The kinglets are here, a little late. Most were golden-crowned. The earliest we’ve ever seen them in Our Woods is March 31. All photos are from Laurelcrest Park except the crocuses – they’re from our front garden.
Approaching Rabat from Valletta, Mdina comes first into view.
We were picked up at the Radisson Blu Hotel at 9:30 AM. Marlene drove us to Rabat. With us also were the ‘patriarch,” Frank, and Francesca, Marlene’s daughter. Our friend, Canadian Friar Ed, had introduced us to Frank on the phone before we left Canada. They showed us great kindness and had a treasure chest of knowledge to share.
The first place we visited was St. Paul’s Collegiate Church in Rabat known as the “Knight’s Church.” The Knights Hospitaller settled in Malta in 1530 after being driven from Rhodes by Süleyman the Magnificent in 1522. The Knights’ symbol is an 8-pointed cross, the symbolism of which, some say, is that the points represent the eight European langues of the Hospitallers: Auvergne, Provence, France, Aragon, Castille&Portugal, Italy, Germany, and the British Isles. Looks a bit like a stretch to me, but it makes it pretty clear that Arabic was not one of their original tongues…
Valletta, the “new” Maltese capital, was named after Jean Parisot de la Vallette, who fought bravely in Rhodes against the Ottomans and, as Grand Master, successfully defended Malta against them during the Great Siege of Malta in 1565. De la Valette laid the first stone of Valletta in 1566, but did not live to see it finished.
Some photos from St. Paul’s in Rabat:
Statue of St. Paul
Frank, Anita, Marlene and I (taken by Francesca)
John baptizes Jesus
Mary, her mother, Ann and Jesus
Pope John Paul II plaque honouring his visit to the Grotto of St. Paul
Then we exited the main Knights’ Church and visited St. Paul’s Grotto in an adjacent underground area where St. Paul stayed while successfully converting Publius, the Romans’ chief person on Malta, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Catacombs are a major part of this neighbourhood. There is also a large section that houses a museum to the Knights of Malta. Our hosts took us there. It contains portraits, statues and furniture related to the Knights.
Sign for the Grotto and Catacombs
Frank, Francesca, Marlene and Anita begin our descent
A shrine and statue in St. Pauls Grotto
One of many catacomb alcoves
Lovely rendition of Mother and Son
Inlaid ivory in dark ebony wood. Frank was accomplished at this before he went to university.
Portraits of some of the Knights
We were treated to a delicious lunch by our gracious hosts, after which they showed us Mdina.
Wall
Bridge to Mdina
Gardens outside Mdina’s walls
Carriage entering Mdina
Francesca, Frank, Anita and Marlene
Lovely narrow street
View from Mdina wall
Arabic a clear influence on street names and towns all over Malta
Careful!
Children near a cannon
Tea garden area
Horse and wagon
Our wonderful hosts returned us faithfully to our Pembroke Radisson Blu shortly before 5 PM, and then we “#14ed” into Valletta for supper and a little shopping, returning home after an early tropical sunset.
An iconic British shop
A pipe, anyone?
Good ol’ #14
Twilight October 20
On Sunday we planned to visit the Blue Grotto and Marsaxlokk on a tour bus that Anne set up for us on Friday. That will be my last post on our Sicily and Malta 2018 tour.
We took off from Catania for Malta very early on Friday, October 19, 2018.
Sicily was fabulous (see posts 1 to 6) and we were looking forward to Malta because we had Maltese people there who would show us Rabat and Mdina. Our long-time friend and pastor, a Franciscan friar whom I had worked very closely with liturgically and musically at a local Brampton Ontario parish beginning in 1976, has Maltese roots. Relatives of his would pick us up at our hotel on Saturday morning, October 20 and show us their town of Rabat, where the Grotto of St. Paul is located and next to Mdina, the main ancient Arabic city on Malta.
And a cousin of mine, Mary, and her friend, Cathy, were by coincidence in Malta. They were going to arrive a few hours after us and were staying closeby in Valletta at the Grand Harbour Hotel. Our hotel, the Radisson Blu in Pembroke, less than 3 km from Valletta as the gull flies, was nevertheless 30 to 40 minutes by public bus northwest of Valletta – since it stopped often and followed the squiggly, attractive coast.
Malta has an excellent public transit system around the island and, as the next photos will show, public transit is well patronized. We used the #14 bus more than once every day.
Valetta Bus #14, Sat., Oct. 19
#14 Bus
Pembroke to Valetta
Valetta Bus #14, Mon., Oct. 21
We were part of a Group of Seven who added Malta to Insight Vacations’ Sicily tour. We each did our own things in Malta. Our loose “Group” was picked up at the airport by someone named Anne who explained what Insight, our tour company, had available for us in the way of optional activities and processed us in a nice big area at the Radisson Blu after our airport bus dropped us off. She showed us where to take the #14 bus. Pembroke was near the start of the #14’s route into Valletta, so getting a seat was never a problem.
