| Malta Blog
Y not try to do a blog? 7 days – will I have the time to do this daily? Only time will tell. OK- here’s the “intro”: When I was little, every time I was in the middling of playing outside, I’d be interrupted by my mom yelling to come in to eat, do homework, practice piano or whatever. I couldn’t WAIT until I was an adult and could do what I wanted with no interference. Then I got married. Whenever I wanted to do something, my ex would remind me that I couldn’t because “we” have plans; have other things to do; etc. One year I actually went alone for 4 days diving to Bonaire. When I came back and said it was the best vacation I had ever had (my first night dive; I won every night at the casino and it paid for the entire trip; etc.) my ex was fuming at me for implying that not being with her was “better”. I really didn’t mean it that way, but now I can see her point. Then we got divorced. I remember thinking that I’m “free” at last. And then there was the Sunday softball game from my 7 yr old daughter Ashley that I had to sit through. I think the score was 89 to 78 after 5 innings. Ten seconds after it finished, I had the 11 A.M. hardball Little League game for my son Jahred on the next field. At 1 pm we were done and traveled to my softball game. My kids wouldn’t stop complaining about being “stuck and bored” watching me play from 1 pm to 3 pm. I was seriously considering homicide. I remember sliding into 3rd base in the last inning, too mad at my situation and my kids’ absolute incomprehension about my wanting to be their single parent and still trying to have a life to realize our League played in a schoolyard and the field was concrete. Ouch! Once the bleeding stopped I realized I still wasn’t free (& I knew it would take a perfect throw to get me, which the centerfielder did, so I was called out & we lost the game by a run, just to make my day worse!). Then came girlfriends. Marcelle is fairly understanding that I want to do my own thing and it’s NOT a reflection on her at all. I have had a weekend or two per year where she didn’t bitch too much when I went away golfing by myself or whatever. But never a vacation this long. It took me 54 years but I’m looking forward to a full week finally FREE to do as I please and not be too broke to not enjoy it (I went away after my divorce with no credit cards and a limited amount of cash in my pocket. Enjoyable to a degree but not the same as this)! YES! About a decade ago or more I somehow got invited to “The Travelers Century Club” for people that have visited at least 100 countries. With about 35 to 40 countries on my passports, I couldn’t join but I’m a “guest” and go to 2 or 3 meetings a year. Nearly everyone is either in the travel agent business or retired. Several years ago I was at one of these meetings and it was a lecture on Malta – learning about how reasonable the prices were and the activities. It stuck in my mind as a place I’d like to go to some day. And that some day was today …Flight was out of Newark at 10:30 pm. Awesome start. I was able to complete my days’ work for a change and still make it to the airport on time. It was Alitalia’s last flight of the day and thus the terminal was nearly empty. No lines. A good start. No one in my row on the plane. Three seats in a row to stretch out and get 3 hrs of sleep between interruptions from the pilot and stewardess for announcements that I couldn’t care about and food that no one ate. Wasn’t really too sure what the food was. We arrived early to 60F and rain in Milan. My flight to Malta is delayed already. Only a 3 hr wait in the terminal. Hey, at least I’ve got this computer and it isn’t outdoors. More to come …. Flight to Malta was only delayed half an hour due to rain. Once we landed and I got my luggage I went to the car rental. The folks there were telling me how “lucky” I was: They had just gone three months without much rain or humidity and yesterday it started to pour. Lucky me! It stopped raining by the time I got my car but the humidity was so thick you could cut it. I told my travel agent to rent a small car. I didn’t say anything about amenities. It’s been years since I owned and drove a stick. Also years since I was sitting with a steering wheel on the right side of the car, driving on the left (British style). OY! Like a bike, you never forget. I’ve only stalled twice in the three days before I wrote this. Oy again! Everyone said it was really easy to get to my hotel. Yeah, if you are a Malta resident. Between worrying about which side of the road I was on; shifting in traffic, etc., it wasn’t so easy like they said. Eventually after taking a self-imposed tour, I finally got to the hotel. After checking in, I decided on a nap before dinner. 