Slow Train Movement

Day 77
I was up at 4:45 am for my flight back to Catania. At the airport the immigration guy asked if I had had a good time. I love Malta.

I had some time to kill and spent it reading my newest book, Eat, Pray, Love. I fell asleep before the plane took off, but some nasty turbulence about 10 minutes in woke me up. Still, it's not a long flight and soon I had grabbed my stuff and was on a bus to the train station. There, the guy gave me wrong change, but when I called him on it he apologized and gave me what I was meant to have.

The train ride was quite uneventful except that to get the train from Sicily to the mainland they break it up and put the whole thing on a boat. I was able to get off and walk around on the boat for a bit.

The train was a bit late and then my connecting train was also late. This meant that I didn't get into Cosenza until about 2 hours after I had meant to be there. The directions to my hostel were awful and I kept having to ask people every few meters if I was headed in the right direction. Eventually I made it there though.

The hostel was odd. It was decorated very oddly, like you might imagine you great aunt's house to look, with everything covered in doilies and having a particular smell. I was also the only person there. At one point when I was taking a shower it seems like someone was really pissed off, because I could hear yelling from downstairs very very loudly.

As I had gotten there so late I didn't really have time to see much of anything. Cosenza used to be a major capital in Italy, seeing now though was sad. It was dirty, far dirtier than Sicily had been. A lot of it seemed shut down. The large train station was half boarded up. There was also a significant amount of homeless dogs running around.

I spent the evening getting my pictures from Malta organized and working on the blog. There wasn't anyone to talk to anyway and I wasn't about to wander the streets after dark.

Burning Red

Day 76

My next door neighbor had kept his tv up very loud for half of the night and I didn't get much sleep. Despite this I woke up full of energy. I had a huge day ahead of me.

My first stop wasn't that interesting, it was the post office. The girl there tried to charge me a ridiculous amount of money to send a small package home. She tried again and it worked out much better.

I then hopped on a bus and headed to Paola. I went straight to the Hypogeum, even though I was about an hour early. They told me to come back and to check out some nearby ruins.

The Tarxien Temples are 4 neolithic structures dating from 3600 BC. They were discovered in 1913 by farmers when the Hypogeum was being excavated. This seemed to be the only site in Malta where there wasn't an overabundance of information. Luckily there were signs pointed out all of the most important bits and I don't think I missed anything.

To be honest, I kinda of ran through these temples. I didn't want to take any chance that I would miss even one minute of the Hypogeum. You have to book tickets for it months in advance. Only ten people are allowed on each tour and there are only so many tours a day. This is to help conserve the site. As I red when I was waiting for the tour to begin the Hypogeum is one of the most impressive neolithic sites in the world, it is also the most fragile. There were no pictures allowed.

The tour guide was a guy name John who was probably around the same age as my grandparents would be. He flirted with me in that teasing non-threatening way only a man his age can do. Everyone had to put their bags into a locker. I was able to bring my notebook though. This mini notebook is my life. There is a list of places that I have been, my beer diary, my expense log, names of people that I have met, and notes that I have taken at almost every site I have been to.

Each person was given a handheld audio guide and we were told to follow John. After the brief movie where I learned that the Hypogeum has five levels, but we only visit the first two, that the floors are much lower than the bottom of the doors because they would have been filled with human bones and dirt, and that the architecture is just stunning. When we finally went in we paused on a stairway above the first level. John noticed that I was awkwardly taking notes and holding my audio guide. He kindly went to give me his headphones so that I could be hands free. In the process of this I dropped my notebook. It fell (in the dirt thankfully) with an echoing thud. I stood there in horror, as did everyone else around me. John walked down and picked through the ruins to retrieve my book. Thank goodness no damage had been done, it had just fallen in a really inconvenient place.

When John came back up the stairs I apologized about a million times. I could feel the embarrassment red hot on my face. He said that it was alright, that it wasn't the first time.