We visited the amazing, opulent, St. John’s Co-Cathedral first. It boasts two Caravaggios and a ceiling that took the magnificent Italian, Mattia Preti, six years to complete. Caravaggio, by then a fugitive, was befriended by the Knights of St. John who were/are wealthy and powerful. I hunt down Caravaggio paintings wherever I go. I’m fascinated by his crazy life and his chiaroscuro style. He was one of the first artists who painted people who looked like you and me. “Caravaggio,” whose actual name was Michelangelo Merisi, signed only one of his many paintings, The Beheading of John the Baptist, ca. 1608. His other work in St. John’s is St. Jerome Writing.
Entering Valletta
Mattia Preti ceiling
Mattia Preti’s St. George
The Beheading of John the Baptist
Close Up
Caravaggio’s signature
St. Jerome Writing
Malta, tiny yet complex, has been the recipient of much interference for hundreds of years. Its history of sacrifice and resilience is the stuff of legend. Here are a few highlights:
In the 8th C. many Phoenicians arrived in Malta, displaced perhaps by rivalries in the Eastern Mediterranean following the birth of Islam. Those folks founded the beautiful city of Mdina. the Maltese language is closely related to Arabic. English is the other official language of Malta.
The Knights Hospitaller settled in Malta in 1530, where they met a people who spoke a form of Arabic. The Knights had been driven from their “home” on the island of Rhodes eight years earlier by the Ottoman Turks led by Süleyman the Magnificent.
In 1560 the Ottomans returned and destroyed the Spanish and allied Christian ships off Tunisia. Malta was ripe for the taking but the Turks didn’t come back to take over the Mediterranean until 1565. During the interim a much larger Spanish fleet had been prepared. The Ottomans captured St. Elmo, at the tip of Valletta, but did not take the island.
During WW II Malta was bombed by Hitler and Britain, being a key strategic port for allied navies to use in order to control the Mediterranean. Axis-controlled Sicily, a vital target for our allies, was nearby. Like the Sicilians, the Maltese ducked into the nearest catacombs and tunnels when the serious shit came down.
This and so many more events and experiences are described in an audio-visual presentation called The Malta Experience.
After viewing the amazing show there, we met Mary and Cathy at their hotel. The nearby Helen’s Kitchen, where we had enjoyed a delicious lunch, was closed for supper, but we found an acceptable place to eat and had a great time.
We finally spot the Malta Experience
The theatre was filled by a cruse ship group. Lucky we were first in line!
The Ticket. Buy one; this is a must see.
Bob, Anita, Cousin Mary and Cathy
Triton Fountain on our way to the bus terminus.
Friday’s last photo is of the Triton Fountain, recently restored. It is beautiful at night.
13th C. St. Canice’s Cathedral: My camera’s view from its leaning tower.
In July we visited Ireland, South and North, for a couple of weeks. I was determined to see this cathedral because of a line in an iconic song called Carrighfergus,performed here most beautifully by Cedric Smith and Loreena McKennitt. The line in context:
In Kilkenny it is reported: they’ve marble stones there, as black as ink
With gold and silver I would transport her, but I’ll sing no more now… ’til I get a drink
Our tour director placed her trust in me, as I had to get to the place and back (a medieval mile distant) in 80 minutes so as not to delay the bus’s departure after our lunch in Kilkenny. Erica wisely suggested that I take a taxi there to allow my camera and me time to climb the tower and photograph the interior. The walk down the town’s medieval mile got me back with 10 minutes to spare.
Lovely stained glass in this place.
St. Canice’s and it’s leaning tower
St. Ciaran’s chair
The font is made from black Kilkenny marble
St. Canice’s Cathedral: View from its leaning tower.
I’ve since learned that there are only three old towers like this in Ireland that can still be climbed. St. Candice’ tower really does lean, according to a recorded spooky voice regularly reassuring me that it would probably hold climbers up for a good while yet…
Early April is the time when those birding juices start flowing in “Our Woods.” I started keeping records in April, 1994.
The earliest date for the migrating Kinglets: March 31, 1998. On this date we saw both Golden- and Ruby-Crowned Kinglets.
Here’s a list of what we’ve seen so far in 2019:
March 23: We saw our first-everNorthern goshawk at our feeder. It may have been after birds that were feeding there. A few days later there was a Great Blue Heron on the Parr Lakes.
Robins and red-winged blackbirds have been here since late March.
April 7: We first noticed golden-crowned kinglets. As of April 13 we haven’t seen the ruby-crowned variety for certain.
A first-eversighting of the canvasback duck. Four on the south end of Lower Parr Lake.
