Some crazy driving in Malta

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So if you're just joining in, this is a recap of Malta, as I'm terribly behind in blog posts.

Dzl and I headed to Malta as a little Easter vacation getaway just for the two of us. As is the case with these type of vacations, by which I mean, incredible gifts from my parents who give us a week anywhere in the world, we choose Europe so we don't have to fly too far / spend too much, and it turns out to be not quite Mexico-resort-10-star-incredible-ness. (Other examples include Tenerife and Mallorca. We'll learn eventually, I'm sure of it).

Now, Malta wasn't bad. We had fun, but mainly it was about relaxing. We read our kindles, drove around in our rental car, and checked out a lot of interesting sites along the way. I think the unexpected bits were much more fun though so here they are. Our amazing "3 hour flight" turned into a 12 - 19 hour debacle wherein our flight was delayed, delayed, cancelled, re-routed, and after flying from airport to airport, we ended up in Malta at nearly midnight, instead of the NOON we planned to be there. Normally, not a huge deal, other than a piss-off, but in this case, we were renting a car from a family run company (who were amaaaazing by the way: (www.carrentalsltd.com) and left the car in the airport parking lot, with the keys in it, for us.

Of course, then the fun begins. No where in Malta has addresses, so we must simply go to areas... and look around. We're driving in the dark. In a foreign car. On the WRONG side of the road (sorry Brits!). On a windy, island, death defying road. For an hour. Madness. We finally stopped and asked directions and in classic Malta fashion, they gave us some really special, extra gesticular instructions, which, to any onlooker, looked like they were describing a terrifying Disneyland/Six Flags ride. We finalllllly find our hotel and check in and, in typical "European resort" fashion, it is both geared towards old German tourists, AND looks suspiciously like a retired hospital, sterile, blue, white, and smelling of bleach.

We got to experience Easter here, which was quite amazing, processions through the streets of costumed people and many amazing floats and props. It was quite fun to watch and we were lucky enough to sneak up to a balcony so we could see it all from above.

In the end, it was quite fine, but not quite the sexy luxury of Mexico. We had great restaurant, (not a grammatical error, there was only one), and not so great restaurantS. We couldn't figure out the local dish; but we did manage to drink a good amount of local wine. All in all, we had a great time exploring, driving to little remote places (like the time we pulled over on the side of the road, and found a great little embankment overlooking an oil refinery or something similar and relaxed for a bit), and just encountering the locals who were really nice and friendly. It was a beautiful place, and really nice to visit, but not necessarily somewhere we'll go back to. Interestingly, I met a fellow on the plane ride home who thought this was the best place EVER, and he was definitely bringing his mom there for vacation, and it was incredible. Apparently he had a different tour.

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