On to Malta!

Ciao!

We have had a very busy but enjoyable day!  First of all, up around 5:30 am to get ready to leave for the airport, as today was our transfer-to-Malta day.  Showered and down to breakfast about 6:15, and the restaurant was already crowded. Good variety of foods, including my favorite – cheeses and ham – much better than eggs any day!  Checked out a bit before 7 am and headed out first to look for a gas station.  We knew there were gas stations right on the periphery of the airport, as we had passed them numerous times over the prior couple of days.  Do you think we could find it?  Of course not, although we did wander into one eventually, and filled up the car with diesel.  (Took about 7 € worth; we didn’t do that much driving!)  Then back to the airport to turn the car in.  This took longer than I would have liked – the Hertz “instant return” was anything but “instant” – but eventually we completed everything, and then headed downstairs to find Malta Air’s check-in desk.  There was absolute chaos in many of the aisles, which made me a bit nervous, but by the time we got to Desk 7, there was no one else around! Yeah!  My way to check in!  Suitcases are nicely underweight, and off they went once again.  

View from our balcony

Big balcony; view from the other side

Me on balcony!

My cute husband on balcony!

Our room!

Heading toward City gate

Triton fountain in front of city gate

Renzo Piano Parliament building

R's Italian Salad

My wonderful Cesar Salad

Malti and English; double click to enlarge photo!

Neolithic temple altar

Neolithic temple altar

One of the famous "fat ladies" of Malta!

Look at the hand carving!

Malta's famous "Sleeping Lady"

Bronze Age pot cover

R with coffee

Me with one of the lions in front of hotel!

Nice surprise in our room!

Gate 11 was very, very crowded – actually, they have gates 9 to about 14 all in a row, and there were definitely a lot of people there, and too few seats to accommodate everyone. However, once your boarding pass is scanned you walk through the door and on to a bus.  And, while our plane boarded and headed out exactly on time, the bus ride just went on … and on … and on …

R was thinking we were driving to Malta, but eventually we came to our Air Malta plane, and on we went. The plane was not full by any means, but there were definitely people in most rows.  We had three seats across for the two of us, which made it comfortable, and, while the flight was posted as taking 1 hour 25 minutes, we were there in just over an hour.  Flying over Sicily was interesting, and before we knew it, (Sicily is about 90 miles away from Malta) we had arrived!  Getting off the plane, we had only to WALK into the terminal, and wait for our luggage!  Luggage arrived very promptly, and we head out of the terminal.  

I had read that one good way to get into town was via taxi.  You pay a set rate for the area, and then sit back and relax.  In our case – heading to the Hilton Resort – it was 20 €for the two of us and all luggage!  We thought that quite an acceptable deal.  So, I got the taxi voucher and R got Euros out of the HSBC ATM.  And that’s when we found that the Maltese drive on the same side as the Brits – the “other” – which came as quite a surprise!  We’re renting a car on Thursday!  So, unlike Roma, where we landed at 2:30 pm and didn’t arrive at the hotel until 6 pm, here we landed at 11:30 am and were at the Hilton by noon! Doesn’t get much better than that! (Although coming from another EU country does make it easier.)  The Malta airport is really modern, clean and lovely – and efficient.  

First of all, I have to send a shout out to our friend Hilary Hamlin!  Thanks, Hil, for convincing me of the benefits of sticking to one hotel chain!  (Hil has over a million Marriott points, which she uses all over the world!)  We started using Hilton Hotels several years ago, and have now reached their highest level – Diamond!  It’s great fun, and today was no exception!  Here in Malta, there is an “Executive Lounge” –  and we checked in there, as opposed to the “regular” place – and did we want something to drink?  Soda? Water? Anything?  It’s very nice to occasionally be made to feel special!

Our room was ready early (another nice advantage…) and we were shown to room 925, which is actually fairly close to the Executive Lounge!  We have a lovely big balcony overlooking the hotel grounds and out to the Mediterranean.  Lots of room which is great, and Ris already gently snoring in the big chair!  Of course, that was just about the time that R discovered that rather than using traditional European (French/Italian/German) electrical plugs, the Maltese use British plugs – and our British adapters are all safely at home! (Concierge came happily to our rescue!)

Rset up the computer (always his first assignment) and I unpacked the bags.  When we move long distances, I always split our things in each suitcase.  That way, if one case is lost, we both will have clothes. Then, once we land I re-sort everything into his and her cases.  Fortunately, unlike Okinawa, where shelves and drawers seemed non-existent, we have more than enough room for everything comfortably, and when we leave on Thursday, I will be able to repack fairly quickly.  