Several crows gathering noisily in Laurelcrest Park.
Bufflehead ducks on Lower and Upper Parr Lake in Laurelcrest Park. Only other time we have seen them was on April 14, 1995. They were diving for food, staying down for short (13 s to 45 s) times. As of April 13 the two are still here.
April 11: I spotted a brown creeper and cormorants and identified the call of a white-throated sparrow for the first time this year.
April 13: A first ever sighting of a Pied-billed Grebe diving for food on Upper Parr Lake. This bird stays under for well over a minute. This photo helped ID the bird from a distance. Taken with my Alpha A-6000 using a 200 mm zoom when 130 yards away.
On Wednesday, October 17 our tour left Palermo and headed for Taormina via the really cool town of Cefalu. Cefalu was superb fun to walk in and very picturesque.
We would have our last two sleeps in Sicily in Naxos, on the coast facing the Italian mainland below another hill town, Taormina, famous for its sunrises.
If you’re desperate for one of those famous sunrises that helped so many, including D.H. Lawrence, fall in love with this town, stay not at sea level where Insight put us, but rather in a high place. And do NOT be a slave to a timetable like we were.
We had one crack at a Taormina sunrise: Thursday morning. And it was overcast.
On Friday, way before the sun came up, seven of our tour group who had opted to add three nights in Malta to our holiday had left Naxos in a van headed for Catania airport to catch an early morning flight to Valletta, Malta’s lovely capital city.
Wednesday in Cefalu
October 17, Stage 1
We snuck up on Cefalu as quietly as a large bus full of tourists can…
Produce vendor truck with detachable cart.
An operatic voice helps. I’m confident this fellow can sing as well as Elvis at least…
It’s bigger than it looks in this photo…
In a place as sharp as Sicily, these two statues looked surprisingly tired…
I’m sure there’s nothing precisely like this anywhere in Sicily.
One more Pantocrator. I kinda prefer the one in Monreale.
An old fashioned safety trick.
Nice. Love those colours. Reminds me of Alfama, Portugal, but this town has potential.
Is That A Cannoli Stand??
I’m no longer into fishing, but like being in a solitary boat. This place is all right in October…
David F., with the backwards cap, is the keenest photographer I’ve yet met on a tour. A good guy. As a photo bug, I know why the peak is at the back!
Yeah… mundane boats, but a pretty bay.
Good time of year if you don’t like crowds.
So! The Lisbon district of Alfama has nothing on this town!
We were told that these rocks are covered with sun worshippers in the summer :-Q
Is Josie giving me that Corno sign??!!
Wednesday Afternoon in TAORMINA
It took longer than expected to get to Taormina and our visit was rushed. Pity, because Wednesday was our one chance to see it. Tomorrow, Thursday, would be a full day visiting Mount Etna – our last full day in Sicily. After visiting the Teatro Antico in Taormina and taking our group photo in front of the chiesa there was no time left to properly visit the town.
The group photo was amateurishly hurried, the photographer taking 3 quickies and didn’t see a pigeon that photobombed his “best” shot, which he printed for us. See if you can spot it… We stayed outside Taormina at sea level at the Hilton Giardini Naxos. Nice, but not up high.
Cefalu to Taormina
Entering Taormina
Not exactly l’Arche du Triomphe
Begun in the third C. BC, probably over a Greek foundation.
This chap was very proud of Taormina
Almost a religious experience… He loved this theatre dearly.
Ahh, the beautiful perspective of differential focus
Bricks prove that this temple was built in Roman times
One of my favourite photos of this temple
While the bricks prove it’s Roman, the shape of the temple points to it being built over a Greek original.
Taken by David F. for us.
Lovely altar in Baroque style.
We have to go back down?
Beggars can’t be choosers. Isn’t that the Ionian Sea below…?
In front of Santa Caterina Church, photo-bombed by a pigeon! Good Grief!
October 16 was our third and last night in Palermo. The tour schedule took us for a morning in Erice, a mountainside town East of Palermo, and we spent the afternoon poking around Trapani, visiting an area that produces sea salt before the a visit to a farm that produced olives and made wine.
I’d have preferred to spend an actual afternoon on my/our own in Palermo and had figured out how to get to its fine Marionette Museum and what our tour did in Trapani was disappointing, especially when I realized that we would not return to Palermo before the museum closed.
Tuesday October 16
Erice Morning:
We were warned that the walk up from the gate was steep and long, so I went on my own. Halfway up I realized that Anita could have done it. She spent her time near the gate but walked into Erice far enough to find a very nice Pinocchio marionette for our granddaughter. The long-nosed liar was a hit with her and the children of a friend of my daughter’s from her University of Toronto undergraduate days, who were at our place when Anita gave it to her. I had checked and adjusted the cords so that Pinocchio moved as he was supposed to.
