Last day in Malta

Other than the Hypogeum, our visit to Malta has been a rather sedate affair, with plenty of relaxing, drinking and eating followed by afternoon naps, so it is not quite as action packed as usual. But it does allow me to contrast the difference in Malta between the last time I visited and now.

A seven pint pitcher of Cisk (the local beer) served in a bubblegum dispenser.

Whilst there are still a large number of tat shops (also known as souvenir shops), it does appear that the nature of the objet d'art is shifting. The rows and rows of plastic Maltese knights you could buy has lessened and been replaced by plastic ashtrays of Rastafarian men displaying their very impressive manhoods!! I can't for the life of me work out a) what connection this has to Malta, and b) who on earth would buy such a souvenir. 

Random merchandise in the shops....

Still, it gave us all a good chuckle at the strangeness of it all. The food has changed slightly in my opinion. It seems to be less expensive than when we came her before, but also some of local restaurants we used to like coming to, had either closed down or had become very average indeed. Maybe it is just that my taste buds have changed.

The answer to my Rastafarian souvenir question was soon answered, as I saw Dan queuing up with a particularly impressive example, whose modesty was only spared by an amazing banana sheath that was strategically placed!!! He explained to me that it was a present for a friend, but I fully expect that item to be pride of place in his house next time I am there!! 

Another thing was that the fun bus seems a little bit less fun than what I can recall. Maybe it is out of season and so doesn't do the late night runs where it goes through all the back streets, ringing its bell and press ganging all the people on board in to waving embarrassedly at all the diners staring at them wondering what the commotion is.

The above is all just filler, as today, being our last full day in Malta, we have done a few of the necessary tourist bits, like shopping for presents and the like. The aim was to get stuff done and have an early night as we needed to be up early in the morning.

So we just went to the aquarium today, to idle away a couple of hours. I have to say it was not a bad experience at all. While it was limited in size, it was lovely to visit all the tanks and not have school parties of screaming children running around and blocking your view. It was slightly spoiled for Dan and Symmie, who seemed to get collared by an enthusiastic helper inside who stalked them throughout the whole aquarium pointing out the various fish.

Some aquarium snaps - a Lionfish

Not sure why they have a submerged statue of Jesus in the aquarium...

A silver fish thing, which I have forgotten the name of, so lets pretend it is a Sea Bass.

 Still I had my own issues to deal with as right at the end of the tour, there is a mahoosive tank with the largest crabs you are ever likely to see in (aquaria always seem to save those until the end). Sarah has a very strong dislike of crustaceans, and so i had negotiate her way around the end of the tour like someone leading a blind person!!

****Sarah, if you are reading this, look away now******

Biiiiiggggg crab. The Japanese spider crab (Sarah ran when she saw this!)

After the aquarium we did the necessary packing up before going for a final meal. The weather here has changed fore past couple of evenings as it has been a bit cloudier during the day, which has actually made the island more humid and sweltering than at the start of the week. It has also meant that in the evenings there have been some very impressive thunderstorms. 

Still that is about all the is to say from our return to Malta, it has been a lovely surprise holiday for me, and now my thoughts turn to returning to reality again. The next adventure will be our honeymoon to......well that would be telling, wouldn't it.  ;)

World Heritage Sites and tributes to Lady Di

Today is the main reason for Sarah taking me on a surprise trip to Malta. On our previous visit, we did a thorough enough job of going around the island seeing all the megalithic temples on offer, but one glaring hole in my Malta C.V. was the fact that I didn't get to see the Hypogeum.

This was because the site is situated in such a delicate climate, excessive human sweat and carbon dioxide can build up, bleaching and damage the stones and wall art. So, to minimise this, Maltese Heritage limit the number of people who can enter at any given time and there are only so many "slots" per day. Needless to say, these book out well in advance (over a month) and I was completely unaware of this on our first visit.

We had no such problems getting in this time as Sarah booked the ticket months in advance, so we popped in a taxi and it took us across the island to the site. The Hypogeum is actually not too far away from Tarxien temple (a couple of hundred metres), which we saw on our first visit, but it is so completely different, that upon entering it, you could easily be forgiven for missing it, as it looks just like an average Maltese house with a door. 

The entrance to the Hypogeum - understated in the extreme!!

This is because the site was untouched and underground for thousands of years, and it was only when  building work to erect houses stumbled upon it in the early 1900s that it was discovered (even then, it took the builders four years to report it - I guess they didn't want anything to jeopardise the building of this house!!).

