Travelpod Malta

Writing on Travelpod, the world's first travel blog, Hunter and Cierra discuss their short stay in Malta:

..We used the extra time at the gate to make friends with a Maltese couple, who evidently liked us well enough, because once on the island, they let us use their cellphone to call Theresa, our new host, and then offered to drive us to her house. We happily accepted, and although their car was a tiny Peugeot, we somehow managed to stuff ourselves and our baggage in their backseat. Theresa turned out to be a very nice college student, and we had a great evening together, cooking up some rabbit (a Maltese specialty) and drinking a bottle and a half of wine. Theresa's Mom and sister were planning on arrival at 3 am (their flight was delayed as well), and we couldn't quite manage to stay up and greet them.

The next day we awoke late, and Cierra was hungry before we had wandered very far, so we stopped in the Wild Wild West Cafe and met Mario, a Maltese man with a deep affection for Americans and most especially American Country Music. Indian art and pictures of country stars were slapped all over the wall. Blaring the country music, Mario treated us like family and was so excited to show us the things that other Americans had sent back to him that we could barely eat our lunch. He was more than kind, however, sending out some peppered goat cheese for us to try (another Maltese specialty, from its smaller island Gozo), and complimentary glasses of wine. He also invited us to come to their Christmas Eve dinner, saying he would be honored to have us as guests. What a nice guy!

On to what we spent our day on. Here's a tip. When you go to a country that is surrounded by water and has a currency conversion that's against you by 3 to 1, don't book a one-way ticket. Seems like common sense, right? We did this knowing that we had to get to Tunis for our next booked flight, and believing that there would be ferry service for us to get there. Sadly, it was not so, and the flight for next week has cost us dearly. We spent most of our first day in Malta trying to arrange alternate travel, including talking to an affable Australian fellow with a yacht, but no dice. All the other ways would cost even more and take way more time, so we had to drag ourselves out to the airport again, buy the tickets, and bus back to Valletta. First time I've ever paid for airplane tickets with a wad of cash, counted out several times to make sure it was right. 154.88 in Liri, which is around $450, for a tiny hop across around 200 km of water. Sigh. Well, at least we got the tickets and there won't be any major disruptions in our travel plans.

We got back to Valletta, Malta's capital, around sunset, and couldn't face yet another bus ride, so we decided to walk back the 3 or so miles to Theresa's place. A great night for a long walk, and we stopped along the way for a sampling of some of the very cheap takeaway food sold from counters along the street. It mostly tasted like grease, but it cost 12 Maltese cents, so who cares? Malta is one of the most Roman Catholic countries on Earth. They're one of the 4 most densely populated countries as well. I believe this is known as "cause and effect". Malta has also turned out to be much warmer than the Italian cities just to the north, perhaps benefiting a bit more from the warming influence of the sea.

Malta's also one of the smallest countries in the world, consisting of just 3 tiny islands in the middle of the Mediterranean. Its central location gives it great history as a port, and a long list of conquests by various powers with varying degrees of success. The latest one was voluntary, as Malta has just joined the EU, and the money's already flowing in. New road works are in progress, causing the pokey, decrepit buses to run even slower. The buses have character, though, with each interior wildy different from the one before. Our latest ride was decorated with big Circus style letters all over the dashboard. The bus drivers are pretty comical fellows, almost all of them chain-smoking despite the "no smoking" signs plastered all over the bus. One fellow puffed on a pipe the whole time he drove. They've all got their favorite people along their route who they stop and exchange a few words with daily, to the great frustration of the drivers behind them...