Blogs from Malta, Malta, Europe - page 9

Louis picks us up from the hotel again. We're learning; this time we don't wait outside on the road, so buses and taxis don't stop for us and we don't manage to make any drivers angry. We drive along the main road along the north coast. We pass a roundabout which is still being constructed. It looks a bit odd; the only road going in and out of it is the one we're on. Louis explains that while they were constructing the main road they found some ancient archaeological ruins right in the middle of where it was supposed to go. The solution was to build a roundabout, so that the the ruins will now be under the roundabout rather than the road. If that wasn't going to be costly enough, it was right at the ... read more

We wait in the street outside the hotel for Louis and his wife Lily to pick us up. We're a bit slow to realise that we're standing on a bus stop. It should have been a giveaway that the buses kept stopping and the drivers looked a bit angry when we waved them on. Our first stop is Louis and Lily's caravan where they spend most of the summer. It's parked on what looks to us like prime waterfront land, and they tell us they expect that the government will soon stop them using it so that the site can be developed. Lily talks to their caravan neighbour who she tells us has twice won the lottery. We wonder why she's still living in a caravan, but apparently both times the prizes were rabbits. Of course ... read more

As I hit my last week of travels, I can't help but to tear up at nearly every thought of each experience that I've had with the people I've met along the way and the ones that I've had on my own. Over the last nine months, I've embarked on so many journey's both big and small, with so many wonderful people. I couldn't have had such amazing experience without you all. I have said it so many times, but the people out here are incredible. So welcoming, so full of life and so willing to help at any turn. So here is to the longest run on sentence reminiscing on the things that I have embarked upon with you, the experiences that we have shared, the thank you's that I owe and the love that ... read more

I remember sitting on the rooftop of my hostel in Santorini overlooking the Mediterranean in Greece one evening writing in my first travel journal that is now full, worn, nearly ruined by a jar of melted coconut oil and was once lost about when I "found myself." This was a measly two weeks into my travels... Did I know at that time that my travels would go on for nine months? No, not at all. I would never have imagined such a timeline. I never had a clear answer for that question as people would ask all the time throughout my travels. I didn't realize that "I don't know" was such an abnormal answer. But, anyway, now I find myself here in Malta, on the hard rocks feet from the salty, warm waters of the Mediterranean ... read more

Today the tour group visited Gozo. It is the second largest of the small archipelago that makes up the country of Malta. One gets there by boat and there is a ferry that runs frequently throughout the day (see picture). I was surprised how large the ship was and many people were on board. Lots of people going and coming from Gozo! We boarded a bus and rode to the megalithic ruins of Ggantija (see picture). Like the other ruins we saw yesterday, not much is known about the builders of these ancient structures, but it is something to imagine men moving these huge boulders before machines and even before metalworking. Our next stop was the cathedral. Nearly everyone in Malta is Catholic and there are two cathedrals, one on the island of Malta and one ... read more