The Traveling Scholar

My cousin, S., who has been my temporary neighbor for the past 10 days has officially left London to begin the second part of her adventure with her mom! She’s heading to Paris tonight, Switzerland after and then hitting up Italy again for some new sights. I’ve gotten so accustomed to having her next door, watching movies, having slumber parties a la versions of our 7-year-old selves that it’s going to be so weird going to sleep tonight and not seeing her!

S., if you’re reading this: thank you for being such a great travel buddy and neighbor! I’m going to miss you — can’t wait to see you when you’re back in Londontown!

Want to (re-)read about our amazing adventures? Click on the pictures to find out more!

Lots of love,

Alright, kiddos. I’ve clearly been slacking on updates, but in my defense our internet has been awful at the last few spots we’ve stayed at! While S. and I are in Ireland right now, I’m gonna try to catch up on the Spanish-soaked days of our adventures. Barcelona was great and Andorra was even better, so I’ll have to rewind and start from the beginning. Let’s go back – waaaaay back – to Barcelona.

S. and I arrived in Barcelona the evening of the 23rd, checked in at our hotel, and had time to grab dinner at a nearby eatery before heading to bed. While I’ve been to Spain before, Barcelona was unique in the sense that the citizens speak Catalan (and Spanish). The flag of Catalunya graces many a balcony and Catalunyan patches sit at most tourist shops. We ended up staying in E’ixample at Hotel del Comte and saved tons of money! While we looked at places in the Las Ramblas area, our place was about a 15 minute walk from there and we grabbed a killer room for about $100 a night. Only downside: the internet was super in-and-out.

In any case, with limited time in Catalunya’s capital, we opted for some Hop On/Hop Off bus action to make the most of our time. Barcelona is a city loaded with sites and one that I felt couldn’t be seen on foot in the time we had. For anyone that is also hitting up this city with limited time, I would totally recommend the Hop On/Hop Off buses. There are a number of them that run throughout the area and hit up all the main sites within a short period of time. When we woke up the morning of the 24^th, we headed down to Catalunya Square and jumped on one of three bus lines to begin our sightseeing adventure. Here’s a bit of a photo tour of our trip… so many sights!

Catalunya Square

Some views of the city.

The Columbus Monument!

FC Barcelona’s stadium — holds 100′000 people!

And, of course, loads of Gaudi’s masterpieces strewn across the city:

La Sagrada Familia (pictured above) was one of the top must-sees on my Barcelona list. I have always questioned it’s ‘beauty’ as such (I think it looks like a melting candle), but the fact that construction is still underway after having been started by Antoni Gaudi in 1882 is incredible to me. There’s certainly something awe-inspiring about it!

After our hop on/hop off tour, we headed back, got ready and headed out for paella and sangria to experience true Spanish cuisine (we were informed that true Catalonian cuisine wasn’t anything too special).

In true S-squared fashion, day two in Barcelona was time for us to hang out on the beach! We spent most of the day soaking up sunshine and relaxing before heading out semi-early. I have to say that thus far, Barcelona’s beaches are some of the best we’ve seen! They were a bit crowded with it being a summer Sunday, but the beaches were big and sandy! To top it off, we were able to rent chairs and an umbrella for 17 euro for the entire day. Bliss.

All in all, I liked Barcelona, but I wouldn’t go much further than that. Many of my friends who have visited are obsessed but I’ve enjoyed a number of our other trips more. The beaches were great and it was so much fun practicing Spanish for a few days but our time in Andorra was so incredibly amazing that it kind of blurs my memories of Catalunya. Stay tuned, though — more on that tomorrow!

Happy travels,

With only a few days in Florence, S. and I wanted to make the most of our time in Tuscany. We found an amazing ‘Tuscany in One Day’ tour through Viator and booked it Friday night. While the package wasn’t cheap, we both found it to be a good deal (£60/€70) for what was included.

