Two Weeks In...

Hello friends and family and welcome to our blog MaltaMedia (shout out to Rachel A. who thought of that sweet name).  Allison and I are as about settled in as we can reasonably expect. Our first week here consisted of getting to know the country, our town, and Allison's fellow classmates (8 Americans and 3 Maltese).

Allison and I live in the urbanized town of Sliema, a shopping and eating mainstay for the tourists whom have been steadily declining in numbers since September began. Our apartment is a pleasant, albeit old, second story unit. A short walk in any direction will deposit you to the café lined harbor, the "beach" which opens to the Mediterranean, a shopping district with grocer and all manner of stores and boutiques, and, finally, a new mall filled with many of the brand name stores you find back home.

***Note, click on the photos to see larger versions***

The limestone coast has been carved out to make the 'pool' above

Our "beach" is of the sandless variety and here is called a lido. In fact, sandy shores make up only about 2% of Malta's coastline, but it's still pleasant and sunny and beautiful. The lido to the left is minutes from our home, but they continue up much of the coast. One observation: the Mediterranean is much saltier than the Atlantic or Pacific, so much so that salt crystallizes inside small crevices in the limestone shore. As someone who always had difficulty floating the change is welcome.

Lifeguard imposter

On day one, Allison enjoyed a swim in the Mediterranean. Still nervous about my stitches, I was relegated to exploring tide-pools along the coast.

Swimming in the Med!

Allison's school held two field trips the week before class officially started. The first I skipped, so I can't speak to that (post forthcoming) but for the second we all headed north to catch the ferry to Malta's sister island Gozo, where we were treated to the first of many awesome views.

Cliffs support a common sight in Malta: Guard towers to help spot seaborne enemies

The whole country is a rocky, rugged, windswept and sea-battered place and it registers even more on rural Gozo. Our 'tour guide' was one of the Maltese professors, Louis, who was energy personified and seemed to know every fact possible about Malta. After taking the quick ferry across, we headed to the Citadel, or il-Kastell, a city on a hill with origins dating back to 1500 B.C.

View from the Citadel. Islanders retreated to the Citadel whenever invaders arrived from the seas.                 

Allison with classmates

The site was later developed by the Phoenicians and eventually became a Roman municipality after their defeat of Carthage. Much later, during an Ottoman raid in 1551, the Citadel was seiged and breached by Turkish forces, who then took every islander not too old or sick into slavery.  

Allison watching for invaders

A church, I believe, at the top of the Citadel

After navigating through the narrow streets and alleys, we headed back to the bus to visit one of the few green patches on the island. Here, farmers share a fresh water source to grow prickly pears, pomegranates, watermelon, olives, and other vegetables and herbs.

Narrow streets help keep buildings in the cool shade

A plethora of produce being grown near a streambed

A sign on this old church claims 'no refuge for criminals'

Not sure what they're looking at...

                 












From here we headed to one of the most breathtaking places I've ever been: the Dingli Cliffs. A dirt path leading across flat, mostly barren land abruptly stops at the top of these sheer 1,000 foot cliffs. It's so straight to the bottom that you can look over (like me) and see straight down to the distant waves breaking below. Or, if you are afraid of heights (like Allison) you can stand to the back fretting and frowning. 

Dingli Cliffs

Enjoying the view

Looking on in nervous disapproval

Class photo

After a splendid lunch of three kinds of fish, bruschetta, salads, white wine, melon and cappuccino, we headed to this beach and purported home of Calypso, daughter of the titan Atlas (natch), who detained Odysseus here for seven, five or one years, depending on which ancient Greek historian you trust.

Next up was a site to rival Dingli in it's jaw-dropping factor. Dwejra (Dway-rah) featured massive waves crashing violently upon the rocky coastline. Photos, nor video, do it justice. 

Happy couple

For scale, in the upper left there are two small dark spots on the light part of land. Those are two people.

Another for scale: This is Tim down near the churning waters

Well, that's all for now. We love and miss all of you and remember, you're all welcome to come visit. Finally, as most of you probably know, our trip was interrupted on the day of our flight by an unruly appendix that had to be promptly removed. After six days of recovery in N. Carolina at our friends Mark and Kristin’s cozy home, Allison and I finally set off, beginning with an abbreviated trip to Rome.

Post-surgery

Stay tuned for the story and photos of that. I am feeling fine now and am looking forward to resuming soccer and working out. The condition and location of the appendix is unknown.