MALTA: "there are no strangers, only people who aren't your friends yet."

things haven't changed much since i started loving trieste, but i went on the most incredible vacation and i just have to share everything about it.  

last week, we were on spring vacation from school.  the itinerary for the week was: stay in trieste for easter weekend, cinque terre, parma, and malta to end the week.  as i mentioned shortly before my departure, i had done very little planning for the trip -- V and i had booked a bed to sleep in for wednesday - saturday nights and that was about all.  this was a big step for me and it turned out to be the best thing we could have possibly done.  in malta (the 3rd stop of our week), especially, everything fell into place beautifully; it was so organic that it couldn't have been planned any better.

V says, "there are no strangers; only people who aren't your friends yet."  while she lives her life by this motto -- always asking people questions, for directions, stumbling over new and unfamiliar words and languages like it's no big deal and charming the pants off of everyone she encounters -- i am a bit different.  i pride myself on having a good sense of direction -- since childhood, i've been given the position of "copilot" in order to effectively read the map and help us reach our destination during trips -- and being independent, especially while traveling.  thus, asking for directions and talking to new people ("strangers" some would call them) in unfamiliar languages is not really my jam -- or, it hasn't been in the past.

in malta, however, the people are a breed unlike any i've encountered before.  instead of resenting tourists, each person seemed genuinely happy that we were visiting their country.  they took an interest in our plans and in addition to answering our questions, gave us unsolicited tips on how to more thoroughly enjoy our time in malta.  the perfect representation of the maltese welcoming was our hostel malti owner, chris.  after forgiving us immediately for arriving 2 hours later than we indicated at the time of booking (oops), he asked us, "is this your first time in malta?" when we told him yes, it was our first trip to the island, he responded, "perfect. what are your plans?" "um. well, we have none." "even better!"  before letting us pay, giving us keys, or  showing us to our room, chris sat us down around the common room table and spread out a map.  he marked a million "must do's" on the map and gave us ideas that could build a 2-week-long itinerary.  needless to say, we were overwhelmed, "you mean, we have to make decisions about the next few days?" asked V.

st. julian's bay at night

our first decision: dinner.  we made our way down the hill to st. julian's bay and paparazzi - a chris-recommended dining spot - where we spread out the map and accepted the fact that we were full-on tourists.  we made notes, came up with various plans for each day to be implemented pending weather circumstances and we consumed what may be the most delicious cheeseburger concoction i have ever had.  the sweetheart burger was made with melted cheddar cheese, caramelized onions and sweet-chili sauce and i'm not at all ashamed to tell you that we shared that exact burger 3 times during our stay on malta.  after a good meal, good conversation and a good amount of planning, we went to bed feeling confident in what was to come in the next few days on malta.

i don't know how much of malta's history is well-known but V and i went into our trip blind of what the tiny country has been through and what it's like today -- we weren't even sure what their national language was...(turns out that they speak english and maltese)  it was for this reason, mainly, that we decided to spend our first day wandering around the capital city of valletta.  

to get to valletta, we first had to navigate the malta bus system.  the buses on the island are hilarious.  they reminded V of latin america "but about 10 times better" and for me, never having visited latin america, i felt like i had just gone back in time.  each bus seemed to belong to its driver.  much like some taxi cabs in the states, the driver's area was decorated a little bit differently on each bus.  we saw island-style flowers and hula dancers, strings of beads, stickers of pin-up girls in skimpy bikinis, and "i <3 jesus" stickers, among other visual treats.  the price for a ride cost 47 cents and the money was kept next to the driver in some sort of bucket/bowl and was mostly bronze 1 and 2 cent pieces.  usually, there wasn't a door that opened or closed, just some stairs leading to an empty space out of which i was frequently scared of being thrown, although many drivers had friends standing in the "door" to keep them company during the ride.  

shoes: optional

don't know how he didn't fall out

after navigating the bus system, we made it to valletta and spent the afternoon wandering the streets of the capital.  eventually (thanks to the very helpful tourist signs), we reached our destination of "the malta experience."  this audio visual spectacular was an opportunity for us to time travel through 7000 years, said the brochure.  the advertising (which was everywhere) also boasted sensational visuals and a gripping commentary that would inform us completely on the turbulent history of the maltese islands.  i'm not sure if it was the gripping commentary or the lengthy period of time during which the ottoman empire had control of malta in the 1500s that caused me to lose interest but somewhere around the middle, i was asleep.  thankfully, it was just a brief siesta and i woke up just before world war two.  thanks to V's thorough cliff notes on malta, the end of ottoman control, and napoleon, i still left feeling incredibly informed about the history of the maltese islands.  i'm not sure i've ever had such a succinct, yet informative, history lesson before.  