The tour was 12 hours and began at 8:30A. We got up bright and early and headed out of our hotel around 7:45A to grab morning goodies and get there a bit early. After departing, our first stop was Siena, a little town (p. 50,000) about an hour or so from Florence famous for its horse races and the color with its namesake (Burnt Siena). The city was much smaller than Florence but incredibly charming. We learned (during our tour) that banking as we know it today effectively began in Italy (in Tuscany, actually) and that Siena is currently home to the oldest working bank in the world (founded in the 14^th c. or so):

I’m not sure where I thought banking started, but I definitely didn’t think it was Italy. Fun tid bit, indeed. After seeing the bank, we explored the city center, saw seven of the seventeen districts in Siena and got to see where the famous horse races take place during July and August. Despite it’s small size, Siena is split up into 17 districts that are represented by their own flag and animal. Each district has its own fountain, its own church, etc. and there are rivalries (sometimes intense) between the districts. The horse races that happen each year take place between ten of the districts; the winning district gets to hang their flag for everyone to see/admire. The rhino district (it has a much better name than that in Sienese) won last time:

Our last stop was the church in Siena. While nearly all of my travels have included gazing at cathedrals (since churches tend to be some of the most amzing examples of architecture), I have yet to become tired of seeing the façades of these cathedrals – so incredible. Admittedly, I get a bit tired of exploring the insides, but it was nice to check it out and hear our Italian tour guide tell us about the church’s history:

After our tour and some free time in Siena, we boarded our coach once again to head to an organic farm where we had lunch. S. and I were the only vegetarians in the group so they had to make up a special lunch for us (sadly, we couldn’t have the ‘wild boar sauce’…). We got a tour of the farm, including the wine cellar (they produce 200’000 bottles of wine a year!), and got to check out some incredible views of San Gimignano. Pretty breathtaking:

Fittingly, the lunch included wine tasting. Everything that was served up was organic and produced on the farm (except for the pecorino cheese which was brought in) and was absolutely delish! You know S. and I were way too excited for some organic action in our lives! After lunch, a glass of white, two glasses of red and a (strong) dessert wine (note: I had but a taste of the reds since I’m not a big red wine-drinker… I have yet to learn how to drink red wine like grown-ups), we re-boarded our coach to head to nearby San Gimignano, a medieval town that has been left untouched.

Now, San Gimignano (San Jim-EE-jee-ohn-oh), while small, was completely darling. The views were great and the streets of the city are dotted with cute wine and cheese shops and little restaurants and cafes. San Gimignano is perhaps most famous for their gelato (aside from their white wine and saffron). A gelateria in town has won ‘Best Gelato in the World’ on two separate occasions, so you know that we had to test it out (despite being disgustingly full from lunch). After exploring the town, we headed down to the gelateria as our last stop before heading back to the coach. In true San Gimignano fashion, the gelateria even has white wine and saffron-flavored gelato! Although I could have been more adventurous, the line was out the door so I made my order quick: mint (at least I moved away from lemon)! S., staying true to her chocolate-loving roots, got a scoop of plain chocolate (her defense was that if this was supposd to be the best gelato in the world, the chocolate should be the best she had ever tasted… I understood her thinking on that one). The gelato was good, but the best in the world? Not so sure… You’ll have to try for yourself.

After San Gimgnano, we headed to our last stop of the day: Pisa! S. and I had wanted to go to Pisa, but I didn’t think it was worth a day trip on its own (much like I didn’t think Siena was worth a day trip unto itself). This tour ended up being pure perfection since it brought in all of the Tuscan cities we were interested in with just the right amount of time in each. We arrived in Pisa after a scenic one and a half hour drive (where we passed by a sunflower patch):

There was little to do in Pisa. We took quintessential tourist pictures (unashamedly) and laid out in the grass in front of the leaning tower. Bonus: the leaning tower of Pisa is one of the wonders of the world – got to check one off of my list!

After our time in Pisa, we headed back to Florence with our tour bus and our oh-so-amazing tour guide, Becky. It was a long, long day of exploring but it was so worth it. The £60 seemed more than worth it for all of the sightseeing we got to do, the information that we got and the amazing lunch that we had! If you’re a big wine drinker, you could definitely get your money’s worth; I saw a girl swoop on a half a bottle of red wine left at the end of lunch and enjoy the entire thing! After seeing the best of Tuscany, S. and I are on our way out. It’s been real, Toscana! Now, off to Cote d’Azur where we’ll be staying in Nice!

