When we had dinner at cousin Carol’s a couple of weeks ago, where we met her daughters Francesca and Rowena, we learned that Rowena and Julian, Fran’s husband, were having a showing of their work. Rowena has established a vintage clothing and jewelry business and Julian has established a repurposed furniture business. These are sidelines for each as they are employed in fulltime jobs. We wanted to go and see what their artistic endeavors were all about. And another coincidence – the showing was at the little Anglican church from the old photo that we had finally identified.
We walked to the church and were happy to find Joe, Carol’s husband, there. Carol is still suffering from a bad back and is essentially bedbound currently. We’re very sorry that she is in such pain and hope to stop in to pay a visit soon to try and cheer her up. But it was nice seeing Joe. He’s a real talker and is very sweet.
Rowena was very cordial to us and was happy to show us around the racks of clothing and tables of jewelry on display. I kind of chuckled about the “vintage” clothing because I wore many of those styles in the 60s and 70s (I keep forgetting I’m vintage – turning 65 this year!) Rowena has put together a nice collection, especially all the colorful jewelry.
Julian takes old furniture pieces and adds his artistic touch to them. He turned an old wooden army trunk into a vanity by decoupaging old newspapers to one side and adding little touches to the other sides. He turned a sweet little table into a new piece by painting it and adding a nice transfer logo to the top. Julian doesn’t like the term “shabby-chic,” but that’s how his work is advertised. And apparently there’s quite a market for it. He thinks he can eventually make this his fulltime work.
We then walked home, stopping at our market to pick up a few things. We rested for the remainder of the afternoon in preparation for our big night out for the International Fireworks Festival finale. This is an annual event. When we had mentioned to Carol a few weeks ago that we were interested in seeing the show, she told us to check out Hera cruises and go out into the Grand Harbor with Hera. We had booked our tickets the next day.
One of our most memorable experiences we have had was with Christine’s family in Australia. We were together with Gloria and Alex on their sailing yacht, with Louis and Bice, on New Year’s eve, 1997, in Sydney Harbor watching the fireworks as we rang in 1998. That really was a most incredible night, along with the tour of Sydney Harbor Alex took us on the next day. We will never forget that experience. And the experience of being in Malta, in Grand Harbor, on a sailing yacht, watching the International Fireworks Festival finale, will be another most memorable experience.
Included in our Hera ticket purchase was pick-up and return, which was a nice feature. However, we were frantic because we waited and waited for pick-up and after 25 minutes, the pick-up was a no-show. We called the Hera office at one point and were told the bus was on the way. We were so anxious that we were going to miss the boat, but a bus finally did appear and we were on our way to the ship. What caused the delay was the traffic. It was just awful going around the front to get to the Strand, where all the boats depart. And of course, hundreds of people were doing just what we were doing – going on a boat into Grand Harbor to see the fireworks.
The Hera ship was a sailing yacht, but no longer has sails. It is used for harbor cruise tours. We boarded, got our complimentary glass of wine, and then decided to check out the top deck, which meant climbing up a ladder, not an easy thing to do when you’re holding a glass of wine. We lucked out and found cushioned seats near the boom, which was secured and not in any danger of moving. We waited quite a while before casting off because other passengers were stuck in traffic. But it was beautiful seeing the lights of Sliema and across the harbor the lights of Valletta.
The boat was finally in motion and we enjoyed our sail around Fort St. Elmo from Marsamxett Harbor to Grand Harbor. We anchored just below the Great Siege bell and had a fantastic view of Kalkara and Vittoriosa, with Fort St. Angelo all aglow across the harbor. Although it wasn’t too windy, the harbor from time to time was rough and the boat rocked significantly from side-to-side, which made it difficult to walk, or take pictures, or carry your drink.
The fireworks were scheduled to begin at 10:00, so we had an hour to kill. Hera put out a big spread of food and so Christine went down the ladder in search of something to eat. At that point, the boat was rocking a lot and her trip around the buffet table, back along the deck with plate in hand, and then up the ladder was quite challenging. I reached down and grabbed her plate so she could get up the ladder. Then, I went down and got my plate. It was an amazing spread and we enjoyed our dinner.
And then the entertainment on board the ship began. I never in a million years would have guessed that Elvis would be onboard, but there he was. We had a great Elvis impersonator who sang all of Elvis’s songs. He actually was quite good and we enjoyed hearing all those old songs.
Then the real entertainment began. The fireworks were fantastic. An Italian pyrotechnic company won the competition and they put on a big finale, along with help from a Maltese fireworks maker in Qrendi. There were about 15 fireworks barges along a line down Grand Harbor so the fireworks were spread out. It was really cool when the barges shot up rockets that crossed paths with the next barge’s rockets, creating really nice patterns.
It’s really difficult to photograph fireworks even under the best of circumstances. The rocking boat added just one more obstacle to good photos. One really needs a tripod, but all I had was a selfie-stick. So most of our photos were blurry. The videos were much better, although in some you will notice the boat rocking. But here are some photos.
It was really neat to see the movement of the rockets up and down the harbor from the line of barges. I especially liked it when the trajectory of the rockets crossed paths so there was a wonderful pattern, like argyle, up and down the harbor. And of course, the fantastic large rockets high up were colorful and spectacular. My favorite are the ones that fall like a waterfall.
And then, before I was ready for the end, the show was over. I wanted it to go on for a lot longer. In all, the fireworks lasted 30 minutes. Because of the setting, in Grand Harbor, in Malta, this does go down as one of our most memorable nights, but Sydney Harbor still tops this night. I wish Gloria, Alex, and Louis had been here to share this with us. I know that Joe and Bice were looking down and enjoying the show from heaven.
An added nicety was the fabulous view of Valletta we got going back into Marsamxett Harbor. As I’ve said before, I can’t get enough of the view of the Valletta.
We were bussed back to our flat, although the driver forgot our stop and we had to tell him to stop down the block. And so ended a fantastic and very memorable evening.
P.S. – Sorry about no sound on the videos. I learned that when you plug in your selfie-stick to your cellphone, it stops the sound recording. Because my cellphone was attached to the stick for all the videos, I didn’t record the sounds of the fireworks.
The pictures and videos of the fireworks are spectacular! I can only imagine how much better they were from your perspective on the boat.