This is day 97 of an 111 day cruise [for those of us that are getting off in New York], and some of us are getting a bit tired and weary. No complaints mind you, just a bit wearisome. A quarter of a year is a bit long to live in a fantasy world. The real world beckons, to me at least. The cruise officially ends in Fort Lauderdale three days after New York.
The sky was not 'perpetual blue' today, rather a sea-haze, hopefully a morning thing, but it never burned off.
We four, Cutler's and Robin's were off on our own via public transport to the town of Mdina. [I did not spell it wrong] pronounced Emdina. It is a walled city. The Knights of St. John ruled Malta from about 1530 on.
Napolean took it in 1798 but the British helped the Maltese defeat Napolean, and maintained their presence until 1964.
We were off the ship around 8.30 and for $4.00 Cdn we were soon at the ancient town, with an all day bus ticket. The architecture is outstanding, sand stone walls, castles, stores and shops. Right out of King Arthur Days.
Unfortunately everybody in Malta wanted to be there today. That is really not too bad because, after Venice and other major cities, the crowds at Malta are very manageable. Malta has had an absolutely unbelievable past and history. I think that every imaginable invader has been here at one time or another over the past 2000 years. The Crusaders or Knights were given a site here and over the years developed it as a base of operations. This is a city that is walled-in from invaders from the sea and land, the amount of energy and money that was spent here is almost unimaginable.
Every invader has wanted this little island as a base of operations, easily defendable, right smack in the middle of the shipping lanes between the eastern and western Mediterranean. WW ll was no exception, it is only about 65 miles south of Sicily, at the toe of the boot of Italy.
Remember that at one time in WW ll, Germany occupied North Africa, and Italy was not a friend of the Allies. Malta was a 'Allied Fortress' smack in the middle of a very nasty war. It was attacked and almost bombed to submission but never surrendered. Fortress was really a misnomer, it was ill defended and very vulnerable. It was a desirable piece of Allied real estate in the Mediterranean that Hitler wanted and the UK also looked upon as essential. Malta never surrendered and King George Vl gave Malta the distinction of being the first ever 'group of individuals' to be given the George Cross, for Gallantry. That is still part of their flag that flies proudly over this island of only 300,000+ people.
Meanwhile, us tired Globarians strolled the streets of Mdina. It was a great day in spite of some of that haze hovering above us. A lunch of Minestrone and Pizza, both of which had a distinctive non-Italian flavour, but were delicious, and we made our way back to the main city of Valetta.
From there after a stroll through the town, and some of us were back on the ship for a quiet time before sail-away at 6.00. Bound for Gibraltar, we had a very relaxing dinner in the Lido. Moe, Barb, Fellette and Doug. I know not where Gail and Jim are, perhaps skipping the light fantastic or safely ensconced in their cabin after a delightful day in Glorious Malta!
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