06-29-2016: The Party’s Over

Our second to last day in Malta, yesterday, was spent fussing about luggage, starting to pack, and doing some visiting. Here’s an update.

We’ve been a little stressed about our luggage situation.  I spent what seems like hours looking online for the checked and hand baggage restrictions for our return trip.  We fly Air Malta to London, and then Delta (but really Virgin Atlantic is the operator) to Detroit and Delta to Binghamton.  Air Malta has very restrictive rules for hand luggage and so Christine’s wheeled computer bag will not pass muster as it is too wide.  We think my wheeled hand bag will pass (we hope beyond all hope).  Air Malta has both size and weight restrictions for carry on luggage and with my wheeled bag and a large backpack, I probably wouldn’t be allowed both pieces, like the problem we had in London with British Airways.  So we spent a long time looking at the fees associated with various options of either buying extra weight for our bags or buying a second checked bag for one of us.  We went round and round.  And, to complicate things, Delta/Virgin Atlantic have different rules.  Also, since we booked the two legs of the trip separately, we don’t know if Air Malta will be able to check our bags to our final destination and are likely to have to retrieve our checked bags at Heathrow and then check them in a Delta.  We’re in a quandary.  There’s no scale in the flat, the neighbor wasn’t home to ask if he had one we could borrow, so Christine dashed off to a store to buy one of those handheld luggage scales.  We though that we’d have better luck figuring out our best/cheapest option if we actually knew how much our stuff weighed.  And yes, the scale did help and we have made our decision.  We’ll be using Christine’s wheeled computer bag as her second checked bag and will stuff it full of things leftover after we both have packed our suitcases and are at no more than 20 kg each.  Moral of the story – don’t pack so much stuff to begin with!

After our packing dilemma, it was time to go on a visit.  During our visit with Mary Caruana on Monday, we learned who was handling Mary’s affairs.  This is a dear friend of Mary’s, Dora, and with the help of the nursing officer, we got this woman’s contact information.  Christine called Dora Monday evening and Dora was quite happy to hear from Christine.  When Dora visited Mary after our first visit, we learned that Mary had very excitedly told Dora all about our visit.  Dora invited us to her house in St. Julian’s Tuesday afternoon.

We met Dora and her husband Joe and it was such an interesting meeting.  We learned a lot more about Mary and Dora’s relationship with her.  She respects her as if she was her mother, and Mary relates to Dora as if she was her daughter.  Clearly, Dora is very devoted to Mary and that gave us a great sense of peace knowing that Mary is well looked after.  What was very surprising is that we learned that Dora also knew Christine’s grandmother Rosina, and would visit her in the nursing home through the Legions of Mary organization.  We’ve had more interesting connections to people in Malta than we ever thought possible.

Dora took us on a tour of her house, which they bought, renovated and enlarged some 9 years ago.  Dora is also a master needleworker and all over her house are displays of the very fine needlepoint tapestry, embroidery, cross-stitch, and crochet and lace work that she does.  Really beautiful work.  We really enjoyed getting to know Dora and Joe a little and it was so nice to meet them.  They were very happy that we contacted them.  Christine exchanged contact information with them and Dora said that she would keep us posted on Mary’s health and status.  And Lou, Dora knows all about you from Mary.

After our visit with the Urpanis, we walked back around Spinola and Balluta Bays probably for the last time this trip.  We get a little teary when we say stuff like this.  But on to visit cousin Carol and her husband Joe.

Carol has really been having a very difficult time with her back.  Shortly after we arrived she somehow injured herself and has been suffering ever since.  She feels badly she was unable to do more things with us.  However, she has been very helpful in all ways during our stay.  We spent an hour trying to tell her of all our movements over the past couple of weeks since we last saw her.  It’s hard to get a word in edgewise with Carol.  But we had a lovely visit with Carol and Joe and we told them how much we’ve appreciated getting to know them.  It establishes a very strong connection for us to Malta, and we hope to visit them again in the not too distant future.

Today, Wednesday, our final day in Malta has been spent packing, cleaning up the flat, getting checked in on our flights, and, of course, going to the beach one last time.

Last morning on our balcony
Last morning on our balcony

We walked around past Exile Point to the sea side, and to use Eve’s word, we were very wistful.  We have gotten so used to our little routines, like sitting on the rocks enjoying people watching and seeing all the boats go by.  Today was an especially busy water day because this is a national holiday in Malta, the Feast of St. Peter and St. Paul. The Feast of St. Peter and St. Paul is celebrated in the town of Nadur in Gozo.  This feast marks an  important event in the calendar of Maltese popular customs and traditions.  It is a country harvest and folk festival as well as a religious holiday.  It dates back even further than the arrival of the Knights of St John in 1530. The festival is named L-Imnarja, a corruption of the Italian ‘Luminara’ and means festival of light.  It is named after the bonfires that used to light up the festivities in the towns of Mdina and Rabat.

We swam a couple of times and again the water felt so delicious.  The water is teaming with life and Christine really likes looking at all the fish.  We then walked back around to “our” rocks and Christine had one last swim.  This is where the Maltese ladies on jellyfish patrol hang out and the woman who helped Christine translate some Maltese words.  It nice that we struck up a rapport with these locals and they wished us a bon voyage.  We got teary during our last few minutes before packing up and walking back to the flat.

We spent the rest of the day getting organized and packing.  We don’t want to leave!

We’re heading to Peppi’s across the street for a pitcher of sangria and a Maltija pizza for our last meal in Malta.

This has been a fantastic trip.  We’ve seen so many beautiful and interesting things, met so many wonderful people, had a great time with Eve during her 2 visits, learned a whole lot, walked through a great deal of history and Malta, had loads of fun, had only a couple of misadventures, and just had a great trip.  This has been an adventure, one that we will relish for the rest of our lives.

And so the sun sets on our Maltese adventure.

20160629_202145 (1024x576)
Sunset at St. Julian’s Bay

We’ve had a grand time!  I wonder where our next adventure will take us?

The end of our Maltese adventure
The end of our Maltese adventure

06-27-2016: The final days

It’s very hard to believe that our time in Malta is nearly at an end.  Neither of us wants to leave, and yet we’re both anxious to get home.  Now that the temperatures are getting in to the 90s on a daily basis, the very hot, humid weather is draining and I don’t like it much.  I’m glad we’re leaving before the hottest of the summer months, July and August.

We’re spending our last couple of days just enjoying things that we’ve done and being rather nostalgic about our adventure in Malta.  Both Saturday and Sunday evening we strolled along the esplanade in the late evening.  Sunday evening was very warm and there were loads of people out walking.  I love walking by benches full of older Maltese folk who are loudly talking, loudly being the operative word, with their neighbors and friends. When we went out it was nearly 10:00 p.m. and the esplanade was jammed with people.  I think the Maltese don’t want the weekend to end and so they squeeze out the last drops of the weekend well in to late Sunday evening.  The restaurants were still full with people having a late dinner and lingering over a drink.  And every bar and restaurant has the Euro 2016 football tournament on and so you can hear cheering all around the bay when there is a score.

St. Julian’s Bay is really pretty at night with all it’s lights.  It all seems so familiar now and we love hanging over the esplanade railing just looking out across the bay and drinking in the atmosphere and the beauty of the night and listening to the water lap along the shoreline.

