2020 - A Goofy Trip to Europe
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The Hendersons 2020 - A Goofy Trip to Europe - Malta |
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2020 - A Goofy Trip to Europe |
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Planning Robbie Burns said `The best laid plans of mice and men aft gang aglee`. That aptly describes planning for this trip. Originally we had planned four days in Malta, five each in Sicily and Sardinia (where we would meet my cousin Nicholas and his wife Patricia), then 12 days in Bulgaria. Son Tom was to join us up to the flight to Bulgaria, then return to the USA. Then an unexpected infection from China, known as the coronavirus, hit the world. Son Tom was told by Rice University that if he went to Italy, where the virus had been particularly rampant, he would have to self quarantine for 14 days upon his return. Very stressful and hurried change of plans ensued, dropping Sicily and Sardinia and having Tom join us for the entire trip, which meant Malta and Bulgaria. Lesson learned about trip insurance: unless you buy super-expensive trip insurance to cover cancel for any reason, the policy will not cover cancellations even when the State Department advises to avoid non-essential travel or issues a “Do not travel" warning. So, DO NOT BUY travel insurance!!! With the help of the travel agent who made our airfare arrangements, the travel agent in Bulgaria who made all of our arrangements in Bulgaria and Tom cancelling ferries, car rentals and other arrangements we were able to move our trip around and depart for Malta on time, but shortening our trip by 10 days. So, on to the adventure. March 4, 2020 We flew from DFW to LHR on American Airlines in premium economy, which is somewhat better than steerage, but only marginally. March 5, 2020 We had a few hours layover in LHR then flew to Malta on Air Malta. The seating was so tight that Tom's knees jammed against the back of the seat in front. Air Malta proudly says they were voted the fifth best regional airline in Europe, but that is faint praise. The flight attendants looked like they were all from the same family, same hairdos, expressions, makeup and a certain amount of surliness. We weren’t impressed except we landed on time after a safe flight. We were met by a driver we had hired and she took us to our apartment near St. Paul’s Bay, a town called Qawra, put that in your spell checker. The host met us and showed us about. The apartment is spacious, but cold as it is still winter and we didn’t figure out the ductless heat pump until our final night. We had dinner at a nearby restaurant, il Giardino, and it was quite nice. Best was being able to speak with the server, a very lively and lovely woman from Milano who was willing to switch back and forth between Italian and English. Back to the apartment and crashed, we were very tired. March 6, 2020 The Malta Classic Car Museum is just around the corner from the apartment, so we had breakfast at the restaurant adjacent and then spent some time poking around the museum. The cars are beautifully restored, but no Morgans! We took public transport into Valletta as we had tickets to the Hypogeum. I can’t say that the public transport is the most well run we’ve ever encountered as the drivers really aren’t helpful, partly because many don’t speak English, even though it is an official language of Malta. I doubt they speak Maltese either. We finally had to hire a cab to take us from the Valletta central bus terminal to the Hypogeum. The site was discovered quite by accident in the 1920s when water lines were being installed. Best guess is that the site was developed about 6000 BC. The architecture is quite amazing and one finds it hard to believe that such a complex site could have been developed using primitive tools, as it was created in the Stone Age. The site was excavated by Sir Themistocles Zammit. He became Malta`s first director of museums and we learned as we went through other sites, was responsible for many other important excavations. A very long walk from the Hypogeum to the Malta at War Museum, which is about WWII. It is a small, but well done museum, with extensive under ground shelters used during the siege. Starvation was only a few days away from the residents, they must have suffered terribly. Fortunately they didn’t seem to have the horrors of a German invasion and all that entailed. We took public transport back to our apartment, it was a slow trip because of the traffic and dozens of roundabouts. We decided to have dinner again at Il Giardino as we like the place and it is close to the apartment. March 7, 2020 Before we left home we made arrangements for a car and driver for a full day of sightseeing. Malta isn’t large, but it is historically rich, with evidence of habitation dating back 8000 years. It has been overrun by Phoenicians, Romans, Arabs, Turks, Normans, French, Spanish, English and Italians. What a varied history. Our first stop was the incredibly beautiful town of Mdina, perched on the highest point on the island. It was the original capital of Malta, and had been much larger at one point, but the Arabs concentrated the town to make it easier to defend. The architecture is beautiful, as the buildings in the old town are all built of the warm sandstone quarried on the island.