Love from the train,

S. and I woke up in Florence with the day ahead of us and a mission: see everything that Florence has to offer in 10 hours or less. I’m sure most Florentines would laugh off such an endeavor, but we knew what we wanted to see and made a beeline as soon as we were up and ready.

Florence is most definitely a walking city. We were provided with a city map upon arrival at Casa Billi (our B&B/hostel) and mapped out our plan: hit up Galleria dell’Accademia to see Michaelangelo’s David, check out Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore (Duomo), Santa Croce and then head down across Ponte Vecchio to explore some goodies (the Pitti Palace & Boboli Gardens) south of the river before heading back through the Uffizi Gallery. There were a few modifications on our route, but we managed to see the most important things on our list.

After grabbing coffee & breakfast at a nearby eatery in the San Lorenzo area, we headed to the Galleria dell’Accademia where David is housed. I had looked online for pricing for our ‘must-sees’ so we could figure out how much sightseeing was going to cost us. The articles I read mentioned that the entry fee was around €6.50 (€3.50 with a student discount). When we arrived at the Galleria, there was already a pretty intense line. After we got in line we found out that we needed a ticket to stand in line since tickets were equipped with an entry time. We headed out and got our ticket from a nearby museum only to find out that tickets were far from €3.50. They were €14 each and there was no student discount available. Needless to say, I was sad and slightly perturbed but as I’m sure many of you will agree: a trip to Florence is not complete without seeing Michaelangelo’s most famous work. We huffed, complained for a split second, paid the €14 and headed over to the gallery to get in line. We entered around 12:30P and made it our mission to explore everything the museum had to offer to get the most bang for our buck. We noticed pretty quickly that David was definitely the main draw for the gallery; there weren’t that many rooms and while the artwork was great, it was limited. David, however, was worth it. Truly amazing. I think S. and I were both a bit surprised at how big he is (how tall, I should say). He’s absolutely massive and perfect. Like most people, I have seen pictures of David a million times; I knew what it looked like and thought I knew exactly what to expect but I was truly awed by the awesomeness of seeing it in person. It is absolute perfection. We couldn’t take pictures inside, but even if we were, pictures can’t really do it justice. If you’re in Florence, it’s definitely worth seeing (although I’m still reeling a bit from the €14 entry fee).

After seeing David, we hit up the Duomo, an amazingly elaborate and massive church in the middle of Florence. I had heard about it, but S. and I were both a little awe-struck when we saw it! Not only massive but ridiculously elaborate and ornate. We headed inside where S. got a ‘shawl’ to cover her shoulders before we could explore (much like the head scarves you have to wear at mosques):

After, we headed past San Croce, where we got to see the church and the square. We passed through Palazzo Vecchio and the Uffizi Gallery next and checked out the replica of David (happy that we got to see the real thing only hours earlier).

We headed out shortly after and decided to head to Ponte Vecchio, the site that S. was most excited to see. The bridge is pretty amazing and, being the only bridge that survived WWII, is oldest bridge in Florence (at one point it was the only bridge that people could use to cross the river). It was built in the 1300s and is home to a billion jewelers. Other vendors used to have stalls on the bridge (a long, long time ago) before the Medici family ordered the bridge to be dotted with jewelers so commoners wouldn’t peruse the area. (Gotta love those Medicis – so thoughtful.) I zipped past the jewelers (since I am clearly not in a place to be buying myself glitzy jewelry) and Stace and I grabbed gelato after crossing the bridge. We asked for smalls but apparently our idea of small and their idea of small are totally different. We ended up with massive bowls of gelato (€6 each!) and cooled off inside the air conditioned gelateria before heading back out into the scorching sun.

After snapping a few pictures, we wandered down to the Pitti Palace but after finding out that everything in Florence (everything!!) requires an entry fee, we left after grabbing a few quintessential photos. Now, I must admit, I am spoiled. I have become exceptionally spoiled living in London where the best art galleries and museums are free! When I have to pay 5 – 20 euros entry for a museum, I tend to choke a bit. The majority of the time I pass it up because I get to see some of the world’s greats at the National Gallery, the British Museum, etc. If I were more of an art buff I may have paid the fees for Palazzo Vecchio, the Uffizi Gallery and the Pitti Palace. Maybe next time!