Monday morning was another gorgeous day.  Other than the freak thunderstorm we experienced on Friday, the weather has just been grand.  The wind died down after the first month and a half, so pegging up our laundry on the roof has become a mundane chore, not a thrilling job requiring tremendous dexterity and timing to prevent our undies from flying all over the neighborhood in 30 mph winds.  And have I mentioned what a great view we have from our balcony???

Hard not to love looking at that.  And here’s our little home away from home.

20160626_190720 (1024x576)
Hone away from home

We’ve gotten so used to our little flat.  Despite the issues encountered, it’s been a great place to stay.  The one downside is the traffic noise.  The building is on the busiest street in Sliema.  I’ve written an email to the Sliema Local Council about the problem of motorcycle and sports car noise pollution.  The stretch in front of our building seems to be the favorite area for revving engines, peeling tires and overdrive screaming.  I suggested a police presence in this area to curb some of the horrendous noise that comes from idiots who just have to speed down the street.  I haven’t gotten a reply (surprised??).

We went to visit Mary Caruana again on Monday.  Our first visit was such a fantastic experience and she seemed so happy that we visited.  Our first visit we had taken some photos on an iPad to show her – family photos that Christine had – but Mary kept touching the screen and the photos kept closing.  So that wasn’t a good way for Mary to view the photos.  Christine has spent a good amount of time over the last week or two making sheets of photos with notes written in large font to give to Mary.  So we went to see her again.  No drama about getting to the right ward this time around.

Mary remembered us and was happy to see us, although we thought she was just a bit less sharp today.  She seemed to perseverate quite a bit (repetitive comments and sounds) and just seemed more anxious.  The nursing officer we talked with said that she has refused to take some medication that would help these symptoms.  We also asked the nurse whether or not hearing aids could be obtained.  He said that this was being discussed but that he thought she would probably refuse them.  It is a shame because having a conversation with her is nearly impossible due to her deafness.  We had written a list of questions so Mary could read the question and then answer.  The questions were designed so that we could learn more about her upbringing and life.

Mary was orphaned at age 5, both parents having died from TB at very young ages, her father was 27 and her mother was 24.  She lived in a home run by nuns in Valletta until the age of 18, however, she did maintain a relationship with her parents’ parents during that time and after leaving the home, she became an important part of the family, caring for both the young and the old.  It was interesting listening to her talk about her life and she seemed to be quite happy with her life and was proud of her caretaking role.  But she did manage to have a full life of her own with friends, travel, reading, singing and playing the piano.  After all, she is a Gemini whose god is Mercury, the god of communication.  I think it is interesting that she is very much into astrology.  She talked also a great deal of how good a friend Rose, Christine’s mother, was and what fun they had together.

We did obtain the name and phone number for the person who takes care of Mary’s affairs.  Christine called her and we will be meeting her on Tuesday.  Now that we’ve met Mary, we wish to keep updated on her condition.  We can pass on to Louis in Australia information about Mary.  And, Lou, Mary asked that she be remembered to you again and sends you her love.

Later in the afternoon, we went around the rocks to the sea side (shade from the shadow of the esplanade wall) and went swimming.  As Christine describes it, the water was “delicious.”  And after our travels in the hot weather today, the water felt especially good.  We spent a long time sitting and watching all the boat activity.  Where we were sitting, we could watch scores and scores of boats heading back to marinas in the creeks around Marsamxett and Grand harbors.  We’re going to miss all this, but watching all the boats go round Geneganslet Lake is pretty nice, too!

Monday evening Italy won its Euro 2016 match against Spain in the Round of 16, advancing to the quarterfinals.  It was bedlam out on Tower Road with cars honking full of Italy flag-waving people cheering which went on for what seemed like hours.  Malta is only about 50 miles from Sicily and its ties to Italy are pretty strong.

We’re working on our transition back to our “normal” life.  But we’re somewhat stressed by all the packing ahead and cleaning out the apartment.  We learned that Air Malta, the carrier for our first travel leg, has severe restrictions on luggage size and weight, so we’re in a big quandary about what to do.  We’ve already shipped home a box weighing 28 pounds.  The weight restriction is 44 pounds (20 kg) for checked bags, and we’re used to U.S. baggage weights of 50 pounds.  Also, Air Malta has size and weight restrictions for carry-on bags, and we’re no where near those restrictions.  So, we’ll need to figure out what our most strategic packing method should be to reduce as much as possible the extra weight fees we’re going to have to pay  Ugh!  This stuff is very stressful.  And of course, we brought way too much stuff to begin with, and have added to it.  When will we ever learn to pack light?

So, we’re down to two days left in Malta, and they will be busy days getting prepared for our trip home.

 

06-25-2016: House names, icons and balustrades

We love wandering around the streets of Sliema, and truth be told, we still get lost in the hodgepodge of narrow streets.  But no matter, the more lost we get, the more fun we have traversing known and unknown streets.  As you know, I have a fascination with the architecture of the old Maltese houses, the two or three story limestone houses with balconies, fancy balustrades, double doors, and shuttered windows.  Once off the main tourist roads, the streets are lined with these types of houses, block upon block.  Many of the houses are vacant or in considerable disrepair.  And, many are under total gutting and renovation, but less so the farther away from the main tourist areas.  Elders still sit between the outer and inner door watching the world go by, men congregate in the shade at a corner and yak, woman stand at the entrances to small shops catching up on the gossip.  It really seems like another world when we get off the beaten track.  And we love it!

Today Christine needed to return some books to the library.  Cousin Carol very nicely arranged for Christine to use Rowena’s (her daughter’s) card so Christine has been filling herself full of Melitensia, novels about Maltese history and culture.  She’s made a friend of the librarian who today told her to pick out a book from a certain table to read on the airplane, no return necessary.  How nice!

After the library, Christine wanted to find Mary Caruana’s neighborhood again and go to the confectioner’s shop to thank the proprietors for filling Joe in on Mary’s whereabouts when he was being a detective in Mary’s neighborhood working to find out information about Mary.  We were happy to meet Cecilia and Manuel and give them our thanks, and were even happier to learn that they also visited Mary for her birthday.  Nice to know that Mary does receives some visitors.

We then wandered around until we found our way home enjoying all the assorted architecture and decorations seen along the streets.

In addition to doors and door knockers, I have been collecting photos of house names.  It is so interesting that many of the houses along the streets have been named.  Most of the names are visible in older style carvings or painting on the limestone.  But, there also appears to be quite a fondness for hand-painted tiles.  You can walk down the street and see very interesting house names, which become part of the address.  We’ve seen U.S. state names, city names, directions, likely family names, personal names like Rose, Misty, William, and Billy, whimsical names, and saint names, lots and lots of saint names.  Here are a bunch of photos of house names.

You might have noticed that some of the above names also had little religious icons.  Well, with Malta being 95% Roman Catholic, it is not surprising that there is religious iconography everywhere.  Most houses have a small religious icon on the exterior wall by the front door.  Some of these icons are elaborate and some are quite simple, some are really beautiful and some not so much.  Many have a light above so that the icon is illuminated at night.  Here’s a sample of the icons we’ve seen.

