The last blog of the trip! It’s here!
I started my second morning in Malta with another giant breakfast prepared by Francine. This one included a fried egg, a hot dog, a slice of salami, fresh tomatoes, fried zucchini, fresh peas, this very yummy and garlicky lima bean thing, fresh orange juice, peach yogurt, watermelon, bread with spreads, and sweets. Uh, yeah. It was a lot of food! So much so that at the end of it, I had a lot of food left on my plate and told Francine that it would probably be better not to prepare the plate for me the next day. It’s just too much food for breakfast! I usually only have a bowl of cereal or oats to start my day!
We argued back and forth about whether she should cook the next day until finally she said, “If that’s what you want!” Hahaha.
I started my day with a walk through the neighborhood and a very frustrating wait for the bus. The buses often come very late or not at all, so when my bus came 25 minutes after I arrived at the stop, I was APPALLED when it ZOOMED right by me without even slowing down!!!!! I was sooooo angry. I thought about putting the whole day in the can. Public transit can be so frustrating when it doesn’t work for you.
I waited another thirty minutes for the next bus and rode to the northwest corner of the island in a huff. I did see some fun things along the way, though, including a huge round church. I was so curious what it looked like inside!
I was here to catch a ferry to a different island in Malta called Gozo.
Gozo is much smaller than Malta, which is already quite small to begin with. In fact, one thing that surprised me over and over again was just how much history, life, and activity there is on Malta despite its small size. To compare, it is about a fourth the size of the island of Kauai, and you can drive the circumference of Kauai in about two hours! Yet there are only towns in Kauai – no real cities. Malta, by contrast, is filled with cities and villages and traffic and buildings that are hundreds of years old. Very cool.
When I arrived at the port of Gozo, I took a bus into its capital, still in the center of the island, called Victoria. I wandered the pretty streets and peeked into a few churches.
I don’t know what it is with the old Maltese men, but when I first entered the city and was navigating the streets crowded with outdoor cafes, a man made eye contact with me and said, “HellOH! How nice you are!” What the heck?! I’m just trying to live my life!!
I digress, haha.
One thing Malta is apparently famous for are its “feasts.” Feasts are basically big celebrations in honor of saints. They used to happen a few times a year in a few cities, but I guess now everybody wants an excuse to eat and light up the night, so there is a feast practically every week somewhere in Malta! Many churches are strung up with lights all year long so they don’t have to reinstall them every year, and the feasts often end in a big fireworks show.
Obviously, I was curious about these feasts, but it was really hard for me to figure out where or when they were happening online. I’d pretty much resolved not to attend one because I couldn’t verify any were happening, but it was clear one was happening in Gozo the next day! The churches were all plastered with posters proclaiming the feast for Santa Rita, and I heard a nanny explaining to a bunch of children that they had to get ready for the feast tomorrow. So fun! Too bad it didn’t land on the same day I was there.
Because it took me so much time to get to the Gozo capital (an hour waiting for the bus, over an hour on the bus, half hour on the ferry, and then another half hour bus ride), I was quite hungry by this point. In an effort to avoid my silly move from the previous night’s dinner, I decided to just step into the first restaurant I saw that looked good and interesting.
The front was filled with a bachelorette party and lots of people, so I was shown a table in the equally-crowded back area near a table of French people. I ordered a seafood risotto and a glass of white wine, but I was surprised with a basket of bread before my main course arrived.
This bread blew my mind. There was one whole wheat dinner roll which I only took one bite of, but there were also two thick slices of this super soft bread with cherry tomatoes cooked in, and it was still hot to the touch. It was kind of like a very thick focaccia. It came with a sun-dried tomato and caper spread and Maltese sheep cheese spread. That sheep cheese spread was SO stinking good!!! Seriously, I wish I could have taken that cheese and bread home with me!! I knew I was going to fill up before my lunch arrived, but I couldn’t help myself!
The main course was pretty intense. Lots of clams, muscles, and cuttlefish. The cuttlefish was surprisingly chewy, and I ended up not eating much of it because I was so full. I loved the muscles though – very tender and flavorful. I worked slowly, enough so that when I was done, I was the only person left in the restaurant, haha. I finished most of the risotto, though!
I had a glass of local Gozo wine, and surprisingly, I was allergic to it! What a bummer! I am often allergic to small-batch ciders, but I don’t think that’s ever happened before with wine. Maybe I’m allergic to small-batch wine? Haha.
After lunch, I walked to the main attraction in Victoria: the Citadella. This was the old walled city, and let me tell you – I will be okay if I never see another old walled city again. Hahaha. I think this is like the eighth one I’ve seen on this trip!!!!
The center of the town is the large cathedral, which has many stairs to the entrance and a beautiful interior.
