa city council.

We stopped for a nice lunch at an outdoor café along the marina.  Then we went to the Maritime Museum.  The exhibits were about the history of boats in Malta, with a very large section about the British Navy, who were in residence in Malta from 1800 until 1979.  There were some interesting displays.  This 1735 painting of the fortified three cities is neat.

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Painting showing the Three Cities in 1735

And to think how mariners moved around the Mediterranean in all kinds of boats, and how they survived to tell about their voyages is remarkable.

Here’s a masthead from the HMS Hibernian, which was a gunnery ship having 110 guns.  It was in service nearly 100 years, from the early 1800s until it was finally scrapped in 1902.

I found this old photo of the harbor really fascinating, with all the tall ships.

Harbor in late 1800s
Harbor in late 1880s

Another place we visited was the Inquisitor’s Palace.  Here was the home of Malta’s Roman Inquisition that was conducted during the second half of the 16th century.  The Roman Inquisition was responsible for prosecuting individuals accused of committing offenses relating to heresy, including Protestantism, sorcery, immorality, blasphemy, Judaizing and witchcraft, as well as for censorship of printed literature. After 1567, the Inquisition was broaden beyond that of theological matters, to concerns such as love magic, witchcraft, superstitions, and cultural morality.  This was an effort by the Catholic church solely to control people so they followed to the letter Catholic doctrine.

The palace was interesting, but many of the displays about the inquisitor’s process were disturbing.  I am appalled by so much that happens in the name of religion.

After the palace, we wandered around and then walked all along Dockyard Creek to its end and then over to the Senglea side of the creek.  Here’s some more photos of both Vittoriosa and Senglea.

We got to the tip of Senglea and saw the Senglea Point watchtower. And across the harbor was the ferry to Sicily departing and cruise ships docked at the Valletta waterfront.

So, by now we’re exhausted, but getting back to somewhere in Senglea to catch a bus was all uphill.  We trudged our way uphill and were so pleased to find a bus stop just when we needed it.  We took the #1 bus back into Valletta.  There was a crowd at bay B2 awaiting the #13.  Christine and I got separated trying to get into the bus.  She got on and we kind of gestured to each other that I would take the next one.  She was seated in the last row and people were packed in like sardines.  But I managed to be the last person to squeeze in.  Christine didn’t know I was on the bus until close to our stop.  She was happy to see me, and we got off together and made our way home happy and exhausted.

04-28-2016: Hilton Visit

If you’ve been following our goings on around town, you know that we’ve been checking out some of the big hotels around St. Julian’s Bay.  A couple of weeks ago, we wanted to check out the Hilton (being card-carrying Hilton members), but discovered that it was closed for renovation.  Its re-opening was April 16.

We walked over to the Hilton on Thursday morning to check it out.  We like heading in that direction because we get to walk around picturesque Spinola Bay.

20160428_101441 (1024x576)No doubt about it, the Hilton is a very nice hotel, and very busy.  It was hosting a large conference put on by The Economist, the Mediterranean Leadership Summit.  Clearly the Mediterranean countries are being inundated with lots of issues, no greater currently than immigration and refugees.  Also, financial burdens and what’s happening in the EU are also sticky issues.  Judging by how many people were in the lobby of the hotel when we walked through, the conference was well-attended.

There was a beautiful sculpture in a pool in front of the hotel.

The boutiques around the lobby were pretty impressive (code for exorbitantly expensive), including one that had a certified Faberge egg in the window.

Certified Faberge egg at the Hilton
Certified Faberge egg at the Hilton

We wandered around and finally sat down for a cappuccino on a lovely outdoor terrace above the pool.

After looking around the Hilton, we made our way back home.  Of course, we had to take more photos of Spinola Bay.

And we learned something new.  There is a Spinola Palace.  It was built in the 17th century by one of the knights.  However, it served as a hospital for many, many years after 1860.  I found an old photo from 1906 on Wikipedia, which is pretty cool.

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What’s cool is that the two little buildings with arches close to the water are boathouses.  These building with their arches still remain and are the area housing restaurants, including Rafael’s, the restaurant we ate at a few weeks ago.  Here’s what the palace looks like today; it is kind of deteriorating, although a sign on the gate said it was a diplomatic building.  There is a restaurant in its basement that we hope to visit one evening.

Here’s what the palace boathouses look like today.

So a nice little outing Thursday morning, and then back to work for Christine.

04-28-2016: The Cats of Malta

We’ve been rather housebound the past couple of days and have not gone on any adventures, other than walking below the esplanade on the rocks one evening.  Christine has had to work on some problem-solving with her new customer, thereby needing to do lots of GoToMeetings, emailing information and files back and forth and re-jiggering the software (I know, technical language).  But hopefully tomorrow we’ll do a little adventure.  And then on Saturday evening, we’ve scheduled a BIG adventure on board a ship to see the International Fireworks Festival finale in Valletta’s Grand Harbor.  So be on the lookout for that post.

Since we haven’t been anywhere the past couple of days, I thought I’d share with you an interesting item.  In Malta, most of the stray cats here are looked after not by one owner, but by the whole community. These colonies of stray cats can be found all over the island.  One such place is in St Julians, just across the bay from our flat near the Cavalieri Hotel. Here you will see an array of beautiful apartments and next to these apartments is a cat village.