Also, in many neighborhoods, at street corners, is a niche containing some religious statue.  And, you will find niches all over the place, some very small, others quite large, along buildings, in vacant spaces, and in parks.  The Catholic Church is quite dominant in Malta and I have been totally amazed by the huge Catholic churches in every small village, and I mean huge buildings, all ornately decorated.  I wonder how there are enough priests to preside over all these churches and money to maintain these large buildings.  We learned that there are some 372 Catholic churches in Malta, meaning one could visit a different church every day and still not see them all in a year.  Here are a couple of the corner niches we’ve seen.

With all this Catholic iconography everywhere, I take great delight in seeing the balcony balustrades.  Some are just very nice limestone carvings in geometric patterns.  Others are classic figures seen all around the world, like lions and gargoyles.  And others still are quite irreverent.

There is just so much of interest to explore in Malta.  We definitely need to come back to continue the adventure.

06-24-2016: Celebrating a Birthday

June 24th is Christine’s 68th birthday and we get to celebrate this occasion in her homeland.  Actually, this is the second time we’ve had the privilege and delight of doing this because in 1985, we were here in Malta celebrating her 37th birthday.  My, my, how time does fly!

Christine wanted to go to Mdina for her birthday (yeah!) and do a couple of things.  As you might recall, I had promised her that we would do a karozzin ride.  That promise was made in Valletta, but we decided that a karozzin ride would be a little less scary if we did it in Mdina since there are fewer hills.  I have a fear that going down some of those steep hills in Valletta that the horse might slip on the pavement, which is very slippery in places due to wear in the cobblestone.  So we planned to do a karozzin ride in Mdina where most of the streets are level.  She also wanted to do this little train ride, not in an actual train, but a vehicle that was made up to look like a train with 3 cars attached.  The tour was a 25 minute ride through old Rabat and then to Mtarfa, the town on the hill across the valley.  And then we were going to go to lunch at Palazzo de Piro.

We set off for Mdina on the #202 bus.  We got seats, and I wanted to sit on the right-hand side to try and get a good photo of Mdina up on the hill.  It’s amazing that one can actually get some pretty good shots bumping along on a bus looking through a dirty bus window.  Going through Mosta, I got this nice shot of the Mosta dome.  It really is a very beautiful church, Church of Our Lady of Assumption.

Mosta Dome
Mosta Dome

As we were getting closer to Mdina, I got ready to snap away.  If I was lucky, there’s a roundabout and then a traffic light where the view is nice.  And, yes!  The bus stopped at the light long enough for me to take this picture.

Mdina
Mdina

And then just up the hill, through the dirty bus window came this shot.

Mdina
Mdina

A couple of other nice ones will come up a little later.  After arriving in Rabat, we checked out a couple of souvenir places.  We are so bad about all that and don’t like shopping, so we’ve been kind of stressed about finding a few things for our loved ones.  We’ve put off souvenir shopping until the last minute.  So be warned, loved ones!  Souvenirs aren’t our thing.

We then went on our little train ride, which was fun and we got to see lots of things that we knew nothing about.  But just as we were starting, we had to wait as many beautiful old cars went by and down the hill into the Mdina lower gate.  We wondered if there was some kind of antique car show going on down in the moat (it’s not really a moat, but we don’t know what to call the ditch around the fortress walls).  We’d check that out when we got done with our train ride.

Off on the train ride we went.  We went through the Rabat old city, which we knew nothing about.  Too bad we didn’t know, because we would have enjoyed wandering around its narrow streets and historic places.  That will be on our list of things to do our next trip to Malta.  We went by St. Agatha’s Church, St. Paul’s Church, the Wignacourt Museum, the St. Paul’s Catacomb complex, and through these very, very narrow streets.

And then on to Mtarfa.  This is an ancient suburb of Mdina.  Unfortunately, most of the Roman era buildings have been destroyed, which is unfortunate.  The British moved in to Mtarfa in the mid-1800s and began building barracks and administrative buildings.  There is a clocktower, built in 1895, that is the emblem for Mtarfa.  Also, the British built a large naval hospital here, which can be prominently seen high on the Mtarfa ridge.  Christine has vague childhood memories of visiting her father here when he was hospitalized at this naval hospital for treatment of an ailment. The hospital is now a secondary school.  The barracks have been converted into a very large nursing home.

There were a couple of scenic overlooks that provided very nice views of the Maltese countryside.

We also got a scenic lookout of Mdina and Christine got a couple of really nice shots.

We also learned a little more about the Maltese railroad, which was the only railroad ever built in Malta.  It ran from Valletta to Mdina.  It operated from 1883 to 1931.  It was about 7 miles long and the trip took about half-an-hour.  Like many railroads, it was never financially sound, and so it stopped operations in 1931.

At the end of our train ride, we walked down to the moat to look at the antique cars.  This was just an Old Cars Club and every once in a while, the members get together for an outing.  Lucky for us that we got to see some of these beauties.

We then wandered in to Mdina and stolled some of the streets.  We went to watch the Mdina Experience movie, which wasn’t what we thought it would be.  It was another history lesson about all the conquering forces over time with just the added information about how all that affected Mdina.  It was good reinforcement, though, and we now think we’d be able to give a fairly adequate history lesson about Malta.

The weather was quite overcast, and as we were walking around, there were a few raindrops, but then the sun would come back out.  We made our way to Palazzo de Piro.  We checked out the upper terrace, where there are striking views, but the tables were in the sun without umbrellas because it was too windy to put up the umbrellas.  We didn’t see a table inside to our liking, so we walked down the street to Fontanella’s, another nice Mdina restaurant.  We went up to their upper terrace where there weren’t any vacant tables, but they did have an enclosed area.  We sat down, but with the windows not open, we found it very hot, so we moved on.

We both thought of a sweet little place called Coogi’s, and headed there.  Coogi’s has a small courtyard with tables under umbrellas, an inside, and a terrace out the back.  With the weather a little iffy, we opted for a courtyard table under an umbrella.  As it turned out, this was a lovely spot for a birthday lunch.  We shared a Maltese platter and a rocket salad, with Cisk for me and an iced cappuccino for Christine.  It was really nice, and the umbrella proved to be valuable, because it did spit raindrops a couple of times while we were having lunch.  Christine did most of the picture taking here (why didn’t I???) and so there aren’t many shots of her.  And we still need more practice with selfies!

By now, it was growing very dark, not from lateness, but from storm clouds.  Neither of us was much in the mood for a karozzin ride at this point.  Guess we’ll need to save that for our next trip.  We decided to head back to the bus stop.  On our way, we picked up a couple of souvenirs that we spotted during the morning.  We didn’t want to carry them around all day, but now we had our purchases.  We got to the bus stop and were able to take a seat at the bus shelter.  As we sat there, it began to pour down rain.  Before we knew it, about 25 people came running into the bus shelter, packing themselves in to the relatively small space.  Everyone was pushed in so that we were kind of trapped at the back, seated, so all we could see were peoples backs and bottoms.  And then a whopping big thunderstorm began.  There was one huge crackle of lightening and boom of thunder about a second apart which shut everyone up at the bus shelter since it was really scary.  A few seconds later, everyone was talked with great animation all at once, probably because we were all scared to death.