V on the streets of valletta

with the knowledge gained from the malta experience, we were ready to knowingly explore the island.  we wanted to see all of the bella vistas and ruined stuff (favorite term used by daddyjohn) that were in our audio visual experience!

as soon as we left the malta experience, we were bombarded by a man operating a horse-drawn carriage. "30 euro! i take you all over the island (as he very quickly points out his route on a tattered map)!" as much as we tried to escape, we ended up in the carriage, being taken along roads we had already walked.  although we didn't see anything new during this exciting carriage ride, we paid far less than he originally asked, made it just in time for our return ferry from valletta, and had our first stranger-turned-friend in malta.  

with our first maltese stranger-turned-friend

on the following day, we had high hopes for checking things off of our "must see" list provided by hostel-owner-chris the night of our arrival.  also, the weather was beautiful so we wanted to soak in some rays.  we envisioned a long hike during which we could pass some bella vistas and explore some ruined stuff.  over breakfast and royal wedding pre-show coverage (and with the help of chris), we mapped out an adventurous day.  our adventures were to include: bus ride to the blue grotto, boat ride around caves, hike to the mnajdra and hagar qim temples, continue hiking along the coast to the dingli cliffs, then head inland to the ancient capital city of mdina.  eat cake at fontanella, then catch a bus back to st. julians.  chris said it would take a while but at the time of planning (10am), he wasn't rushing us out the door; he said we'd have plenty of time. 

and around 11am, we were off.  we made it to the blue grotto without incident and began making friends all over the place.  after purchasing our boat-ride tickets, we were loitering and trying to position ourselves in such a way to gain a good viewing seat on the boat.  V started chatting up old man #1 in hilarious jelly sandals (circa my closet in 1994) and before too long he was giving us nespole from his garden.  nespole is the italian word for the fruit and i actually have no idea what they are in english (google translate says "medlar" but that doesn't help me at all. what is a medlar?!).  they look a bit like apricots but aren't fuzzy -- they're small and have a slight sweet flavor.  they're delicious - especially when grown fresh and given to you by a man in jelly sandals. 

V wearing her mario-mandated life vest

soon after indulging on nespole, mario pulled up his boat and assured us that the back row of seats, right in front of him, was the best place to be seated (we had lost our spot in line while eating nespole and chatting it up with old men in jelly sandals).  as we rode off in our little boat and mario quickly began his spiel about the blue grotto and the surrounding caves, we were glad we were sitting just in front of the tour guide -- i'm not sure anyone else could hear him.  

he drove us through numerous caves with the most incredibly colored water i have ever seen.  each little cave had a different special feature, a funny-shaped rock, interesting sand, or pink walls.  my favorite was the reflective cave with a white sand bottom; when you dipped your hand in the water, it lit up and became the same color as the sparkling aquamarine water.  in the end, mario was an excellent tour guide and we were, in fact, very happy that we sat in the back near him.  in addition to being able to hear everything he said and having the most stable place in which to stand up for photo ops, i was able to avoid wearing the "required" orange life vest and thus got sufficient sun burn in hilarious wing-shapes on my shoulder blades.  

after the boat ride, we were interested in some maltese sustenance before venturing onto our hike.  in valletta, we had seen rabbit on various menus and obtained confirmation that it was a frequently consumed maltese dish.  we purchased postcards, found a cute table outside, wrote postcards, and ate rabbit.  how was it? eh.  it was good, but there was a lot of work involved and i just am not sure i loved it enough to order it again.  it was prepared with garlic and while i do love garlic, i don't love the taste lingering while i hike all day -- so of course that's what's stuck in my mind.  

