Malta Planning

Malta Planning 

A visit to Malta had been on my mind for a long time! It's a small set of islands, smack in the middle of the Mediterranean sea, full of history and an interesting mix of culture and food influences. I thought at first that it might be a good escape for winter, but a check of the usual weather told me we should push it a bit towards spring.

So, about a year in advance, we booked an apartment in the capital, Valletta, for 10 days. We figured that was enough for a good taste!

Some time later, I looked at how to get there 🤭.

We could fly from Marseilles, but that would be on an airline we prefer to avoid (R...r). Then I looked what it would take to drive there - 20 hours of driving time, cut up into a few days! Wow, that seemed great!

My itinerary looked like this:

Drive - France through Italy to Malta ferry

- 7 hr drive to Genoa 

- Genoa 2 nights (1 day-tour)

- 6 hr drive to Rome, along coast 

- Rome 4 nights (3 days touring)

- 7(+) hr drive to ferry, overnight 

- early ferry to Messina, Sicily, then 2.5 hrs drive, ferry to ferry in Pozzallo

- late evening (7pm) ferry to Valletta, Malta 

Valletta visit 

I checked on car ferries, and how to leave the car in Sicily:

Italy ferry

- $90 total including car ($75), round trip 

- 9:20am

- 20 minutes 

- check-in before 2 hours ahead (7:20am)

Approximately 6 non-driving hours in Sicily between ferries - what to do?

Park in Pozzalo 

Sicily-Malta ferry schedule (< 3 months in advance): 

- 71€ ea one way (?) $220 total (?)

- check-in by 60 minutes ahead 

- 1h45 travel time 

- 7pm Pozzalo to Valletta 

- 6:30am Valletta to Pozzalo 

Well.... Things were adding up! Plus logistics were getting complicated! But, we still thought it could work. 

Then I started plotting our return - it only makes sense to see something different, right? I started looking for interesting stops...

Drive through Italy and France 

- Sicily - stop in Taormina, maybe cut over to Palermo 

- 4 hr drive San Marino/Rimini - Milan 

- 2 hr drive Milan - Turin 

- 4 hr drive Turin - Nice

- 4 hr drive Nice - Marseille - Sète (via Aix en Provence)

What about Naples? Tuscany? Cinque Terre?

I looked at driving rules in Italy - we could easily add Italy to our toll card. But all of the cities we would stop in had restricted zones - residents can get a pass and drive there, but not visitors. We'd have to stay outside, and take taxis or tours in. We'd have to make sure our route didn't inadvertently run us through a restricted corner (automatic fine, mailed to your home - too bad if you don't notice, and take that route several times!).

At this point, our 10-day "Malta" trip had turned into a 2 month Italy trip! Oh yeah, and some Malta... I decided I was overwhelmed. 

I took a step back. I looked at other flights, and found a nice set of steps:

- Montpellier to Rome

- Sightsee a while 

- Rome to Malta 

- Have our Malta trip (!!!)

- Fly Malta-Rome-Montpellier

Perfect!

Italian Art: Judith Beheads Holofernes

Wow! I didn't know the history of this painting (or artist) when I saw this in Italy!

I just knew it was captivating in a very strange way - the women are so *determined*...

So what is it? Judith (and her maid) Beheads the general Holofernes, who was laying seige to their city. Do they look like heroes? Saviors of a city? What do ordinary people look like in the moment of performing such an extreme act?

Here's the back story (and a better picture) : https://broadly.vice.com/en_us/article/the-17th-century-painter-and-rape-victim-who-specialized-in-revenge-fantasy

Shoestring Travel

Shoestring Travel
Or is that Flip-Flop Travel?

We like to see other places and live different cultures (at least somewhat). We like to experience new things together. We have plenty of time. And we have a budget to watch (doesn't everyone?). Luckily, we've also discovered that there are a lot of aspects to luxury travel that we plain don't like. So what is worth spending money on, and what do we spend time and effort on instead?