Cat village in St. Julians
Cat village in St. Julians

welcomeAs the story goes, an elderly lady started feeding the local stray cats in her area. Every day she would place food away from her house for the animals. When the rain came she started making shelters, donating old blankets and soft toys, and then making sure that the cats had their vaccinations and were neutered. With time the area grew to an almost unsightly cat village.  When developers came to build new apartment blocks in the area, they wanted to remove the cat village. This outraged the whole community, with many protecting the stray cats and their village against the land developers. Today the cat village still stands. At the entrance you will find a donation box and a sign saying that the cats are all neutered and fed daily by Roza.

Roza's message
Roza’s message

As we look across the bay from our balcony, we see a different cat park.  You’ll notice the large ceramic cat sculpture on the square building in the lower right of this picture.

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Cat park

Although this park along Tower Road is also a kid’s park, a place for sun bathers, a place to sit on a bench and read, etc., at the end on the left, under the green and yellow umbrellas, there is a cat village here as well.  A few people are involved in feeding the cats and in the evening you’ll see mostly women filling food and water bowls.  The cats are all over this park and most people seem to enjoy them.  They are all fairly tame so they will come up to you to be petted.  And, as in the cat village, the cats are neutered and a tag placed in the ear so neutered vs. non-neutered cats can be identified.

Here are some pictures of other cats.

There are lots of programs for cat adoptions and for taking care of strays in Malta.  I imagine it is virtually impossible to neuter enough cats to limit the population growth, though.  But, at least there are folks around wanting to take care of these strays.  All along the streets as we walk through Sliema and other places, you’ll notice cardboard boxes with a towel or blanket in them for shelter and bowls of food and water, all for cats.  In a bookshop we stopped at, there was even a bunch of calendars with photos of the Cats of Malta.  The cat village in St. Julians even has a Facebook page!  You can find it at Cat Village Malta.

Cat park statue at night
Cat park statue at night

And would you believe a Duck Village, too?  Well, that’s a story for another day.

04-24-2016: Medieval Mdina

(Dear reader:  It will take a long time for the videos to load, so be patient.  If you are reading this from an email notification, click the date/title of the post shown in the email, which will take you to the blog from your browser.  This will probably be a better view.  You can click on the photos to open them in a larger view so you can scroll through them.  Enjoy!)

We won’t soon forget this day.  It started with this glorious sunrise.

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Sunrise

We had planned to spend the day with Carol and Joe.  They invited us to go with them to a festival in Mdina.  Unfortunately, Carol had a bit of an injury and was unable to go, so sadly, they canceled.  But, we decided to go on our own.  The festival was a medieval gala event and was not to be missed.

We got going early and took the #202 bus to Rabat, a suburb of Mdina.  This was great because the bus was essentially door-to-door.  We got on the bus right outside our flat, no transfers necessary.  And better yet, the bus was essentially empty, so we got seats for the whole trip.  It took about 45 minutes to get to Rabat, itself a a place we shall return to visit because it has several archeological sites to be explored.  But on to Mdina.

Mdina is a fortress city high on a hill, a spectacular sight as you approach from the land below.  It is Malta’s old capital.  There was a Bronze Age settlement near the city, so this area has been settled for thousands of years.  The Phoenicians, Carthagineans, Romans, Normans, and Turks all occupied Mdina and it became an important urban center.  Mdina remained the only fortified city in Malta until the 16th century.  And then Malta was given to the Knights of the Order of St. John, which diminished the importance of Mdina as the Kights settled first in Vittoriosa, and then in Valletta.

Another event changed Mdina which was an earthquack that happened in 1653.  A main street divided the city east and west.  One side of the city was built on rock, and the other on softer under structures, so half the city was destroyed during the earthquake, the side not built on bedrock.  But this was also a blessing in disguise because prior to the earthquake, the city was in significant decline from neglect.  The earthquake destroyed the cathedral, which was not acceptable to the Knights of St. John.  They began a huge building project in Mdina and so the city was returned to its former glory, including a big cathedral.

Mdina still has about 300 residents today, many who are nobles and distinguished families.  It is called the Silent City because of its narrow streets.  Motor vehicles were not permitted in the city until recently, and certainly only a handful of streets are wide enough to permit autos.  Mdina is a really beautiful place and gives a very spiritual sense when you have the narrow streets to yourself, as we did early in the morning before the crowds arrived for the festival.  It is a very wonderful and beautiful old city.

Medieval Mdina started with a fantastic procession.  All the participants were in Medieval period costumes and included servants, peasants, tradesmen, musicians, falconers, performers, soldiers, knights and noblemen and women.  It was quite a procession, especially when the horses came through.  I loved that!

Everyone in the procession entered into Archbishops Square in front of St. Paul’s Cathedral.  There, each of the groups did a little performance.  Christine fell in love with a flag performer group.

All around Mdina in the little squares were groups of the performers doing activities.  It was fascinating to see the blacksmiths and weaver working as they would have in Medieval times.

We saw several falconers with Maltese falcons and an owl.  The history of Maltese falcons involves the Knights and King Charles V of Spain.  When the Knights had to abandon their headquarters in Rhodes and were wandering around looking for a new home base, King Charles agreed to give Malta to the Knights, but with it came a price.  The Knights were required to pay rent for Malta, which was to give the king a falcon every year.  Dashiell Hammett used the concept of the Maltese falcon in his novel.

All around Mdina there were encampments and enactments of day-to-day life in Medieval times.  When we stumbled upon a square with performers that didn’t have a lot of tourists, you could really imagine what it must have been like.

I kept thinking about my brother Grant all during the day.  He would have loved being here with us.  He would have especially loved the knights and armor.