The rest of the tour was not quite so eventful. I managed to keep my belongings to myself. There were bits of ceiling paintings to stare at and ponder their meaning for the temple building people. As I couldn't take pictures you will just have to take my word for how amazing this all was. It was just amazing that this place had survived through all the earthquakes and building above the structure.

After the tour I asked if the Hypogeum was used as a shelter like the other underground structures in Malta, and John told me yes. He then gave me his address and his phone number and told me that if I come back to Malta that he will be my guide.

I was out a little earlier than I had thought I would be so I pulled out my journal and started writing on a stoop near the Hypogeum. Back in New York I have a Maltese friend named Owen. He was kind enough to introduce his parents to me via email and they offered to show me around for the day. It wasn't long before I heard his mother, Giorgina call out my name. A minute later I was back at their car meeting Mike, Owens dad. I was ecstatic to get to meet them and 'barrow' Owen's parents for the day. They seemed happy to see me as well.

Right away they took me to the Ghar Dalam Caves. Malta is a limestone country and these caves are some of the best example of limestone caves on the island. It was quite surreal with all the stalactites and stalagmites. We also checked out the display on animals that had been on Malta when it was connected to Sicily. There were some rather large deer and a baby elephant as well as hipos.

On the way back to their house we made a quick stop off at St. Catherine's Cathedral so that I could take a picture of her statue. Back at their house Giorgina made me a typical Maltese lunch of local bread with tomato paste and oil. It was wonderful. I've found this trip that a little tomato, not in its original form, is actually quite good. While we were eating we got to know each other and I learned some Maltese words.

After lunch we headed to the nearby Blue Grotto, a cave system that you need a boat to reach. Unfortunately it was too windy for the boats to be out so we simply took in the view and had a beer instead. Our next stop was Birzebbuga. This is where in 1989 Bush the first and Mikhail Gorbachev signed a peace treaty ending the Cold War. I had had no idea that this had happened in Malta.

For dinner we were joined by they daughter Michelle, her husband and son Raul. We ate at a cute place in a small fishing town. I had some wonderful fish soup and fish pasta. It was a really wonderful time.

It was said saying goodbye to everyone, even though we hadn't spent much time together I had really enjoyed everyone's company. But it was late and I had an early flight in the morning and a bag to pack. I will definitely have to get back to Malta so that I can see everyone again.

I really loved Malta and I wish that I had built in more time here. The people were fabulous and the sites were well done and diverse. In Spain and Italy there had been almost no information and the sites were expensive, here most of it was very reasonable and I was given more information than I knew what to do with. It seemed like the Maltese would really like to have their visitors understand their history and culture. It was quite welcoming and I loved it.

Stumbling On Egypt

Day 75

I was up early and glad that my foot was no longer bothering me. That had really become a drag. I had places to go and dead people to see.

One of the best things about Malta is that it is so small. It never takes very long to get anywhere. After a short ride to Valletta I switched buses and headed to Rabat and Mdina. I had thought I would need to take a but from one to the other, but it turned out that they were right next to one another.

I started off with the much larger Rabat, mostly because I was following the crowd. I broke off though when I found a bookstore with inexpensive English books.

In no time I was back on track and following signs for St. Paul's Grotto. In about the year 60 AD St. Paul landed here after a shipwreck, I think I learned about this a few days ago but am not quite sure. While he was here he lived in this cave. Why this cave and why in the middle of the country and not on the beach? I have no idea. Pope John Paul also came here to pray at St. Paul's alter on a visit to Malta some years ago. Attached to the grotto is a burial chamber for local Bishops. I sort of crashed a tour, I was walking in and the guy talking motioned me to come forward. After he had talked for about 5 minutes he asked for us to give a contribution to the saint. To be honest I would have been happier if he had just said 'now pay for the tour'. It felt odd giving money to a saint.

Just a minute down the road is St. Paul's Catacombs. Not only could I take pictures, but an audio guide was included in the entrance fee. The catacombs had begun as a burial pit for a group of people who's name I can't spell even with spell check. The Romans eventually came along and expanded the catacombs into a massive complex. The whole thing was a bit creepy, and I had the place mostly to myself. When I pressed number one on my audio guide it told me to not be afraid. One of the odd features was a table to have feasts on. I don't think I would have wanted to eat among a bunch of rotting bodies. At one point the catacombs became so large that the rock carvers would moonlight as guides through the place.

