Tuesday, November 21, 2017
Day 32, Valetta,
Malta Day 2
On our
second day in Malta we woke up to a beautiful, sunny day. Today we have another private tour, but just Val and I with our guide today touring the area around and the capital city of Valetta. Our tour guide was Rita and Val had found
that she also had very favorable reviews.
We were
at the meeting spot at 9:00, but didn’t see Rita as it turned out she wasn’t
exactly where she said she was going to be and we walked right by her. Within a few minutes she found us and we met
our driver Gino and we were on our way.
Our first stop was the walled city of Mdina, which was founded in the 8th century BC. Just under 300 people still live in the city, which is still contained by its walls. We
spent quite a bit of time walking through the city while Rita told us about the
culture and history of the city, very interesting.
 |
| The walled city of Mdina. |
 |
| As we walked around the town we noticed that there were a lot of interesting door knockers. |
 |
| Val and Rita |
 |
| Valetta is off in the distance. |
Next, we
were off to the traditional fishing village of Marsaxlokk, which means southern port. This is
an actual fishing village and you could see the fisherman bringing in their
catches after a night at sea. They mainly
catch octopus, swordfish, tuna and lumpuki (mahi-mahi). The fishermen were busy cleaning their nets and going about
their business and not paying much attention to us. They were friendly enough though, and didn’t
seem to mind having their pictures taken.
This area is known for their colorful fishing boats and picturesque
harbor. It was a beautiful, sunny day
and the blue water, colorful fishing boats and harbor made it look straight off
a postcard, it was truly amazing. Val
and I walked around the harbor taking way too many pictures while Rita filled
us in on the area. There were many
vendors along the harbor front and also many outdoor cafes. It was very tempting to sit in the sun, have
something to eat and drink and enjoy the day, but we had lots to do so we had
to move on.
 |
| A beautiful day. |
 |
| Cleaning and drying the nets after a night of fishing. |
 |
| The nets were pounded to remove debris. |
 |
| Nets layed out to dry. |
 |
| There were many vendors along the waterfront selling their wares. |
We drove
back to Valetta and got a driving tour of the city before stopping for a boat
tour of the harbor. Rita had arranged it
while we were in Marsaxlokk and I expected it to be a typical harbor boat tour
with a lot of other people, but we got a surprise. We were met by a gondola type boat just for
Val, Rita and myself. The boatman took
us around the entire harbor while Rita explained what we were seeing. It was a very interesting tour and we saw the
city from a unique perspective. Valetta
is a very old city and the old city walls and battlements gave you a feel as to
what this looked like back in the early days of the city.
Our harbor tour ended very near to where our
ship was docked and we met Gino who then drove us on up to the city center, high above the harbor. At that
point, we said our goodbye to Gino, and Rita led us on a walking tour of the city. All the government
buildings were there as were many stores, shops, cafes and many private
residences. The area was a mix of old
and new as Malta was heavily bombed during World War II and much of the city
was destroyed, but you still get a sense that this is a very old city. It was a vibrant area with many people
sitting at the outdoor cafes enjoying the beautiful day. As in many of the cities and towns we have
visited, Christmas decorations were already hung and we even heard Christmas
music being played as we walked around.
 |
| The steep streets were reminiscent of San Francisco. |
 |
| The Malta government building. |
To our
surprise, the beautiful day quickly turned cloudy, which turned to a light rain;
weather changes quickly here. We had our
rain jackets with us and it wasn’t really raining hard enough to be
uncomfortable so we continued our tour and ended up at a viewpoint that looks
over the city and harbor below.
The ancient fortifications surrounding Valetta
It was
getting close to the time we had to get back to the ship, so Rita led us to an
elevator that took us back down to the harbor level and led us back to the
ship. The ship was a short distance
away, but the terminal was a long ways away and we had a long walk ahead of
us. Rita showed off her persuasive ways
and talked a guard at the vehicle entrance to let us in and saved us a lot of
walking. We had done a lot of walking
and were pretty tired so we were very grateful.
We said our goodbyes to Rita and made our way back to the ship.
Our day
with Rita was really wonderful and I would be hard pressed to say whether today
with Rita or yesterday with Amy was better.
They were both truly great days so I have to say there was no best
day. As with Amy Pace, I would highly
recommend Rita as a guide, we really enjoyed our day with her.
The all
aboard was at 3:30 today and we arrived back at the ship at 3:15 so we cut it
pretty close, but it was well worth it.
We loved our visit to Malta and if we ever have the opportunity, we
would welcome a chance to come back.
It was a port we were both looking forward to and it exceeded our
expectations.
 |
| There was a crowd lined up above watching us sail away. |
 |
| We clear the breakwater and bid a fond farewell to Malta. |
We were
very hungry when we got back as we had not wanted to take the time to eat, so
we went to the Neptune Lounge to have some snacks. After resting for a while I downloaded the
many pictures we had taken that day before it was time to get ready for dinner. We enjoyed a beautiful sunset and then went to trivia before dinner and the casino.
We went to bed as soon as we got back to our room as we were still
pretty tired from our very busy visit to Malta.
No rest
for the weary though, as tomorrow we will be arriving in Palermo, Italy on the
island of Sicily. We don’t arrive until
10:00 though, so we will be able to sleep in tomorrow.
No comments:
Post a Comment