And, as a budding bagpiper, Grant would certainly have liked seeing the musical group we saw perform a couple of times during the day.  One guy played the bagpipes, but his bagpipe was electrified, so no blowing was necessary, only fingering the chanter.  He was a really fantastic player.

We had a lovely lunch in a spot with a fantastic view.  The vista showed the entire countryside with its beautiful farmland.  We could see all the way to the sea and could just make out the Carmelite dome and Anglican spire in Valletta and the Portomasso tower.

After wandering around Mdina on our own, we ended up doing a little tour with a lovely lady who really knew her stuff.  She showed us all the different architectural styles and filled us full of information about Mdini.  It was a lot of fun, especially since around every corner was some grouping of Medieval performers doing activities or processing with a band. Just fantastic!

Here are some more photos from the day.

We decided to make our way back to Sliema at about 5:00.  When we got to the bus stop, it was quite crowded and we figured that many of the people were going in our direction.  So, we decided to hop on the nearly empty bus going to the airport.  We knew we could get a bus right to our door from the airport.  Little did we know that the #201 airport bus would go hither and yon before arriving at the airport.

The 201 bus went to the west coast.  It was a great ride to Dingli and along the Dingli cliffs, rather like the white cliffs of Dover.  This is an area we plan to hike at some point.  The bus went right along the cliffs and we were able to see the bus stops that would be appropriate for our day trip to the cliffs.  We also went to the Blue Grotto, which is another great drive down to the turnaround area and back up the hill.  We went there on the hop on hop off bus with Eve and Michaela.

We eventually made it to the airport, after our tour of the southwestern part of the island.  Then we waited for the X2 bus, which did finally get us back to our area.  We walked across the street to Peppi’s, a nice pizza place.  We sat out on their deck, which was a little chilly, but was beautiful as we watched the sunset.  So our wonderful day ended with this gorgeous sight.

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Medieval Mdina!  How lucky we are to be in Malta now so we could enjoy this fantastic event.

04-22-2016: Harbor Cruise

When Eve was here she purchased tickets for a harbor cruise and gave them to us – lucky us!  Today, we decided to go on the 2 harbor cruise, the harbors being Marsamxett and Grand Harbor (thanks, Eve!).

Harbour cruise boat
Harbour cruise boat

Valletta is the peninsula that separates the two harbors.  These are natural deep water harbors and that is a primary reason why Malta became such a significant island throughout history.  And all around both harbors are inlets and bays, what the locals refer to as creeks.  I think there are about 10 creeks around the 2 harbors.  Our harbor cruise went around all the creeks and the 2 big harbors.  It was great fun seeing from the water many of the things we’ve seen on land.

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Two harbor cruise route

We loaded on to our little cruise boat.  We were able to sit up front in the first row of seats, so we had a pretty good view of everything.  We started off around Manoel Island through Sliema Creek and Lazzaretto Creek and then on to Msida Creek and Pieta Creek.  By now, we’re pretty familiar with this area from some of our walks.  Also, the #13 bus to Valletta follows around these areas.

One interesting factoid about Manoel Island is that the Knights also had an infirmary there, the building with the arches in the picture above.  But this was a different kind of hospital.  As I think I mentioned, the Knights were medically advanced, and infection control was paramount.  The hospital at Manoel Island was for quarantine.  Any ship arriving from a place known for having disease or with sick people on board would have their crew and passengers quarantined.  If, after a couple of weeks in quarantine, one was still alive, then he would be released.  What wasn’t known at the time is that it was the rats on the ships that were the culprits for much of the disease being spread.

We traveled back down Marsamxett Harbor along the bastions of Floriana and Valletta, heading for Fort St. Elmo and the tip of the Valletta peninsula.  As we rounded the tip, we were out of Marsamxett Harbor and in to the Mediterranean where the surf was quite rough.  I’d say the swells were 4-6 feet and so the boat bobbed up and down and everyone on the boat kind of squealed when we would go over a swell and head downward, rather like being on a roller coaster.  It was a little scary to be sure.  Looming ahead was the foot bridge from Fort St. Elmo out to the channel marker for the entrance to Grand Harbor.  Now, giant cruise ships enter the harbor via the channel, but this boat was heading for the openings under the foot bridge in very rough sea.

I leaned over to Christine and said, “they haven’t told us where the life jackets are.”  We held on tight and the captain navigated us through the left side under the foot bridge, which he’s probably done a thousand times.  But, it certainly got our attention.

Once in Grand Harbor, it was much calmer, and we proceeded down alongside Valletta, again seeing things that we have visited.

Great Siege Bell
Great Siege Bell

One area we have yet to visit is called the Valletta Waterfront.  This is the area where the cruise ships dock.  This area was once where the Knights had stores and warehouses for the goods they shipped.  The area was renovated and is a long row of storefronts having brightly painted doors and windows and it houses upscale restaurants and boutique shops.  I’d like to see the area at night because it is really beautiful with all the lights.

Valletta waterfront
Valletta waterfront
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Valletta Waterfront at night (taken from a webpage)

We then went on to explore the creeks around the Three Cities, Cospicua, Senglea and Vittoriosa.  In the Cospicua area are shipping wharfs and dry docks.  Interestingly, one of the largest wharfs is courtesy of China.  China paid for the construction of this very large wharf to accommodate their large container ships.  I later learned that Malta and China have a relationship going back 40 years and even have a Malta China Friendship Society.

The creeks around Senglea and Vittoriosa are much more picturesque and have marinas and lots of cafes and shops around the marinas.

