Malta or Bust

Day 1, May 20-21st

Our Alitalia flight to Rome included a glass of red wine or beer followed by pasta carbonara, no choice. A cinnamon roll and vanilla yogurt with juice and coffee for breakfast.  I don’t eat many sweets but you go with the flow if you want to fill that empty spot in your stomach. The plane was a well worn A330. Jill and I didn’t sleep much on the plane.  Eight and a half hours to Rome and a 5 minute power nap on metal chairs during our 4 hour layover was good until we both conked out on our one hour flight to Malta.

Flying in revealed a remarkable landscape of a parched land with beige limestone towns and small cities. A taxi for 15 Euros took us to our pad in Valletta where we were met by our host, Peter Valentino. We booked our stay through Trip Adviser and what a fab place located on the fortification wall overlooking the Marsamxett Harbour. Our third story apartment was recently renovated by Peter, an architect who is working on a major historic renovation of the Gates of Valletta. It was huge, ultra modern, with two-foot deep walls in a 350 year old building.  White walls throughout reflect the afternoon sun as it sets on the hills across the harbour.

Our late lunch was a 15 Euro special three cheese plate with olives and capers, bread sticks and bread plus two large glasses of wine.  It hit the spot and we doggie bagged over half a pound of cheese. I could not keep my eyes open any longer so I crashed for a bit and then we headed out for some spaghetti marinara and penne arrabiata which was 20 Euros all in including two 500ml Cisk Maltese beers. Nice.

We crashed by nine.  

                                                                Our apartment

                                                       Our view from the kitchen window

                                                                    Our windows

                                                                             The view