If It's the Beaches

Azure Window, Island of Gozo, Malta

Malta. It's not a place many people on the west side of the Atlantic know about. Malta is a small island in between Sicily and Tunisia in the Mediterranean. It's been occupied by so many groups, I've lost count. However, the British occupied the island in WWII, as it was a sought after position, given the Nazi's hope to occupy northern Africa with the Axis power of Italy. Because of the British occupation, they speak English. The Maltese grow up bilingual, speaking both Maltese and English. In fact, during the second World War, the British almost made them give up Maltese, because it wasn't a written language. However, after some convincing that their language was secure, since the Nazis couldn't speak it and break what could be considered "code," they told them they could keep it if they turned it into a written language. So apparently on short notice they did so. The language has similarities to both Arabic and to Italian.

The capital, Valletta, was a port of call on the cruise I took last November and I loved it. The city was this mix of Europe and what I thought Africa might look like (I would find out days later in Egypt). But when I found out that other parts of the island were surrounded by this gorgeous blue and these amazing rocky coasts, I wanted to see them for myself.

I was in dire need of a vacation, particularly one that involved a beach or a pool and some sun. I flew down on a Thursday and I was at the pool, facing the Mediterranean by 2:30. I had a beer by 3.

Aside from the beer on this trip, the rest of my diet was not indulgent, as most would define the term. I ate a ton of local fish, which was sooooo good, like sea bass and the black meagre.

This is just for you, Gil. Sea Bass.

Malta is beautiful. You can't take a bad picture. The architecture is so different than what I'm used to. The sandy stone buildings look similar to Egypt, but a LOT cleaner. And then there's that magnificent blue water. It almost doesn't look real. The water really is that blue.

Looking at Valletta from across the harbor

I was supposed to have a tour of the island of Gozo on Friday; however, the private guide I hired had me reserved for 30 August and not 30 July. He made it up to me, though, and gave me a free 1/2 day tour of the island of Malta on Friday and my scheduled tour of Gozo on Saturday.
We toured the island of Malta, seeing some of the places that can be touristy, but then traveled off road, literally, onto rocky paths for some amazing views.

Marsaxlokk Harbor, is still a traditional fishing village. These colorful boats are the fishing boats.

The point of the tour was for us to see what the Maltese live like, so we even visited a "cafe," which was a hole in the wall that locals frequent. A bunch of older men, possibly there for several hours, and others who would stop in for a coffee and a pastizzi on a break. We did the same and tried a pastizzi, a traditional Maltese snack with a flaky crust sort of like a croissant, filled with peas and a potato type filling. It was great. I wanted to take pictures, but felt like it was intrusive, because this is what they do every day, which is nothing special to them. I thought a little like I was exploiting something so normal to them. It is normal, but it's Maltese to me, which isn't any different than an of us. It's just something that I never would have seen on any other tour or by myself and that's the only thing that made it unique.

Popeye's Village--the set where the 1980 movie was filmed and now serves as little tourist attraction.

The next day was my tour of the island of Gozo. The island is less commercialized than Malta, but still very similar. We took a car ferry over, which went past the island of Comino where the Blue Lagoon is located. I wanted to possibly take a boat tour for some snorkeling, but decided a pool and relaxing would do just fine. The tour of Gozo was beautiful and it was hard to take a bad picture. We saw what the Maltese compare to the White Cliffs of Dover, the Azure Window (at the top of this post).

We had lunch at this local restaurant. They grow all their own food and for lunch we had a plate of fresh tomato, olives, goat cheese, onion, and capers along with some fresh bread. It was delicious. He also took me to some sea salt farms. I had never even thought of how they collect sea salt, but this is one way it's done. The colors were very bright and the wind was also really strong.

You can see all of my pictures from my trip here.