And for our friend Deeny, we saw lots of dghasjas which are used as water taxis between the Three Cities and Valletta.

We hope to explore the 3 Cities in depth over the next few weeks.  These areas pre-date Valletta, especially Vittoriosa, where the Knights of St. John originally settled.

Then it was back towards the footbridge and another scary encounter with the Mediterranean.

Around Fort St. Elmo and back in to the calmer waters of Marsamxett Harbor, thank goodness!

We saw Tigne Point.  We had walked around the area a couple of week ago.  There are big apartment buildings and condos and a swanky shopping mall.  But there is a project underway to renovate the barracks and battery that are rubble currently, but historically significant.  You can see one remaining gunnery tower at Tigne Point.

Tigne Point - Sliema
Tigne Point – Sliema

After our cruise, we wandered down past Manoel Island and had a picnic lunch in a nice little park there.  We had wanted to explore the Msida area a little more, but we never made it that far.  We discovered Ta’Xbiex (pronounced sort of like Taj Beesh).  What a beautiful area with a beautiful marina, the Royal Malta Yacht Club, and lots and lots of beautiful houses.

One little factoid is that in Ta’Xbiex is an old sailing vessel called the Black Pearl.  This was the ship used in the movie Mutiny on the Bounty with Errol Flynn.  It is now a bar/restaurant.

There was also this really cool water fountain in the shape of a sailboat with the water streams forming the sails.

Interesting sailboat fountain
Interesting sailboat fountain

We also discovered that along an elevated street that had wonderful views of the marina and harbor was embassy row.  Several countries have their embassy in Ta’Xbiex.

There was also this gorgeous villa, I think a private home, that was bedecked in bougainvillea.

 

And then we saw a fixer upper for sale right down the street from embassy row.  It would be a money pit, but would be a fantastic location with a fantastic view.  We can dream!

We then headed for home, a long walk.  We went through the little town of Gzira (don’t pronounce the G), a neighborhood we hadn’t explored.  It was practically straight uphill, so we got a real workout.  We then crossed in to Sliema at the top of the hill, an area of Sliema we also hadn’t explored.  As we were walking down Rudolph Street, we came across a couple of houses that clearly showed Ottoman roots.  For several centuries, the Turks ruled Malta and Malta was an Arab nation, one of the reasons the Maltese language is comprised of about one-third Arabic (the other parts Italian and Sicilian).   These two houses certainly demonstrated Moorish roots.

And then we stumbled upon something that really pleased us.  We’ve been looking at a lot of old photos of Malta, and we kept seeing this one particular photo of a very sweet little church.  We couldn’t identify it, but really were curious about the church in the photo.

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Church in old photo

As we were walking along Rudolph Street, to our utter amazement was the church from the photo.

Holy Trinity Church - Anglican
Holy Trinity Church – Anglican

The design of this Church is unusual in Malta; it was built for the English community and so reflects the shape of a village Church anywhere in the United Kingdom.  The British began populating Malta in the early 1800s after the defeat of the French.  Britain controlled Malta until 1964.  I think there are only 2 Anglican churches on the island; this one and St. Paul’s Pro-Cathedral in Valletta.  The churches belong to the Diocese of Gibraltar.

We went in to the church to look around.  As we were coming out, we talked with a couple of church ladies who were cleaning up the church garden in preparation for a Strawberry Tea tomorrow to celebrate Queen Elizabeth’s 90th birthday.  Being a Church of England, the queen is the figurehead of the church and so this church is celebrating her birthday.  We walked around the church grounds and then helped the ladies carry a table to the front of the church.  This church is lovely and is situated on a property that has an adjoining parish hall, formerly the bishop’s house, and a couple of gardens.  And from a terrace at the back of the church, it has a nice view of Valletta across the harbor.  We were very happy to find this little church, and we might even go and celebrate the queen’s birthday tomorrow.

We stopped by our little market to pick up a chicken.  They have whole roasted chickens for sale along with roasted rosemary potatoes.  The chicken has been a staple for us over the past several week.  We arrived back home very tired, but very satisfied with our day.

Here’s a photo taken on the harbor cruise boat.

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04-20-2016: The Mediterranean Sea

I’m back from a day off on Tuesday.  We didn’t do anything to report on.  And, I don’t have much to report on for Wednesday.  We went for a long walk along the seafront, around Exile Point, and down along the limestone to il-Fortizza.  This is becoming our favorite walk.  In addition to the sea, the limestone is fascinating to study.  We could spend hours watching the waves throw water up on the shore and follow the many pathways the water takes in the limestone.  All this got me curious about the Mediterranean.

The Mediterranean Sea is what is called an inland sea.  It is nearly landlocked.  At its deepest it is 5,267 feet, with an average depth of 4,900 feet.  It connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the Strait of Gibraltar, which is only about 9 miles wide.  Because of its narrow opening, the influence of the Atlantic on the tides in the Mediterranean is minimized.  The tide is no more than 3 feet, and in most places it is only about 1 foot.

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Map of the Mediterranean Sea

The movement of the water goes from the Straits of Gibraltar eastward.  The sea is dependent upon rivers flowing in to the sea as evaporation is greater than water coming in from the Atlantic.  As the water goes eastward, it gets saltier, due to evaporation, so that by the time it gets to the Levant region, it is very salty.  The salty water sinks to the bottom and then starts to move westward back to the Strait.  I read that in the Atlantic, this salty water is still detectable for hundreds of miles out into the Atlantic.