Eventually the #202 came and we all got pretty soaked getting on the bus.  We got seats, fortunately.  At the next stop, there was no bus shelter and all the people getting on the bus were absolutely soaked to the skin.  It was an unusual occurrence, this big thunderstorm and long downpour.  Summer is not the rainy season in Malta.  There was so much rain that all the streets were like rivers, of course, since most of the streets are downhill.  The ground is so dry that so much rain just bounced off the ground and ran downhill.  I’m sure the farmers were happy to see the rain.  Christine said it was her birthday present to Malta – a good rain.  She took some pictures out the bus window because the bus was running through lakes and rivers of groundwater throwing up big sprays.  I’m sure lots of people walking along the streets and roads were even more soaked when the bus came by.

The thunderstorm lasted quite a while and we saw huge bolts of lightening right down to the ground.  After about a half hour, the thunderstorm subsided and just a little rain continued.  We were happy to be back home when we arrived.  But, we walked in to the flat and turned on the lights.  Nothing!  We clearly had lost power.  It was just in our flat, though, since the elevator worked and the hall light could be turned on.  So, a phone call to the flat manager.  We’re so glad that we now have a new number for him.  Christine talked with him and he instructed her on what to do to reset the circuit breakers which were hidden behind a picture frame on the wall.  But that didn’t work.  He then instructed us to go to the first floor into a little room and find the main circuit board for our flat.  We found something for #8 and flipped the switches down and up.  Back up to the flat, but the lights still weren’t on.  The flat manager said he’d come.  In about 15 minutes, we were waiting for the guy to come, and then we heard the telltale beep of the microwave, so he must be in the main circuit room.

The guy arrived and walked us through all the instructions.  He took us back to the main circuit room.  Oh, we didn’t see the box higher up than the #8 box we fiddled with.  So once the breakers were reset in the main circuit, we had lights.  Again, we’re so glad we can now get in touch with the flat manager.  And, while he was there, we told him that the AC wasn’t working.  He said he didn’t know anything about AC, but said he’d be back in a minute.  A minute later, back he came with a young fellow in tow who fiddled with the AC remote for several minutes and figured out how to correctly work the AC unit.  Wish we had had AC during the heat wave last week!  But now, if it gets hot again, we’ll be ready.

What a day we had!  But, all in all, I think Christine did have a good birthday.  Some of the happenings certainly will be long-remembered.  Happy 68th birthday, Christine!

 

06-23-2016: Addolorata

When Christine emigrated to the United States (the rest of the world calls us America) in 1961, one of the troubling aspects of that for her was leaving her grandmother Rosina.  With the Tyrrell emigration, that meant that the last of Rosina’s 6 children had left Malta.  Christine was very troubled by the thought of Rosina being alone.  During our time here in Malta, Christine has talked with her cousin Carol a lot about all the family connections.  As you might recall, Christine’s and Carol’s grandmothers were sisters, so Rosina’s sister was Carmela.  In talking with Carol, we learned that there is a family chapel in a cemetery where many of the family are buried, including her beloved grandmother Rosina.  It was important to Christine to visit the cemetery, so that was our outing for today.

Addolorata Cemetary, the official name is Santa Maria Addolorata (Our Lady of Sorrows), is a famous cemetery widely known as one of the world’s great cemeteries.  The cemetery dates back to 1869 and contains several buildings built by the Maltese architect Emanuel Galizia.  One of the features of the cemetery is a very large cemetery chapel, limestone of course, that sits high on a hill overlooking the cemetery and it is quite dramatic due to all the steps leading up to the chapel.  Unfortunately, the Franciscan monks have decided they can no longer maintain this huge chapel, so it is now closed to the public.  But the cemetery gates, the administrative office buildings, and other buildings are wonderful in all their neo-Gothicism.

We wanted to find the Chetcuti family chapel, which is the grandmothers’ (Christine’s and Carol’s) maiden name.  We went in to the office and asked.  We weren’t sure of any dates of death, which is mostly how people are identified in the cemetery database, and so Christine called Carol and, as her father’s death and burial in the family chapel occurred in 1990, that was a more recent date that could be searched because Carol knew the exact date of her father’s death.  The helpful guys in the office found the information and showed us on a map how to find the Chetcuti chapel.  It was quite easy to find and rather near the entrance, plot west A-D-8.

The Chetcuti chapel was built in 1892 and it is a gorgeous little building.  The limestone carving all over the chapel is really fantastic.  Carol keeps saying that the guy who built the chapel must have been rich because it is one of the most ornate family chapels in the cemetery.  We could not enter the family chapel because we didn’t have a key, but we could peer through the window, of the front doors.  Unfortunately, the window was quite dirty so it was difficult to see inside.  However, after figuring out the lay of the land, so to speak, Christine spotted a plaque that had Rosina’s name and date of death and age.  She was 77 at the time of her death, May 9, 1970.  We also spotted Carol’s grandmother’s plaque, Carmela, and a couple of their siblings.  These family chapels are where family members are buried in sort of a group grave and then memorial plaques are made and installed around the walls of the chapel.  And there is a little altar where photos and other mementos are placed.

After visiting the Chetcuti Chapel, we walked around a great deal of the cemetery.  What an interesting place.  There are numerous shady lanes, and like most large cemeteries, the lanes create a grid for each of the sections.  There are thousands of people buried at Addolorata, including a section of Commonweath War Graves from WWI.

The family chapels and mausoleums were quite beautiful, each very ornately carved.

Apparently, one of the customs in Malta is to have photos of the dead on memorial plaques.  Since people are buried in family graves, meaning shared graves, there are no tombstones for each person.  Rather, on top of the common grave are small memorial plaques, and most have photos.  It was somewhat strange walking along have all these pictures looking at you, but it was fun reading the names and seeing what the people looked like.

20160623_110758 (1024x576)

Some of the statuary in the cemetery was interesting, and there was a lot of it.

We eventually made our way back towards the entrance.  I noticed some gargoyles around the administrative buildings.  I took a couple of photos of them for my brother Grant.  He likes these things, and he’s gotten me hooked on looking around for all the various kinds of carvings there are like these.

Also near the entrance is a very nice curved, arched portico.  We’re nuts for anything with arches.

We’re glad we made our visit to Addolorata Cemetery.  It really was an interesting place to walk around and I find it fascinating to learn a little about the cultural and religious aspects of death and how families deal with all that.  Funerals are a big celebratory activity here in Malta and lots of effort goes in to honoring the departed.  It was clear from all the fresh flowers all over the cemetery that families continue to honor their dear departed loved ones.

Addolorata is really a lovely cemetery and I thought, gee, this would have been a great place to be buried if we had died from our contaminated water.  I’m still creeped out from that ordeal!

After we got back to the flat, had lunch, and rested a bit, we then headed out to go swimming.  The sea has warmed up to 72 degrees and is very swimmable now.  We walked around Exile Point to where we would find shade, near where we were with Eve the other day.  We went into the sea via a nice ramp and ladder.  The water was so lovely!  But, we had to be cautious because the current was quite strong and carried us both out to sea and down the rocks very quickly.  We had to pay attention and stay close to the ramp so we weren’t carried off.  There were lots of snorkelers around and I wished we hadn’t lost our gear because the rocks were colorful and Christine said there were lots of fish to be seen.  She had her swimming goggles on and could see some of the wonderful stuff below the surface.