• Flights: These can add up to half or more of the overall trip cost, so we spend a lot of effort to keep them as cheap as possible, adding in our (very much required) checked bags, and keeping layovers to a minimum. We definitely got spoiled living in the San Francisco bay area - three international airports to choose from meant most of our flights were direct, and on the less expensive side. Now in Albuquerque, we always have a jump to a hub, then onward. (At least our city *has* an airport! Those who live in the capital, Santa Fe, have to drive an hour as well!) One thing the flight cost affects is how long we stay somewhere - if we stay longer, the cost of the flight is amortized over more vacation; so... we stay!
• Housing: We aim for as many apartments (kitchens!) as possible. Next in line are hostels. Most of these charge extra for sheets and towels - if we have room, we bring our own (in our very much required checked bags ;-) ).  Hunting for what we want and need takes a *lot* of effort, and quite a bit of plan B type thinking. Apartments to let don't have the same guarantees as hotels - and you pay in advance. Not having a concierge also means we have to research activities and make our own reservations for can't-miss-this museums, etc.
• Food: Some travel advisors say to eat at least once at a multi-star restaurant to get a taste of "the best" local food. We've done that, but we have also had great luck at little bistros; we get our taste like this, at lunch, more and more often. We also swing through the central markets and farmer's markets looking for interesting picnic supplies - these are great for day trips (plus, you get fantastic conversations with the sellers)! Most often, we look for different ingredients and cook our own! My favorite questions are: "what is this?" and "how do you prepare it?" Not only is this the way we like to eat, but it is considerably easier on the bottom line...
• Transportation: Sometimes renting a car is worth it, but if we're staying in a city center, then no. Usually, buses, metro, and trains work very well. However, sometimes research does not pan out! My Sicily research said there were hourly buses to everywhere we expected to go, but it turned out the schedules were really very inconvenient (we spent 5 hours at a sunny beach due to the bus schedule - not as fun as it sounds!)
• Tours / sightseeing: Certainly we spend some here - this is a big part of being Somewhere Else. However! Do I absolutely have to cruise the canals of Venice on a gondola (100€), or will I enjoy a vaporetto (7. 50€) just fine? I don't have to go inside every interesting-looking church; plenty, especially in Europe, have extremely interesting features outside, and many are open to the public; a few are worth paying a few euro to enter the crypt (although it has to promise something spectacular enough for me to overcome my claustrophobia). If I have a limited amount of time in a town, I do some research to find the key places (for me) to see - I know I don't care for a certain type of art, so why spend any time in that type of museum? In Italy, I would love to visit the site of ancient mosaics, but it is hard to get to; it's on the maybe-but-unlikely list, and I do a virtual visit via Google maps (yes, I love researching vacations!). I have been on guided tours, and I love them! But I also really enjoy researching a place and planning my own path - so, win-win!
• Souvenirs: We have downsized enough that I don't want a lot of extra stuff cluttering up my space (and demanding a lot of cleaning). If we get a souvenir, it has to be functional as well as evocative. One of my favorites is a string bag from France - iconic, and only a couple of euro (plus, easy to pack!) at a local grocer's. Something my brother got me into is rocks! Yes! I like beachcombing as it is, and looking for a special (small) stone to take back is very gratifying :-).
• Insurance: mainly because we don't have a lot of time constraints, and we stay a while in (nearly) each place we visit, we find that travel insurance isn't worth it. Usually, if we miss a flight (for example), we would only risk a shorter stay at a destination. In the past, we used this, and were glad we had it. If we had a tight schedule, we would definitely look harder at this.

Last year, we went to France for just over a month. Our budget broke down like this:

• 33% Flights (to and from Marseille, no other French locations)

• three legs, plus a drive to get there; exhausting!

• 12% Housing (one apartment plus 3 nights hotel)

• we got an amazing deal on a small apartment on the beach!

• 14% Transportation (car rental plus a few trams, trains, buses)

• we needed a car because of where we stayed; after that, it made sense (for 2 of us) to drive to sites

• 21% Food

• no fancy dinners, a lot of picnics, and a few lunches out

• 4% Sightseeing 

• a lot of walking tours

• 10% Unexpected (car damage, replacement passport)

• ack! This really cut into our touring time (that hurt the most)

• see, now insurance would have helped, but really only to a break-even point

• 6% Misc

This year, our budget for 6 weeks of Italy (+) was:

• 49% Flights (California, Stockholm, Florence, and Sicily)

• a lot of effort, but we flew a *lot!*

• 21% Housing (two apartments, 1 night hotel, 3 nights hostel)

• also a lot of effort

• 9% Transportation (no car rental; trams, trains, buses)

• we actually did hitch rides with friends that rented a car for part of the time; we probably would have rented one in advance if we had known about the poor bus/train schedules in Sicily

• we could have trained between some places, but flew instead

• this is higher that it would normally be due to long-distance day trips from Florence

• 17% Food

• this was a pleasant effort :-) with lots of cooking and street food

• Stockholm was significantly more expensive than Sicily, and we weren't there long enough to cook our own

• 2% Sightseeing 

• we paid a bit extra to make sure we could visit Florence museums when we expected to (Uffizi and Accademia)

• 0% Unexpected (yay!)
• 2% Misc

Odds and Ends

A trip isn't really complete without some sort of souvenir.