after lunch, our "hike" to the ancient temples was up a wonderfully wide stone sidewalk along the main road.  it took us about 15 uphill minutes to reach the temples - a wonderful stroll just after lunch.  the mnajdra and hagar qim temples are the oldest free-standing stone temples in the world - older than stonehenge!  we were very excited to see something so ruined, until the ticket price was something ridiculous.  thankfully, new malta friend #4, john, came to the rescue. he approached us (while we were hesitantly trying to admit to each other that we didn't want to pay to enter) and said, "you know, i'll tell you a secret.  you can just walk around the outside and see pretty much the gist of things." "oh! well that's excellent. thanks, john! after we look at the outside of the temples, we want to hike to mdina, can you show us how to get there?" "oh no. not on that map. come with me." john proceeded to lead us through the temple museum to a map that covered an entire wall. after giving us directions using this enormous map ("it'll only take you about 2 hours, you're young." he said), he slowly retraced his steps through the museum, giving us a guided tour.  the highlights included his description of the "fat lady" sculptures, "why were these women made so fat? fertility! they were healthy. now you two, no you are good like that, stay like that. but this showed health and fertility."  and then when describing the shape of the temples, "what does this (semi-circle) shape signify?" keeping with the theme of the museum so far, we excitedly responded, "fertility! women's ovaries!" alas, we were incorrect. "no, a hug. hold out your arms like you're giving a hug." 

john's parting words, "do you have any friends in malta? no? yes you do! i am your friend."     

with our new friend, john

we briefly wandered around the outside of the temple area, feeling like we had already seen everything we needed to in the museum during our private tour.  then we were off to mdina!  however, as john told us, our map was not the most detailed.  i'm also not sure that it was at all to-scale; now that i'm looking back at it, it looks more like a cartoon of a map than something that can actually help you find your way.  and, of course, neither of us wrote down john's directions which means we didn't really remember them.  john said it wasn't too far, we knew the general way that he pointed and and i was relying on the good sense of direction that my mom swears i possess.  we'd be fine! 

20 minutes later, we were standing at an intersection, i'm in my map and V is flagging down a bus driver. "where to?! ooh. that's far, you know."  regardless, he pointed us in the correct direction.  we walked for a while along what we assumed to be the correct street.  however, soon we reach a dead end and multiple signs were pointing to "blasting and galvanizing" areas.  to add insult to injury, the sky over the water was growing more ominous by the minute and V was terrified of the anticipated combination of me + rain + no escape.  she just knew that i would melt.  as we were about to really admit that we were lost and turn around to commence back-tracking, a very dusy truck drove up a very dusty road and a very dusty man exited.  "yay!" we thought. we can ask for directions.  the very dusty man and his son (maybe his son? the possible son was not at all dusty) told us (in VERY broken english) that we were very far from where we needed to be and why were we walking there? "that's far from here, you know?"  soon, they were ushering us into their very dusty car.  i felt no hesitation, everyone in malta was so nice! but i later learned that V was having a bit of an internal freak out.  dusty man and not-so-dusty-possible-son drove us up their dusty driveway and walked us through their farm.  dusty man pointed to something on our map, then pointed directly up the steep hill.  he then wildly gestured to the left and kept pointing straight up while speaking sentences that we could not even begin to understand. 

ok, then. so! we started climbing up the mountain, albeit a bit hesitantly.  time went so slowly. we were walking through rural malta, through farmland with signs that i assume said, "no trespassing," nowhere near anything that even existed on our map.  guard dogs were barking loudly at us as we scaled rock walls and remember what the sky just behind us over the water looked like!? i was terrified of a monsoon rainstorm.  V was rehashing the thoughts she was having while i was trusting the dusty man's incomprehensible directions and together, we were growing more and more nervous that we were just climbing to another dead end.  however, after what ended up being only about 10 or 15 minutes, we reached a street!     

farmland on the edge of the world. insanely steep hill with the sea at the bottom. 

strawberry fields! (ominous sky is to the left and can't be seen in the photo)

oh man, it was good to reach that street.  despite all the wild gesturing to the left that our dusty man had done, we went to the right upon reaching the street.  after passing multiple large trucks and signs pointing to more "blasting and galvanizing" we knew something wasn't quite right.  thanks to some legitimate directions (in english) from a man in a funny green car, we turned around (to follow the gestures of our dusty friend) and felt confident in where we were headed.  with our new confidence, we were able to enjoy the incredible views from the side of the mountain -- the ominous black clouds had failed to materialize (thankfully) and had cleared to a more beautiful blue sky than before they threatened a storm.  

we hiked past some adorable mountain churches, some bunker-like houses in the side of rock caves and some pretty incredible mansions.

during our adventure, we were reminded that we were "miles from valletta." 