After a while we got out and dried off in the sun.  We then walked back around Exile Point to “our” place on the rocks.  We went swimming again, but surprisingly, the water wasn’t as clear as usual and there was lots of sea grass floating about.  We didn’t stay in the water long, but we enjoyed sitting and watching all the people on the rocks and in the water.

We eventually returned home and each had a nice hot shower (with relatively clean water!).  We made a big salad and enjoyed some leftover pizza for dinner.  A nice two-masted sailing vessel anchored in the bay,  the Kairos from Amsterdam.  I have really enjoyed keeping track of all the comings and goings in the bay.  I’m happy to have binoculars to aid in seeing what’s going on.

20160624_063703 (1024x576)
Sailing yacht in the bay

So, another wonderful day in Malta!  Sadly, our days are numbered in Malta because we depart next Thursday.

06-22-2016: When things go wrong in your rental flat

Just a little update for those of you wondering why you haven’t seen a post for a few days.  No pics, just a long story.

Last Friday, the water in the flat started to lessen in pressure.  We didn’t think too much of it at first and went on about our business on our last day with Eve.  Saturday, after Eve’s departure, we just lazed around the flat and kept commenting to each other that the water was barely trickling out of the faucets.  On Sunday, after a few seconds of water dribble, then there was nothing.  Now, the household water is not potable, so we haven’t been drinking the tap water, except for boiling water for coffee and brushing our teeth.  But for washing dishes and showering, having just a trickle of water is a real issue.

I haven’t mentioned that the flat manager has been MIA since the day we arrived.  His sister has been our cleaning lady, who comes every week.  One week she told us that the flat manager no longer had a cellphone and to reach him with any issues, call her and she’d relay the message.  When the water problem became a serious problem, we called the cleaning lady.  We had to leave a message.  And, there was no return phone call.  We tried again, leaving a more forceful message.  We even texted her.  Nothing.  So, Christine started emailing the flat owners.  For the last several weeks, we had been getting emails from the owners about their problem in contacting the flat manager.  We became their messenger with the cleaning lady over the weeks, trying to get her to relay the message that the owners needed her brother to call them.  It got to be very uncomfortable being in the middle of all this.  But now, we needed help.

Christine went around to other flats in the building trying to find out if anyone was having water pressure issues.  From our next door neighbor, we learned how the water works in the building.  Each flat has its own holding tank up on the roof.  The water main feeds each tank, and through gravity, the tank water flows to the apartment.  There is a large ballcock in the tank that triggers the water main valve when the tank needs to be filled.  So, this water problem was unique to us.  The neighbor also told us that the cover to our tank, over the years, has been blown off and he has told our flat manager many times of this issue.  We thought that might have something to do with the problem.

Meanwhile, Christine is carrying on an email conversation with the flat owners.  This all means that we’re unable to leave the flat and go do anything because we needed to be communicating and planning how this was going to be fixed.  The cleaning lady was expected on Monday and we stayed in to be here when she came.  No big surprise that she was a no show since she hadn’t responded to any of our messages.

The owners contacted the building management company, thank goodness, and after some negotiating on Monday, the management company agreed to send a plumber over on Tuesday to see what the problem was.  Meanwhile, having heard from the neighbor about the cover blowing off our tank, I climb up a ladder on the roof and went to see our tank.  And boy, am I sorry I did that.  Seeing what was in our tank, and thinking about all the showers we had taken in that water, in addition to all the other things we used the water for, I’m surprised we’re not dead from poisoning.  Suffice to say, our water was disgusting.

Shortly after I came back to the flat, a very nice plumber knocked on our door and said he had been on the roof and looked at our tank.  Even he was creeped out by what he saw.  He did find that our water pressure problem was caused by air in the pipes and so he fixed that problem.  But, he advised us not to use the water for anything, including showering because he felt the water was dangerous.  Yikes!  He said the solution was to have the tank drained and disinfected.

So back to emails with the owners and calls to the management company.  Then, while all this was going on, there was a knock at the door and, surprise, there was our flat manager.  He was there to tell us that the cleaning lady was no longer working for him and he was here to drop off clean sheets and towels for us (no cleaning of the flat, though).  Then, did he ever get an earful from us!  He claimed he never got any messages from his sister and he knew nothing about the water problem.  After we explained everything, out the door he went saying that he would take care of it.  So, then more emailing back and forth with the owners to let them know the flat manager was back in the picture.  I think then there were even some phone calls with the owners.  One positive, though, is that we now have a cellphone number for the flat manager.

Wednesday, a couple of plumbers showed up who did the job of draining the tank and cleaning it, taking out the dead bird and whatever else they found.  They came to the flat and told us it would take a couple of hours for the water main to fill the tank.  We waited 3 hours and then ran the water.  The pressure was good, but the hot water smelled bad.  Of course, they had not drained the hot water tank, so it was full of the putrid water.  We then ran the hot water for several hours to empty and refill the hot water tank.  Eventually, by late evening, it appeared that all was okay with our water.

But what a 5 day nightmare this has been!  I really can’t believe that we didn’t get sick from that disgusting water.  If anything makes me want to get home, this experience certainly has.  I’m so glad that we were able to contact the owners, who have been very concerned and took action to take care of this problem.  They live in California, so they’ve had to deal with all this long distance.

We celebrated the end of our ordeal Wednesday night by going across the street to Peppi’s and having pizza and a pitcher of Sangria.  Hopefully, we’ll be able to enjoy our final week in Malta and leave on a much more positive note.

 

06-17-2016: Another Beach Day

We had a rather lazy morning and didn’t get moving too quickly.  Eve, on the other hand, went out to breakfast at il-Gabanna, a kiosk restaurant on the Sliema esplanade.  We weren’t checking our messages and as a result, didn’t get ourselves moving in order to join her.  But we did make a plan to meet her on the rocks on the sea side of the front near the Surfside Restaurant.  This would be a nostalgic “beach” day because this is a spot where we swam back in 1985.

We got ourselves together, packed a little lunch and met Eve on the rocks, who was spread out to hold a spot.  It does fill up quickly in this area as there is a little shallow lagoon created by a short wall across an opening in the rocks.  There is also a lifeguard station nearby and so families with young children, who can play in the water at the edge of the lagoon, tend to congregate there.  Also, just off the rocks in the sea is a popular snorkeling place, although the sea was a little rough today and snorkeling would have been a challenge.  Although, we saw several people give it a go.

It was lovely being there.  I brought my beach chair and umbrella, and although there was no place to stick the umbrella into, I could comfortably hold it giving Christine some needed shade.  People watching is my favorite thing to do and people provided me with lots of entertainment.  It’s not funny that getting into the lagoon is difficult due to the rocks being slippery, but it is fun to watch the various techniques employed by those trying to get into the water.  Also, the little wall across the mouth of the lagoon is used by many to cross the lagoon rather than walking around it on the rocks.  With the rather rough sea, waves were hitting the wall and going over it.  That, plus the slipperiness of the top of the wall, made for some humorous crossings.  I’m happy to report no one fell down, but a few got a good soaking when a wave slopped water up on them, much to their surprise.