There was one little craft shop that I entered, and I was immediately drawn to these beautiful rings! I don’t normally like jewelry enough to buy it. Most of the time the prettiest things are earrings, and I don’t have my ears pierced. I have gone through necklace and ring phases, but right now I only wear one ring every day that I got from my grandma.
So I surprised myself by loving these rings so much I bought two! They were charged by weight, and I wasn’t even looking at the second one I got, but it was only €12, and I really love how it looks next to my grandma’s ring! Francine later told me they were “very nice” and that they were created using a very typical Maltese filigree technique!
Higher up in the old city lay the city ruins, a maze of low stone walls with a view of the entire surrounding island. I loved the look of the place up here.
During the time of frequent attacks, there was a law that required all citizens to sleep within the castle walls, so you could see that the spaces and individual homes were very cramped. Once the country existed in safer times, they abolished this law and people got the heck out of there. The homes collapsed and were never rebuilt, leaving just this maze of ruins.
It was already past five by the time I made it to the Citadella, so most of the businesses and museums were closed. It was nice to just wander the space, though.
There was one art installation that was open and free.
With nowhere better to be, and still very full from my late lunch, I basically did a second round of explorations in the same spaces.
As I was making to leave, the church bells started ringing, and I swear they never stopped! As they rang, dozens of Maltese people dressed in their absolute best came rushing up the many steps for Mass. Little boys in choir uniforms and suits, ladies in fancy pants. It was so cute! I wanted to stay for Mass to see what all the fuss was about, but then I saw that Mass wasn’t for another half hour. And guess what? Those bells rang for that full half hour! Craziness!
I, myself, made my way back into the modern city, through some botanical gardens, past the largest “free little library” I’ve ever seen, and then back on my long journey to my Airbnb. The chill from the ocean wind was quite strong as the sun began to set, and I was so pleased to return finally to bed.
On my last morning with Francine, as discussed, there was no plate of food for breakfast. Thank goodness! In its place, she left a bowl so that I could choose one of the many cereals. And she still left fresh honeydew, yogurt, fresh squeezed orange juice, the bread with spreads, and Maltese sweets. ‘Twas perfect!
Because I’d originally only planned three nights in Malta, it was time to bid this home farewell. I packed up my things, walked twenty minutes, waited way too long for a bus, transferred to another bus at a very confusing highway intersection, and then eventually made it to my new Airbnb on the Southeast coast. This town was called Marsaskala, and it had a very different vibe than my last home base. I liked it immediately and was surprisingly glad for the change of scenery!
First on the agenda was lunch – I was in search of sushi, but instead, I opted for some pizza with Maltese sausage and Maltese wine on the water. Not too shabby!
It was a relief to have left the Croatian coast where a lot of businesses (including my hostels) still required cash. It was such a pain to either search for low-fee ATMs or cough up the extra $5-6 just to take out cash every couple days. Since Zagreb, I hadn’t spent hardly any of my cash, so now I was on a quest to get rid of my last forty euros! In one day! Haha. But Malta was fairly cheap, and this meal was only €12, so I had my work cut out for me.
Because this was my “bonus” day in Malta, and I’d already managed to see all of my original desired sights, I deemed this a fun, easy day of wandering.
I started along the coast to the north and found an old WWII bunker overlooking the sea. When I climbed up to its roof and took a seat, it kind of felt like I was the last person on Earth! There wasn’t a soul in sight, and all I could hear were the waves. I ignored the ships in the distance (haha) and pondered this possibility. Then I sent a silly video to my boyfriend about being the last woman alive. Just me and my pizza leftovers.
I sat up there for quite a while, just enjoying the breeze.
When I climbed back down, I headed back the way I came, but along the water instead of through the streets this time. I was SO EXCITED to find a bunch of abandoned salt pans cut into the rock by the sea!!!
This was one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen! It felt similar to the terraced rice paddies I loved in Vietnam! I love it when man forms nature in a way that still feels…. Natural somehow? No machinery, no buildings. Just feels very special.
These pans would catch ocean water as it washed ashore and then evaporate to leave harvest-able salt. Not sure why there wasn’t any salt in them! Less salt in the ocean?? Or maybe something else needs to happen? Unclear. But it looked so cool, and I had a blast wandering among them for hours.
I called my dad to talk about the science (and safety) of still ocean water, and then I took a dip of the toes! The water was warm in the sun, and I stood here for a long time chatting on the phone with my sister.
The sun was starting to make its way down by this point, so I reluctantly let my feet air-dry and then hit the pathway again. I found a billboard displaying the many jellyfish that live in the area (no thanks!), and I made a friend while I was reading.
This kitty was so, so sweet. He kept rubbing himself all over my legs like he wanted me to take him home. I wanted to cuddle but I’m very allergic and didn’t want to have a bad night! Instead, I just stood and let him cuddle up on me for a good five minutes until he was distracted by some other kitties nearby.