Unfortunately these catacombs were looted long ago and the bodies destroyed or lost to time along with the objects buried with them. During WWII the catacombs were used as a bomb shelter. Oddly, they were not fully cleaned of remains until the 1960's.

These were really quite amazing and I decided to stick with the theme by continuing to St. Agatha's catacombs. The saint is said to have spent some time on Malta while running from the Romans. It is thought that she prayed in this chapel while in hiding. St. Agatha is the one who had her breasts cut off, and who's body I tried to visit in Catania. In 1200 the Maltese painted some amazing frescoes here. Bit of of them remain, however, the Moors defiled them by damaging the faces and it is now hard to tell who is who. It's and early Christianity guessing game.

The catacombs attached to the chapel date to the 2^nd and 3^rd centuries A.D. Even though that had been looted like St. Paul's, some bodies still survived in skeletal form. The last chapel I saw was probably the first rock cut chapel in Malta. I couldn't take pictures in here and had to see the place with a guide. Luckily, I was the only one on the tour!

After a quick lunch that I had packed back at the hostel and a rest I headed across the street to the medieval town of Mdina. Right when I walked through the gate, just out of the corner of my eye, I saw a pile of people and one of them had a steak through its head. When I got a better look it turned out to be a pile of mannequins. The film Agora was being shot throughout the city. There was dirt on the ground and Egyptian things all over the place. It took away from Mdina's charm, but it was kinda cool to be walking through a movie set.

I was in the mood for some cheesy history, but when I got to the first place it was just way too expensive. I was about to leave but then the woman said that she would make me a deal and gave me the child's price.

The first museum, the Medieval Times museum, had dummies in displays. It was corny, I knew it would be. One part showed a classroom full of students, I felt sort of bad that school would never end for them.

The second museum was called the Mdina experience. Basically we watched a movie almost like the Malta experience and then saw more dummies permanently acting out parts. Most of it was the different Grand Masters and how they improved Mdina over the years.

The last bit of cheese was the Knights of Malta movie. This was basically the first two museums combined. It was cheesy, but at least Maltese history is burned into my hea.

After an Internet session and some phone calls I set up my plans for the next day and headed back to the hostel. There was laundry to do, a package to send home and German MTV to watch!

Return to the Big Island

Day 74
I got up early. I didn't want to waste the middle of my day being in transit. Unfortunately I was just a few minutes late for the 10 am ferry and it looked like it would be a transit day despite my efforts.

On the bus ride back to Valletta no one had any accidents, but there was a woman who would occasionally pick fights with the bus driver who would yell right back.

After a grocery store run for the next few days I had lunch back in my room. I must have been tired because before I knew it I had fallen asleep. When I woke up I used my still aching foot as an excuse to veg in front of the TV for the afternoon. Eventually the TV board me and I switched to my new book, Dark Harbor. That wasn't very interesting either and I called it an early night.

Giants and Calypso

Day 73

I got up early, I had too. On Sundays the buses here don't run very often and I was stuck conforming to their time. In fact, I had to wait about 40 minutes before the bus even showed up.

Xaghra has a megalithic temple complex called Ggantija. This was built by the temple building society that I learned about before around 3600 B.C. This temple predates the pyramids and is the oldest standing structure in the world.

The world Ggantija is because early people had thought that the structure was built by a long forgotten race of giants. The structure is all stone with no roof. It's quite large, consisting of 2 different temples. It was amazing to get to walk inside in stand in a place where people have stood for thousands of years. This was unlike anything I had ever done before. I sat there for a long time just looking at it. It wasn't until a packaged tourist group showed up that I finally decided to move on.

Around the site were a few caves, most of them are inaccessible, however, about 15 minutes down the road is Calypso's cave. Tradition has it that Gozo is the island of Oaygia described in Homers Odssey. This is said to be where the nymph Calyspo kept Odysseus a prisoner for 7 years. I don't think that all of that is true, but it did offer a really good view of the sea.

