Category Archives: Culture

Information about the current culture of a location we visit.

More Exploring Valletta

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Today we took the scooter back to Valletta. We had lunch in a small café in what seemed to be the heart of downtown. The café had a food menu and a separate multi-page hot chocolate menu featuring flavors such as meringue, caramel, strawberry, banana, peach, whisky, hazelnut, white chocolate, pistachio, and more. We couldn’t resist, we had to try one of these gourmet hot chocolates, so Christi ordered one. What came out was not flavored milk, this was truly hot chocolate. It was thick and rich, the same texture as hot fudge sauce. We are guessing it probably is made just like hot fudge except using milk instead of butter. Eric got another beverage off the specialty drink menu, vanilla Italian crème. It was also a very thick, hot liquid, and tasted similar to crème brulee.

After lunch, we headed over to The Barrakka Upper Gardens. As far as the garden part goes, it was nice, but not impressive. There are more concrete walkways than garden, so while the plants are beautiful, there simply aren’t a lot of them. What is impressive, though, is the fabulous views of Grand Harbor. It is the best viewpoint we have seen yet in Malta, and there are fabulous views everywhere. In the first shot, you can barely see the marina in the left finger. The second shot is of the harbor entrance.

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From there we went to the Grand Master’s palace, the residence of the head of the knights back in the day. Now it is Continue reading →

Exploring Valletta – Part 2

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Continued from yesterday”¦ Once we finished at the archeological museum, we went to St. John’s Co-Cathedral, the official house of worship for the Knights, and adjoining Cathedral Museum. The cathedral was completed in 1577, and as you can see, the exterior “has the character of a fortress reflecting the sober mood of the Order”¦”

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When the cathedral was first built, the inside was just as plain as the outside. The layout is simple — the center is the main church area and altar, devoted to St. John the Baptist, and on each side are four little nooks, called chapels. Each chapel was devoted to a specific language group and their patron saint. But, later the baroque era began, and ornately decorated churches were the rage. The inside was updated to reflect the style of the times.

We walked in and were immediately overwhelmed. True baroque churches are covered with elaborate décor, and this is a true baroque church. The floors are made of marble, and are loaded with colorful tombs with pictures of crests and angels made from assorted colors of marble. Here is one of the many, and every tomb is different.

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Some sections of the walls have paintings, scenes from the life of John the Baptist using fairly bright colors. Every single inch of space not devoted to paintings is Continue reading →

Exploring Valletta

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Today we rented a scooter and headed into Valletta. Via a dinghy, it is probably only a 10 minute ride straight across the water, but via scooter it was a long drive all the way around the large harbor. The road system is confusing with unclear signs, and we made several wrong turns along the way. The fact that they drive on the left didn’t help, either. The drivers are pretty good here, though, which is a welcome relief from Italy.

Our first stop was The Malta Experience, which is a 45 minute movie about the history of Malta. We navigated our way through town to a small building on Valletta’s waterfront. We assumed this would be the entrance. Not even close. We followed a series of signs that directed us down a staircase along the face of the cliff to an opening in the retaining wall. Then through a long, gently sloping tunnel to a fairly large underground room that serves as a gift shop/ticket booth. The room lets into a hallway where we lined up. When the doors opened, we were ushered into a large underground theater. Wow, it was really cool to be in one of the secret tunnels and rooms that you always read about in fairy tales. They really do exist!

We found out that during World War II, Continue reading →

Welcome to Vittoriosa, Malta

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By 0830, we were approaching Valletta. We had been told Valletta is spectacular looking, and it really is. It is a giant fortress, and much like Rhodes, as you enter into the old city, you feel like you are stepping back into time. Except that in Rhodes, you had to actually walk through the walls to get the strong sense of history. Here in Valletta, it was apparent from the water.

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Malta’s main town of Valletta is located on Continue reading →

Kayaking Siracusa and Passage to Malta

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Yesterday we decided to get some use out of some more gear we have been lugging around the world with us, our kayaks. Eric has used his twice and Christi has used hers only once.

We paddled through the canal to the ocean on the west side of the island, and then followed the coast around the island back to the marina. It was a nice day, perfect for a paddle. It was 2.2 nautical miles around the island, so it was a good workout without being too long of a ride. The island looks pretty from the sea. Here is a shot of the fort/castle looking structure on the southern tip of Ortygia that we have mentioned a couple of times.

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We returned to Kosmos to find a Nordhavn 47, Bluewater, tied up next to us. The owners, Milt and Judy, are friends of ours and we had been coordinating this rendezvous with them over e-mail for the last few days. It was great to see them. They were one of the many more experienced boaters that helped us with picking options for Kosmos and with understanding what we were getting ourselves into with the full time boating life.

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We visited with them for a while, and then Eric and Christi took the bikes Continue reading →