All in all, my review of Florence: it’s nice. Perhaps my friends hyped it up too much, perhaps the weather was just ungodly during our visit or perhaps there were too many tourists. Whatever the reason, I don’t have a much better review than just, simply nice. After Greece, though, nice will do just fine.

See all of our Tuscany pictures here.

xoxo,

S. and I woke up bright and early and headed downstairs to grab breakfast at our B&B. Armed with our water, backpacks and hiking gear, we were ready to head to Bomerano and start ‘Sentiero Degli Dei’, the walk of the gods. The 5 km hike is supposed to be one of the world’s most beautiful, heading from the area of Bomerano in Agerola to Positano with views of the Amalfi Coast along the route.

Salvatore drove us to Bomerano at around 930A and we began our hike shortly after. After experiencing the Amalfitan heat on Tuesday, we knew that we wanted to try to get our hike done before the mid-day heat struck in Italy. For me to try and describe the walk would do it little justice. Similarly, the pictures that I took, while beautiful, can’t really capture how amazing the hike really was. It was intense at parts (lots of rocky hills to climb and 1700 stairs to climb down at the end to reach the city of Positano), but the hike can definitely be drawn out and leisurely, to an extent. It was a bit rough when the heat struck but the views of Positano from our hike were absolutely incredible. For the majority of the hike, S. and I were alone in the massive natural park area.

While we came across ten or so other hikers during our journey, it really felt (for the most part) that it was just us and the world. No one else was there and no one else had experienced this before. Even the pathways, while marked for emergencies (signs with numbers are scattered throughout the hike in case you need to call 118 for help) seemed as though very few other human beings had stumbled upon this area.

That is clearly not the case since the hike is well-known and well traversed, yet it was something that made me feel like I had just experienced a piece of the world that most people were unaware of. Unlike the hikes of Yosemite (e.g. the popular Nevada Falls and Vernal Falls hikes) where teems of people descend upon the mountains in the summer, this was totally barren. For those of you that have hiked Yosemite (if you haven’t, I highly recommend it), I don’t know that the hikes can necessarily be compared. They’re both incredible – almost spiritual – and gorgeous but they’re different. If you enjoy Yosemite though, it would be hard to imagine not enjoying this hike.

While the morning mist that hung over the mountains was problematic for picture-taking, it actually made for a really cool setting for the hike. The hike is covered with green: flowers, trees, bushes; and with animals: lizards, butterflies, bees as big as your thumb and snakes (eek)! While we didn’t come across any snakes during our hike, a little black snake slithered across the road while we were driving to the hike’s starting point which effectively freaked us out for the next three hours. Every time animals rustled in the nearby bushes, we cringed and ran like five-year-old girls. I should have brought my mace. (Can you mace a snake?)

S. and I actually ended up having a blast as neophyte National Geographic wildlife photographers. Every time a pretty butterfly stood still, we tried to capture it. Each time a lizard sat perfectly perched on a sunny rock, we zoomed our lenses in to snap a shot. Although they’re not NG quality (I’m still learning), some were pretty rad:

After three hours of running, climbing, jumping, picture-taking, and descending down the nearly two thousand stairs, we reached the town of Positano. Beautiful, quaint Positano. After staying in Agerola, visiting Amalfi, and seeing Bomerano and Positano, I could definitely argue a case for Positano being the prettiest part of the coast. Beaches, scenery, cute restaurants and shops; it’s definitely the place that I would stay in the future when I return to the Costiera Amalfitana (a return that I have decided is inevitable).

After grabbing some much-deserved lunch and gelato, S. and I took a ferry back to Amalfi and jumped on the bus for a long ride back up the mountain to Agerola. Our night proved to be low-key and quiet with another late-night dinner at our go-to spot, Da Gigino’s, where we split a pizza and enjoyed some red wine (on the house).

With our last bit of time in Amalfi, we’re getting ready to say arrivederci to Naples and buon giornio to Firenze!

Want to see all of the pictures from the walk of the gods? Click here and get pumped!

Catch up with you from Tuscany,

S. and I woke up this morning bright and early in time to grab breakfast from our hotel’s cafe and get in some valuable internet time. After showering and getting ready, we headed down to the Acropolis. Athens isn’t in it’s best state right now if you haven’t heard. There was a demonstration taking place down the street in Omonia Square and a strike was going on today. Public transportation (all public transportation) was a no-go, so our only option was to pick places we could see on foot. We took a twenty minute walk down to the historic part of the city to take in the main sights.