Malta sits about 60 miles south of Sicily and is essentially right in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea so it is very strategically located.  Thus, it was a stopping point for all the empires who controlled the Mediterranean, and controlling Malta meant that the empire could more easily control the Mediterranean.  I’ll talk more about this over the next couple of months.

The Mediterranean is noted for its deep blue color, and that is one of the things we love looking at from our balcony.  We seen the wonderful deep, almost navy, blue of the sea farther out from St. Julian’s Bay.  When it is windy, the deep blue is punctuated by wonderful whitecaps, and the waves crash into the rocks around Dragonara Point and the Portomasso sea walls in great white sprays of water.  Closer into the bay, the water becomes shallower and a beautiful teal color.  I guess I now know where Christine got her love for this color!  We stand at the window and drink all this in.

On our walk Wednesday, it was windy, but not quite as windy as another walk we took along the same rocks.  But the sea was still pretty wavy.

It is really fascinating to watch how water moves and the channels, holes, and patterns it makes in the rocks.

In one area, there was a fairly large pool that was only a couple of inches deep.  When the waves came it, they brought lots of little fish who fed on the algae on the rocks in the pool.  The water in the pool would flow back out into the sea, leaving the little fish nearly stranded.  But, those little fish wriggled their way across the nearly waterless rocks back in to the sea.  It was interesting to watch how the fish used the currents of the water in and out.

More beautiful scenes of water and rocks.

We left the seashore at Sliema Point where the il-Fortizza Restaurant is.  Sliema Point is the site of the old Sliema Point Battery built by the British between 1872 and 1876.  It then eventually became a searchlight tower used to spot enemy ships advancing on the island.  Now it is a restaurant. We’ll be having dinner there next week with Carol.

We made our way back home, stopping in at a pharmacy to buy a couple of things, like plasters (Band-Aids) and corn pads.  We both had bought a couple of pairs of new shows prior to our trip and our little toes are not happy about that.  Hopefully, our purchases will help this situation.

And so, our little adventure along the seafront came to an end, but here are two of the best photos (IMHO).

Morning sea salutation
Morning sea salutation
Fantastic color
Fantastic color

04-18-2016: San Anton Gardens

We’re garden people and so we love going to various types of gardens.  Today’s garden is a palace garden.  After studying the bus route map, we planned our route, packed a picnic lunch, and set off for our visit to San Anton Gardens.

We started on the #13 bus.  That bus is always so crowded.  We had to wait for another bus because the first was jammed.  When we did board, the driver keep yelling, “move back, move back,” until we were packed in like sardines.  My route plan was to get off at a stop named Kullegg and wait for the #54 bus to Attard, but I got nervous that maybe I had misread the bus route for the #54, so we decided to stay on the bus all the way to Valletta and get on the #54 at the start of its route.  We probably would be guaranteed a seat if we did that.

The Valletta bus terminus is a crazy place.  There are something like 360 buses and 90 different routes.  The Malta Public Transport system employs over 1,300 people.  There are 3 sectors, A, B, C, at the terminus with several different bus bays.  So, you’ve got to know your bus number and its associated bay letter and number. Routes and schedules are all online, so you can figure that all out pretty easily once you understand how their website works.

It looks so chaotic at the terminus, but it actually seems very well organized.  We’re getting things figured out, but one thing we know.  Often, to catch your next bus you need to run like mad to the next bus bay, which could be some distance a way.  There are always people running at the bus terminus, some of them are quite elderly.  But if you miss your next bus, the wait is probably, at longest, 30 minutes, and often just 15-20 minutes.

Valletta bus terminus
Valletta bus terminus

We took the bus to Attard, the town where San Anton Palace and gardens are located.  While walking to the entrance to the gardens, we passed by another Corinthia Hotel (the other was at St. George’s Bay).  This one is called the Corinthia Palace Hotel and Spa, and apparently is a 5-star hotel.  It looked like the San Anton Palace, and also had a nice garden around much of the hotel.  So we got a preview of what we would see across the street at San Anton.

The Palace of San Anton was once the country house of a wealthy knight of the Order of St. John.  This knight, Fra Antoine de Paule, was apparently quite an entertainer and he held lavish dinners at his country home.  But the palace was also his private retreat and he built it to include private gardens, citrus groves, fountains, statues and other things.  His palace and grounds were luxurious.  It was built during the last quarter of the 17th century.

Over the centuries, the palace has been used by various  officials.  It eventually became the residence of the British governor over Malta and in 1882, the governor at the time decided to open much of the palace gardens to the public.  And so San Anton Gardens has become a much-beloved place and is a wonderful place for families and tourists to stroll and take in the beauty of a lovely formal garden.  Today, San Anton Palace is the official residence of the Maltese president, who currently is Marie Louise Coleiro Preca.  She was elected in 2014.  Interestingly, as constitutional head of state, the president is appointed by the Maltese House of Representatives for a 5-year term.  The president then appoints the Prime Minister, who is sort of like the chief executive officer.  So, the top 2 people running the government are not elected by the people.

San Anton Gardens is a formal garden laid out in a grid pattern.  It has lots of palm and tree varieties and rows and rows of plantings of spring flowers.  There are also many citrus groves.  And of course, there are fountains and statues.

We really appreciated all the spring blooming flowers because we’re missing our own garden, especially as things pop up out of the ground and begin to bloom.

The little ponds and fountains around the gardens were nice and the ducks and swans were a real attraction for the kids running around the gardens.

Here are more photos of the gardens.

