Days 36 – 40: Magnificent Malta!

When Rich and I started talking about stepping away from work for a year to travel the world back in January, but before we committed, we put a pinkie toe into the water by emailing each other fabulous destinations every day.

To satisfy some wunderlust, I would save the picture as my work computer’s desktop wallpaper.  Eventually, we got more serious about the trip, and stopped with the emailing, and I was left with one desktop picture for the rest of the school year:  Malta

I feel like someone should pinch me to wake me up from the dream where we get to pick out some of the world’s most beautiful destinations and then travel to them.  I feel unbelievably grateful and humbled by the experience while also feeling pretty proud of us to have the courage and willingness to take action on going after something we really wanted.  We are doing it.

But I digress.  Sorry for the sap! Let me tell you about Malta!

Day 36: Travel from Heraklion to Malta

Rich and I hopped back on a plane for the first time since leaving Croatia.  We traveled from Heraklion to Athens (Greece, not Georgia- Go Dawgs!), and then we had a SIX hour layover in Athens.  No big– we had big plans to take advantage of the multiple Athens priority pass lounges where we could eat and drink for free with unlimited food and drinks, comfortable seating, outlets, and WiFI.

Nope.

We were flying Ryan Air, the cheapest of the cheap airlines, and were relegated to a totally different terminal with the least amount of amenities imaginable.  We tried to pass through to another terminal with a lounge, which required us to show boarding passes and passports, and we were looked at like we were the literal scum of the earth.

No Ryan Air patron would ever be let into one of the actual international concourses.  It was literally a seven minute walk- on moving sidewalks to get to our lesser Ryan Air terminal.

It was a long travel day. Our first flight was an hour, our second flight was two hours, and our layover was six hours.  It would be like flying from Washington, DC to Nashville, TN and having a six hour layover in Charlotte, NC.  Except I’m sure Charlotte has a Chick-Fil-A.  Someone please eat a chicken biscuit with honey on it, and think of me.

Day 37: Valletta, Malta 

So let’s orient for a minute.  Malta is a tiny archipelago in the Mediterranean Sea south of Sicily.

A Little History of Malta

Because of its highly valuable location, and its small size, just about everyone has conquered Malta.  A brief history: settlers in Sicily first inhabited Malta in 5900 BC.  Malta was then conquered and ruled by the Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Normans, and Sicilians.

In 1530, Charles I of Spain, who was king of Sicily, gifted Malta to the Order of St. John, which was one of the orders of Christian knights fighting the crusades.  Knights from all over Europe relocated to Malta, and they built hospitals, forts, and churches all over the islands.  They also “patrolled” the seas (read: took the goods they desired from Ottoman ships they encountered).  Between that and conquests to the Holy Land, it is clear that Malta experienced, and continues to experience, abundant prosperity.

In 1798, Napolean conquered Malta, and the French ruled for two years before the Maltanese regained control with the help of the British.  Malta then became a British colony in 1814, and finally became fully independent in 1964.

Whew.

All that to say, history is very much alive in Malta.  I heard someone say that there are 365 Catholic churches in Malta– one for every day of the year.  There are cannons everywhere.  Valletta was the originial King’s Landing location for Game of Thrones, and it is clear why: it looks today like a Medieval capital city.

Our Day in Valletta

We took a ferry from Sliema, where we were staying to Valletta, and spent several hot hours exploring (note how far south Malta is).

The Co-Cathedral of St. John’s was probably our most striking stop: under the marble floor are the remains of hundreds of knights.  Outside of the Vatican, we agreed it was the most extravagant church we have visited in our travels.

Finally, I would be remiss if I left out that Valletta was named the 2018 European Capital of Culture.  I do not know if the streets are always so decorated and festive, but they sure were when we were there.   I’m not the biggest Disney person myself (sorry, Missy) but it sure felt like a pretty organic, historic Magic Kingdom if I’d ever seen one.

Then back to Sliema to enjoy air conditioning and rest!

Day 38: Mdina and Rabat, Malta

We decided to take a quick day trip to town neighboring medieval Maltan towns: Mdina and Rabat.  We hopped on a bus and about an hour later, hopped back off to walk around and explore.

Not shocking: we saw more churches and more fortresses, as well as a Franciscan abbey where several famous Game of Thrones scenes were filmed (we know, we know).  It was really fun to walk around at our own pace and was a lot less crowded than Valletta had been.

For lunch, we found a great little spot where for 20 euros, they served up a huge plate of Maltan delicacies including rabbit, chicken, sausage, and homemade bread.  YUM.

Then we hopped back on the bus to head home to air conditioning– seeing a pattern, yet?

Day 39: Marsaxlokk, Malta

Things got a little crazy on day 39.  First, we enjoyed the air conditioning all morning and went out in the afternoon, and second, we partied with the residents of a long term care facility in Masaxlokk, Malta.

I’m not sure why we got going so late in the day (poor planning, perhaps?), but by the time we left our cozy, air conditioned Air BNB, it was about 2:30 PM.  We hopped on a bus headed to Marsaxlook, Malta, a small fishing village about an hour away that was supposed to have great seafood.

So we got to Marsaxlokk around 4:00 PM, and it was beautiful.  It was also super sleepy.  Apparently, the town shuts down between about 4- 7 PM so while we could peruse menus to see where we wanted to eat, we couldn’t actually get anything to eat yet.  We had time to take pictures and scour menus.

We decided on Tartarun.  The only problem– when we decided it was about 5 PM, and the restaurant opened back up at 7:30 PM.  Ruh-roh.

Hard pressed on how to spend the next two hours, we found the restaurant with the cheapest Maltan beer.  As I mentioned, the town was nearly deserted, but the place where we landed already had a few patrons.  Perfect.

We get our first cheap beer- it’s cold and delicious.  We look around.  There’s an older couple, and a family.  We drink a little bit more, and another group of older ladies arrive.  Then a few older gentleman a table over.

When I say older, imagine 80+.  We are loving it.  “This is how we are going to be.  Get it in.  Live the life you have imagined.”  You get the picture.

By the time it is close to 7:30, and we have finished our second beer, the outdoor patio is full, and we are now the only customers under the age of 70.  We were giggling so hard.

We left to enjoy the best meal we had in Malta, and one of the very best of the entire trip.  On the way back to the bus that night, we saw something that made us giggle even harder: a bus with the title, St. Vincent de Paul Long Term Care Facility.  We had just enjoyed beers in the middle of an outing of a long term care facility.

We planned to head home and turn in following our big night out, but the Maltan bus drivers are not the friendliest, and a disagreement with another tourist couple resulted in us getting off one stop too late.  This stop happened to be right in Valletta, which we had visited our first day there.  Now, if Valletta is pretty during the day time, it is other worldly at night.  We decided the next bus transfer could wait, and we had a great time traipsing through nighttime Valletta.

Day 40: Rainy Day Chillaxing + Lebanese Food

Too much excitement the night before led to us sleeping in and spending a LAZY day in bed (literally in bed– our AirBNB didn’t have a couch) lounging, planning, and reading.  We went out for dinner and got some of the best Lebanese food (hummus, falafel, etc.) I had ever tasted.

Not a lot to share, but happy to relax!

Final Thoughts on Malta

Malta felt very westernized, and the towns were gorgeous.  It gets 300 days of sunshine a year, and while hot, there were some really nice sea breezes to cool us back off.  We loved the celebratory feel of Valletta and had some great meals, but Rich and I both left feeling like, well, okay, now we have seen Malta. I would love to return to Crete in this lifetime, but if I don’t see Malta again, I’ll be content with our one trip there.  Just our two cents.  Keeping it 100.