Before we even got to the main sites, the views were stunning. The elevated location allows for some seriously great photos of the houses and architecture below. Further on, we entered the main gate and had access to the main sites: the Parthenon, the Roman Agora, and the temples. The entry fee is €12 to access 6 different sites but when I asked for a student discount and flashed my student ID card, I was informed that students get in for free! You know how much I love all things free, so this was just awesome. Not paying for it makes the views that much more amazing.

Our first glimpse was of the Temple of Athena Nike. Apparently the temple that has survived was built around 420 BC and, as such, has seen an incredible amount of history. No matter how many times you see pictures of the massive columns towering over the city, nothing prepares you for seeing them up close. Incredible.

After crossing through the columns into the main area of the Acropolis, the Parthenon stood, surrounding by the millions of tourists that make a pilgrimage to Athens in the summer months. The Parthenon is, of course, a temple to the goddess Athena (the goddess for whom Athens is named after). Construction began in 447 BC and lasted for about 15 years.

The Parthenon is probably the most famous in terms of Greek architecture, but I actually found some of the other buildings to be more domineering and incredible. I actually found the Erectheion, which stood nearby, to be more beautiful, albeit a bit more disheveled and broken down. The construction on this bad boy was finished around 405 BC, making it just a touch older than me.

There’s something about this temple that I find rather… Herculean. One of the reasons I’ve always been so drawn to Athens (in terms of wanting to visit) is because of my dad’s intrigue with Greek mythology. In turn, I became enthralled and found the history of Greece (and the mythology therein) rather fascinating. Now that I’m able to actually visit these sites, it’s pretty surreal. After checking out the temples, we headed downhill to the Ancient Agora.

A number of buildings were added to the agora by the second century apparently. Things like the Altar of Zeus Agoraios, the Temple of Ares and other religious sites. We wandered around for a bit before hitting up the museum and making our way out to lunch. We hung out for about an hour in the shade while we noshed on lunch with glimpses of the Acropolis in the background.

The area was gorgeous. Reason enough to visit Athens, in my opinion. To be honest, though, I have been very unimpressed with Athens as a city. Greece was #1 on my ‘to visit’ list before moving to Europe and, perhaps because of my high expectations, it has failed to fulfill thus far. The historical part that we saw today was incredible, but realistically that was all that we found ourselves wanting to see. The city itself is dirty; graffiti covers the walls throughout the city (e.g. a pretty piece of art that says ‘F*ck the cops’ outside of our hotel) and the buildings are a bit decrepit. We had set aside two days to explore Athens and have found ourselves wanted to escape already.

We’re planning on hitting up the Saronic Islands tomorrow and then visiting the Cyclades for the following two days/one night (despite our already-paid for room in Athens).  Greece has always been such a must-see for me that I can’t let it fail! S. and I are both at the point where we think the islands may make up for the shortcomings of Athens. The idyllic version of Greece that comes to mind when you think of Grecian vacations is more than likely the sun-drenched beaches of Santorini, the blue-capped houses and the tanned and toned locals that dot Mykonos. We’re hoping that the next few days will enlighten us!

Here’s to hoping!

Love from Athens,

Yesterday was our last day in Malta and though S. and I had planned on doing the South tour offered by Malta Sightseeing (we did the North Tour on Monday), we decided to save the cash and plan our own sightseeing tour. The only area that we really wanted to see on the tour was the Blue Grotto. I was able to see it during my trip in December, but only from a distance since the water was too rough. St. Paul’s Bay, where we were staying, was literally on the opposite side of the island, so public transportation required some coordination. We had to take a bus from Bugibba to the main bus terminal in Valletta before switching for another bus that heads down to the south of the island to the Blue Grotto.

After about an hour of transport, we made it in one piece and got some amazing views of the grotto from the top. We headed down to the bottom of the hill to jump on a boat to check out the water up close. The area is famous for it’s clarity and the blueness of the water and the boat tour did not disappoint. Note for students: Malta’s not the most student-friendly when it comes to student discounts. 7 euros for a boat tour for all adults, no discounts to be had.