The water was so refreshing and Christine and I paddled around in the lagoon, as did Eve.  I really wanted to go out into the sea on the other side of the wall, but that would have meant getting out of the lagoon on the slippery rocks and walking out to a point on the rocks where there was a ladder to enter the sea.  That seemed like a little too much work, so staying in the lagoon made more sense.

This is what a Maltese holiday should be!

Sun, "beach" and a good book
Sun, “beach” and a good book

We lazed on the rocks, read, got back in the water, and thoroughly enjoyed being at this spot.  After a while, shade and a beverage were calling to us so we packed up and went to the nearby Surfside and sat out on their covered patio and had drinks.  That was a lovely spot – in the shade with a cooling breeze, a stone’s throw from the Mediterranean, the three of us together.

After a while, I decided to finally go get in one of those Victorian ladies’ bathing pools.  Over the weeks, every time we passed them by during our walks on the rocks, those pools had called to me, so today was the day.  I sampled a couple of them.  They are varying depths and sizes, most with a helpful ladder installed, but some with only rough steps carved into the limestone.  With the sea a bit rough, the pools were getting foamy waves coming in, which made it necessary to pay attention lest you get slapped in the face with water.  It was great fun and I am glad I finally got to visit these pools.

 

By now, the position of the sun meant that the wall below the esplanade would provide some shade in some areas along the rocks so we staked out a place and spent more time lounging.  Shortly, a group of young people came along and plunked down nearby and played their music rather loudly, which annoyed me, but that’s the way it goes in shared spaces.

Down on the rocks at the waterline was a ramp for entering the water.  Christine and I went down to the bottom of the ramp and held on tight because the waves were breaking in and coming up about waist high.  I couldn’t resist getting in to the water here and eventually dove it.  The water is so clear and I could tell that this would also be a great spot for snorkeling with all the rocks and various colorful areas and fish.  I spent quite a bit of time going in and out of the water and having fun timing my entrance onto the ramp with the waves.  It was a great spot for swimming, but you have to be cautious both because the waves could push you into the sharp rocks nearer to shore, and also you get pulled out farther than you realize fairly quickly if you’re not paying attention.  But, I think on a bit calmer day next week, Christine and I will try to swim here again.

After that, Christine and I headed home for our afternoon siesta.  Eve stayed on the rocks a bit longer and partook of bathing in the Victorian pools as well.

We had a plan to meet Fran, Carol’s daughter, for dinner.  Originally, we were going to be 8 – Carol, Joe, Fran, Julian, Rowena and us 3 – but Carol is ailing again with her back and now foot pain.  Rowena has also been ill, and Joe and Julian are working on renovating some flats.     Eight turned in to four.

We were meeting Fran at 8:00 and I thought since Eve had mentioned she’d like to see the Cavalieri Art Hotel, that we’d go there for a drink before dinner at il-Fortizza.  We hopped on a bus going around the bays and got off in St. Julian’s and walked down the street to the hotel.  We passed by the Cat Village, which I had mentioned to Eve.  Eve is a great cat lover and always enjoys seeing cats and never passes an opportunity to pet a cat.

We then arrived at the Cavalieri and went out onto their patio.  Eve said it is interesting to see across St. Julian’s Bay from a different perspective, which is exactly what we said the day we had our cappuccino there months ago (I think it was during our first week in Malta).  We enjoyed sitting out on the patio taking in the sights.  We then wandered around a bit looking at the art work on display.  We went out on another terrace and tried taking some selfies of the 3 of us together.  We have no luck with selfies.  I guess we need a lot more practice.

Need more practice!
Need more practice!

We hopped back on a bus and got off near il-Fortizza.  We got seated at a table outside.  It has been unusually warm the past week in Malta, 90+ degrees, and it was very hot even sitting outside.  Soon Fran arrived and we had a delightful dinner and evening with her.  Eve and Fran hit it off and they did most of the talking, comparing notes about teaching, films, books, touring in Europe and many other topics.  It was great seeing them so animated in their conversation and obviously enjoying themselves.  I know it means a great deal to Christine for Eve to have a connection to someone in Malta, nicer still that it is family.

So a great evening was had by all, but now it was time to bid Eve adieu.  She is flying out in the morning.  I can’t believe the week went by so quickly, or so it seemed to us.  It was a wonderful week sharing Malta with Eve.  And I think we struck a nice balance between together time and apart time.  We did a lot of fun things and revisited our time here in 1985 via our memories.  It has been a very nice visit with Eve, but she’s back to London for a day and then on to Burlington, which she is so looking forward to.  She’ll be in Vermont until August 1, then back to London for year 2 at ASL.  We don’t know when we’ll see her again.

20160617_225406 (1024x576)
Our final evening out together

Again I’ll say it was a very nice week with Eve and so wonderful sharing Malta with her.  I think she’s also been bitten by the Malta bug.  Who knows, maybe we’ll all 3 be together in Malta again in the future.  I hope so!

 

06-16-2016: Ramla Bay, Gozo

Eve had mentioned that she might like to go to Gozo.  When we were there for our whirlwind Hop On Hop Off tour we had stopped at Calypso Cave and had a fantastic view of Ramla Beach and saw that it was a beautiful beach.  So, we decided that it would be fun to go to Ramla Beach for the day.  Christine really wanted to go via a cruise that stopped at 3 different beaches, but we didn’t pursue that.   I checked out the ferry and bus schedules.  We could get a bus right from the Mgarr (Gozo) ferry terminal to Ramla that would put us within a 10 minute walk to the beach.  So, that’s what we decided to do.

We set off early, on the 7:25 #222 bus to Cirkewwa.  Once again, with our good luck charm with us, we boarded a nearly empty, air conditioned bus, so we had a good 50 minute ride to the ferry terminal.  Unfortunately, we entered the terminal just as they closed the gate for the 8:00 ferry, so we had to wait for about 30 minutes for the next ferry.  Christine and I got cappuccinos.  We were the first in line for the ferry and over the next 30 minutes, several tour buses arrived and the terminal filled up.

We got on the ferry and enjoyed the 25 minute ride to Gozo.  We took in the sights of Comino and the rugged coastline of Gozo.  Our arrival in Mgarr didn’t coincide very well with the bus schedule to Ramla.  We would have had to wait for about 45 minutes for the bus.  To avoid waiting that long, we got a taxi.  A very nice Gozitan, Joe, chatted with us during the ride and we learned about his family and Christine related her family information, especially about emigrating, as Joe’s family also had emigrated, but now had returned.  All the while this conversation was going on, Joe sped through very narrow village streets at breakneck speed.  It should take about 15 minutes from the terminal to Ramla Beach.  We arrived in just under 8 minutes.  Even speeding, though, the ride down the hill to the beach provides breathtaking views of the fertile farming valley down to the blue Mediterranean Sea.  Just gorgeous!

