Malta

A nice flight from Rome takes us to the Mediterranean island of Malta. Its getting dark out but its still hot and humid. We jam ourselves into an old school red and yellow bus, pay 47 cents each, and are on our way to the main station near Valetta. The bus stops are not marked making it impossible to know where we are and when to get off to catch the next bus. We make it to the main station, but on our second bus I (for once its me and not Steve!) pretty much panic and get off too early. Unable to find our hotel or any sign of life, we wandered around for 45mins. Finally, Steve asked an intoxicated old man who was trying to get in to his apartment where the street was that we needed. The old guy started laughing and said “you have long walk”. Hmmm. We go to a restaurant on the bay and Steve goes in to get directions and a cab. As it turns out, we were on the right road but in the wrong harbour! Ai-eee! We were over 5kms away from the hotel. A cab shows up- but we didn’t know it was a cab because the car was a sleek/black/tinted window/leather seat deal with a nicely dressed driver. My first thought was “kidnapper”...then I get realistic and wonder who on earth would kidnap us on a tiny Island? Turns out he was a personal chauffeur. We make it to our hotel which turns out to be really nice- its actually a small studio apartment.

Malta has some neat character. My favorite thing was the balconies on apartments- they  looked like the captains balcony on an old wooden pirate ship! Many of the buildings were old and worn- but charming. I wouldn’t have been surprised to see a possy of pirates strutting down the street- but the closest we came to any pirate action was a giant sized lego man in pirate attire. Argh. I suppose the guy who drove us in his delapitated boat across the harbour (Steves bright idea) could have qualified as one because he tried to rip us off- but Steve used his magical bargaining powers and got us a reasonable ride. I also found a candy shop (yay!) selling strange and familiar candies for a minimal ninety cents for 200g! My other favorite shop was the coffin maker...yup, a coffin maker carving up caskets...we didn't go in :) Basically we spent our three days in Malta lounging by the rooftop pool (both of us sustained nasty sunburns), wandering the streets, and eating delicious and cheap food.