Category: Malta and Sicily

Our last day in Cordoba started with coffee…cafe con leche for me and cafe solo for Larry.  It’s a Saturday so the cafes and streets are busier with tourists and locals.

We made our way around town visiting Victoria Market, a Sombrero Shop and the Roman Columns.

Food-wise, Cordoba is known for its Salmorejo (cold tomato soup made with fresh tomatoes, garlic, bread, and olive oil. ) It’s topped with chopped egg and ham and tastes like a thick, delicious, creamy tomato pudding!  We first tasted it at Bodegas Campos a few years ago and found that it was as good as we remembered!

We couldn’t leave town without  visiting the Mezquita, the huge former mosque that became a cathedral in the 16th century.  It is truly a place of wonder and contemplation.

Cordoba is a pleasant city to spend time in with so many interesting historical sites, excellent restaurants and friendly people.  It’s super well-kept and masks are required everywhere.  We could have lingered longer but Cadiz awaits!   We caught the 10:29 train and arrived in Cadiz at 12:52.

It’s surprisingly warm and sunny – people are out enjoying lunch in the many plazas in this Mediterranean coastal town.

This is our first time this far south in Spain and it’s beautiful!  We’ve learned that Cadiz is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in Western Europe.  We’re anxious to learn more!

…we drink coffee!

Happily, we’re home now after a kerfuffle checking in for our early morning flight from Catania to Rome. We rarely check our bags for a flight but at check-in, the Air Alitalia agent said our bags were over the weight limit and charged us €126 ($137.92) to check our luggage! Yikes! So when we arrived in Rome, we needed a strong dose of coffee – had it not been early morning, we might have opted for something stronger!🤪. After a 3-hour layover in Rome, our flight to Atlanta was easy and we’re left with so many happy memories!

Of walks along the water and sunsets in Ortygia, Sicily.

Of wandering Ortygia’s curvy streets off-season with few other travelers.

Of beautiful produce in local markets.

Of simple, savory pastries that we brought for dinner in Catania, wrapped up like a special gift!

And finally, just the tippy-top of Mt. Etna from this vantage point.

We had so many lovely experiences, learned lots, and met interesting locals plus fellow travelers along the way. We are grateful for the opportunity to explore the world, but we’re always happy to land back in our home base!

Ciao!

A 35-minute Ryanair flight from Malta’s slick airport brought us to Sicily a couple of days ago. We’ve always loved visiting Ortygia and we’re so happy to return for a few days.

Yesterday it was nearly 70 degrees and we walked along the coast in short-sleeved shirts. We learned about a hiking trail on a former railroad track that’s now been converted for walking and enjoyed the warm weather and great views.

Today, the seas are rough and roaring – the temps will be in the 40-degree range overnight. This is a view of the sea from our window – Albergo Domus Mariae.

Since our arrival, we’ve been making the rounds visiting our favorite places – the morning market where we can find lovely fruits and veggies;

…and, our all-time favorite sandwich shop Caseficio Borderi. Below is a photo of the expert sandwich maker – he customizes each order and starts by slicing a soft baguette. He tops the bread with house-made cheeses, roasted veggies, and salami if you like. The sandwich is dressed with a squeeze of fresh lemon juice plus a splash of honey and olive oil.

It’s totally delicious and large enough for two. A deal at €7.00!

We’d forgotten how much we love the bold, red Sicilian wines!

Ortygia is a place to wander and off-season its very quiet. Each open doorway or curving alleyway is fascinating.

Even the typically crowded city center was quiet last night after dinner.

Ortygia has many wonderful restaurants though many are closed this time of year. The hotel staff recommended this one – a Putia Delle Cose Buone – so good that we gobbled our food before we took a photo – very wonderful pasta dishes, fish, and Larry’s favorite – roast duck!

We walk by the Fountain of the Goddess Diana on our way back from dinner.

A visit to Bellomo Palace Regional Gallery was just the right thing on this somewhat stormy weather day. This 15th-Century illuminated Book of Prayers is a work of art.

So, we’ll savor another couple of days in Sicily before we make our way home!

Ciao!

Many of our days in Malta have been sort of serendipitous. We start out to see one thing and stumble on something even more fascinating. That’s what happened on our final stop in Valletta – we found Fort St. Elmo – guarded by these knights.

From here we had a great view of the harbor and imagined what it must have felt like to defend Valletta from this vantage point;

had an excellent history lesson, and a tour of the National War Museum. An afternoon well-spent.

We were fascinated by this persistent dandelion which found a speck of soil in a crack of the old stone fort and blossomed! Cheers!

On another day, we roamed around the maze of streets in Rabat.

We found a cozy lunch spot at Cafe Il-Baxa,

and ate a delicious, traditional sandwich called ftira (translates to “bread with oil”) plus a filling of pork or tuna.

We’re reflecting on our time here – someone we met along the way described Malta a “yellow” country – referring to the color of the many stone structures. We agree.

Here are a few facts we found interesting:

• The alphabet has 30 letters.
• There are over 365 churches on the Maltese Isles.
• There are 3 UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

Larry wrote this after our two weeks here in Malta:

We’ve been very happy exploring this unique country but it’s nearly time for us to move on.