As it turned out, today was not a good beach day.  Upon arriving, Christine and Eve rented sunbeds, but the vendor was not renting out umbrellas due to the wind.  We thought that if we walked to the left down the length of the beach to the base of the hill, we might get protected from the wind a bit.  So the guy carried the sunbeds down to that end for us.  The boardwalk enters the beach with about one-third of the beach to the left and two-thirds to the right.  The other reason we picked going left was that to the right, there was a school group of about 200, probably elementary age, kids playing organized relay games and they sounded like a huge, noisy, gaggle of geese, so we wanted to avoid that.

As soon as the sunbeds were set down, the wind came whipping down the entire length of the beach sandblasting us.  You could literally see the waves of sand approaching in the wind.  Within a minute, it became very clear that this was not a good idea to be on this beach today.  However, having come so far, and the beach being so beautiful, I wasn’t ready to give up.  All the way at the other end of the beach at the base of the hill, there were some rocks that looked like they might afford some protection from the wind.  The wind seemed to be coming the length of the beach from that direction, so maybe we could be out of the sandblasting down there.

Christine decided to go back to the restaurant area in the shade.  It was already 90 degrees and with relentless sun beating down.  But Eve and I walked down to the other end and plopped down behind a few rocks.  We even had a wee bit of shade from some shrubs and small trees on the hillside.  Unfortunately, our thought that the wind wasn’t coming in our direction was short-lived and we still got a little sandblasted.  Eve went in the water for a swim and enjoyed it immensely, which hopefully made this whole trek worthwhile.  Ramla really is a beautiful beach and bay.  And it just might be the only beach I’ve seen having a huge religious statue on the beach.

I walked back down to where our sunbeds were, thinking that I might carry at least one to where Eve was positioned.  That thought flew out of my head as soon as I tried picking one up.  It was too hot to struggle with it all the way down the beach.  I then went in search of Christine, who was under the awning at one of the restaurants.  It was pretty hot there, too, even in the shade.  I told her I was going to see if I could rent an umbrella that we could use as a wind screen and that we’d message her if that made it bearable to be on the beach.  While getting the umbrella, I told another guy about our sunbeds and he said he’d talk to the first guy and see if he’d carry them down to us at the other end.  That never happened.  The umbrella did help somewhat, providing a bit of a wind screen and protection from blowing sand and it gave me some shade as well.  We texted Christine and suggested she come join us.

When she got to us, she then held the umbrella while I went in the water.  It was so very refreshing!  When I came out of the water, it was Christine’s turn.  I think Eve also went back in.  Thereafter, we decided to call it quits on the beach and we packed up and trudged back up the beach to the boardwalk.  I tried to get a refund for the unused sunbeds, but no go.

We then sat at a table at Rosie’s Restaurant, doing business at Ramla Beach since the 1950s, and had lunch.  It was apropos that the name was Rosie’s, as Christine’s mother’s, and Eve’s grandmother’s, name was Rose.  So Rose was with us at least in name, but she was probably with us in spirit as well.

We called Joe, our taxi guy, for a pickup, and he came in 10 minutes and then sped us back to the ferry terminal.  This time, we were the last people to board the ferry as we entered just as the gate agent was shutting up.  There were very few people on the ferry at that time of day, I think we were on the 1:30 ferry, which was also a good sign for an easier time for getting on the bus.  Again, we enjoyed the ride back across the channel, taking in the beautiful sea views and the Gozo, Comino and Malta coastlines.

We did have an easy time getting the #222 back to Sliema, once again thanks to our lucky charm, Eve.  The bus was again nearly empty and air conditioned, so we had an easy ride back to Sliema.  Then it was time once again for a nap before going out for dinner.

If you recall, I had received a call from that tapas restaurant and given a secret word which would have entitled us to a bottle of wine or extra food.  We walked around the esplanade looking for this place, La Vida.  When we found it, it didn’t appeal to us as it was tiny and the football game was blaring from a large screen TV and there were several guys sitting and watching the game.

We then wandered around trying to decide where to eat.  We settled on Ta Kolina, which I had read has some of the best “real” Maltese food.  It was a very quaint place and we enjoyed the atmosphere inside, which was all limestone blocks and curved, vaulted ceilings.  We did have a very good dinner, although I don’t think we ordered anything “real” Maltese, but the food was delicious.  I had the second best plate of mussels I’ve ever had, the first best being in Montreal with our cruise 6-pack.

We did solve one mystery that has been on our minds, and that is just where the old Meadowbank Hotel was located.  We had stayed there in 1985.  The hotel and all the buildings that had been around that area have been torn down and tall apartment buildings have been built.  It doesn’t look anything like what we remembered of the area.  We couldn’t figure out just where the Meadowbank had been.  I thought that maybe the gentleman who was probably the owner of Ta Kolina would know.  Christine asked him how long he’d owned the restaurant and he said 43 years.  She then asked him if he knew where the Meadowbank had been and he said he lives in the building that was built on that spot.  He said it was directly across from the Surfside, and Christine had been right in her guess on which apartment building was on the Meadowbank location.  Mystery solved!

After dinner, we headed back around the esplanade.  On Thursday evenings there is a bar in Balluta that has a jazz night.  Christine has wanted to go, and there now being only 2 Thursday left in our Malta adventure, we had better go.  The place is called Electro Lobster Project and it has a nice restaurant upstairs in the beautiful old Balluta Building, and a little bar down from the street level.  There was a 3-piece band playing and we got drinks and sat listening to the band set.  It was a drummer and an electric and bass guitar.  They were okay, not what I would have really called jazz, but they played mostly American tunes upon which they improvised.

Electro Lobster Project bar
Electro Lobster Project bar

When the band took a break, we left and made our way back to our flat, said goodnight to Eve, and headed to bed.

Even though our Ramla Beach experience wasn’t the greatest, it still was nice to have seen the beach and swim in the beautiful bay.  Next time, we’ll heed the wind speeds and go when there won’t be any sandblasting going on.  But spending time with Eve is what this week is all about and, other than getting sandblasted, it was an enjoyable day.

06-15-2016: Ghajn Tuffieha

One of our favorite memories from our visit 30 years ago was a day spent at Ghajn Tuffieha beach, also known as Riviera Beach.  This is one of the few real sandy beaches in Malta and is very popular.  Its setting makes for a spectacular bit of scenery.

20160617_091207 (717x1024)
3 beaches in lower left quadrant of map

There are 3 sandy beaches on the northwest shore of Malta, Golden Bay, Ghajn Tuffieha and Gnejna Bay.  Golden Bay now has large hotels and is a tourist draw.  It has easier access to the beach.  Gnejna Beach is a favorite of the Maltese.  It is very difficult to get to and it is avoided by most tourist.  Ghan Tuffieha is in the middle.  All 3 are crescents of golden sand in crystal clear, or mostly so, turquoise water, although the sea grasses do make for some messy areas.  Between each of the bays are small peninsulas jutting out, headlands, that tower over the surrounding bays.  On the headland between Golden Bay and Ghajn Tuffieha sits a watch tower, standing guard over the area.  Between Ghajn Tuffieha and Gnejna Bay is a headland that looks like someone dropped a table up on the peninsula, as the top rocks are very flat.

