Malta, the little island that could…..
Malta
Weather: 23C (73F), raining. Cleared on Monday, 23C, sunny, warm
Arrived in Malta Sunday afternoon just in time to miss the torrential rain storm that had occurred that morning. Clearing immigration and customs was very easy, showed our passport at the “All Passports” window, stated our purpose (illegally import 1,000 chinchillas) and off to meet our ride to Sliema (pronounced Sleema). Tony, our driver, was there as expected and loaded us up in his car for the 20 minute ride. Once we were near the apartment, he showed us where the grocery store was located, sorry closed on Sunday, and then headed to the apartment through some fairly congested side streets. The cost of the cab was $20EU which wasn’t too bad. We still had a few Euros in our pockets in spite of the efforts of Ryanair to relieve us of that burden so no need to sell Collette’s watch.
Side note: Malta has quite an interesting history that we’ll try to mix in with our accounts but not being historians or archeologists we may need to ask your indulgence. Way back when, sometime around 5,200BC or earlier, Malta was connected to Sicily by a land bridge. Remains of several species of large animals, elephant, hippopotamus, horse, etc. have been found in cave excavations along with remains of humans. Early man was known to have built extensive temples and sacred burial sites in this country, one of which claims to be the earliest man-made structure on Earth, the Hypogeum.
Malta Timeline:
Real brief so if I left anyone out, please raise your hand….
5200BC – Early man arrives in Malta 1283 – Aragonese rule
3200BC – Megolithic temples built 1530 – Knights of St. John arrive in Malta
800BC – Phoenician rule 1565 – The Great Siege
480BC – Carthaginian rule 1798 – Bonaparte conquers Malta
218BC – Roman rule 1799 – British rule
395 – Byzantine rule 1919 – Riots against British
870 – Arab rule 1964 – Independence
1090 – Norman rule 1974 – Republic formed
1194 – Swabian rule 2004 – Malta joins EU
1266 – Angevins rule
We are staying in a city called Sliema. The earliest records indicate that Sliema began as an encampment for Ottoman troops around the time of the Great Siege of 1565. Known in Maltese as “Tas Sliema”, which means ‘peace, comfort’, Sliema got its name from a chapel dedicated to the Virgin Mary, which served as a beacon and reference point to local fishermen. Moving on…..
The apartment is located on the 7th floor and fortunately there is a lift. We unpacked our things and did a quick survey of the place. This is the first apartment we’ve rented for an extended stay so it remains to be seen if we adapt to the habitrail life of apartment dwelling. Laura and Alfred Lupi are the owners and have been very prompt in responding to questions about renting or how things work. This apartment is a 3 bedroom, 2 bath unit overlooking the Mediterranean Sea and the Sliema promenade. Pretty much as advertised except larger than we expected. The apartment runs the entire width of the building with balconies at both ends. The floors are all cement tile and the walls hard plaster over block so there is a bit of resonance with noise. Still, it’s clean, has an acceptable bed and the views are good. Appliances and cookware are in good working order so I think we’re set for the duration.
The promenade is a favorite walk for locals and tourists that follows the coastline for what I would estimate to be several miles, and has numerous travernas and restaurants on it. There are also several places where one can walk down to the shore and dive into the sea or swim in man-made cutouts in the rock that capture water when the waves come in. Today though no one is swimming, except for those unlucky few that didn’t pay attention to the waves. With the storm that is passing through the waves were actually breaking at the promenade wall and splashing over to the street. Many a young child got a saltwater bath that afternoon, probably on purpose.
After unpacking our things panic set in. With the grocery store closed, where do they sell wine on Sunday? This is serious so all efforts were put into find a solution to what could have been a major catastrophe. We had prepared for such an event, practiced the drill many times, but never really expected to experience not having wine available. Emergency protocols were immediately put into place while the search began. We walked across the street to a small traverna, The Compass, and low and behold, they had wine! Thank you, Jesus! We indulge in a lunch / dinner of pasta and mushroom risotto and of course, a bottle of Maltese chardonnay. Actually, quite good chardonnay. One of life’s little surprises is that Malta seems to have a small, but quite nice wine industry growing both white and red varieties. Don’t you just love it when a plan comes together! And we could buy a bottle to take back to the apartment with us so Collette didn’t have to go through withdrawals’.
We closed out the day by sitting on the balcony and watching the waves, cars and people, while enjoying a glass of chardonnay. Not a bad day.
Sliema, the beginning
Started our morning with a short walk over to the harbor for breakfast. We stopped at Gorgio’s, a nice restaurant on the harbor walk where we had coffee with my full English breakfast (very full!) and toast for the little woman. Everyone was sitting and enjoying their coffees and breakfast, it was such a calm and pleasant morning, birds were singing, there was a slight breeze, the sun was shining bright, the very definition of tranquility. Then it happened, this man jumps up from the table and bolts through the bushes out onto the street. We’re thinking this guy just bolted without paying his bill. This happened so fast I didn’t have time to change into my super hero outfit and chase after him. Good thing, he was simply running to move his illegally parked car before he got a ticket. Seems this is common practice here in Malta, park anywhere you want and most likely you can leave the car there for a month or so before anyone notices, but not by the ferry office. This is the only place we’ve seen that has several parking police patrolling the area just waiting to give out green stamps. This guy would have broken his leg or got hit by a car rather than get a ticket so they must be quite costly.
Finished breakfast and headed back towards the apartment to hit up the grocery store. The Tower grocery store is a 3-level complex that extends below ground. Level 0 is the street level while level 2 is two stories below, interesting concept. Anyway, good selection of recognizable foods, crackers, meats, fish, vegetables, health care products, etc. and at reasonable prices. Yes there is also wine, beer and alcohol, checked that out first thing! Picked up the essentials, wine, some food items, more wine, and then some wine for about 90EU. Alright, yeah we bought food, eggs, chicken, hash browns, sausage, cheese, bread, pasta, etc. and some wine. And just like in Ireland it’s bring your bag to shopping day, so unless you want to buy a plastic bag, BYO.
Here are the costs of some of the items we purchased:
Eggs – 15 count 2.23EU
Butter – 454gram 5.28EU
Bacon – 1.88EU
Pork Sausage – 1.64EU
Lavazza Coffee – 250gram 2.42EU
Pringles – 1.69EU
Bottled water – 6-pack 2.10EU
Local Cabernet – 6.85EU
Local Chardonnay – 13.19EU
Well stocked with food and wine so calling it a day.