Because the bus situation was so bad I had to walk to Victoria, it wasn't far, it was just hot and I had a blister on my foot. At this point I had to decide. Do I walk about 45 minutes each way to the azure window or do I call it a day. I decided to call it a day. The heat was pretty awful and my foot was hurting. I knew that I couldn't do it, even or the picture.

I got on the next bus back to the port. I spent the rest of the evening reading my book and packing my bags for leaving the next day.

Goin' to Gozo

Day 72
I as up before my alarm had gone off. It was already hot though when I left the hostel with all of my stuff. I didn't walk to Valletta, where all buses leave from. I waited and waited and eventually one came.

Once in Valletta I boarded bus number 45 to the port for Gozo. I was one of the first on and took a seat up front by the window. An older man got on the bus, he smelled like a diaper. When he gave me a crazy smile I was frightened that he might sit next to me, but he moved to the back of the bus. About half way through the hour long ride an awful smell, like someone had just had diarrhea filled the bus. The driver pulled over and walked to the back, chasing the man out of the bus. The driver spent the next several minutes yelling and screaming at him. He then pulled out some detergent and put it everywhere the man had been sitting. I couldn't tell if he had let the man back on or not.

We were a bit late because of the earlier incident and I almost didn't make it to the ferry, I had to run. The ride was only about 30 minutes though and not the least bit painful. I knew that my hotel was only about a 10 minute walk up a step hill and didn't want a cab. Still, they all accosted me.

When I got to the top of the hill I was quite confused, I had not known that my hostel was HI. The place looked like a monastery, but turned out to have once been a home for troubled boys.

I could have taken a bus to Victoria, the main town, but I decided to walk. The woman at the hostel told me to go straight until I got to the traffic light and then I would know that I was there. I asked her how many traffic lights I would pass, she said just one, the only one on this island. It wasn't a bad walk, just hot.

When I found Victoria I found the tourist office. Most everything was closed, but if I moved quickly I could check out the citadella. I didn't have time for every museum, but chose to see only the cathedral. Apparently the site has been religious for the last 7,000 years. The cathedral was nice. Interestingly the main dome wasn't a dome at all, but rather a well painted optical illusion. This was done to save money. One of St. Ursula's arms is here. She was is a British saint who was being forced by her father to marry. She said that she would not marry until she had made a pilgrimage and took 11,000 virgins with her. Near Cologne they were attacked and beheaded by the Huns.

After the cathedral had closed I spent some time just wandering the citadella and taking in all of the sites from there. When I was tired I headed back to my hostel, by bus this time.

I wanted to have a real Maltese dinner and choose the nicer looking of the two restaurants near me. I figured that because I could see the sea that the crab cakes should be fabulous. Boy was I wrong, it was fake crab. The cheese ravioli however was quite good and almost redeemed the place. The fabulous wine helped it further along.

After dinner I simply headed back and spent some time reading before nodding off.

Knights and Skulls

Day 71

I was up early and happy about it. It had only taken a few days to reset my clock. After picking up some food and having a quick breakfast I decided to walk to Valletta. This only took about an hour, but it was hot and I was not happy by the time that I got there.

Inside the tight and golden streets of Valletta I found relief in the shade and my energy picked up. One of the sites I had been looking forward to the most was the Malta at War Museum, unfortunately it was closed for refurbishment. St. Elmo's Fort was also closed.

In front of the Fort were a bunch of guys with horse drawn carriages trying to pick up tourists. They all ignored all alone me except for one guy who told me that he would give me a really good price. I told him that even a really good price would be too much for me and said thank you. He then told me that he would give me a free ride, I replied that sometimes free was too much as well. He told me that I was a smart girl.