Thanks to Malta Public Transport, we have door-to-door bus service to Ghajn Tuffieha from our flat.  We made an early go of it, wanting to beat some of the rush.  Our bus was nearly empty so we had seats the entire way and no sardine can “move back” needed.  It was about a 50 minute drive.  We had not been out in the countryside in the direction of Ghajn Tuffieha so it was interesting to drive through lots of farmland with rows and rows of rubble walls and green fields full of various crops.

Soon, we were at our stop at the top of the hill above Ghajn Tuffieha bay.  We all knew what awaited us – 150 steps down to the beach.  But what a wonderful view of the bay from the top.

As we were going down the stairs, I had to keep out of my head the thought of climbing up all those stairs in the hot sun later in the afternoon.  But, even with all those stairs, its a great beach and we were all happy to be going there.

Christine and Eve rented sunbeds and umbrellas.  I had my beach chair and umbrella, so I made do with those.  A fellow carried the stuff for us over to our chosen spot.

Our little piece of heaven
Our little piece of heaven

And it wasn’t long before we had all gotten wet in the lovely water.  It’s amazing how much the sea has warmed up since we’ve been here.  It was delightful, and NO jellyfish.  Eve and Christine swam all across the bay and back a couple of times.  I, on the other hand, enjoyed just bobbing along in the very calm sea water and enjoying the surroundings.

We had packed our lunch and had a nice little picnic on the beach.  We read and dozed and swam and had a great day.  After a while, I got a little restless and decided to go climb the path from the beach up to the headland.  The hardest part was walking the 50 yards or so of rocky beach.  It was pretty impossible to walk across those round fist-sized rocks in flip-flop-type sandals.  But once past that, the climb up the hill wasn’t too difficult.  And the views from up there were fabulous.  I could see all 3 bays and Gozo was off in the distance.  The craggy limestone of the headland rock was interesting to see.  And the eroded slide of earth down to Gnejna Bay was quite something.  It was a great little hike.

We enjoyed a little more sun and sea, and then packed up.  We stopped at the lido bar for a beverage prior to our climb up all those stairs.  And Eve was smart in suggesting that we save some of our beverages to enjoy at the top of the stairs.  Good thinking, Eve!  It was nice to be able to have a drink after all those steps.

Our bus wait wasn’t too long.  We took in the scenery while we waited.

Our bus was empty and air conditioned!  We believe Eve has been our lucky charm with transportation this week.  We should keep her around.  Once back in Sliema, we parted to go have naps and whatnot at our respective flats.

We reconvened and headed to Raffael’s for dinner.  We hopped on the bus to go around the bays to Spinola.  With the Euro 2016 football tournament going on, every place has TVs blaring the matches.  At the end of Spinola Bay someone had erected a big projection TV and set up a bar outdoors.  It’s interesting to hear cheering all around Spinola and Balluta bays when there is a score.

We had a very nice dinner at Raffael’s.  We sat out on the terrace and enjoyed the views of Spinola as the sun set and the lights came on.  We then strolled around the bays back towards our flat.  We stopped at the gelato place nearby and enjoyed some yummy gelato sitting on a bench across the street on the promenade.

It was then time to say goodnight and Eve headed back to her flat.  The day at Ghajn Tuffieha was great and it was so wonderful sharing it with Eve.  We had waited for her arrival to go to that beach and it was fun talking about what we each remembered from our visit there 30 years ago.

 

06-14-2016: Valletta

Today we decided to go to Valletta.  Eve wanted to try to find a spot to paint, and Christine and I wanted to find the Msida Bastion Garden of Rest.  So, off we went on the #13 bus.

Once at the bus terminus, we made our plan for joining back up for lunch and Eve went off down Republic Street to first stop at St. John’s Co-Cathedral.  We headed towards the Bastion Gardens, which is really a cemetery.  This was what we were looking for when we stumbled upon the Sa Maison Gardens.  It’s really right down the street, but on a lower level than Sa Maison.

The Historic Bastion Garden is kept by a group, Din l-Art Helwa, which is a volunteer foundation that, like Heritage Malta, has a prime objective of safeguarding Malta’s cultural heritage and natural environment.  I was surprised to learn that Din l-Art Helwa keeps St. Agatha’s Tower, the Red Tower, that I like seeing so much.  The organization has several other towers and chapels in their stead.

The earliest memorial found at this non-Catholic cemetery was 1806.  Most tombs are of British military personnel, civil servants and merchants, and their families, some of whose descendants are still in Malta.  Something is known of 530 people buried in the cemetery.  The cemetery was seldom used after 1856, and not at all after 1887.  The cemetery was heavily bombed during WWII.  This damage, as well as erosion of the soft stone over two hundred years, theft and vandalism had left the site derelict when, in 1988, Din l-Art Helwa together with the Government of Malta and the British High Commission decided to restore tombs where possible, and to open the gardens to the public.  The larger memorials are in their original locations.  Many other headstones have been saved and are placed along many of the stone walls throughout the gardens.

Although many of the memorials were quite eroded and it was difficult to read the inscriptions, some were readable and were interesting.  I found one that struck me as very British, “his bereaved widow erects this pillar in grateful remembrance of his affection and of his worth.”  Several of the memorials had the word “worth” included in some fashion.  And for my friend Scott, I took a picture of a tomb for the founder of the lodge of St. John and St. Paul at Malta.

This was a really nice place and we really enjoyed walking along the peaceful paths, reading some of the memorials, seeing the lovely colors of the plants and taking in the views of Marsamxett Harbor.  We met a couple of the volunteers who were tending the plants.  Both were octogenarians, certainly British, and both said it was a lot of work but they loved doing it.  We told them how much we appreciated their work and that we were enjoying the garden very much.

After visiting the garden, we decided to head to another garden, Upper Barrakka Garden.  It is a very hot day today and we thought we could find some shade and sit for a while.  We really didn’t have much energy to do much else because it was so hot.

On the way to Barrakka, we passed by a sculpture near St. Jame’s Cavalier that Christine likes, which was a nice photo op.

Then, as we were rounding Our Lady of Victories Church, Christine noticed that it was open.  It hasn’t been open during any of our other Valletta visits, so we stopped in.  This church was the first building built by the Knights in Valletta and was the conventional church of the Knights until they built St. John’s Co-Cathedral.  Our Lady of Victories is a much more intimate church, as it is not as large as St. John’s.  However, it is pretty spectacular with all its artwork.

We then found a little shade on a bench at Barrakka and enjoyed watching the people.  There were 2 cruise ships in port today, and so there were lots and lots of tour groups coming into the garden to take in the spectacular view of the Grand Harbor.  It was hot and crowded on the promenade, so we mostly enjoyed our shade and people watched.

It neared time to meet Eve for lunch, so we walked to the area around St. John’s and decided where to eat.  We were desperate to find some place in the shade and with a breeze.  We settled on Kantina’s where we had lunch on an earlier visit.  Eve joined us and we had a nice lunch.  The food is good and presented in an artistic fashion.

By now, it is mid-afternoon and we’re all ready for a nap, so we returned home.  Eve went back to her place and we made plans for dinner, eating in tonight.

Eve returned and we had drinks and Christine and Eve sat out on our little balcony.  I made omelets for dinner.  It was kind of nice eating in and just hanging out.  And so we ended a nice day.