My brother got us started on collecting small rocks and shells from different parts of the world - this time, it was from Noto Antica, Lido di Noto, Lido d'Avola, and lava from Mt. Etna.

But traditional tchotchkes have their place - we brought chocolate from Modica to share tastes, small ceramics, and marzipan candy fruit from Sicily

Scarves and a bit of lace from Venice

And a Dala horse from Sweden

~~~
I spent a considerable amount of time peeking in booths in Florence for the perfect leather purse - my idea of perfect is not currently in style :-\
But I did find a nice leather belt in Lucca!

Sicily to Sweden via Istanbul

Monday 10/3 - Well, neither of us slept much last night. We had arranged for a taxi to the airport (early! 6:45 out front, 18€ flat rate) via our hostel. We were early, and so was he, so we were lineless at checkin (a short while later, the line was beyond the barriers!). We had coffee and croissants along with our bits of picnic food, saw this nice view of Etna

then through security to our gate  - or nearly. Because our flight was through Turkey, we had to go through passport control before our gate. I was a little nervous about navigating the Istanbul airport, but it was extremely clear - anyone transiting the airport on another international flight followed the signs and showed a boarding pass for the next leg - boom! you're in the departure area! And you get a teensy view of Istanbul. Speaking of views, this trip gave me my first ever sight of Africa AND Asia! That was an exciting thing to realize :-)

And my first glimpse of the Black Sea

and, finally! Stockholm from the air (again)

It was quite nice to come into an airport that we had been to already, and so recently. We knew how things worked, and where the info counter was. WHICH we made use of! My research said to take a train then bus to our hotel, but the lovely young lady persuaded us to take the airport bus then walk. Oh what a wonderful sight! Stockholm at sunset! (No pictures for you, so sorry) :-)

Airport internet: I have had the worst luck with accessing European airport Wi-Fi! The trend seems to be this: at the welcome page, enter a European phone number. That is sent an SMS with an access code. Then you enter that code on the welcome page, and voilà! Hah! We either didn't yet have a phone number, or never got the message, or... pick a problem :-\

~~~
Update: read the post abot our first encounter with the Stockholm airport - http://slowtravelin.blogspot.com/2016/09/stockholm-airport.html

Catania

We left Noto for Catania on the 9:15 bus, and arrived in approximately the quoted hour and a half. There were definitely shades of Costa Rica here - as I asked the bus driver if we were going to the Piazza Borsellino, and would he tell me when we stopped there, I thought "we're not stopping there, and he isn't going to tell us ..." Sure enough, we went right on past it, and at the station, he said "everybody off" - sigh. Fortunately, several people directed us to the city bus stop to take us back. And when we got on, we did the one thing I *knew* we weren't supposed to do - we didn't have a ticket, and so of course couldn't validate it (huge fine if you're caught)! Well, the driver didn't seem to care about such a short ride for the stupide touriste, and we stuck it out. Then we had to walk to our hotel. This was a far cry from our last European vacation, when we had no GPS - this time, we just moved the blue dot until we got there (whew!).

So, we got here, and realized we were really stressed - hot, sweaty, and cranky! A little relaxing, a little picnic lunch, and we're ready to go!

On our very corner was one site, the Castle Ursino, so we took a stroll...

Then we hit a few highlights:

Stopped for a beer and iced coffee (yay!), and headed back to the other side of the city center