I wouldn't have wanted a ride anyway, my next stop was just around the corner. This was the Malta Experience. The ad said that I would get 7,000 years of history in only 45 minutes. It was basically true. At one point Malta was connected to Sicily. This is evident through the remains of large animals. Malta could have never supported large animals at any point. Around 4000 BC there was a group of people who built temples all over Malta and Gozo. They also built statues with changeable heads. No one knows why. By the time the Bronze age arrived these temple building people were long gone. No one is sure what happened to them. They may have actually died off or even simply left. After the Bronze age came the Romans. They did what they did all over Europe and brought laws and built things on this island. The Romans called the island honey, or something close to Malta in Roman. I didn't write down the name. They called the island this because of the abundant amount of honey colored limestone rock.

When St. Paul (the apostle, I think there are several St. Paul's) was headed to Rome to be punished for being Christian his boat was wrecked on the way. Everyone survived and he stayed in Malta for about 3 months converting the populace to Christianity. He is now the patron saint of Malta.

After the Romans came Arab rule. They were pushed out of Malta at the same time that they lost Spain. The Normans were the next group. King Charles V of Spain gave the homeless Knights of St. John (also known as the Knights of Malta) the island. The rent was only one falcon per year.

It wasn't too long after that that the Turks, who had apparently spared the Knights some years before, decided to attack the islands. The raid went on for months and was extremely gory. The Turks killed captured knights and hung the bodies by spikes, the Knights returned the favor by killing their prisoners and then firing their heads out of cannons at the Turks. Eventually a backup force from Sicily arrived. The Turks had far more casualties than the Knights whose army was just a fraction of theirs. They pulled out in embarrassment. The knights power over the island was cemented.

The Knights reigned until 1798 when Napoleon and his troops showed up. The Napoleonic Code was instituted. Napoleon's soldiers stole from Malta's wealthy churches to finance their campaigns. In 1800 the British Empire showed up. Admiral Nelson was the one who took the island. He was the same one who died on the HMS Victory that I visited way back when in Portsmouth. The Brits ruled until 1921 when the Maltese were given self-government. It, however, wasn't until 1964 that Malta became a republic.

During WWII Malta was sort on in Hitlers way when it came to the Africa campaigns. The island was bombed relentlessly for quite some time. Allied forces tried to get relief through, but none of the ships made it. It wasn't until they were literally days away from running out of food that one broken down and war torn ship was able to make it through. The Maltese consider this to be one of WWII's miracles.

Even though my head was overloaded (and I'm sure your board by now) I was determined to see Valletta in just one day. While I was checking out the Grand Masters Palace another tourist, I think French, was in line behind me. He was wearing very short see through yellow shorts, and an equally sheer and unbuttoned white shirt. He had space issues. He didn't like waiting in line and kept pushing me from behind, as if I could get the guy at the ticket booth to move faster. Right when I was about to turn around and say something to him, it was my turn.

I didn't pick up the audio guide here, I didn't realize that it was free. So all I can tell you is that the apartments are beautifully painted and worth checking out.

Just a bit up the street was St. John's Co Cathedral. It was amazing. The knights built it in 1577. Initially it had been quite austere and undecorated, but when the baroque period came it they decorated with abandon. Also, over the years various knights gave beautiful gifts to the cathedral. This is truly worth checking out, even for an over churched person like me.

One interesting thing was a small icon of the Madonna. When Napoleon sent the last Grand Master out of the country he (the Grand Master, not Napoleon) took with him an icon that had been with the order forever and St. John's hand. Both of these were lost to time for a few decades. Just a few years ago the icon was found in Moldova's national museum. Moldova had apparently been given it for safe keeping during WWII. Now they don't want to give it back, so they made a copy and gave that to the cathedral. This is why I don't lend things to my friends. The hand of St. John is still missing. It was last seen in Belgrade in 1914. Best guess is that it is either squirreled away in a monastery, or it has been destroyed.

Once I had finished with the cathedral it was about 4:30 pm and things were shutting down. I decided it was time to do what I had wanted to do all day. After stopping at the tourist info place for directions I had my first experience on a Maltese bus. The buses here are British buses from the 1950's and have a certain amount of excitement to them.