Tomorrow (Monday) we’ll fly 50 minutes north to Catania, Sicily and then we’ll take a bus to Ortygia, Sicily. A place we like very much!

So long Malta – until next time!!

😎😎

Maltese cuisine is influenced by Italy with a Mediterranean twist. Pizza and pasta with eggplant, olives or zucchini; garlic, olive oil, and Maltese, Italian or other wines are commonly found on the menu.

The national favorite meat is rabbit – perfect for Larry as he is an adventurous diner and loves to try new things. He’s feasted on pasta with rabbit bolognese sauce and whole pan-fried rabbit as shown below. He reports that “it’s something different and I liked it!”

Fish is more my dish and this sea bass was simply prepared and tasty.

Maltese bread is served with nearly every meal – usually with a creamy dip made from either black beans, fava beans or kidney beans and a deep, red tomato paste spread called kunserva.

The Maltese are very proud of their bread made from durum wheat – it’s extra-crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. We discovered a tiny bakery nearby that bakes their bread in the wood-fired oven (note Maltese cross on the oven door) shown below.  According to an article in the Times of Malta, this bakery has been in business for over 130 years!

Beautiful just-out-of-the-oven loaves of Maltese bread look like this!

There isn’t a sign on the door at Trofimus  Bakery (shown below) but we can smell the aroma of fresh-baked bread as we approach!

And, we couldn’t wait to take a bite of this wood-fire-oven-baked jam tart. These tiny tarts are also made with apple or mince filling. Yum!!

Our least favorite treat was this ‘honey ring’ made with traces of tangerine, lemon and orange. It’s a traditional Christmas item and the honey ring pictured below was likely baked well before the holidays and probably why this one tasted especially stale.

We like a chain of fast-food restaurants called Eeet Well for good salads, sandwiches, grain bowls, and wraps.

As for drinks, the local favorite beer is Cisk – an ordinary lager. The local soft drink is Kinnie – brewed from bitter oranges and extracts of wormwood. We like it!

Maltese food is simple, not fancy or fussy, no slick presentation but it’s good, hearty, and inexpensive.

Our next stop in a couple of days is Ortygia, Sicily where we have happy memories of delicious dining!

Cheers!

Sharon and Larry

Getting to the small island of Gozo from our home base in Sliema is complicated. We set out earlier than usual to catch a bus and wound our way northerly for one hour. We then rushed to catch the Gozo Ferry for a 20 minute crossing to the island.

The scene on the large (car and passenger ferry) looked like this.

We knew that a day trip wouldn’t do justice to this popular, laidback, rural destination but we were determined to find our way there without a tour or a car. We arrived at the Ferry Port Mgarr and caught a city bus to Victoria – the major city of the island which we liked very much!

We’ve just arrived, and it’s already time for lunch! Our guidebook directed us to a “not to be missed” restaurant called Ta’ Rikardu. The interior was pleasant,

…but the service slow and lunch totally “missable”. We wasted valuable time waiting for lunch when we could have seen more of the island.

Gozo is a wonderful destination for hiking, birdwatching or cycling, plus there are prehistoric ruins, salt pans, museums and more.

We walked from the town Gharb (which means ‘west’ in Arabic) to the Cathedral Ta’ Pinu (shown below):

The parish Church of the Visitation sits in the central square of the Gharb (shown below).

In total, we took six bus rides and two ferry crossings to spend some time on the island of Gozo. We missed some major sites but now that we’ve worked out the public transportation options, we’ll plan to return on a future trip to Malta and maybe even spend a night or two.

There is lots to see and do on this tiny relaxed, Mediterranean island!

Back in town, we have a nice view of the harbor from the window of our apartment.

The Three Cities area is just across the harbor from Valletta – Vittoriosa (also called Birgu), Singlea, and Cospicua. In reality, they are just three small towns, each only a few hundred meters across.

The options for getting there from Valletta are bus, ferry, or water taxi – a small gondola with a motor called a dghajsa. We paid €2.00 each to make the crossing in the dghajsa with 4 other passengers from Greece. The “pilot” was careful to position us according to weight so that the load was equally distributed.

Once on the other side, we admired the beautiful and enormous yachts in the harbor.

The Malta at War Museum is not as sophisticated as the war museums we visited in Poland but the highlight is a tour of an actual World War II underground shelter. Because Three Cities is right next to the harbor, it was extensively bombed and these hand-dug tunnels held up to 500 people overnight. The ceiling is low and we were issued hardhats – likely less effective when worn backwards…

After our tour, we stopped by a quiet outdoor cafe for coffee and imqaert, a local specialty. Pastry filled with dates and then deep-fried.

A traditional street food in Malta is called Pastizzi – a savory puff pastry with various fillings – ricotta, mashed peas, or creamy chicken. In Malta, you’re never far from a pastizzeria. Below, Larry is trying one under the watchful eye of the vendor. These make for a quick, cheap, and filling lunch.

Back in Valletta, we walked to the ferry port to get a closer look at this large ship.