San Anton Palace, the presidential residence, bordered the public part of the gardens.  I was amazed at how little security there seemed.  We only saw 3 guards the whole time we wandered around the outside of the palace.  The portico steps up to a courtyard within the palace were totally open.  And from that courtyard was an entrance right into the presidential residence part of the palace.  I can only assume that the president wasn’t in residence when we were there.

San Anton Palace

It’s called a palace, but it isn’t what one generally thinks of as palatial.  This is a 17th century house made of limestone and is pretty unadorned on the outside.  There are several internal private gardens and courtyards that are not open to the public.  We looked through a little peephole to see one beautiful private garden.  As we walked through the courtyard that was open, one does get the feeling of how old this building is and what it might have been like when the Knights lived here.

We found a real treasure when we walked through the courtyard.  Off to the right, without any big signage, was the San Anton Palace Chapel.  Designed by General Sir George Whitmore, the 19th century chapel was constructed for Protestant worship. When Queen Victoria’s second son, Alfred Ernest Albert was stationed in Malta with his wife Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna, they took up residence at San Anton Palace, and the chapel was adapted for the religious requirements of the Grand Duchess, who was a Russian Orthodox Christian. Nowadays, Catholic mass is celebrated every Sunday at 9 a.m.  This is a beautiful little chapel that was painstakingly restored in 2013.  It is a very small chapel and is within a arched, rounded room.  The entire space is beautifully painted.

As we were leaving the gardens and were outside the walls that surrounding the entire gardens and palace, we saw the president’s entrance to the property, officially called the President’s Driveway.  Very unassuming!

President's driveway entrance
President’s driveway entrance

We found where to catch a return bus and decided to stop at a health food store in Sliema.  We stocked up on our vitamins and minerals and walked home, also stopping at the MeatandEats store on Dingli to pick up some other things we needed.  Once home, we had thought about taking a swim because we were both hot, but once we sat down to rest, getting back up to suit up and go swimming seemed like too much effort.  So we spent the evening at home relaxing.

Another lovely day out exploring wonderful Malta.

04-17-2016: The Sunday Times

The Sunday Times of Malta, that is.  Christine went to the market for a few things and came home with two Sunday newspapers, The Times of Malta and The Independent.  What’s better than a lazy day reading the Sunday newspaper?

And that’s about all that happened today.  We had a wonderfully blissful, lazy day, mostly reading. I made brunch – mushroom cheese omelet with bacon and home fries, just like we often have at home.  The most energetic thing I did was walk across the street and sit on the quay for a while in the afternoon.  I had intended to go swimming, but the breeze was starting to pick up and was a little chilly, never good when you’re trying to talk yourself into getting in to cold water.  But I enjoyed the sun and watching all the people at the quay and around the little beach.  Another deterrent to swimming was a jet ski that was very noisy and was zooming around the bay at incredibly high speeds.  The owner put in at the quay and kept coming back to talk to a friend on the quay.  The jet skier would also zoom into Balluta Bay at high speed, which I’m sure people found very objectionable.  Some kind of official boat eventually came and two burly uniformed guys got out on the quay to talk to the jet skier.  Hopefully they gave him a citation for unsafe speed and disturbing the peace.  Eventually, he loaded up his jet ski and left.

Pleasure reading on a Sunday is a great way to spend the day, and we both did a lot of that.  Christine also found some more slideshows on YouTube of old Malta photos. We love looking at those and trying to figure out where they were taken.

So that’s all for today.  Have I mentioned we have a great view from our flat??  A lot of boats coming and going to keep track of today.

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St. Julian’s Bay

04-16-2016: Rest

After our long day yesterday, we rewarded ourselves with a day of rest.  Christine did a bit of work, napped, and did pleasure reading.  As you might imagine, yesterday’s blog post took quite a while to compile and write, so I was preoccupied with that much of the day.

We did go out in the afternoon.  Smaller shops here tend to open in the morning until noon, then close until 4:00 p.m. We wanted to go to a health food store in St. Julians (Balluta Bay area) so we walked round the front to the shop.  It was not quite 4:00, so we decided to walk around a few blocks we have yet to explore up the hill from the end of Balluta Bay.  The area was around that large apartment building I referenced a few days ago, the Balluta Building.  Between Mt. Carmel Church and the apartment building are a set of steps going up to the streets behind the Balluta Building, so up we went.  The back of the apartment is nothing to look at and no real clues about who lives in the building or how many apartments are occupied.  We walked around a couple of blocks then returned to the health food store, which still wasn’t open.  There was a pharmacy next door that looked promising for purchasing our vitamins, but that wasn’t open either. So we decided to walk around a few more blocks.

It’s fun to explore.  We didn’t find much of interest, but we learned a few more streets and their directions in relation to other parts of our neighborhood.  But there are still nice things to look at.

On the ground level of the Balluta Building are many shops, one being a bar/restaurant called the Electro Lobster Project.  Christine was reading a poster about jazz events in their bar.  Someone affiliated with the place overhead us and told us about their Thursday jazz night.  Also, he took us up the stairs into the restaurant which is on the first floor of the Balluta Building.  The restaurant is swanky and hip and the bar on the street level, or really down a few steps below street level is also very swanky and hip.  Christine, being a jazz lover, will undoubtedly want to go some Thursday evening.

We never tire of wandering the streets.  Someday, I will write a post about Maltese doors and their knockers.  I’ve been collecting photos of all the various door knockers I’ve seen.  I also love all the many assorted colors of the doors and balconies.

