First stop - Malta - Week 1
We left the winter clutches of Ottawa with snow piled up (and more on the way) to fly direct to Paris 
And then, after an overnight at the Ibis Styles at Charles de Gaulle airport, flew on to Malta. The hotel was clean and included a very good breakfast. Best of all, it was in the airport, so easy peasey. In retrospect, though, we decided we would have been fine with a connecting flight to Malta and skip the layover. Although, I do love Paris 😊
With rain in the forecast, we opted for a few hours at the Louvre in Paris, rather than spend more money and more time in the rain at Disney. As usual, large crowds huddled around the small Mona Lisa. We’d seen it before and so were not astounded by it’s small dimensions.
Just before leaving home, we had to report fraud charges on Steve's credit card and so his card was cancelled and no easy way to get a new one while away. I mention this because the Visa company also rejected other legitimate charges that were pending, including our Louvre tickets and my e-sim card. It took a few days for this to become apparent, resulting in having to repurchase the e-sim (cancelled for non-payment, apparently). If we don't have the Louvre re-charging us by the time we get back home, we'll contact them and pay for the tickets we've already used.
So, we arrived to much warmer temperatures in Malta – similar to home, but without the minus sign 😊, ranging from 15-18 degrees Celsius. We have a 3-bdr apartment near Sliema, technically in St Julian's near Gzira. It’s warm, comfortable and well-equipped. We have a bedroom with a small balcony and a reading nook (for me when Steve’s on his xbox), a second bedroom with an ensuite bathroom (mine) and a table (the perfect size for the jigsaw puzzle I bought yesterday) and which we are also using as a dressing room/clothes closet. The third bedroom with the single bed is just storage for us. The kitchen has everything we need and the washer and drying are being put to use. Perfect. It’s about 10 minutes walk to the water; 12m to the Spar grocery store and 20m to a larger Welbees grocery.
View from the larger balcony
One day, I walked clockwise around Sliema, keeping the water on my left.
In 1998, Malta was inaugurated as the first Sri Chinmoy Peace-Blossom Nation. This was a new initiative to bring together countries around the world together in a spirit of harmony and peace. Many other countries and natural landmarks later joined this Peace-Blossom project. Installed in early 2016, the statue of Sri Chinmoy still stands on the promenade despite a petition demanding its removal on the basis of several allegations of fraud and sexual abuse of female followers levelled at Mr Chinmoy. The plaque reads: "Malta, jewel of the Mediterranean, hallowed land where continents meet and cultures blend in perfect harmony. Throughout the sweep of centuries, from their smallness-land the people of Malta have courageously defended the entire free world and within their vastness-heart they have lovingly embraced the entire humanity.”
Colourful big cat sculpture at Independence Garden along the Sliema promenade. Created by Matthew Pandolfino and placed there during Sliema Art Festival.
St Julian's Tower (Torri ta' San Giljan) was the fifth of the 13 De Redin towers. An artillery battery was built around the tower in 1715. In 1798, during the Maltese uprising against the French, insurgents led by Vincenzo Borg captured Saint Julian's Tower and Battery. (Wiki) Today, the tower and the remains of the battery are the Il-Torri restaurant. The plaque, with the coat of arms of the Grandmaster says: "St Julian's Tower. This watch tower was erected in the year 1658 by Grandmaster Fr Martin De Redin."
Promenade walking area
This one is called "White Shadows"
In the George Bonello Dupuis Garden, this sculpture is by Censu (Vincent) Apap, a sculptor born in Valletta who is well known for designing various public monuments and church statues, most notably the Triton Fountain in Valletta. He has been called "one of Malta's foremost sculptors of the Modern Period"
I continued my walk up to a viewpoint cited in Google maps as "Panoramic View of Valletta and Sunrise" to take these shots. It was a good hike up and worth it for the view.
The next day, I walked in the opposite direction toward St Julian's and Spinola Bay
I passed the remains of the Spinola entrenchment, which remain a testament to Malta's storied military history, dating back to the Second World War. This historical landmark is a significant remnant of the defensive structures that were once pivotal in safeguarding the island. There are very nice walking paths and viewpoints.
At 121 metres tall, the Mercury Tower has been Malta's tallest building since 2020 when it overtook the Portomaso Tower upon its topping out. The building has 32 floors of mixed residential and hotel space. I just liked the look of it 😊That's the Museum of Illusions, below the tower.
Colourful building
Then on Sunday, I walked to Weid Ghollieqa, via Malta University.
It was interesting to note that Malta was early in recognizing climate change as a "common concern of humankind" and this sculpture (2009) commemorates the 1988 Maltese UN initiative which led to that recognition and culminated in the 1992 UN climate change convention.
After passing a WWII pillbox,
and the university's "Mediterranean Farmhouse",
I entered the Weid Ghollieqa nature preserve via an overgrown path
which eventually led to a "no trespassing sign" <Sigh>. So I left the preserve, only to find another more welcoming entrance with slightly more delineated pathways. Not much to explore, but nice to be in the woods 😊
The next couple of days the weather turned with rain, thunder/lightning storms and very strong winds (50 or 60kph, gusting to 115kph), such that a warning was issued
So we mostly stayed and I'm halfway through my jigsaw puzzle and have made inroads into my crossword puzzles.
Today looks better, so I will likely head out for a while.
This featured blog entry was written by Deb Godley from the blog Deb Travels the World.
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