13 hours later it was time to get up. I so hate jet lag. I made it to the breakfast (hey, it was included and I paid for it) with 20 minutes to spare. Then I decided to go to Gozo, the sister island to the island of Malta and part of the 3 islands that make up the country. Concierge told me it was a short trip along the coastal highway. Easy to get to. Yeah, right. After an eternity of being lost I got to the ferry. Huge boats for a 20 minute trip. Drove in and enjoyed the trip. We passed the “fort” where the scene was shot in the movie The Count of Monte Cristo where he was kept in jail and then thrown over the cliff. Popped some pills to keep my gout in check (yup, it’s bothering me as usual at this time of season). Drove down the main road in Gozo and found the best sight for sore eyes: After enjoying McD for lunch (only 3 items on the menu were local), I headed out. Saw the Calypso cave; a world heritage site of a 5000 year old temple – one of the oldest man-made structures in the world still standing at Ggianta; the largest ornate cathedral on the Island (never saw a synagogue remotely as ostentatious); their natural science museum (poor); the Gozos archaeology museum; an old prison (400 plus years old) and the cathedral museum. Drove back to the ferry and proceeded to get totally lost for over an hour trying to find my hotel. Changed into dress clothes (this isn’t Vegas or A.C.) and hit the local casino, situated in the 5 star Westin (NO craps! They tell me that every American asks for it). [As an aside -] I’m staying at a 3 or 4 star. The difference is apparent but for a single person, it’s fine. If you are with the other half, spend the extra and stay five star on this island. Otherwise this is perfect – on par with the hotel I stayed at in Istanbul. First, I had dinner in one of the hotel/casino’s restaurants, “Guadro”. Had a fish call Lumpuka, of the dolfin family (the fish, not the mammal). Had same species, different name one year when I was in Barbados. Must be a fish that’s related to the British – the last time I drove on the other side of the road and had Dolfin was that time I was in Barbados. Food was excellent and the service worse than abysmal. Nearly two hours later it was time to gamble. So far I’m up $675, but there are many more nights left for me to donate to the local economy. Missed breakfast on sat. morning. And I pre-paid for it! Oy! Well, here goes golf today …. Took an hour for the 20 minute ride (lost AGAIN!). Enjoyed the course. Played ½ alone and back nine with some German guys (who all spoke English better than my German). Headed back to the hotel, got lost again, of course, and finally got there in time for my nap (NO FUN getting OLD). Ate dinner at 10 pm Malta time. Found out that while the country is 95% Roman Catholic, there’s one Mosque and one synagogue (called, no answer) in the yellow pages. Finally had time to walk around. Everyone – tourist and native wears similar high heels and tight clothes – whether fat or thin (yes, the girls only!). There’s nothing worse while eating in an outdoor café than to see two women sachet by, swinging their hips to be “sexy” in bear (not bare!) midriff, tight clothes and high heels and then realize that MY potbelly is thinner than theirs! OY! Lost my appetite for a second.
Set a wake-up call so I could cash in and eat the included buffet. Then I decided to golf again. Did better than yesterday. Played with 3 blokes from Manchester that were piss-poor golfers but nice chaps. Stopped off for some Arab food that was really excellent (Libya is a really short distance away – I’m told that the Maltese hate the Libyans but do a lot of trade with them because of proximity. Malta being 95% Roman Catholic and of arab ancestry and language, Libyans look at the Maltese as worse than infidels. Like what the Chassidim think of Reform Jews). Sitting on my terrace typing and look out at the sea – this is soooo chilling. If only my gout wasn’t bothering me, I could so go for some beer. Monday morning. I’ll admit to being a bit nervous. My gout has subsided but I’m about to do a dive. The instructor at the Preluna Diving Centre, Antonio, was excellent. He had told me when I discussed the dive (when I got in to Malta) to wait for calmer seas. He had suggested Monday. He took forever to make sure that my gear fit perfectly; etc. We headed out from the beach to the open sea (under water). For some reason, walking vertically & putting 200+ [not saying what the plus stands for] pounds of fat on my gout-ravaged foot hurt after the gout was gone. Using the foot just to kick, which entails a different perspective and different muscles, made my foot feel better than it has in weeks. If I could stay under water, my gout wouldn’t be a problem! Antonio brought a white board for writing. When we saw our first octopus, it actually shot black ink at us and ran away. He wrote on his underwater writing board “Much better in garlic sauce than in the sea” (I don’t eat it, but I greatly appreciated his humor). Fed a shell (clam) to another octopus. He ate it, spit the shell out at us, shot his black ink at us after we petted it’s head & left. We saw the usual stuff – a moray eel about 5 ft long; different fish; etc. Did a very relaxing and very shallow dive, considering how little I’ve done in the past few years, how out of shape I’m in (yes, round IS a shape, but not the one for diving), how worried I was about my foot. So we dove only to about 35 feet and spent nearly an hour below the surface. And all of this for about $36. plus tip (Maltese 12 Lira).