Shortly before 6:00 p.m. we headed to St. Julian’s Tower to meet up with Carol for a drink.  We were at a nice bar/restaurant called it-Torri.  Carol is always full of stories and one never need worry about keeping up a conversation with Carol.  We have so enjoyed our times with Carol, and with Joe when he joins us.  Joe tends to not socialize as much as Carol and prefers puttering around at home with his antiques.  Carol said that she listens to the radio while cooking and so she hears of events and activities and comes with little scraps of paper with times, phone numbers, etc., jotted down so that we can have things to do.

At one of our meetings with Carol, she noticed Christine’s ring and said that she has one very similar to it.  Christine got hers from her mother, who presumably got it from her mother.  Carol came to our date this evening with her ring.  She got hers as an inheritance from family as well.

Family rings
Family rings

Carol and Christine are just two months apart in age and so the jewelry from their mothers/grandmothers clearly were fashionable during the same period.  Christine’s has green stones and Carol’s has dark blue stones.  Quite amazing how similar in design the rings are.

After our date with Carol, we walked her back to her apartment.  We popped in to the store across the street from her building to pick up a couple of things and then walked back to our flat where we had snacks for dinner.

It was a nice restful day.

04-15-2016: Floriana and Valletta

We had a very long, wonderful, tiring day today.  We were out exploring Floriana and Valletta for over 12 hours and between us we took over 250 photos.  It’s going to be difficult to cull these down for this post, so settle in for a lengthy read.

Map of Floriana and Valletta
Map of Floriana and Valletta

Floriana was of interest to us because it is here that a Caruana property was sold, and with the proceeds from her share of the inheritance Christine booked our flat for this trip.  So off to Floriana we went on the #13 bus.  We got off at the Mall, which is a long, narrow swatch of garden and trees that runs for blocks. I had read that there was a botanic garden nearby, so we headed to Argotti Gardens.

Along the way, we passed a beautiful gothic church.  I was surprised to read that it was a Wesleyan Church.  It is now a cultural and arts center, Robert Samut Hall.  Although the facility was not open, Christine chatted up a guy coming out.  He and his jazz band, Noir, were setting up in the hall for recording their first album.  He invited us in to see the inside of the hall.  Apparently, the Malta National Symphony uses this hall for their rehearsals.  The outside is much more interesting than the inside.

Across the street from Samut Hall was a beautiful round chapel, originally built in 1583.  It was rebuilt in 1686 by one of the Grand Masters.  Although not so ornate, Eve, this reminded me vaguely of Radcliffe Camera.

We then went to Argotti Botanic Garden.  It is one member garden of GardMed, an organization dedicated to preserving Mediterranean gardens.  Argotti was first created in the early 18th century, of course by one of the Knights Grand Masters.  It is a fascinating place.  It has about 4 different levels (up and down) and some spectacular views of the inland countryside.  Unfortunately, much of the garden was closed due to an exhibition for school kids that had various activities.  I think the management didn’t want all these kids running through some of the more delicate sections of the garden.  But no matter, we thoroughly enjoyed strolling around the place.

ANZAC Memorial - Argotti Garden
ANZAC Memorial – Argotti Garden

There was a statue in the garden, ANZAC, which commemorates the Austrailian and New Zealand Army Corp in their Gallipoli involvement in WWI.  The inscription of the statue is a stanza from the Laurence Binyon poem, For the Fallen.  We will come across this again later in the day.

We then wandered around Floriana taking in the sights.

We found, we think, the property that enabled us to be here.

Our trip courtesy of this property
Our trip courtesy of this property

We then started to make our way into Valletta, choosing to stay close to the Grand Harbour side.  We strolled through Preziosi Gardens which afforded us wonderful views of Grand Harbour.  We saw that huge yacht, Indian Empress, from Manoel Island at sea in the harbour.  We also saw dghasjas that our friend Deeny asked about.  In researching, we learned that dghasjas were used as water taxis especially during WWII to ferry sailors from ships in the harbour to the cities.  It is clear that the dghasjas still exist and are still being used as water taxis from the Three Cities across the harbour to Valletta.

Across Grand Harbour are the Three Cities.  Birgu, Bormla and Isla, commonly known as the Three cities, were renamed to Vittoriosa, Cospicua and Senglea respectively by the Knights of St. John following the against-all-odds success in repelling the Ottoman Empire during the Great Siege of 1565. These fortified cities pre-date Valletta.

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View across Grand Harbour to the Three Cities

We continued into Valletta up through the courtyard in front of Auberge de Castille, one of the Grand Master’s palaces.  The Auberge houses the Maltese Prime Minister and its courtyard is the location of many public demonstrations.  Currently, one of the Maltese ministers is apparently involved in the Panama Papers scandal and so there have been daily demonstrations calling for this minister’s resignation.

By now, we’re quite tired and in need of a sit-down and lunch, so we picked an outdoor café close to where we had lunch the other day.  This place was the Kantina Café & Wine Bar.  We had a lovely lunch of focaccia sandwiches.  We struck up a conversation with a nice Swedish couple.  They appreciated the opportunity to practice their English.  Their son just moved to Malta, so they are enjoying frequent visits here to see him.

After lunch, I wanted to do a walking tour around the outside of the city along the city walls.  I have this book of walks, and the Valletta walk seemed interesting.  We had difficulty finding the right direction, though, because the book kept referencing going right, and the map we had showed the things mentioned as being left.  At any rate, we went left.  As we were going around a cavalier, and down towards the city wall, we came across the Fortress Builders Museum.  We made a quick run through the museum, which if you’re interested in the progress of fortress building over history, this is the place for you.  It was kind of interesting, but the best was we were in the bowels of part of the city bastions.

