Malta: Wed Sept 21 – Thurs Sept 29
Accommodation link.
Saturday 24th September
It was not a good morning. The weather was shaping up to be beautiful but Mark was having trouble logging on to watch the AFL Grand Final and, to add to his woes, the Swans were being thumped very early on in the game. So, we went for a walk. I had more concern though for Tom and his two mates who had woken before 4am to make the trip down to Melbourne for the GF and spent thousands to do so; $900 each for Jetstar return flights, $415 each for rather ordinary MCG seats and then hotel and taxi fares on top of all that! I’m sure it will be logged in as a treasured memory for them all but perhaps not as cheery given the way the game played out.
Back over here in Malta Mark and I had 11 am tickets for the Malta Experience. We had previously dismissed this attraction as being too touristy but had been advised it was well worth the time so off we went. It was just a 10 minute walk down the road so we set off with plenty of time. The experience involved a 45 minute movie followed by a 20 minute or so tour of the old infirmary of The Knights of St John. The movie was great as it gave a very comprehensive and easy to follow history of Malta dating back to the first recorded settlement of 5,900 BC and I would advise anyone visiting Malta to take this experience, preferably as soon as you arrive on the island as it provides the context for so much of what you would go on to see. The infirmary tour was great as well as we saw the two different wards where the Knights tended to the sick. The first ward was for the wealthy, as payment was required; they took any age, any religion and any nationality but just no women! The free ward was on the level below with the main difference being you had to share 5 to a bed rather than the single bed service of upstairs. This free ward though opened on to the old orange garden and so may have been a bit nicer and better ventilated. One impressive detail about the theater, now in place where the Orange garden used to be, was that this was the space where the Malta Summit was held in 1989 between Bush and Gorbachev, just a few weeks after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Our guide also explained the meaning of the Cross that the Knights of Malta have on their flag and crest as having 8 points to represent each of the 8 Beatitudes. Both activities, the movie and the tour were great.
We emerged from the Malta Experience at around 12.30 and our plan for the afternoon was to visit the neighboring Sliema as this was apparently a good area for shopping. Just what Mark loves! Our first stop after alighting the ferry was to find somewhere for lunch as we were both a bit hangry by this time. We stumbled upon a quirky cafe, Carolina’s Petit Cafe and Tearoom, and had a pleasant enough light lunch on the small terrace overlooking the harbor but I think the inside of the cafe held much more appeal. The cafe would have been better suited to the English countryside with the range of afternoon and high tea offerings, it’s floral tablecloths and abundance of fine bone china tea cups, many being on the ceiling. Not to mention the many tea cakes and loaves as well as decorated QE II biscuits (check the photos). We went on to check out the surrounding shops, of which there weren’t too many, that we could find at least, but did manage to score Mark a new pair of chinos. After that it was back on the ferry to head home to the apartment before another attempt at finding a suitable dining venue for dinner!
We’d had such bad luck with over-thinking dinner venues on this trip that we decided to just stick local for tonight; and what a good move that was. We ended up just around the corner at Taste, a 130 m walk away, and had almost the best meal of our period being away. So much so that, every time a group came up to the menu board, near our table, we told them as much and we ended up counting at least two different groups, of 3 and 2, that ended up dining at the restaurant as a result of our advocacy. To this end, the restauranteurs gave Mark his aperitif on the house and offered me one as well. I know where we will be dining out for the remainder of our time in Malta!