I continued my walk into the bay, where I stopped to refill my bottle with bubbly water for 15¢. (Worth a shot, but I just don’t like bubbly water!) Then I stopped in a cafe for a decaf cappuccino and a tiramisu. Neither were very impressive, but it was a nice rest.
Then I continued along the far side of the bay as the sun set behind me, wishing I was walking in the other direction! Haha.
I came upon some more salt pans and spent more time oggling.
And then I thought, what the heck? Why not do a photoshoot?!
I call this “One Blurry Foot,” because I had to choose which foot would be blurry. They reached the apex of the jump one frame apart, haha.
The featured photo for this post? That one is called, ‘Checking the Deodorant.”
When I got back to my Airbnb, I had a nice funny wash up in one of those bathtubs that doesn’t have a curtain or a stand for the shower, so you kind of half to squat and hold the shower head. I always get a kick out of those.
I slept awfully, probably because I was worried about waking up at 5:40am for my flight, so I ended up getting very little sleep. I even had a dream I woke up at 9:26 and missed my flight. Oof!
In actuality, I woke up when the sun did and made it to the airport with plenty of time to spare.
I had a panic moment when my name was paged and it turned out I had to go through customs since I was leaving the EU. My name was paged two more times as I waited in line, and when I finally got to the gate in a tizzy, the gate agent took my passport and asked, “Are you okay?”
“Yes?” I said.
“Okay,” she said, as she handed back my passport.
“Do you need anything from me?” I asked, confused.
She smiled sweetly and said, “No.”
Then why did you page me three times and give me a heart attack?!? Goodness gracious.
I was thrilled to have a window and a row to myself on the plane. We flew right over Malta, Gozo, and the smaller island of Comino.
We also flew right over Sicily! So even though I didn’t visit on this trip, I still got to see it! Haha.
I had lots of snacks and saw lots of beautiful mountains (the Alps?)
Unfortunately, I was stressed the whole flight. I had a 1-hour 45-minute layover in London because the only other option was to spend hundreds more or to spend the night in London. This should have been fine except that the Malta flight had a communication issue, so we stayed grounded for an extra thirty minutes. Commence unease. Norse Airlines also would not let me check-in online, which meant I would have to go to the check-in counter and stand in line. Check-in closes one hour before take off, though, so the math didn’t add up well!!!! Commence second round of panic for the day!!
Halfway through the flight, an attendant moved me to the middle of the plane so I could get off faster, but that meant no more fun window views. Worth it for a 2% increase in peace of mind.
I speed walked through the airport and was so thankful that Gatwick got their customs ish in order! I’ve spent over an hour in customs several times in the UK, but this time I was SO relieved to find automated kiosks to can my passport with no lines. Easy breezy two minutes.
When I made it to the check-in desk, there were over a dozen others on the same flight in similar predicaments, and we were assured check-in would stay open for us. Thank goodness! I was a little worried about the bag restrictions, but I narrowly made it through with my trusty backpack, hiding my extra bag under the counter, lol.
On my long flight to New York, I got double windows. (Score!) I was also excited because there was a lady in the middle seat next to me and nobody on the aisle. I couldn’t wait for the doors to close so she could move over and we could both spread out!
But then… She didn’t…..!!
I was like, dude, lady, what are you doing?! Why do you want to sit next to me?! What is going on?!
I’m not proud of this, but I spent the next four hours being more and more, uhm… Spacious in an effort to get her to move over, hahahaha. Finally, after enjoying the English countryside (I love the puffy trees and bushes they put between all their fields), watching Mrs. Harris goes to Paris (was cute!), snacking a lot on UK meal deals (main, drink, and snack for five pounds!), I succeeded! I woke up from a short nap, leaning heavily to the left, to find her in the aisle seat. Finally!
After my nap, I snacked some more, watched The Theory of Everything (very good but very sad), and worked on the blog. Eventually, we were making our descent into New York, with the skyline visible in the far distance!
I was so excited to be here! In the States! Even though I wasn’t quite home yet, I was visiting friends and had visited New York several times before, so it really felt like I was kind of already home. All kinds of excited. Cutting my trip short was bold and unexpected, but the excitement I felt at being “finished” with my trip told me that it was 100% the right decision.
All in all, I averaged around 20,000 steps a day – with that one exception of nearly 36,000 steps in Bled. Yeesh! My sleep was kind of all over the place, starting strong and getting worse toward the end. It was fun to have a Fitbit on this trip for the first time!
Thank you so much for following along on another adventure. I really hope you’ve had fun reading and browsing pictures. I may be (a little bit) older and less spunky, but I’m sure this will not be my last trip abroad. I’ll just take this trip as a lesson for planning the next one! But for now, I’d love nothing more than to get the heck home, unpack this silly backpack, and take a bath for the first time in a month. That sounds delightful.
Cheers, ciao, and all the best!
-Lizzy-wa