You can see from a distance how blue the water is:

Here’s an up close shot. I’ve never seen water so incredibly blue! When we put our hands in the water, our hands looked blue — intense.

After our Blue Grotto cruise, we headed back to our hotel by way of Zurrieq and Valletta before getting dropped off in St. Paul’s Bay. We had just enough time to pack up our stuff and head to the airport for our 5:15P flight. With the layover, flight time and time change, we ended up in Athens at 12:45A. We jumped on the bus (the X95) to Syntagma Square (for a mere 3.40 euro each) at 1:30A and were settled into our hotel at around 2:30A. Fortunately for us, our hotel — while not the best location — has free wi-fi, breakfast and fairly comfy rooms. Check back tomorrow for pictures from our trip to the Acropolis and the surrounding areas!

Love from Athens,

The hop on/hop off tour offered a Gozo sightseeing adventure that S. and I were amped on. Fortunately, we didn’t need to patronize the hop on/hop off services – we had our own personal tour guide: my Malta-based cousin, P. He acted as a tour guide last time I was in Malta and he was equally amazing this time around.

S. and I got up bright and early and headed down to the promenade near Bugibba Square to grab breakfast at Bagnor Café. Breakfast was delicious and beyond reasonably priced. For both of our breakfasts including drinks it was €6.80. The views are stellar and the service is equally amazing; definitely a great stop if you’re in the area.

P. met us at Bugibba Square at 10A and we headed to the Mellieha area to jump on the ferry to Gozo. After a short ferry ride, we landed in Mgarr, Gozo’s ferry harbor. Our first stop was Citadella. I had visited Citadella last time I was in Gozo, and the views were equally stunning this time around. The Citadella was a strategic point for Gozitans during the wars and the top points of the area offer amazing views of the city below.

From Citadella, we hopped back in the car and headed down to Ta’ Pinu, where the church is the hub of the city. I had heard of Ta’ Pinu even before my first visit last December. My grandpa had little souvenirs strewn about his house as homage to Ta’ Pinu but I can’t recall the exact significance… The pope made a stop off at the church in April when he visited Ghawdex and the place holds some significance for Catholics broadly.

After snapping some pictures at Ta’ Pinu, we jumped in our limousine once again to head down to my favorite place in Gozo, the Azure Window. We made our way to Dwejra Bay where the views are dramatic and the sights are breathtaking. The window itself is an incredible sight, but even the fossilized rocks on the walk up to the window are incredible. The waters are so unbelievably blue against the white stone that a thousand pictures never seem to be enough; pictures can’t quite capture how stunning the views are.

S. and I wanted to see caves while we were in Gozo and fortunately, there was a hidden cave on the back side of the Azure Window. We climbed down a steep-ish walkway to a tucked away area where a cave sat peacefully, laden with divers. Though there are boat rides that run for €3.50 through the cave and around to the window, the boats weren’t operating due to inclement weather (sadly). Instead, we grabbed slushies to fight the heat and sat with our feet in the crystal clear water to cool off for a moment.

Back in the car we went to hit the last stop near Xaghra in Masalforn, an incredible cave that I claim to be Calypso’s Cave. (Calypso’s Cave is somewhere on the island but we didn’t know exactly where it was. This cave was so incredible that I can’t imagine it’s anything less than this cave of wonders.)

Like the Azure Window, the color of the white-washed stone was an incredible contrast to the bright blue waters of the Mediterranean. After doing a bit of rock jumping, we had an incredible close-up view of the cave and the waters beyond.

After our day in Gozo, we headed back to Mgarr to board the ferry back to Malta. We headed to the family’s house to clean up and get ready for a full family dinner at Mamma Mia in Ta’ Xbiex. Almost the entire family was present for dinner to say hello to S. and I (and to celebrate the birthday of a family member). It was so much fun to see the whole family again and such a great way to spend our last evening in Malta.

Much love to everyone for helping to show S. and I around! Your hospitality is always much appreciated. You helped make our stay an incredible experience! Special shout out to P., who was the best tour guide imaginable. Now, we’re off to bed, ready to face our last day in Malta and head to the airport to say hello to Athens!