Typically for these sites, there is no photography allowed, so I can't really show you what I saw at the Hypogeum, but it was an impressive underground temple site, not dissimilar to the temples above ground, but completely enclosed and carved out of the rock using primitive tools. It was easy to see why this was a world heritage site, and also why they had to regulate the amount of visitors to it. Completely dissimilar to Egypt, who pack in as many people as possible, and wonder why all the hieroglyphs are being bleached away.

I would strongly recommend seeing this site if you are ever in Malta, but be warned, you will need to book the tickets at least 2-3 months in advance as they only allow a handful of people in each day.  

On our way back home, I noticed there was a Lady Di hairdressers next to the Hypogeum. A wonderful contrast between the old and the new (although Lady Di's hairstyle probably pre-dates the Hypogeum by several thousand years!!). 

Lady Di Hairdressers. Now doing facial waxing....

It does seem that Lady Di is held in some regard here, as just the night before we were in a Lady Di tribute bar, which had an impressive amount of Lady Di newspaper cut-outs and general pictures of her completely covering the walls of the pub. It seems to be a popular haunt of people who could easily have been extras in Eastenders (or El Dorado). I am guessing that it is a nice piece of home from home for the Ex-Pats in the in town, of which there seem to be many.

Group selfie in Di's bar! The pub where all the greats go to "Di".

I have to admit it was a fun place to go, the music was eclectic, and for the most part had some tenuous link to Lady Di (as she is referred to in these parts) and on top of that, they did an impressive Blue Lagoon cocktail which I discovered I really love, as it tastes like Refreshers (the sweets). 

Capital (Va)lletta

Today has been a day of rest and so I will take some time to catch up on all the events. 

Yesterday we headed into Valletta so we could look at the World War 2 museum and the harbour forts. As I have previously mentioned the way to travel in Malta is by bus, the network is comprehensive and regular, and while it may suffer a bit with punctuality, there is no real grievances felt as you just have longer to enjoy the sunshine.

I haven't mentioned the weather yet, so I figure I should give you an update. It is HOT. Much warmer now than the hottest day we had in the UK this year!! Occasionally a few clouds gather, but they are soon melted away by the sun. And while the is a sea breeze that sweeps around the streets, iris very unlike the chilling effect that we had in The Gambia, and instead it is just a lovely cooling sensation.

Anyway, back to the bus, we caught the number 12 from Bugibba bus station, and figured it was worthwhile getting a week long ticket - which gives us unlimited bus travel around the island and costs the princely sum of €6.50. Travelling by bus is the way to see Malta, as you go through all manner of small towns and windy narrow roads which clearly were not designed for busses!! It was an old fashioned bus, much like we had back in the UK in the 80s with that coarse carpet material on the backs of the seats, and even on the ceiling. 

With tickets the price they are, it is no surprise that the bus was packed but thankfully Sarah had us in the queue early so we managed to get seats. Malta has really brought out her British sense of queuing, and was indignant when some local Maltese lad just came and stood in front of us. Still her vexation was not a patch on the Russian ladies (I use the term loosely, and that was not the words Sarah used to describe them either, but I want to keep this blog a PG rated blog!!) who pushed in front of her at the toilets in Valletta. Sarah is still going on about that now!!

After an hour of driving around the island, we finally arrived at the capital. It has been a bit more developed since Sarah and I were last there, but there was still a fair bit of work to do before they are finished. The city walls were as impressive as ever, as were the harbour forts, but typically the one thing that we had come to see ( the World War II museum) was closed because, the guard informed us, they were relocating it to some indistinct area of the city over there (said as he was waving his arm in the general direction of the way we came). We did see them loading a jeep onto a trailer as part of this relocation, but I scarcely think that would fulfill Dan's requirement of what he wanted from a World War II museum.....

We sat down had a drink and regrouped, and decided to visit the museum of archaeology instead. This houses many exhibits from the temples of Malta and was a perfect way to whet our appetites before visiting the Hypogeum on Wednesday. It was an interesting, if small, museum and had an impressive display of Neolithic sleeping figures, as well as an inordinate amount of clay pots. Also, we finally got to see the George Cross that was presented to the island in recognition of its bravery against the Nazi bombing onslaught. 

An altar in the Museum of Archaeology on a lovely chipboard floor. I spared you endless pics of pots!!

The George Cross awarded to Malta, along with the letter from King George VI.

Surprisingly after all that, we were shattered and so we decided to make our way back home. I again feel like I have not seen all that Valletta has to offer,as we seemingly went down the Main Street we did last time. Is that all there is??