finally, we reached the dingli cliffs. 

incredibly gorgeous. especially after the adventure it took us to get here. 

i just felt like we had reached the edge of the world and everything was beautiful and perfect and who cares how many times we got lost because we made it! 

it was so breathtaking. i'm actually quite upset at how unimpressive these photos are.  i guess this bella vista is one of those things that you really had to be there for.  

there was a perfect little rock for us to perch on.  i sat and had a deliciously juicy grapefruit snack while V climbed a rock directly behind me searching for the perfect piece of stone to carry back to the states for her dad.  just sitting and relaxing, staring out across the beautifully serene water with the sun beaming down through the clouds was the most excellent mid-point in our day.  

i say "midpoint" as if it were 1 or 2 pm.  however. we didn't reach the dingli cliffs until about 5pm.  the sun was beginning to descend in the sky a bit more rapidly than we were comfortable with, my winged sunburn was making me unusually freezing, and we hadn't reached mdina yet. as we were formulating our game plan, we saw a non-hiker come down to the cliffs from the road (and her car -- we called these folks cheaters) to snap a photo.  we followed her back up to the road and started asking questions, "did you arrive by bus? where is the main road? where are we? what road is this? where is mdina? do you know if a bus goes by here?" these cheaters became our new favorite friends when they said, "oh, we're going to mdina, do you want a ride?!" 

yes. yes and yes. thank you chris and gillan from somewhere in the uk! it turns out that, thanks to the royal wedding and the national holidays that came along with it, for people living and working in the uk to have an insanely long vacation, they only had to take 3 days off from work. so! chris and gillian (who don't care much for the royal family because they're busy living their own lives) were gallivanting in malta and were more than happy to give us a lift to mdina.

we went straight to fontanella for the chocolate cake that V had earned.  i had some subpar carrot cake (nothing will ever be able to compare to the carrot cake that was consumed in stockholm) and we decided that the best part about fontanella was the bella vista from our little table. 

husbands

wives

we didn't do much else in mdina - we were cold and exhausted and i was sunburned.  we commented on the adorable old people on our way out and began the bus venture back to st. julian's.  being friday night and all, we wanted to go out (especially since we hadn't yet made it to paceville -- the crazy nightlife of malta).  however, when we arrived back at the hostel, no one was around to tell us what to do and we were too exhausted to put much effort into our night's agenda.  so, we happily settled for splitting a sweetheart burger and bottle of tastes-like-water white wine to top off an incredibly adventurous day.

saturday's plan: relax on the beach, read a lot and soak in lots of rays.  well that plan was down the drain when we woke up and it was gray and rainy.  despite the weather, i was trying to read outside on the roof terrace (have i mentioned that our hostel had a rooftop terrace?!) when chris came out and asked about our plans for the day. "well, we wanted to go to the beach....." "yeah, that's not likely." was his response. well duh. what are we supposed to do in the rain?! after rejecting his museum suggestion, he offered, "well, there's this rugby match today, malta versus croatia?" V's face lit up. we watched rugby when we were in dublin, she loves the irish, which i think means she loves rugby - just by association at least.

so. chris made some calls and got us a ride to the rugby match on a bus with his friend pierre. "go meet pierre at this hotel, here's a map. you'll be able to find pierre no problem, we call him kermit because he's french. he's small and french-looking. be there at 1230." we went to breakfast with another new friend, gijs, from the netherlands, and he told us all about "queen's day" when all the dutch wear orange (which i had conveniently put on for the day's activities) and party like there's no tomorrow in honor of some old queen's birthday.  sounds like a fun holiday.  gijs also taught us how to say his name (it's nothing like it looks) by "what does a tiger say?" and then you make a very unladylike noise in your throat and the "eis" sound. and that's his name.  

anyway. we made our way to the correct hotel only 10 minutes late.  sadly, we found no one that answered to either pierre or kermit and although we weren't totally sure what he would look like, we saw no one that we immediately thought to be "small and french-looking."  we assumed that because we were late, pierre must have left without us.  alas, we were forced to make new friends.  we joined a rugby team in the hotel bar that was going to the game and of course they had room on their bus for us! after giving us free tickets to the game and beers, they sat us down to watch their "kangaroo court" during which they attempted to beer bong bottles of strongbow cider and chug pints of flavored rum. i say "attempted" because they were doing a horrible job -- most of the liquid ended up on the floor of the hotel bar.  after about 30 minutes of kangaroo court, pierre came and found us! "V? liz? are you coming?! we're waiting for you!" pierre was cute and not at all what i would have called "french looking."  we followed him onto a bus that contained rugby players much younger and much more attractive than the older men failing to chug their kangaroo-court-mandated booze. we were excited for how this afternoon could unfold.  

