Sicily and Malta.9

 

A spectacular view of the wave-fashioned coast near the Blue Grotto at Qrendi, Malta

On Sunday, March 21, we took a small minibus on a guided visit to the south of the island of Malta. What looked like a long lineup and the diminuitive boats didn’t inspire enthusiasm, and we’ve seen other grottos, so we passed on this short trip. We shopped for souvenir tea towels, etc and my camera had brunch.

Folks returning to the dock from their short, Blue Grotto trip

Another group setting out for the Blue Grotto in one of those wee boats.

Our minibus took us SW to the Blue Grotto, E to Marsaxlokk and then back past the airport to Valletta.

Flag of Malta. The George Cross in the top hoist corner was awarded to Malta by George VI in 1942 “for their courage during the war.”

While I was waiting in a surprisingly nice gift shop the owner pointed up over my head to the official Flag of Malta . She said something I remember sort of like:

“You know we have this other flag. It was given to us by the British, having bombed the crap out of us during WW II!”

For more on the history of Malta that explains the above quote and the Arabic influence see the first post on Malta: Sicily and Malta.7

We then motored east to the lovely seaside port of Marsaxlokk, very busy and fascinating on a Sunday. We enjoyed the colour of the buildings and shopped at the large, pleasant market that stretched for quite a distance along the shore selling everything under the formidable Maltese sun.

Painted doors in the lovely little town of Marsaxlokk

Locals and visitors at Marsaxlokk’s Sunday market.

Getting close enough to pay for a delicious tangerine 🙂

Mass was being celebrated at the Church of Our Lady of Pompei in Marsaxlokk.

The homily praised Saint Oscar Romero, Archbishop of San Salvador, canonized a week earlier on Oct. 14.

At the Church of Our Lady of Pompeii a homily was being preached about Archbishop Oscar Romero of Salvador, canonized a week earlier. Being out of touch but remembering this martyred hero very well, my first thought was “Is Liberation Theology alive and well here in Malta?” Research done at home later dismissed that hopeful idea.

It seems to have required an Argentinian, Pope Francis, to finally beatify in 2015 and recently canonize Saint Oscar Romero, murdered by a right-wing death squad on March 24, 1980 while celebrating mass. Bombs outside the Cathedral in San Salvador also killed between 27 and 40 others and wounded over 200. (See above link.)

Now to stroll back and wait for our tour’s minibus.

Anita and Shay (sitting) wait for our minibus to collect us.

Sunday 5 PM activity at this charming little play area near our hotel.

But back to our story… We sauntered back to a corner where our minibus would pick us up before noon, still enjoying the place and chatting at the corner with our fellow Sicily/Malta traveller, Shay.

Then our little group returned, past many dwellings not far from the airport that have been built to house refugees, safely to our hotel. For the last time, we took the #14 bus to Valletta, where we ate in an interesting restaurant. Our table was beside a Bullfighting poster from 1996.

While “14-ing” back into Valletta for a last visit and meal I snapped this woman relaxing by the road.

Stairway, yep, nice, wide stairway.

A charming view before we headed down into town.

Sunday afternoon near the fountain, this young woman was, shhh, milking the cow.

This leant a certain style to the place. Fortunately, all we saw were stacked cows where we were.

We were transferred to the airport once again, one of the things that Insight Vacations includes in the price of its tours. Our route home was Valletta > Catania > Frankfurt > Toronto.

Taxiing before takeoff from Catania, Sicily’s Mungibeddu (Beautiful Mountain), and its godlike namesake nymph, Aetna, gave us a special farewell blessing:

We got our only decent view of the top of Mount Etna

Our time in Sicily and Malta was full of history, art, fun – and a little luck.

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