On Wednesday Christine started the day with some awesome sunrise photos.
Later in the morning we got a call from Carol Farrugia saying that she was at a local cafe having an orange juice and would we like to join her. Truth be told, we were just lounging around in our nighties having a leisurely morning, but after her call, we quickly dressed and set out for the 5 minute walk to il-Torri, the St. Julian’s watchtower just around the curve of our bay. Carol picks this spot on warm, sunny days because the cafe is right on the seafront and you get a lovely view of the sea. Carol entertained us for quite a long time with stories of her family and relatives. She’s very funny and we enjoy listening to her.
After meeting Carol, we walked back home and had some lunch. We had arranged a 4:00pm meeting with the Aussies for a drink. We met them at the corner. Because Tony has difficulty walking, we jumped on the bus and rode a few stops down Tower Road. We got off at Ghadir and stopped into il-Gabbana, a restaurant on the Promenade, for a drink. It’s another nice spot overlooking the sea. Afterwards, since we were just across the street from Stella Maris Street, Christine wanted to walk up the block to show Tony and Linda where her grandmother Rosina lived. After that, Christine and I walked home and Tony and Linda went back down to Tower Road to catch a bus to their flat.
Thursday, we met up with the Aussies for a trip to the Esplora Science Center in Kalkara. Dion had figured out we could take a boat from Sliema to Esplora. We hopped on a bus to the ferries side of Sliema, and with a little effort, found where the boat was that would take us to Esplora in Kalkara. The boat was a large traditional Maltese boat called a luzzu. There was only two other people on the boat, so it was like our own private luzzu.
The boat crossed Marsamxett Harbor then headed around Fort St. Elmo at the end of Valletta, entered into the Grand Harbor under the Fort St. Elmo Footbridge, across the Grand Harbor below Bighi and into the Kalkara Marina. It was a beautiful, relatively short 20 minute boat ride offering fabulous views of all the historic sights around Valletta, Birgu and Kalkara.
The Esplora Science Center is housed in a very historic building, Bighi, which was built by one of the Grand Masters as his retirement palace. Then, the British Navy needed a location for a hospital and Bighi became the British Naval Hospital early in the 19th century.
During the first World War, Malta became known as the Nurse of the Mediterranean. Thousands of wounded sailors and soldiers were brought to the 25 hospitals in Malta, the largest being Bighi. The British Naval Hospital was very advanced in its medical practices, including in infectious diseases and treatment of mental health issues including PTSD. The Cot Lift, above, was especially built for the movement of wounded soldiers from ship to medical ward. It is the second oldest lift in Malta after the Barrakka lift.
Esplora Science Center is a hands on museum full of interesting science-related exhibits. Things related to pulleys, airplane wings, water and air pressure workings, etc., were all available to try out. Dion said it made him a kid again and he tried out everything. Lots of families with children were visiting and it was fun to watch and listen to the kids try out some of the experiments.
Christine attached herself to a group hearing about the history of Bighi. After the tour, she spent a long time talking to the tour guide, Charmaine Bugeja. Christine has an old photo of herself as a baby with her Aussie cousin Michael born 9 days ahead of her, both moms, grandmother Rosina, Uncle Joe and the 3 oldest Caruana children, on the balcony of what she thinks is the British Naval Hospital.
We asked Charmaine if she recognized the part of the building visible in the photo. She said that it couldn’t be Bighi because it did not have a maternity unit. It could be the Naval Hospital in Mtarfa, but Charmaine thinks it was taken at a church. She thought maybe it was Ta Pinu in Gozo, but I find that hard to believe. But the possibility that it is at a church makes some sense because it might have been a christening of both babies. At any rate, Christine and Charmaine talked a very long time swapping stories about growing up in Malta and their respective families.
One of the interesting things Charmaine pointed out is the etchings done in the pillars of Bighi. Soldiers as far back as the late 18th century would carve names, dates, and other things, into the limestone. Charmaine thought that she had seen an etching with the name Tyrrell, but she couldn’t locate it on the many pillars in just part of the building we viewed.
Esplora has a planetarium and we all went to the showing. The topic was the International Space Station which I thought would be interesting, but in reality, it was an animated kids’ movie projected onto the planetarium ceiling. One thing I didn’t know is that the ISS has been up in space for 25 years. It will be in operation another 5 years, and then it will be decommissioned. I don’t know what happens to it then.
After the show, we enjoyed views around Kalkara, Birgu and across the harbor to Valletta. It was a beautiful day.
Then it was back on the luzzu to return to Sliema. Again, we had beautiful views around the harbor.
Once back in Sliema, the Aussies went to Valletta. Tony is trying to see the attorney handling the properties the Caruanas have. It is quite a complicated story of property, ownership, who’s in line to inherit, and even how can the properties by sold.
We returned to our apartment for a rest. We then went to Peppi’s for dinner and had gelato for dessert from our favorite gelato shop 3 door down from our flat. Yummy! I really liked the Bighi building. The science museum was okay, but talking with Charmaine about both the history of Bighi and having Christine swap stories with her was the real treat of the day.