Thursday, October 9, we laid low and I have nothing to report. Friday, October 10, we had arranged a coffee date with Bernadette Carabott which turned into a 4 hour gab fest. Let me try to explain our connection to Bernadette. Her mother, Olga, was the sister of Bice, Louis’s (our Aussie cousin) mother. In other words, Christine’s Uncle Joe was married to Bernadette’s Aunt Bice. So I guess that makes Christine a cousin by marriage. At any rate, we met Bernadette last year quite by accident at a party we attended given by the brother of one of Christine’s playmates back when we lived here as a child. She is a lovely women and we talked and talked. At one point, as we were talking about Louis, she pulled out her phone and we video called Louis. That was a blast. I’m sure he was totally surprised to hear from us.
Bernadette shared her stories and photos of her recent trip to Turkey. She loved Turkey and recommends a visit, but by tour, not on one’s own. She did a balloon ride there and had some amazing photos from that. She is advancing as a photographer and has entered some of her photos in an exhibition here. She’ll hear soon whether she was awarded a prize in the competition.
Bernadette walked with us down Tower Road to explain where she lived as a child and where others in the family lived. She was interested hearing that Christine lived in that lovely building just down from where she lived. It was a lovely time with Bernadette and we will catch up with here again when Tony (cousin from Australia) arrives later this month.
Friday evening we got a takeout pizza and enjoyed the view.
We were treated to a fireworks display over behind the hotel to the right of the Portomaso Tower.
Saturday, October 11, was a big day. It’s the Birgu Fest and I have been very enthralled by photos of this event. Birgu, one of the 3 Cities across the Grand Harbor from Valletta, lights its streets with candles. The photos I’ve seen of this are breathtaking, so I wanted to attend. We decided to go fairly early and spend the day in Birgu.
We bussed to Valletta, walked to Barrakka Gardens, and took the Barrakka lift down to the water level. We didn’t really want to risk getting into one of the dgħajsas that ferry tourists across, which is quite wobbly, so we opted for the regular ferry.
The ferry docks down the Dockyard Creek, the body of water between Birgu (also known as Vittoriosa) and Senglea (also known as L-Isla). At the end of Dockyard Creek is Cospicua (also known as Bormla). These cities combined are known as the 3 Cities. The first thing we did after arriving is find a nice outdoor cafe for a drink and snack. It was noon-ish when we arrived and it was going to be a long day, so we wanted to just take our time and enjoy.
We then walked to the old section of Birgu and wandered the small, beautiful streets. These are the street that will be lined with candles.
One of the things that is part of Birgu Fest is that some of the museums, churches, and Fort St. Angelo, not usually open, are open to the public. We took advantage of that and went to visit St. Lawrence Church. This was the first church the Knights dedicated and was their conventional church until the Knights moved from Birgu to Valletta.
The dome of the church, with its red stained glass windows, gives the church a nice pinkish hue as the light shines through. It was a lovely church.
After visiting the church, we sat on a bench in the shade watching the goings on. I then spotted a little train ride that goes around the 3 cities. It’s not a train, but is made to look like one. It’s a vehicle made to look like a locomotive that pulls two cars. Since we had a lot of time before dark, I thought it would be good to do the 30-minute tour. Part of the ride was to Kalkara, which we have yet to explore, so I wanted to see what was there. It was interesting since Cospicua and Senglea are really old cities and lots of Maltese people live there. Old Malta is disappearing so it was fun to ride through real city neighborhoods. Here’s a couple of photos.
Grant, I took the film studio shot for you. This is where several films were made like Gladiator, Game of Thrones. Malta is becoming famous for this film studio.
After our tour ride, we found a restaurant along the Birgu waterfront and had a drink and a light meal. It was nice to rest for a bit out of the sun.
We then walked down the marina where the big yachts are anchored. It’s unbelievable the cost of some of these vessels. I read where one could be rented for 790,000 euros per week. The largest yachts were 76 and 77 meters long.
At 6:00pm Fort St. Angelo opened. We wanted to see the view from there so we hiked up to the fort. It was supposed to be free, but we ended up paying an admission fee. The entire fort was to be outlined in candlelight. We were there just a little early to take in the full effect, but the views were spectacular.
It was darker coming back out of the fort and it was pretty tricky in the dim light. Fortunately, most of the steps down had handrails. We used the phone flashlight to help us in places.
We walked back along the marina. By this time, we both were really tired. I still wanted to take in some of the candlelit streets. Christine didn’t, so I parked her on a bench in front of the church and made my way into the throngs of people. There were thousands of people in Birgu making it nearly impossible to walk anywhere. It was a real party atmosphere with a concert going in the town square and lots of food truck and stalls. I headed to a couple of streets that I thought would be good, but it was really tricky to get through the crowds. There were lots of candles, but more people. One of the cool things, though, is that some of the residents along these streets opened their doors showing candles adorning their living rooms. It was kind of fun to navigate the streets, but in the dark, there were too many trip hazards for me to do much meandering. I got my fill of the Birgu Fest pretty quickly.
I picked up Christine and we headed for the ferry terminal. I thought we would be one of hundreds waiting for the ferry. Just as we got to the terminal, a ferry was pulling out. The schedule said the next one was due in 30 minutes, but we would be at the front of the line. Surprisingly, another ferry arrived immediately, so we lucked out. The ride back to Valletta was beautiful with all the light.
When we got off the ferry in Valletta, there were hundreds of people all queued up waiting to go to Birgu by ferry. Many would be waiting a long time. I’m glad we decided to go early and come home early. We walked back to the Barrakka lift and up we went. We took in the view of the Grand Harbor, another glorious view.
Passing by Castille Palace, where the Prime Minister works, with few tourists around meant I just had to take a photo.
Then on to the bus. Again, we were very lucky. A bus we could take was right there with almost no line. It was pretty full and we didn’t get seats. Halfway through the ride, a young man looked up and saw Christine swinging from the handrail and he jumped up and gave her his seat. That was nice of him.
As we returned home, I told Christine that she got a prize for being a real trooper today. We walked a lot and did a lot of things. Her prize was a stop at the gelato shop just 3 shops down from our place. We both enjoyed a nice gelato after a long, tiring day.
So, two good days. I think we’ll need a rest tomorrow.