The last day in Malta

That title in itself is depressing, and judging by the lack of people emailing me to tell me our work syndicate has won the lottery, it is looking like I am going to have to come home and start paying those bills again. Every day we have had in Malta has been blessed with glorious sunshine, and it seems to be getting hotter with every passing day. Fortunately, today there has been a soft breeze which has made being out in the sun bearable. This is something of a random post, as I pick out a few things that have not naturally fitted into the blog, and share some of the observances of life in Malta.

For our penultimate meal, I thought I would take Sarah to Bognor....I am such a romantic

 

Cuisine

The cuisine here is a strange mix of Italian (which I am sure is the traditional cuisine) with some English dishes thrown in for good measure (i.e. burgers, fish and chips) to cater for the tourist market. It is a little embarrassing to see all the Brits making their way down to McDonalds with the kiddywinks instead of trying some of the lovely restaurants around the area. For the record I have not been into those golden arches once, Sarah can vouch for that!

I know it is a catholic country, but eating a Rabbi is a bit extreme

 

The pizzas here are lovely, as is the gelato (ice cream), and I have developed a taste for tequila sunrises, but rather strangely when you ask for a cider here, they will only have bottles of Woodpecker or Strongbow, unless of course you go to one of the many Brit pubs here, where you can buy (Irish) Magners. I have to confess that while being sniffy about frequenting British type pubs here, we have round one that is really nice and cheap. The hotel drinks prices are fairly extortionate, possibly to subsidise those on fully inclusive packages. A lot of Maltese dining takes place al fresco as it is so much nicer to enjoy the warm evening in the pavement outside the restaurant. Very European.

 

Transport

Transport around the island is generally pretty good although there is no train service here at all. Their used to be a train system, but it fell into disrepair before the war, and has since been replaced by the bus service. This is a little bit sad as the famous yellow buses have been replaced by green Arriva livery instead. There is a plus side to this though in that buses follow a timetable fairly reliably so independent travelling is actually rather easy.

Also, the bus drivers a incredibly helpful once they know what you are trying to do. It is always worth explaining to them where you are trying to get to,and they will often shout out down the bus when they arrive at the stop you need.

A special mention has to go out to the Bugibba fun bus, which is frankly anything but fun. It is like a childrens train ride, and it goes around the back streets of the town ringing its bell and beeping its horn and encouraging the people on board to wave at passers by. Now I accept that this would be slightly enjoyable for youngsters, but from what I have seen parents with kids are in the minority, and instead it is a fully of couples who have a look of something between embarrassment and horror on their faces. Very few wave and you can tell that most of the people on board are just desperate for the nightmare to end.....

Shopping

Shopping is an interesting sport in Malta, from what I can see, outside the main shopping area of Valetta, the breakdown of shops is thus; car showrooms/auto parts shops/tyre places make up about 50% of all shops, 25% are air conditioning shops, a surprisingly large 10% are aluminium shops and the remaining 15% can be anything else.

What I can deduce from this is that there are either a lot of breakdowns or accidents in Malta and they like to keep cool with their aluminium framed door frontages. Indeed there were a lot of aluminium gates, so if you ever wondered what happened to all those coke cans you recycle at work, it is a safe bet they end up on Malta (via China, naturally).

Fashion

There is not much call for wearing very much here at all, so fashion seems to consist of flip flops and a bikini/shorts (depending on your preference). What does seem to be a curiosity is that a large proportion of Maltese women appear to dye their hair some shade of red; the younger ones going for a more pronounced red, and as age progresses it gets toned down to a burgundy colour. I am at a loss to explain this.

One of the worst fashion faux pas imaginable; sandals and socks!

 

That sums up most of the things I have noticed in Malta, my next post will be from England with a summary of what I have learned from this adventure.