In no time I was in St. Gillian where all the nightlife happens. I wasn't here for beer though, I was here for the movie theater. The day before Indiana Jones had come out and I had to see it. Lets just say, I wasn't really disappointed, but the Holy Grail will always be my favorite.

Afterwards I walked slowly back to my hotel room along the waterfront. It was quite pretty. When I was back in my room watching German MTV (the reality shows are in English) I heard some popping noises out of my window. When I looked out there were fireworks. I think they were to celebrate my first full day in my 30^th country.

Volcanic Eruptions or Happy 30th!

Day 22
My alarm was set for 7:30, but I was up before then. The creaky beds had once again made sleep impossible. No problem, I would just be ready early. I had my breakfast and then as I was waiting for my day trip to Mt. Etna I ran into Catrina and Summer from Siracusa. They were there for the tour as well, but they were only doing the half day tour.

After some confusion (they lost my reservation) there were 9 people squeezed into a very tiny Range Rover. At first I was seated in the back and it was all I could do to keep my breakfast down. Our group consisted of all English speakers, Jeremy and a couple from Australia, Allie and a couple from the UK, and myself and Kevin from the US.

The drive up wasn't remarkable until we hit a lava flow from about 300 years ago. The ground was black, and looked injured by the dried lava rocks. Our guide didn't speak too much English so I am sure that I lost a lot of the day in translation.

After checking out what I can only call a lava field we were headed to a lave cave. Ernesto, our guide, pulled over at what seemed like a pretty random place. He pulled out headlamps and helmets for everyone. None of us could figure out where the cave was. It turned out it was a tiny hole right next to the guardrail.

From what I could gather caves like this are formed when hot air gets stuck between layers of lava. The cave was very rough going, I kept almost tripping and I was grateful for the helmet. I could either look at my feet or at the ceiling. I decided to concentrate on my feet and that meant a lot of hitting my head. It was also pitch black. We followed the cave back for about 10 minutes, but it felt much longer when we couldn't see an end.

After the cave we stopped at the location of the crater from the 2001 explosion. Climbing up and around the rim of the crater was daunting as well. I'm not known for my balance and the black sandy surface would have been easy to fall on. The top was also very windy, I felt like I should have been holding on to something besides my camera. Still, it was beautiful in a melancholy manner, everything was covered in black rocks.

Lunch was quite good, lots of Sicilian delicacies including cheese, sausage, artichokes and pistachio nuts. I was so stuffed by the time we had finished that I wasn't sure I could do anymore walking.

The last real stop of the day was to get a good look of Mt. Etna itself. From the vantage point that we had we could see smoke and solid lava from pasts flows. When we were quiet we could here the volcano making rumbling noises. It was the type of place that I would have really loved to have to myself for a bit, to just sit and enjoy nature.

Before returning to Catania we spent some time sitting at a mountain cafe. Ernesto seemed to want to hang out forever, but one of the women who spoke some Italian told him that I had a flight and didn't have all night as well as all day.

As soon as I got back to the hostel I said quick goodbyes, although part of me wanted to stay and go out with everyone that night. I grabbed my things and headed straight for the airport.

I had thought I would just make it, but instead I had to wait about 25 minutes before they even opened up check in. I ended up talking to Emanuel, a Maltese guy in Catania for business. We continued the conversation throughout the flight. I know very little about Malta and he gave me a brief history, along with suggestions about what I should visit.

When I landed I was literally the only person going through the non-EU immigration line. When the guy there asked me when I was leaving and I answered the 29^th he told me that was his birthday and that I was going to miss the party. I knew right then that I was going to like this place. This was the first time an immigration officer had ever shown any humor when I was getting into a country.

As soon as I passed the gates I entered my 9^th country on this trip and the 30^th country that I have been in all of my travels.

I was picked up through my hostel and we were there in just a few minutes. I was happy to see that I did in fact have my own room and bathroom. The price was so good, I had thought that I made a mistake. I also had a fabulous view of Valletta, Malta's capital.

I quickly fell asleep. It's not every day that I climb a volcano and reach a milestone.