Moving on, just around the outside of the museum we were rewarded with great views of the famous Carmelite Church dome and St. Paul’s Cathedral.

Another view of Valletta
Another view of the dome and spire

We made our way around the Marsamxett Harbour side of Valletta.  I had wanted to stop at St. Paul’s Pro-Cathedral.  It’s an Anglican cathedral and I was curious about it.  Unfortunately, it is only open in the mornings.  Maybe another day we’ll come back.

So around the walls we walked heading to Fort St. Elmo’s. We passed a couple of karozzins, the horse-drawn carriages that are around Valletta.  You can hire a karozzin for a tour.  It sounds lovely to hear the horses clip-clopping along the old cobblestone streets.

Somewhere along this side we got our best view across Marsamxett Harbour to Manoel Island, where the remains of Fort Manoel can be seen.  There is a huge project underway to reconstruct this fort.  This was the headquarters of the British Navy in Malta during WWII.

Fort Manoel
Fort Manoel

At the end of Valletta is Fort St. Elmo.  We didn’t go in it, but here are a couple of views.

We then came to a place where the Malta Experience, a movie about the history of Malta, is shown.  It was time for another sit-down, so we bought tickets to the show and sat out on a terrace overlooking the Grand Harbour enjoying a beverage until show time.  The movie is a 45-minute history lesson from the pre-temple period through Malta’s entrance into the EU.  Much of the movie focuses on the Great Siege (1565) and the Knights of St. John.  It’s a nice overview, and in an air-conditioned theater!

When we bought our movie ticket, we also purchased a tour of the Sacra Infermeria, across the street, which we found to be incredibly interesting.  The Sacra Infermeria, or the Holy Infirmery, was a state-of-the-art hospital at the time of its establishment by the Order of the Knights of Malta in 1574. It had a capacity of over 600 beds, and a non-discriminatory criteria for admission – meaning any man of any social class would be accepted.  Women were not accepted.

The Knights of St John originated as a ‘Hospitaller’ order, charged with a holy mission to aid and protect pilgrims en route to Jerusalem, as well as tend for the sick. Their skills in the field of medicine were amongst the most advanced in Europe, even to the extent of complex surgical techniques. Contrary to the norms and practices of their time, the Knights  were also diligently hygienic in their ministrations; the silver cutlery which the hospital used was not an extravagance but rather among the Order’s many concessions to hygiene.

Sacra Infermeria
Sacra Infermeria

The great ward where the upper classes were treated, one to a bed, is a very, very, long narrow room, 161 meters (528 feet) and 11 meters (36 feet) wide.  In the photo, there is a curtain across the room about mid-way, so this great hall goes on and on.  Each patient space had a bed and a toilet.  The toilet was within these little alcoves along the wall.  What makes this unique is the well thought-out sanitation.  There was a hole in the floor for the waste.  There was a hole in the wall that went out to the garden outside where citrus trees and herbs were growing.  The aroma from the garden helped to keep the smell more pleasant.  Each of the toilet alcoves would have a color-coded curtain indicating the type of illness the patient had, sort of like infection control. There were wide windows higher up every few beds to permit fresh air and sunshine to enter.

Toilets in the infirmary
Toilet  alcoves in the infirmary

This building was 6 stories, but each story was below, ultimately with a level at sea level so that a Grand Master could make a speedy exit if need be.  Below the grand ward was the ward for the lower classes, three to a bed.  This ward wasn’t quite as long as the great ward, but nonetheless, had all the same methods.   Here’s the below ward.

The Sacra Infermeria building has been now converted into the Mediterranean Conference Center, so these wards are now used for official functions, which you can see all decked out in the photos above.  The building is really beautiful.

After the Sacra Infermeria, we continued on to the Great Siege Bell WWII Commemoration.  This bell is rung once a day, at noon, and there are warning signs to not be standing next to it then.

There is also a statue at this site commemorating the war dead.  This statue has part of the stanza from the Binyon poem that we saw this morning at Argotti.

The Great Siege Bell commemorates Malta’s significant role in WWII and King George VI awarding Malta the George Cross.  I won’t go in to Malta’s role now (this post is already too long), but suffice to say, the sacrifice made by the Maltese during the war is heartbreaking and heroic.

Interestingly, this very night there was a re-enactment of the awarding of the George Cross, which was awarded 74 years ago on April 15.  We had heard about this from cousin Carol and so we reserved seats for the ceremony.  This is a very special historic moment for the Maltese, the bestowal of the George Cross.  We grabbed a bite to eat and then headed to the re-enactment.

The re-enactment occurred on the same spot in St. George Square in front of one of the Grand Master palaces.  We couldn’t see much of what was going on in the way of performances in the square, but military and police bands and color guards were going through their paces.  I always love a good band.

On a large screen set up in the square, they showed a movie about what happened in Malta during the war, especially from 1942 to 1944.  It is unimaginable that the Maltese persevered and survived after near starvation and incessant bombing.  Watching the film brought tears to my eyes and I thought of how difficult it must have been for Rose, Christine’s mother, who worked in a Victory Kitchen.  Then came the very stately presentation of the George Cross.  The Maltese are very proud of their George Cross, as they well should be.  The band played some more and the event ended.  It was worth seeing and was moving.

We ended our long day on the 13 bus back to Sliema.  We arrived back at the flat exhausted, but full from the information gained and the sights experienced.  What an adventure we had!