We’ve traveled with Insight Vacations about 8 times since 1995. Insight’s specs call for fewer seats and more legroom. It also helps limit customer group size to about 37.
The group hadn’t yet split up into climbers and shoppers.
I, as usual, lag unnoticeably behind. This is the first trip I ever met a keener photographer. His name is David F.
A winding and beautiful climb. This was off the main drag.
An artistic ad in the park.
Don’t know if this was approved by the town…
Descending from the real castle I shot this tiny scary one.
Impressive deep, live splash of red on my descent. At east two contrasts came to mind as I paused here.
A little bit of sun 🙂
The hikers’ reward. An early bite of Michelle’s amazing cannoli Siciliani and a caffe. Barbara’s treat for the intrepid.
Still beautiful, but flatter 🙂
Lovely time so far. So much to see and do in Sicily.
Trapani Afternoon
Large piles of sea salt beside the lagoons near the old mill
The mill is clearly no longer wind-driven…
I’m thinking about that Marionette Museum. Also there was lots to see in Trapani, but…
I know, I know… Say it! “Wine for the whiner.”
After our wine and snack we stood here while some bought wine and olives and stuff.
Departing Ragusa on Sunday morning our first stop was at the Valle Dei Templi, site of seven temples on a huge 1300 hectare site on a ridge, not in a Valle, near the town of Agrigento.
This dates from c. 450 BC clearly Greek and the columns are Doric, the earliest of the three Greek styles, with simple capitals. Later came Ionic and lastly, Corinthian.
Ruins and a tree at the edge of the “valley’s” cliff…
This 5 screen AV presentation showed some drama productions…
Circa 435 BC, this is claimed to be the best preserved temple in the world.
A rocky, rainy place dedicated to this son of Zeus.
First drama, now nudity. Oh, my…
The poor, we were told, lay buried here…
Our first dinner with everybody on the tour was in Palermo Sunday night. I photographed all the tables and sent them to our group after we got back.
After the seeing the Valle we bused to Palermo, where we dined with the whole group at our hotel.
Monday October 15 – Monreale Morning, Palermo Afternoon
After breakfast on Monday Roberto delivered us safely uphill to another cliffside place – Monreale. Its beautiful Duomo Di Monreale is world famous for its Norman architecture and the fact that is chock full of spectacular mosaics.
We climbed many stairs from the road to reach the square where the Duomo, dedicated in 1182 to the nativity of Mary.
On the way up, Carmen from NJ (I think) paused to view the display.
Our local expert explains this impressive specimen to us groupies
Close up of the exterior shows its Arabo-Normanno style
Mosaics adorn the beams, ceiling, walls and archway
This Byzantine-styled Pantocrator (Christ as Lord Almighty) is popular in Sicily
Again the Arabo-Normanno style of the exterior
At the bottom on our climb down was this collection. In Erice, Anita later sprung for a lovely decent-sized marionette for our granddaughter.
Palermo Afternoon – The Cathedral and A Historic Palace
We visited Palermo Cathedral and killed time checking out graffiti until our 12:30 appointment at perhaps the #1 attraction in Palermo: Palazzo Conte Federico. The Count’s family can be traced back to Holy Roman Emperor, Frederick II, one of the truly great figures in history and King of Sicily at four years old in 1198. His descendant loves to race vintage sports cars and the Countess, who guided our group around, is an Austrian swimmer and musician. She was a fascinating guide, explaining some Sicilian customs and superstitions such as the proper direction for a bed and warned us not to make the upward “corno” sign even by accident. This belief apparently predates Christianity.
Dedicated to the Assumption of Mary, built on the site of an AD 600 church built by Pope Gregory I and then converted in the 9th C. to a mosque after the Saracen conquest.
Worth a huge fortune, I’m sure… There is a nearby tribute to Father Giuseppe Puglisi, killed by the Mafia in 1993 for opposing them.
St. Agatha, born in Palermo or possibly Catania, reportedly lost her breasts when tortured by Saracens. She is now the patron saint of breast cancer.
There was not much artistry in this piece but the rude looking slogan was “I only wanted to make you happy.” Awwww…
Easy to walk by this place, but this was a great tour and the treats were a hit as well!
Dashing, the speed-loving Count probably also fences…
A seat upon which bordello patrons would have perched during a shopping parade…
A swimmer, a musician, a teacher…
This is the proper direction for the sleeper’s head to point. No doubt the earlier countesses had shorter beds.
The countess explains where her palace is situated and its importance in Palermo
One of the count’s cars in the entrance is admired by passers by
Two more nights in Palermo left… Visiting Erice and Trapani on Tuesday and on Wednesday we will have a great visit of Cephalu and proceed to Taormina.
mightyturk 