Larry talked to the security guy at the harbor and learned that the ship is an all-electric-powered ferry – the first that this security guy has ever seen. He checked the log and told us that it’s a new ferry, made in Scandinavia (possibly Norway) and just stopped in Malta to re-charge – destination unknown.

The sky is blue and the temps are up to 62 degrees. All is well!

It was a happy coincidence that the Baroque Festival was happening while we’re in town. Friday evening we went to our second concert of the Festival, this one at Teatru Manoel in Valletta. The grand theater, built in 1731, is beautiful and the performance by countertenor Raffaele Pe’ and his ensemble La Lira di Orfeo, exuberant!

We took the bus to Valletta this morning and learned along the way that streets were closed.  We had to exit the bus and walk the rest of the way. As we left the bus, helicopters were buzzing overhead, police were everywhere as were TV cameramen.  We couldn’t imagine what was happening and stopped to ask a policemen – it was the President of Malta’s Solidarity Fun Run!!  The event really jammed traffic but it seemed that everyone was having a great time!  Anyone could join in from those participating in the marathon to families with kids in strollers.  The photo below shows the first group of runners arriving in Valletta.

 Our destination was the Sunday market at Marsaxlokk, a small city on the Southern coast.  Buses to the market town were crowded beyond capacity and we finally gave up. Instead, we shared a taxi cab with a British couple from Liverpool.  They were happy pro-Brexit supporters looking forward to their freedom from the EU in just a few days time. Time will tell whether or not they’ll be happy with their decision. On the other hand, we met a man from the UK who is quite nervous about Brexit.

We were a bit disappointed with the market, though the seafood looked good.  

And these purple vegetables colorful – rutabagas????

There are architectural sites all around the island and Saturday we visited two. The most famous is the Hypogeum – an underground pre-historic burial chamber.  We were too late to get tickets for the actual site but we did see a well-done audiovisual presentation.  The entrance to the site is a simple storefront on a side street in the town of Paola.

We were able to tour the Tarxien Temples, about 10 minutes away – these were built between 3000 BC and 2500 BC.   Really amazing!

Lunch can be really inexpensive.  A empanada-shaped pastry with a creamy chicken and mushroom filling is delicious and only €1.70.   Here’s Larry enjoying one!

 The Triton Fountain in Valletta is a highlight – especially at night!

Cheers!

It’s been one week since we arrived and we’re still trying to get a feel for the culture here.

Here’s Larry’s take: “Malta is a little hard to describe. It has similarities to Italy and Greece, with some more exotic flourishes. It’s a lot like a Greek island, only with higher population density. As for the people, they are a bit like the Greeks, but seem more chipper. The Greeks often seemed a bit weary and dejected, as if they feel their better days are behind them. The Maltese seem more forward looking, as if they’re anticipating a brighter way ahead.”

The photo below of the Seaside Promenade shows how much development there has been along the waterfront.

Yet, some neighborhoods uphill from the water still look like this.

It will be interesting to see how things have developed within the next few years.

There is a yoga/fitness studio just 10 minutes away cleverly named FreeMyMe. I tried a noon-time yoga class – the studio was small and the class basic – not the most welcoming place we’ve been to.

Due to its rich cultural history, Malta has a diverse number of options for dining. We’ve eaten Maltese, Italian, Hungarian, and Turkish plus nearby, there is a tiny Bulgarian Market. There are many good take-out restaurants. We liked this one called Seasalt which has really delicious fresh fish sandwiches.

We also like a place called Posh Turkish for takeout (huge portions!) and one evening roast chicken and veggies from the deli section of a nearby supermarket. It’s nice to have both a microwave and an oven for preparing meals.

That’s today’s Malta update! All is well here! Hoping all is well in your world 🌎 too!

Cheers!

Our first stop was to see St. John’s Co-Cathedral – a Roman Catholic cathedral dedicated to Saint John the Baptist. The interior was spectacular and the excellent audio guide provided with the cost of our entry fee explained many of the wonderful artworks and complex details of the various chapels.

A view of the Nave.

Here’s a closer look at a small sample of the detailed gold work.

And this closer look at the inlaid marble:

Carravaggio, a famous artist who worked in Malta was commissioned to paint works for the Cathedral. This one is titled ‘Beheading of St. John the Baptist’. For more info about Carravaggio in Malta, click here.

A visit to this Cathedral is highly recommended!

We also visited the National Museum of Archaeology. The collection includes prehistoric artifacts from the Maltese islands.

One is the Sleeping Lady artifact.

The corpulent statues (shown below) were unearthed from temple excavations. The current thinking (according to Wikipedia) is that they are from a cult that was tied to a fertility rite. We don’t expect to see such fine detail and sophistication in works this old!

Here’s the ‘Venus’ of Malta (below):

On the way back to the ferry for our return trip to from Valletta to Sliema, we saw this colorful hardware shop. A museum in itself!

Today is less breezy but still a bit chilly. We ended our busy day with a hearty meal at a nearby Hungarian Restaurant called Margaret Island.

We’re looking forward to a new day of adventure tomorrow!