From diving, I headed to golf. It’s amazing what they say about “muscle memory”. Only the 2nd time I’ve golfed 3x in a week. A few years back, in Puerto Rico, I shot 103, 98 and 94 consecutively in one 3 day vacation. This time it was 100, 98 and 95 in a row. If I go without golf for 3 or more weeks, I usually shoot between 103 and 106. Yes, I really DO suck at golf – but I’m still amazed at how much better I play with regular practice. Makes me worry – are all “sports” like that? In that case, when I was in my 20s I practiced sex a lot more often with women than I do now, does that mean that with lack of practice …. Let’s get back to Malta (I don’t want an answer to that one!).
| Just to prove how damn OLD I AM – after golf I stopped at KFC (no I didn’t eat at Pizza Hut, Burger King OR Subway – but yes, there were all here. I DID eat in Friday’s one night after the casino). After my KFC chicken, I came back to the room and keeled over for 12 hours. It’s so much fun to be old. NOT. I used to dive & golf all in one day and still have energy. Now I barely made it to dinner and my hotel bed.
Got up to see Valletta (the “big” city). I was told (incorrectly) that I shouldn’t drive there. So I took a bus (which was fast, cheap and fine). The Museum of Fine Arts was like I expected in this part of “Europe”. Every picture had a halo in it and a religious motif. Same as when I was in Spain’s Prado or in several Italian museums. Went to see the 4th biggest domed church in the world. Again, ostentatious doesn’t do justice. Remember, these were big-shot rulers from around 1270 to 1804 who all came from the largest “noblemen’s families” of all of Europe. So money was no object and it showed. Saw the archaeology museum and it was awesome. Had actual stone carved 5000 to 6000 YEARS ago – massive boulders and small carvings. When you think that someone was making this and if you could have been there and said “6000 years from now, your stone will NOT be in the edifice you are making it for – it’ll be for a museum and people will STILL be looking at it” I wonder what the stone carver would have said. And no, I don’t think it’d be “Who gives a *, as long as the temple pays me”. That’s American labor today. Malta has the oldest (before pyramids; before Stonehenge; before ANYTHING) man made structures found so far in the world. And the shame of it, no one has a clue what the buildings were for. Lots of guesses but no writings were left that could be used to figure it all out. And who knows, maybe it was the world’s biggest outhouse and the writing was graffiti – or maybe it WAS a temple, like most people think. Come to Malta, look at it & you be the judge.
Spent a third day at the casino. The 2nd nite was brutal. When the dealer has a 9 showing and the guy at the end seat has 19 & HITS – you know it’s gonna be a long night (& no other tables opened during the week). Next hand the dealer has a 6 showing and the guy next to me has two aces. He doesn’t split and instead hits until he has 14 and stands. I lost $450. So I almost didn’t go for a third night (my last night in Malta). But I did, had a lovely time (most of our table was from NY area – Bronx and Bayonne) and won $110. So overall I ended up taking the Malta economy for $335.00.
Headed back to the hotel. As is ALWAYS with me (see Istanbul blog) – the computer was working fine until Friday. Then on the weekend, I could connect out, but my office computer crashed. On Monday the office fixed the problem from their end but then the hotel’s computer system had a power problem that still isn’t fixed as I’m leaving. I don’t recall EVER going away with my laptop and using it problem-free for my entire trip. Oh well.
Writing this on the plane. With a 9 hr trip not much else to do. I just watched “Nacho Libre” on the one screen in the plane. OY! Next up was something with Robin Williams but I have no idea what it is, so I’m typing instead. Getting to the airport was usual Maltese. Signs saying take Route X to the airport everywhere but no idea how to get to it. I rode past the airport at least 3 times. My hotel concierge said it was a 15 minute trip. I left an hour early just in case I got lost. So 40 minutes later I got into the airport. Then to find the Car Rental Return. Really Easy! I saw it, ignored the “Do Not Enter” and the “One Way” signs, kept my fingers crossed that there weren’t any on-coming cars, and floored it. Once in the lot, I parked in the spot I had taken the car from and walked to the departure building where I was told that you have to return the keys at the arrival building! Walked there to see a sign that says “Drop off keys from returned cars here” and not a soul in sight. Good thing I took the insurance. Besides the car being covered with * (I parked under a tree that apparently had a ton of birds in it and found out when I came back after golf); the first ten minutes I left the parking lot I was a little too close to the parked cars and my left mirror was knocked closed. Not broken (it’s happened to me in NYC – it just closes to the window) but paint from another car scrapped onto it. Of course it also happened two more times the first day! The best was my hubcap was slightly bent from being too close to the curb leaving the airport the first day. By the second day I was fine and actually got applauded by some people on the curb watching me park in a really tight spot the day before I left. Not easy with a stick shift on the left hand side. Plane left on time for Milan. When we got there the flight to New York was already delayed. We got on and the plane is about 80% full and yet no one sat next to me. I’m definitely buying some lottery tix when we land. While waiting between flights I had to have Milan Pizza. The place had a Tomato and Cheese on Foccia or Focchachia or some Focked up bread. It tasted exactly like the matzo-pizza I used to make for my kids during Passover. Oy again! Can’t wait for real Italian BROOKLYN Pizza! We got an announcement that they had counted the pieces of luggage in the hold and the pieces of luggage scanned and the numbers didn’t match. So they were taking off every piece of luggage and rescanning them all. And with nearly every person making all sorts of “Hey, this is an Italian airline, not Lufthansa, what else can you expect from THEM” we waited. Between getting up early knowing that I’d get lost to the airport; two hours from Malta to Milan and three hours before takeoff for a nine hour flight and a 6 hour time change, this coming home isn’t too much fun.
