1 February

Getting in the rhythm

Under our apartment, the baker started work late today – it was Sunday! 7:00 am is a late start for him. Every other day he kicks off at 4:00am. The smell of fresh bread hits us about 6:00 as we have drifted off to sleep again once his dough machines have stopped.

We love this place! Weather is great, prices are reasonable - nothing is cheap in Europe any more - and, without being condescending, Malta is just so 'quaint'.

Waiting for a bus in the square this morning, an elderly gentleman almost pushed us onto the right bus, gave us a timetable and wished us well. We actually knew which bus to catch and already had a timetable, but it would have destroyed him if he couldn't have helped us!

Maybe it's the lack of a language problem, or just the easy flow of off season life in Malta, but we seem to be getting into the swing of Maltese life. The fact that the route numbers on the front of buses are often different to those on the back and buses leave when the driver is ready, just doesn't matter anymore...

Today, with our usual efficiency, we saw all we need to see in the beautiful little walled town of Mdina and its surrounding villages of Rabat and Mtarfa, had lunch and were back in Valletta by 1:30pm, just in time to take in a movie at the local 'multi-plex'. Now, when was the last time you went to a movie that had Intermission? 1960? Well in Malta they still 'do' Intermission. How fantastic!

We have also discovered that they have football clubs and social clubs, with cheap food and drinks, much like at home. We'll try one in the next couple of days.

31 January

Being Maltese

For an island that one could drive across in less than 30 minutes and drive the length of in 40 minutes, Malta has had a significant influence on European history – or has European history had a major influence on Maltese history?
Malta has always been at the cross-roads of the Mediterranean, the local language having its roots in Phoenician, the ancient language of Carthage. However, its size, combined with its strategic position, has meant that it has always been more of a 'host' to the great events of the world than an actual player and never more so than in “its greatest hour”- the Siege of Malta during the Second World War.

In 1940, Malta effectively became a British 'Aircraft Carrier' in the mid-Mediterranean. This tiny island and its people held out for more than 3 years against all that the Germans and Italians could throw at them. And throw they did – more than 3000 sorties – more than those recorded in London during the Blitz! The physical destruction of the island was almost total.

Today, we visited one of the few remaining air-raid shelters from that period. The soft rock of Malta allowed the Maltese to build very effective shelters more than 40 metres beneath the surface and, as a result, very few (relatively) civilians died during those raids.

Now mostly rebuilt , the harbour areas of the 'Three Cities' (medieval villages situated on the other side of the Great Harbour from Valletta) that we wandered through, on a very warm and sunny day, were just spectacular. The local stone has a cream colour that turns golden in the winter sun. Fantastic!

So being Maltese?

As Australians, we know many Maltese people at home. The story is that there are more Maltese in Australia than in Malta (probably true). At home, they are much the same as anybody else. In Malta, the 'real' Maltese are something a little different. They live in a modern European country, they have all the trappings that go with that - Cable TV, Internet - the lot ...

but ...

Somehow, the country is frozen in a bit of a time warp. Supermarkets are almost non-existent – as far as we can tell from the info pamphlets, there is ONE on the whole of Malta! The local shop is where you buy your daily needs, IF it happens to be open. If it's not and the doors are closed, there is nothing to show that it even exists – very Brigadoon! There is no train system, no Metro, just a (very efficient) bus network that uses vintage buses, some as old as the 1950s. The capital, Valletta, is not a real city at all. It is a group of inter-connected villages where people know each other, chat on the street and carry on life much as they did 50 years ago, at least in mid winter. Things are definitely more hectic 'in season', but now... this is heaven! Yet another reason for travelling in Europe 'off season'.

A good indicator of the Maltese view of the world can be found in the bus timetable. Local buses leave from a large, seemingly chaotic, square in front of the Valletta city gates. The published timetable is well designed and printed in a neat, glossy brochure. However, we were puzzled by the departure frequency information that was printed as “ 5/15/30 minutes”. Did it mean that the bus left on the 5 minutes, 15 minutes and half hour? Surely not. What, no buses for the second half of the hour? No. Could it mean different frequencies for different seasons? No. There were no time spans for the seasons in the brochure. Confounded, we asked at the Tourist Information Office. Looking at us as though WE were stupid, the girl explained that buses will leave at 5 minute intervals if the driver feels there is enough demand, 15 minutes if there are just a few people and 30 minutes even if nobody is at the terminus! How simple. Why didn't we think of that!!?

On our return from the Three Cities today, we jumped on the bus that was waiting at the bus stop, only to be told that this bus wasn't leaving now and there was one coming soon. Everybody arriving at the stop got the same story and happily stood and waited for the other bus. We suspect the driver was just having his lunch. All part of life in Malta.


29 January

“Movement Sociale”

In any other language a “Movement Sociale” could be a very good thing - a social club, a continuous party? One can only imagine the full set of possibilities! But malheureusement, (sadly) – we are still thinking in French!, roughly translated, it means STRIKE! Oh yes, the very day that had to drag our 60kgs (and Paul NEVER exaggerates) of luggage across Paris on the Metro and RER (Regional Rail), was the one that the workers of the Paris public transport system chose to 'take to the barricades'.

Some trains were running and we had made good progress, reaching the enormous Gare du Nord in very reasonable time for the second of three connections we had to make to get to southern outskirts of Paris and Orly Airport. The station was alarmingly quiet for a peak hour Thursday? Yep. All trains to the south of the city had been cancelled. So, along with 10 million Parisians, we sought an alternative. Luckily we had considered a bus option the previous day, so off we traipsed with our 60 kgs of luggage.

To cut a long story short, we made the plane in good time and tonight we are settled into a 16th century apartment in the very centre of the old city of Valletta.

It's very early in our stay, but so far we love it! Not just because everything is half the price of mainland Europe, but also because the city is a living museum. We are in a back street, two blocks from the tourist area. The bakery is next door, the corner shop seems to have most stuff we need, but it is like shops in Australia were when we were very little kids – apart from its tendency to disappear behind closed doors! You have to ask at the counter for what you want. Stuff is stacked all over the place and the locals seem to go there for a chat as much as to buy dinner.
Language is no problem in Malta. Maltese is spoken amongst the locals, sounding like a mix of Arabic, Italian and Spanish, with bits of English thrown in. However, as a result of their history, they all speak good English as well. Too easy.