somewhere near the end of the bus ride, one of the players said, "hold up. there are girls on this bus. pierre! where did the girls come from? who are they?"  when we arrived to the game, we were inducted into the group with beers, face paint, and rules to their constant drinking game by one of the players, garreth unwin.  if you're not familiar with garreth, he won an oscar for producing the king's speech.  so, i mean, that was pretty cool.  he was especially funny when he was lighting his teammates leg hairs on fire and obsessing over V's hair.  sadly, we were told not to get any wild ideas -- he's engaged.  all the guys were funny and many were super nice, despite the rule that if caught talking to a girl, they would have ketchup thrown in their face.  (no ketchup was found during the game, thus we witnessed no ketchup smearing).  In addition to the team that became our team, we were surrounded by our friends from earlier and everyone we had met on the island so far.  and because the maltese and all who travel there are all so incredibly nice, we were greeted by everyone and i felt like i had been there for far longer than 2 days.  the cherry on top of all that was that the stadium was the only place i have ever been where there was a long line for the men's bathroom and no one was in the women's bathroom.  it was the greatest male:female ratio that i believe i have ever experienced.  

  

after the game (malta won), we were given the pleasure of witnessing another round of initiation by our new friends.  my favorite task was when they had to see how many close pins they could attach to their face. as V said, we were watching "homo sapien sapien rugby sapiens" in their natural habitat - i actually felt like i was in an edition of national geographic and that i definitely wasn't supposed to be there. 

after parting ways with our rugby friends, V and i took much needed naps on the rooftop terrace and regrouped before having our 3rd sweetheart burger date and then making our way to paceville for rugby celebrations.  as we entered the thick of maltese nightlife, we passed our original older-men rugby friends and also encountered our younger, more-attractive rugby friends who were now dressed as cowboys and indians and smelled suspiciously of ketchup.  we finally encountered hostel-owner-chris and pierre who were with the very well-dressed malta national team celebrating their victory over croatia.

we hopped around paceville with members from multiple rugby teams, holding our own quite well in a group with so many intoxicated men.  i won't give you all the details , but if you use your imagination, you might have a good idea of how the evening progressed.  at one point - maybe my favorite point - we were in a dive bar FULL of foreigners singing horrible karaoke.  obviously, i thought i was in my element and V and i signed up to sing a few numbers.  i was unaware, however, that my go-to country karaoke jams would not translate to be as popular in malta as they are with the crowd in salty mcdoogles at ocean isle beach, north carolina.  after failing miserably at mj's 'man in the mirror' and shania twain's 'man, i feel like a woman', we moved on. before we knew it, it was 4am and we were in a bar that was playing 70s and 80s throwback jams and all the young attractive rugby players had left long before with girls willing to sell themselves short.  V and i went back to our hostel and spent the night cuddled in the cushions on the rooftop terrace.

sunday morning was possibly the most beautiful day we had woken up to all week which was quite depressing since we had to leave malta at midday.  we enjoyed a wonderful breakfast coffee and sandwich at cafe ole near the water and then had stress-free transport to the airport by taxi-driver manuel (who we saw the "night" before as we were returning to the hostel as he was driving another hostel guest to the airport).  as if it had been a parting gift, the beautiful weather made for amazing views as our plane flew over the island en route to bologna and home.  it was sad to leave, but  i know i'll be back.      

as i mentioned at the beginning of this terribly-lengthy post, it has not been my way in the past to make friends with strangers... this has especially been the case when traveling in a foreign country where people may or may not speak english.  in malta, most people did speak english which certainly made getting around and making friends much easier.  however, i believe that even without a common language, people living in and visiting malta are incredibly welcoming and friendly.  during our stay, we made numerous friends that i hope to keep in touch with and visit again -- either in malta or another exciting destination.    

in my future travels, i intend to make my way through the world with V's words close at hand.  especially when thinking about traveling alone, it's much more comforting to know that you're only alone if you decide to be alone -- strangers only exist if you let them.  

x!