and the odeon / greek teatro

Back at our hotel, we got settled (this included a shower, water, and wine), and watched a *hailstorm!* It was quickly over, but we were sure glad we had had our walk earlier!
~~~

Sicilian?

I've been noticing the various Sicilian products on display, and finally decided why I wasn't too interested in buying them - they are so similar to the products of my hometown! Typical items:
- olives and olive oil
- almonds
- citrus, as well as peaches and apricots
- dried tomatoes
- wine
Of course, there were some different items:
- limoncello, and creamy varieties (unless you know someone, like Kathy!)
- chocolate with various flavors
- gelato (!)
- ceramics
- pistachios
- arancini (stuffed rice balls)
- carob

Noto Last Days

Wednesday 9/28 - Yesterday was the last day our friends had in Sicily, so we all went to the beach (Lido d'Avola this time) for a little while. The rest of the day was full of chores - laundry (by hand, again!), groceries - and relaxing! And cannoli ;-)

Thursday 9/29 - more relaxing and small chores. We found out the bus schedule for Sunday (we finally decided against going to Catania a day early); we'll aim for th 9:15 AST bus. We hunted up some internet, but not enough to get books, send mail, or upload pictures :-\  Pizza for lunch (da portare via = take out), beef stew for dinner. Oddly enough, "lasagna" here is listed in quotes on menus, if at all - the one place Rick was looking forward to for a lasagna lunch did this - and said it was with bechamel sauce! He had fantastic lasagna in Florence; we're guessing it isn't a normal Sicilian specialty...
These are the days of long discussions - likes and dislikes about our current trip, where and when next time. It's difficult to make any firm plans, or even submit concrete ideas, because we have no internet! Oh, how dependant we have become! I still have to try arancini (those ubiquitous balls of rice, stuffed with stuff)...

Friday 9/30 - we had an interesting surprise today - the Prince of Monaco made an official visit to Noto! All the schools had outings to be part of the welcome - some had special hats, some special shirts, all had paper flags to wave. I waited on a park bench next to a nice Italian woman. Giana is 80, from Genova, and one of her sons was the guy in charge of security for the visit (you can see him in some of the photos; blue shirt, bald, sunglasses). Once the children were shuffled into place, I moved on to the cathedral steps and waited there. When the Prince arrived, he didn't go up the red carpet to the town hall; instead, he and the Mayor (I think - he was an official with an Italian flag sash) walked along the street, greeting the children, shaking their hands.

I brought my "classico" arancini (stuffed with meat) back to the apartment for lunch :-)

Saturday 10/1 - So, it's our last day in Noto, and I finally got a tourist map of the town; I can't believe how many interesting buildings are here! We went into the Chiesa di Santa Chiara.

Noto Veggies

Noto Veggies

I saw this all over town - in restaurants, deli cases, even the fruit vendor gave me a recipe.

Saute in olive oil:
zucchini
onions
garlic
eggplant (salted and rinsed as usual)
tomatoes

Add black pepper and serve

also can add:
bell pepper
pancetta or bacon
fresh basil

Pork Chops

9/26 Monday
Pork Chops
In a small pan on medium heat, add
olive oil
2 thin, boneless pork chops
small amount of cut green beans
three leafy celery ribs (keep leaves for later)
cook till pork is brown on one side, then
flip pork, add
cooked pancetta or bacon
celery leaves
chopped pistachios
cover and turn off heat

Serve with Eggplant al Noto

OR

Pork Chops
In a small pan on medium heat, add
olive oil
2 thin, boneless pork chops, peppered one one side
1 zucchini, chopped
1 onion, cut into 1/2 strings
4 -5 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
cook till pork is brown on one side, then
flip pork, add
ground pistachio (pesto, like a course nut butter)
cover and turn off heat
add asiago cheese and serve

Syracuse Day Trip

Syracuse Day Trip*
(Sunday 9/25)

Earlier in the week, our friends had tried to go to Syracuse by train - it was TWO hours late, so they scratched that plan! Now they have a car, and we all piled in and drove :-)

Well, Syracuse is definitely shy - it was our first completely rainy day. With riposo closures  in mind, we drove through pouring rain and water-slewing lakes to get there well before 10:00. We parked just outside of Ortigia (the island part of the city), and walked around in an on-again-off-again drizzle.

We got a good look at the Temple of Apollo

And headed towards the Duomo. On the way, Artemis struck! I was apparently so entranced by this

that I didn't notice a dip in the curb until it precipitously met my face :-\
(I have quite a shiner, and I'm glad I have my extra pair of glasses...)

Well, after a nice icepack accompanied by a coffee and chocolate croissant (coronet here), we moved on to the Duomo. This is a church built around the bones of an older Temple of Athena (these are the huge, ragged-looking columns around the outside perimeter of the newer church arches).

Then back along the pier to the car.

We drove up to the archeological park, expecting to eat our lunch among the ruins. BUT! Because of the heavy rain, it was closed! We walked back a bit and tried the catacombs and museum - same thing, closed! We did manage a few photos.

As it was still raining, and looking to get worse, we just drove back home for a warm, dry afternoon inside.

~~~~
* Since Artemis is Diana, I was tempted to call this Diana's Revenge ;-)