We rented a minivan to take us from the hotel to the Maltese Experience in Valletta. The Maltese Experience was Gym's idea. It is a 45-minute historical film about the history of Malta. Not everyone was into this forced activity but sometimes the patriarch has to exert his control over the various elements of the clan, for the clan's own good. Gym found the film quite interesting and very concise for that large amount of information. Did you know that that Malta has been conquered by numerous different cultures including the Phoenicians, Persians, Carthaginians, Romans, Vandals, Goths, Edmontonians, Byzantines, Arabs, Fatimids, Newfies, Normans, Swabians, Angevins, Aragonians, Knights of Saint John, French and British. Noteworthy though, the Maltese held out during WWII and survived the onslaught of the Germans and Italians so that the Allies could get some lunch on their way to Egypt.
Unfortunately, Valletta was bombed quite intensely by the Italians and the Germans. It was quite a mess for many years after the war. In fact, they just got it tidied up when they heard we were planning our trip.
Upon emerging from the Maltese Experience we decided that we would try to find Christopher some lunch. He is constantly just about to starve. Gym had heard that the Beer Cave might be a good place for the mid-day meal. We trekked across town to find the establishment which is under The Castile Hotel. Unfortunately, the Beer Cave doesn't open until 1800 hrs. :( . So, with Chris barely able to walk, we wandered up to Republic Street and turned back the way we'd come and down that street about a block where there was a little hole-in-the wall place called Charles Grech, named after a British naval guy that retired there. We ordered two charcuterie platters and some vegan stuff for Nicole. Slowly, Chris returned to full vitality, helped along with some Heineken beer.
After lunch, we wanted to see the Cathedral, St. John's Co-Cathedral to be precise, so we wandered down Republic Street and right by the massive landmark, overshooting it by three blocks. Soon though, Gym sensed the mistake and we backtracked to finally find the massive church. We forked over 16 Euros each to enter and discovered that we only had 35 minutes to see everything. We did a speed tour of the place. It was pretty amazing but we definitely needed more time.
We then made our way back to the Valletta Experience to find a means of transport back to the Westin. There were no minivans in sight. There was however, a willing taxi driver who said we could all pile into his smallish vehicle for the ride back to St. Julian's, on the condition that one of us would duck if the police were spotted. I guess 4 people was his maximum capacity. We agreed to his terms and when we got in he asked us what part of the U.S. we were from? When we said we were Canadian, he smiled, held out his hand and told us he was born and raised in Winnipeg! The cabbie had "retired" on Malta and as long as he had a current Canuck passport he could still rely on CPP and OAS checks every month. He thanked god for previous Liberal governments.
That night we went for dinner to a little seafood place, it was located on the waterfront in St. Julian's. Mrs. Gym wasn't fond of the shrimp dish she ordered, so Gym asked the waiter to have the dish boxed up and we fed all of the stray cats that were encountered on the trek back to the hotel. Some cats loved the shrimp, others agreed with Mrs. Gym.
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| The crew in the tunnel underneath the ramparts on the way to the Malta Experience Theatre |
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| Making our way across Valletta with a starving child |
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| WW2 damage? |
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| Two things to contemplate, a common Euro source of protein and a new way to spell vegetables |
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| A shrine for the recently murdered journalist that was writing about corruption in the Maltese government. |
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| The alter inside St. John's Co-cathedral |
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| A large crucifix painted by Caravaggio (Gym's pick as most interesting Baroque painter - google him) |
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| looking from the back of the cathedral |
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| This guy loved Mrs. Gym's leftovers |
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