Ciao from Malta,

Before I went to bed, I set my alarm for 730A so S. and I could get up bright and early and head to the Hop On/Hop Off bus at the Sliema Ferry port. I’m not entirely sure what happened, but perhaps subconsciously I shut off the alarm before we went to bed to catch a few more zzzs. Needless to say, it definitely didn’t go off as scheduled. I woke up at 930A and quickly woke S. up so we could get going. We ran down to the front desk and scheduled a Malta Sightseeing tour for 1030A. We jumped on at a pick-up point right outside of our hotel and began our journey.

Malta Sightseeing runs a North Tour, a South Tour and a Gozo Tour at €15 per person per tour. If you book the North and South tour together you can snag both for €26. Though it would have saved us a few euros, we opted for the North tour only to save some money and enjoy the tour a bit more leisurely (we’re planning on doing the South tour on Wednesday morning before we leave Malta).

We headed to Sliema by way of Qawra and St. Julian’s to connect with the other tour and begin the official route. The blistering heat was a bit worrisome but the open-air bus was actually cooling with the mild winds. While we got a bit crispy (in the words of S., “I feel like I’m a brownie; like I’m literally baking in an oven”), the heat was pretty bearable.

The tour was scheduled to pass by a number of Maltese sights, but we decided to pick the few we found most enticing. After passing Ta’Xbiex Harbour and Msida Yacht Marina, we jumped off at Valletta, Malta’s capital city. I had been to Valletta before with the family in December and remembered the gorgeous views from the waterfront and the historic nature of the city. It was just as I remembered it, albeit much more crowded and 35 degrees hotter.

We grabbed lunch at Kantina Café to charge out batteries for the day. A couple of sandwiches and caffeinated beverages later, we hit the streets of the capital city. We stopped off at the nearby St. John’s Co-Cathedral to snap some pictures and headed down the streets to the Valletta waterfront before departing. With the buses coming around every 30 minutes, we tried to plan our time strategically so we a) wouldn’t waste valuable in-city time, and b) wouldn’t have to burn to a crisp in the sweltering heat. We arrived at the bus stop just in time and continued our route.

The bus passed by Hamrun, San Anton Garden, Ta’ Qali Crafts Village and Mdina Glass before hitting Mosta. Mosta was on our ‘hop-off’ list because of the history of the city. Our grandpa is from Mosta, so the city held special value to both of us. Unfortunately, the city’s main site, the church, was closed so we hopped off for but a moment to snap some shots of the façade before getting back on the bus. Still, even though we only glimpsed the exterior (see pictures from my first trip to Malta to get some glimpses of the inside), it was beautiful. There’s also something awesome about S. and I seeing the city together, the city that was home to the person that made us cousins.

With our quick passing through Mosta, we jumped off at the next city, Mdina. I was excited for Mdina before we even stopped off. I remembered the city from my last visit to Malta and recalled it being cute, quaint and charming. Indeed, it was all of those things and the characteristic red doors and clean buildings made it a great stop for a half hour.

After passing through the narrow streets and grabbing a few postcards (we sent one to our grandma from a post box in Mdina!), we headed back to the bus stop. Again, we jumped on and passed a few more nondescript cities before a fifteen-minute break in Mgarr. Now, while Mgarr is home to a pretty-enough church, we wouldn’t normally have thought much of the city. It was fairly quiet, somewhat desolate, in fact, aside from a cool little shop:

This picture is effectively a shout out to my uncle, J. Falzon! While I’m pretty sure my San Diego- based uncle does not own a butcher shop in Mgarr, still cool that this place had his name emblazoned on the exterior.

Back on the bus we went, heading back to our drop-off point at Bugibba Square, a cute little touristy spot near our hotel in St. Paul’s Bay. After a few hours of down time, we got ready to head out and check out the Malta Arts Festival in Floriana where my other cousin, P., was performing with his band. En route, we stopped off at a little pub so S. could grab a pint of Maltese beer, Cisk, while we waited to head to Ospizio. From 9 until about 1030P, we caught a pretty cool (and very interactive) performance near Valletta. Even though the entire performance was in Maltese (and my Maltese is a bit… rough), it was still cool getting to experience something unique and cultural while we were in town.

