After a solid 12 hours of sleep we decided that we should probably get up and take advantage of the cooler morning to do a little more sightseeing. We started off by going to the rooftop of the hotel, which had a lot of tables and a nice view of the eastern harbor of the city. The sun was rising and we were surprised to find someone else up there, recording a time-lapse video. It turned out she was another guest at the hotel, she was from New Zealand and was really nice – we bumped into her quite often during our stay at the hotel.
With her permission I ducked under the camera and took some pictures from the rooftop – taking in the harbor and a huge cruise shop docked there with sleeping tourists not yet ready to debark and explore.
We got our act together and went out ourselves to beat some of the other tourists. This time we wore proper footwear and walked down the street towards the northern coastline. We passed a church that had their door open, and we peeked in. They were preparing a church service on a Monday – interesting. We walked in an unsteady line to the coast and then followed it along towards the harbor that we had seen from the rooftop.
I took lots of photos of the ocean views and the historical buildings. We found ourselves near the lower gardens, and found a large bell structure as a memorial to past soldiers stationed there. Eventually we found our way back to the hotel, and headed up to the rooftop for breakfast.
The hotel breakfast was quite good – the staff prepared what you liked as far as eggs and coffee went, and you could take cold cuts and local cheese, yogurts (I liked the coffee flavored ones), and some fresh squeezed orange juice. We sat on the rooftop dining al fresco, enjoying the food with the view.
Our first stop after breakfast was St. John’s Co-Cathedral. We lined up outside with a few minutes to go before they opened. There weren’t too many people there yet, and when they opened up at 9 am we were one of first few through the doors. From the outside the cathedral is remarkably normal – nothing flashy and it just looked like a big rectangular stone building. Once we got inside it was completely different.
The interior was dramatically decorated – every surface was engraved with messages for and from the dead. We walked on floors made up of stone slabs colorfully decorated with messages, skulls and angels. It was one of the best cathedrals I have ever visited – just so beautiful. We covered most of the rooms, the crypt, the balcony, and again I went nuts with the photos.
Elsewhere we visited the Triton fountain, where several greenish “fish people” frolicked in a large pool that sprayed water in various directions. It must evaporate a lot of water in this heat.
By now the buses had started discharging tour groups near the southwest gate of the city center, and it was amazing how many people were coming in. Before it got out of hand we snuck in a visit to the Upper Barrakka Gardens, a scenic (but quite dry) garden of trees and fountains that looked like it would be much nicer with a bit more water.
We decided to take a break back at a cafe across from the cathedral, and engage in some relaxing in the shade and watching the world pass by. We ordered a local soft drink called Kinnie – a sort of sweet and bitter soda that I liked but was a bit too sweet for Kuniko so she switched to prosecco. I had a Cisk Excel beer – which turned out to be the low carb version of regular Cisk beer. It was a typical hot weather lager, refreshing but not very special. Since we were drinking we shared a Maltese platter – a sandwich of tuna with olives and onions, some beans and bean paste, and some French fries on the side. It was just the right amount to share.
Before falling asleep last night I had heard big noises that I had thought was furniture falling – turns out it was cannon fire. One of the island traditions is to fire off cannons periodically. I never did discover when they would go off but it seemed like it was usually when we were sleeping. Our hotel was near the cannon battery, so it was a recurring theme to hear them in the night. We tried to hear them at the stroke of noon, but for some reason we didn’t. The cannons were pretty mysterious.
After chilling out for a while we decided to do recon on a ferry ride to another part of Malta the next day, but for some reason although we could see the ferry terminal we couldn’t find the walkway to get there. We finally gave up and walked around some of the other parts of the city, and went back to our room to siesta through the peak of the hot afternoon.
We had reservations for later at a nice restaurant but found ourselves with some time to kill so we went to the MUZA art museum in the city center. The museum was focused on a theme of Malta and its residents, and it was quite interesting to walk through (and take advantage of their air conditioning). One area had works by a sculptor obsessed with motion, another area was full of violent religious scenes – some of which were fairly graphic. I enjoyed looking at the old maps of Malta, and it was interesting to find the very same street that we were staying on represented on the map hundreds of years old.
After the museum we did a bit more shopping for a cheesy keychain to hang from our Christmas tree, checked out Marks & Spensers, and received a phone call from the restaurant confirming our reservation. Eventually we made our way to the restaurant and arrived on time at Legligin for a traditional meal.
The format of the meal was a tasting course consisting of 7 courses, and we splurged for the wine pairing, ending up with quite a bit to eat and drink. The atmosphere of the restaurant was comfortable, and the staff all spoke English fairly well so we could understand what we were eating.
For posterity, here are the courses:
First, a tomato soup with basil and pine nuts (very good).
Second, we had a selection of tapas – caponata, local sausages, olives, fried eggplants, rabbit pate, and baked ricotta. (Excellent).
Third we had a seafood dish of snapper with couscous, and roasted octopus. These came with a bucket of mussels steamed in milk and white wine. (Not bad)
Fourth was a pasta – quite firm tube pasta with a tomato and cream sauce. We were starting to get full by this point, and the pasta was undercooked for our liking. (Not great)
Fifth was cute little roasted quail breasts with meal and a sour strawberry sauce. These were tasty and I think the first time I’ve had quail breast. (Yum!)
Sixth was beef simmered in mustard sauce with a side of boiled potatoes in fennel. The potatoes were a revelation for me and I really want to work this out to make at home. (Wow!)
Last was dessert – I had crème brûlée and Kuniko had tiramisu. We thought the brûlée was nice but Kuniko makes a better tiramisu on her own. (So-so…)
Each one of these courses came with a medium glass of wine – all local stuff – so we were feeling pretty good by the time we finally left. It was a lot of food and we were totally satisfied with the experience.
We needed to walk around a burn some calories so we went the the southeast side of the city to watch the cannons fire now and then. More and more people were out enjoying the nightlife, and we walked by parties just getting started while we walked through a food coma back to our hotel.
When we arrived at our hotel the room hadn’t been cleaned – maybe our timing wasn’t great since we had our siesta – so we called the hotel staff and they guided us to a special hidden cache of clean towels. Score!
The artwork in the halls of the hotel was pretty unique – lots of Japanese kanji and phrases mixed in with skulls and strange images. Kuniko was surprised to see the word アヘン – meaning “opium” in one of the paintings near the breakfast area. Pretty wild stuff.
So with that image and full bellies we went to sleep fairly early, with cannon fire for background music.
