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Our Malta Experience.......
... but is nothing we've ever heard before, but english is there second language being a commonwealth country. They even have english style telephone boxes and post boxes. We took a water taxi a few minutes across the harbour to the city. Lots of stairs, lots of sights, lovely narrow streets bustling and we bought our groceries. Most shops close between 12 and 4pm which is why we had to shop in the city at the only central store ...
If this is Tuesday it must be Valletta!
... It was the most amazingly ornate church I have ever seen. The marble insets in the floor were dedications or burial sites for famous Maltese people. The walls were covered in gold Maltese crosses and the ceiling was a series of six sets that told the story of St. John the Baptist. It was a just amazing!! Small fact. In Malta with a population of 400,000 people, there are 365 churches!!! They are everywhere!! Most of them are Roman Catholic. Every where you go ...
Maltese poodles DO come from Malta...right?
... but my liver stopped talking to me for a while. What a fascinating place. No grass but plenty of limestone and steeped in a most interesting history. Presently it's the first time in their recorded history, that Malta is run by the Maltese. Before, invaded and controlled either by the Arabs, French, Normans, North Africans etc etc., so the language - Maltese... Maltian...Maltonian.... Malti.... whatever, is a wonderful gallimaufry (yes I finally get to use ...
Valletta....nothing short of an open-air museum!
... But they are not allowed in the center so walking took over again.
Wow, the shops (mostly Brittish), the cafes and vistas made it all worth while. We had lunch at an outdoor cafe dating back to 1854. There was an elderly man at the next table that everyone seemed to know so they would stop and pay tribute. Gilles was convinced that he was a Don, Mafia style. Later our waiter told us that he ...
It Ain't All Greek To Me!
... couldn't stand to be left out. They wanted a Greek Sicily to rule with Sracuse at the helm. That lasted until Athens got jealous of the growing power the so called outpost had and war broke out again. Seems the only thing Athens and Syracuse could agree on was keeping the nasty Carthaginians at bay. Meanwhile the Sicels just tried to keep out of the way.
Back in Malta the Carthaginians ruled (there was no one there to kick them out I guess) until Rome decided to ...