Now, we’re mentally prepping for a fairly early morning and a trip to Gozo (Ghawdex) with P.! We’re taking the ferry over there and checking out the gorgeous Azur Window, Ta’ Pinu, Calypso’s Cave and some other quintessential Gozitan sights before we grab dinner with the fam.

Catch up with you tomorrow after our adventure on the Isle of Calypso!

See all of our pics from Malta here!

xoxo,

S. and I hopped on the tube on Sunday at 415P to make it to the airport for a 7P flight. We were excited and ready to get on board AirMalta to get settled into our St. Paul’s Bay area hotel. As fate would have it, however, our 725P flight was delayed. By three hours! In return for the inconvenience, AirMalta equipped us with £20 restaurant vouchers so we could grab a  few drinks in the bar to ease the pain. And that we did. We grabbed dinner, drinks and did some airport shopping before jumping on our flight at 1030P. With the delay, the flight time and the time change, we ended up landing in Malta at 230A. Through customs we went, heading over to the taxi stop to grab a cab to St. Paul’s Bay. With our flight being so heavily delayed, there was no way I could legitimately be okay with my family coming to the airport to pick us up! For €26, we grabbed a cab and sped (we questioned whether our driver was drunk or if that was typical Maltese driving) through the streets of Malta. Finally, we made it in one piece to the Crown Hotel, passing out at around 4AM.

The Crown Hotel, while well located, is not the four-star hotel that they claim to be. It’s nice, mind you, and the staff is helpful, but no internet, a ‘TV’ that doesn’t actually work and rooms that are poorly ventilated were a bit of a turn off for us at first. The rooftop pool though? Glorious, and the views of Malta are awesome:

Considering we only paid £32 per night (total!), I can’t complain. While it’s not a four-star, it’s certainly worth more than £16 per night. It’s right down the street from a darling promenade and a McDonald’s that has free Wi-fi (how American, right?)

Today was our first full day in Malta and we made the most of it. Though I planned on sleeping in (after not getting to bed until 4A), I found it nearly impossible to sleep despite my ridiculously heavy eyelids. Instead of laying in bed staring at the ceiling, I jumped up at 830A, took a long shower and prepped for a day of beach bum wonder. After S. showered, we packed up our bags and headed out to explore.

The views down the street from our hotel are breathtaking. Most Maltese people I talk to have so many wonderful things to say about the island (they’re biased of course), but seeing the cerulean waters definitely made me understand a bit of why they’re obsessed. Beautiful is an understatement. Never have I seen water so blue and so clear; we could see straight to the bottom. Colorful little boats bounced in place on the water which just added to the overall charm of the area. After searching tirelessly for an elusive bus stop (it took us about 45 minutes to find the right area), we were en route to Golden Bay.

We actually unknowingly posted up at Tuffieha Bay (still gorgeous) and soaked up a bit too much sun while enjoying the welcome Vitamin D. A few hours later (and a few shades darker), we departed after having lunch on the beachfront. We headed to the sandy beaches of Golden Bay to check out the water sports. Kayaking, snorkeling, SCUBA, parasailing and jet skiing are available at the bay and are definitely an awesome way to spend a hot afternoon. After a bit of debating, S. and I decided to give parasailing a shot. Neither of us had ever done it before and while it was a bit pricey (€40 per person) the experience was incredible. We floated high above the Maltese shoreline and circled aroud Golden Bay, Tuffieha and another neighboring inlet before splashing into Mediterranean.

After our parasailing fun, we jumped on the bus back to St. Paul’s Bay to clean up and grab dinner. We made a stop off at the rooftop pool of the Crown Hotel to splash around a bit (and soak up some unnecessary sunshine) before heading back into our rooms. After cleaning up, we headed down to the Promenade to grab dinner at Angelo’s. The food was awesome and the views were amazing. Though it was reasonably priced, the service was a bit iffy (our waiter was a bit of a dick head)  and we had to correct a few… ‘additions’ to our bill before paying inflated meal  prices.

Now, we’re heading to bed. Tired, a bit sunburned and ready to get some real sightseeing in tomorrow. Plan of attack: Take the bus to the Sliema Ferry area and jump on the hop on/hop off sightseeing bus to see the island in its entirety!

Love from Malta,