OBSERVATIONS AND COMMENTS:
First of all, I saw only two souvenir shops with Falcons. Guess the movie isn’t that popular. The main building material is a honey colored limestone block that was used for the past 7000 years with little or no change. Paint colors are very minimal and found only in the really recent newer buildings – as additions, such as a painted balcony. They also appeared to have discovered grey cinder blocks in the very recent past, as the newer buildings all seem to have them (painted over in a honey color!). People from the Caribbean would be appalled at the lack of color in the buildings in Malta. Yet many of the buildings are so impressive in massiveness and cut that drab doesn’t completely apply. The food is a mix of Europe with a dash of Arab. Rabbit was the only thing not found in NYC that was a staple of most Maltese restaurants. But all types of toppings on pizza; fish and burgers; steaks and shellfish predominate the cuisine. Nearly every place boasts about it’s “Maltese Food served here” and the menu is normal European/American (except for the rabbit and local fish). The local Maltese language sounds Arabic (which is its origin) but it is written with Roman looking letters except for a few (like the dot above a letter followed by a letter – G with a dot above it in Ggianta is prounced gee gaganta) or an H that has two bars, one across the top. Nearly everyone speaks English (the co-official language of the country – like Canada has officially two languages). The money, the Maltese Lira is easy to figure out – it’s approximately triple in value of ours – so One Lira is 3 bucks American at the present time. Prices for everything come out to be about the same as our prices. The men, for some reason, remind me of the Portuguese. The young women all wear heels and look quite tan and good looking (with lots of hills to walk around they are all in better shape over-all than Americans), the older women look weather beaten (for good reason considering the climate). Lots of up/downs in the streets reminded me a bit of San Francisco and I saw few fat people - & I’m fairly certain that those were tourists (yes, myself included). Quite a number of the locals had a good variety of dogs as pets – but nearly all were properly leashed and looked well kept and friendly. It is not a beautiful place to visit with awesome vistas (though there are some) and the casinos aren’t big (& the one I went to didn’t have craps and had some of the worst blackjack players I’ve ever seen). As for tourists, rare was an American. Tourists seemed to be mostly British with lots of Germans and a dash of French. My 3 star had tons of people with canes because it had a large spa (that I didn’t use) and was cheap. My area (Sliema) was a tourist place for older folks. The next town over, St. Jullian, was for the younger or richer (5 star) set. 10 days is a good amount of time for a trip that will allow you to see everything despite jet lag. I thus needed about another 3 or 4 days. Oh well. There were the usual time-shares and condos for sale, all with perfect views of the Mediterranean. You can get the same amenities in the Caribbean without jet lag which I think is the main reason most Americans go “Malta”??? when told about it. And yes, they will look at you if you ask for a Chocolate Malted. But if you wanted European flair with tons of ancient history and archaeological sites to visit in person; passable diving from the shore or boat; some casino gambling; good but not exotic food, lots of museums and military history and a smallish but difficult golf course to play on, I’d recommend it for the price. It’s as cheap or better for the distance than anything else you can imagine and the weather is fairly perfect year-round. A two week vacation which included a few days in your European gateway (nearly every flight from New York to Europe lands in a city that has a direct flight to Malta) and then the majority of time in Malta would be worth doing.
Shameless plug – my friend and travel agent (& ex-Mensan) Joe Rapapport booked this all for me. If interested, contact me and I’ll give you his number/email. The dive-master was beyond nice & I’d recommend his company to everyone diving in Malta.
Malta pix below:
|
