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Published: April 21st 2008
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Hi all-
Just finished up dinner and saw a computer in the back of the restaurant so we thought we should check in. We spent the day up at the Blue Lagoon, a sheltered inlet at the north of Malta that has crystal blue waters and tiny private sand beaches. The trip over was a bit crazy as we had to take a ferry to the lagoon and the waves in the sea were 2-3 meters (4-9 feet for all you Americans!). We escaped sea sickness and enjoyed the sun, wind, and salt air while reading books and being annoyed by a group of 8 young spanish girls who thought they would sing their high school cheer song over and over again. Yesterday we headed to the south of the island to check out a local sunday morning fish market in Marsasloxx and then headed out to the western edge of the island to tour the city of Mdina, an old walled city that does not allow cars and looks over the entire island. The great thing about Malta is that in 3 days we have pretty much covered the entire country. Tomorrow were off back to Rome. Sad to
leave Malta, the Cisk, and the views, but excited to head back to the "mainland". Were a little nervous in heading to Italy as English will not be used as frequently as Malta. Here we benefit with the fact that Malta is an old english colony and english is spoken by 90% of the people. Hope all is well.
Jason
Ok, my turn ... Jason talks about the culture and sighrts, and I like to talk about the unique experiences. Our rented flat (apartment) in Malta was interesting. Its amazing how there are literally no single-family homes here as you might see in the US. Everything is a raised flat - meaning teh entrance is RIGHT off the street - and is a very narrow home - usually 2 or 3 stories tall. There are beautiful balconies on each, or as I call them, "useless rooms" which are virtually like a window nook, but an entire narrow windowed room. The entire room is waist-to-ceiling windows which can be opened by pushing them outward at a 45 degree angle. It is beautiful and picturesque, but as I say daily, "useless" space, hence the "useless room." This brings me
to the bathroom! Yikes! The shower is a bathtun with a hand-held shower nozzle. (No hook to hang it on of course, you just set it on the bathtub floor when not using it). No shower curtain, mind you, just an old clawfoot tub with a shower attachement. It's an exercise in humility to take a shower. I basically stand in the middle of the tub and try to quickly shower because with lack of a shower curtain, not only do I get cold really fast, but the water sprays everywhere. I took to literally sitting in the bottom of the tub so I could properly wash my hair last night. It was a high point believe me. All I could think of was how people like MAry Pfeifer or Elizabeth Porter would literally die before they would sit on a bathtub floor while traveling abroad!
I have decided that Malta as a whole is an architectural beauty. I am not so much interested in visting churches or museums, but we spend HOURS just wandering the streets (which, if Jesse Ventura thought a drunk person designed the streets of St. Paul - he would be amazed at HOW drunk
the Maltese were to design their streets. Each turn down another street is an adventure as each street is a winding, curving, uphill-downhill experience. You coudl be walking to the left downhill and then decide to turn down 1 of 8 choices of other streets, and then be heading uphill to the Southeast. We have been aimlessly wandering, takign this turn or that, trying to "get lost" in these cities, and it is a blast. We are thoroughly enjoying the no agenda, wander wherever we may go attitude, and I really feel that we are gettign so much more out of this than say, an average tourist. The typical tourist pulls out their tourist book, sees what is the "popilar desitination" and goes there to snap one photo of a landmark. We hop on a bus, go to a destination, see the crowns, turn left, and walk as far away from the hustle and bustle as we can. Its been great. I think each hour of each day that I cannot believe I am half-way across the world, and when someone asks me, "how was Malta, what did you do?" my answer is going to gleefully be "nothing," I wandered
around ancient cities, gaping in awe at the archictecture. I think one of teh coolest things is the doors on the homes/flats. The doors are beautufully carved and loaded with crwon molding. The best ones have like, a hundred years of pain on them, and old burnished brass door plates and knockers. I spend my day looking for unique doors to photograph.
We did the "beach thing" today, which I thought would be my favorite day, but shockingly, it was not. The beach was beautiful, but not what you think of when you think beach. The sandy parts were few and far between, as the "beach" is really limestone rocks, whcich go from water-level to heights of hundrds of feet in the air. The water at the "Blue Lagoon" was out of a Crayola colorbox, it was so pretty.
Food here is interesting too - and I expect more of the same in Italy. Great pasta and pizza. You all know I LOVE pizza, but is is different than we are used to. The thing I cannot get over - as I stated in the first blog, was the bread consumption. The average bread consumption - per person,
Haning out at Simon's Pub
When I studied over here in 2000, we spent many a night in Simon's Pub. I contacted Simon prior to our visit and he rented us a flat right above the pub. Yes, we have closed the place every night thus far! is 1/2 pound per day! Yikes! I rarely eat bread at home, so this is taking some gettgin used to. At home, "bar food" is things like wings or chicken strips ... here it is either (a) a plate of bowtie pasta with oilive oil and seasoning (oh carbs!) or (b) a plate of day-old bread with olive oil and seasoning sprinkled over it. I CANNOT escape the carbs! The good thing though is that with all of our random daily exploring of places few tourists would ever venture, we are logging tons of miles. Up and down hills, back again ... I know that yesterday, with our trip to Mdina and Rabat, we easily did 7 miles. I cannot wait to show photos of Mdina and Rabat. Ancient architectual cities with a lot fo history. We toured catacombs and trhey were also amazing. Jason scared teh bejusus out of me at one point as I leaned way into a catacomb (basically individual underground tombs connected by a zillion maze-like hallways) and as I leaned in - he came up behind me and yelled boo!
All in all - fabulous trip so far - cannot wait to start on
Blue Lagoon
Hanging out at the Blue Lagoon this afternoon Italy. I feel lucky and thrilled that we have almost 2 weeks left. Lots more updates to come. Keep the comments coming - we liove to check this blog and see what is goingg on at home. Miss you all and love you!
Lyndsay
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Porter
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More pics of you two on vacation!
Thanks for the updates, lovers!! If I weren't stuck here at my desk under the glare of the flourescent bulbs, I'd swear I was right there with you! I'd have packed a body sized bottle of of sanitizer before I'd sit down in someone else's tub, however...unless there were plenty of cocktails before hand. You two have fun and keep the updates coming! -Porter