I wanted to take the bus into Valletta (the capital city and only a mile or so away) and visit the Archaeological Museum, so we got maps from the Concierge and headed out to find bus stop “Ross.”  My guidebooks say that if you have got lots of time, the bus is the best way to get around. Well…that would be correct – depending on what time it is!  The bus stop was about a block away (very easy to find) and the price for one ticket is 1.50 € each.  Fortunately, we were able to get change from the Concierge, and were prepared!  

First of all, I need to say something about the Maltese language.  To quote my guide book:

“Maltese is a Semitic language in the same family as Arabic and Hebrew, written in the Latin alphabet (the only one that is).  However, much of the vocabulary, perhaps up to 50% is derived from Italian and Sicilian as well as some from English and a little from French.  Maltese derives from Siculo-Arabic, the dialect of Arabic that developed in Sicily, Malta and Southern Italy.”  And what that does to signage is incredible!  There are all sorts of punctuation marks that we have never seen before – and even thinking about pronouncing them tangles my tongue! In the museum today, I had R take photos of two signs – one in Malti and the other in English – I dare you to read it out loud – the Malti, not the English – and believe me you will definitely be able to tell them apart!

It took about half an hour for the bus to meander to the Valletta city gates, where the bus line terminates.  There are two beautiful fountains there, and then we entered the new city gates. These were designed by Renzo Piano to go along with his newly designed Parliament building.  I think the local jury is probably still out as to opinion about the building.  I thought it was much more in keeping with the general city style, say, than I M Pei’s Pyramid at the Louvre in Paris!  It’s modern – but basically in the same material as most of the city, so it actually fits in fairly well.  Another point about Malta.  They have basically one stone – limestone, in a kind of golden color.  It’s quite lovely, but it does tend to get a bit tedious when that’s all there is!  Also, as I told Robert, one needs to be careful of missing steps and curbs, as everything the same color tends to blend together.  

We found the Archaeological Museum with no problem, but there was still one difficulty … we hadn’t had lunch!  So, decided to rectify that and found a really excellent outdoor café, the Kantina Café & Wine, St. John’s Square, a block or so away from the museum. We ordered sparkling water (which came from Wales!) and a half bottle of a Maltese Chardonnay – it was excellent! I ordered a Cesare Salad and R ordered the Little Italy salad.

The salads were exceptional! Mine came with hot off the grill chicken breast, lots of different greens, pancetta (in place of bacon) croutons and parmesan cheese.  I ate every bite!  R’s salad had a large helping of buffalo mozzarella as well as lettuce, prosciutto, olives, cucumbers and bean sprouts in an Italian dressing.  He also ate every last bite!  Really excellent meal, and I think it cost us all of 38 € (with tip)!  Certainly can’t complain about that!  The one thing I do complain about though, is that unfortunately some smokers moved in next to us, which did drive me out a bit sooner than planned.  UGH!   Across the street from the Café was an old-fashioned shoe store, and R had forgotten to bring a shoe horn from home.  I suggested that we try it and see if they had something he could use, but he was a bit reluctant, saying that he had no idea what the Maltese word was!  I figured we could point or draw, and when we got there, no problem!  They had several different types for him to choose from, so he is now back in business!

From there to the Museum. Some years ago, when we were on our Mediterranean cruise with Mom, we stopped for a day in Malta.  We scheduled an excursion involving one of the ancient temples and including the National Archaeological Museum.  My problem is that was the exact time a migraine decided to arrive.  So, while I do remember a bit about the temple we saw, I have no recollection whatsoever about the museum.  Very nice collection – especially of the famous “fat ladies” of Malta. These Neolithic carvings were absolutely spectacular, and the museum had an excellent audio guide.  There were very few other people there, which was nice, and we were able to take our time and really look at the exhibits.  

Finished up around 5 pm, and decided we had had enough for the day, and would take the bus back. (Did stop for some coffee for R (he was feeling sleepy) and some gelato for me! YUM!)  Got to the bus station around 5:30 pm and were able to find a 13A headed back to St. Julian and the hotel.  (It helps to have a hotel along the coast, as it seems many of the bus routes follow the coast road into and out of town!)  This time, however, we had rush hour traffic … and while our trip into town had taken about 30 minutes, returning took over an hour!  We were in grid lock on a hill, and it was really competing buses trying to get past each other on a two-lane road!  Very interesting!  

Got back to the hotel around 7 pm and found that the hotel had sent us up a wonderful fruit basket and a plate of desserts – and there was still happy hour in the Lounge!  We changed clothes quickly and found some space in the lounge.  Lots of lovely appetizers, including some vegetarian samosas; fabulous blue cheese, and lots of other fun things.  Now we don’t need any dinner, which is great!  Although not as good as yesterday, which was really only two meals … not sure what you’d call our dining schedule today!

So … back to the room and in for the night!  I am going to get this posted and get to bed, as there are things to see and places to go tomorrow!

Lots of love,

m

xxx