It is Sunday in Valetta and we were going to take a hop-on hop-off bus ride through old city and countryside but apparently they stop these tours early in the afternoon, so Plan B is necessary. It turns out that there is a little ferry that runs from close by our marina (Manoel Island) over to the old town - Euro 1.50 well spent!
The old town retains much of its original character and what look to be many of the original buildings, The oldest church here dates from 1566 and the narrow streets and alleyways remind me a little of the Old Town in Edinburgh. The sunshine is a bit different of course but on this day the cold wind off the sea made it feel just like the east coast of Scotland,
Speaking about the weather, there is a gale forecast for Monday and while things will improve by Tuesday, we will not gave a good enough weather-window to visit Gozo and get back to the mainland before the next bad weather arrives. As usual, prudence is the watchword and we will head back to the Peloponnese on Tuesday.
Malta is the third most densely populated country in the world with some 400,000 people on the island. Throughout history Mal;at has maintained a rich seafaring and trading tradition. Despite being invaded many times, it maintains an independent character and seems to have assimilated traits from invaders into their own culture. One of the most interesting of these is the Maltese language itself, This has many similarities to Arabic but uses the Roman alphabet. The most closely-related language is apparently Lebanese.
The military associations are everywhere - there are bastions on the high ground overlooking the harbor and the waters around the island. The harbor itself is almost perfect - beautifully sheltered and snuggled below the old town.
Monday brought the gale as predicted but we had to spend the middle of the day replacing the anemometer (irony?). This is the third one of these we've had in the two and a half years we've owned True Colors Simrad did not do a good job on this one. Ruairi went to the top of the mast (brave man) to do the work.
Topped up the provisions and had a last meal ashore before we head out on Tuesday morning. Talking about the last meal, Ruairi has been intimidated by the quality of the restaurant at the marina - it has been really good. But tonight they let him down with a burger that was less than average (though why he chose a burger in Malta I am not sure). Vliho Yacht Club can rest easy again!