The highlight was stepping into the cathedral and being lucky enough to find a rehearsal, we assume for a concert, of a trumpeter and organist. The acoustics in the cathedral are excellent, the two musicians superb.
The cathedral itself is beautiful with gorgeous marble floors and many frescos. The cathedral was built on the site of the former Norman cathedral, which had been damaged by an earthquake in 1693. The new cathedral was consecrated in 1703, which seems quite amazing that it could have been built in such a short time.
St. Paul was shipwrecked on Malta and there are several churches on Malta named after him. We wandered around the town a bit, but we had a full day ahead, so couldn’t spend as much time as we would have liked. Our next stop was Rabat, another old town roughly adjacent to Mdina. While not as beautiful as Mdina (which son Tom found out means `city`) it still had beautiful buildings. We went into St. Paul`s Grotto, where it is believed he founded the first Christian community in 60 AD. In the same complex are extensive catacombs and WWII shelters.
We returned to Mdina to take in the Villa Romana. It is quite small, but the mosaics that were uncovered during the excavations were quite lovely. One mosaic in particular was interesting in that there had been some repairs at one time, but the materials used were somewhat inferior to the original material. Archeologists speculate that the family had been hit with reduced financial circumstances. This was another site excavated by Zammit.
Our driver, Michael, who is Maltese so knows his way around, dropped us off at a restaurant for lunch. Service was rather slow; the poor waitress was running ragged. However, lunch was acceptable, so no complaints. Michael drove us next to Hagar Qim and Mnajdra, both temples from about 5700 years ago. Both are World Heritage sites. Hagar Qim is under a protective awning as the sandstone is quite fragile. The wind was very strong and cold, so we didn’t want to walk ½ kilometer to Mnajdra.
Zammit was involved in the excavation of these sites as well. Michael drove us to the Blue Grotto, but there wasn’t much to see from the cliff above.
He then drove us to the fishing village of Marsaxlokk, which some lovely old traditional fishing boats in the harbor. Sadly, there are few of these boats remaining and new ones are not being built.
There is a very large ship docked across the harbor from the village and the deck has enormous bladders which Michael told us contained gas from Russia. It was docked next to the power plant, used to fuel same.
Returned to our apartment to do laundry and pack. We learned more about electricity in Malta. We have an electricity allowance and about 11 PM the electricity went out, plunging us into darkness. We put a two euro coin in the meter, but it only gave us a few more hours of electricity. Most unpleasant as it was cold. Dinner at a different Italian restaurant, Il Sorpresso, which was fine, though not as good as Il Giardino. Plenty of food, more than we could eat, but not as well prepared and tasty, as Cassidy would say. March 8, 2020 Last day in Malta Michael picked us up at 10AM as planned and drove us to Valletta. We left our luggage at the British Suites Hotel where we had reservations and climbed the steps to the beautiful Upper Barrakka Garden. The view of the harbor was wonderful, but we were challenged to name the three cities on the opposite side of the harbor.
We strolled into the center of town and went into the National Archeological Museum. There are displayed many artifacts from the temples that we saw yesterday, as well as artifacts from the Bronze Age and Phoenician periods. It is common for the museums to have free audio guides, which typically are very well done. The museum itself is showing some signs of age, as the building is about 300 years old, but it was a worthwhile experience. It was a Sunday and, despite there now being three cases of the coronavirus in Malta, the city center, which is primarily traffic free, was busy with tourists and shoppers. The cathedral was closed, which may be normal, although churches in Italy have been closed because of the virus. We had a rather indifferent lunch at a restaurant in the area, then Tom left son Tom and me to explore some more while he went to the hotel to prepare for departure the morning. Tom and I went to the Armory, which housed a collection of armaments and various pieces of arms, many dating from the time when the Knights of St John defended Malta against the Turks in 1565. Tom and I walked back to the hotel, a little confused because the streets aren’t always through streets or even on one level.
We had dinner in the hotel since we have a very early flight to Sofia by way of Vienna tomorrow. Our waiter was from Siracusa in Sicily. He thought that Texas was part of California. The maitre d' was Bosnian but had traveled all over the world whilst working for cruise lines before settling in Malta.
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