And that's Malta Folks

2/14/2014

The next day in Malta began with the traditional 'coffee and proof of life photograph'.

The coffee, which came with a shot of burnt expresso on top of syrup, was horrible. Perhaps as expected. I really wanted to try the one they had with pistachio syrup because a) odd and b) awesome looking coffee.. but they didn't have the pistachio, and then I panicked. On the plus side, I was able to pull funny faces and force Andy to drink the rest of it.

And here is Andy, proving to his Mother that no, we haven't drowned or lost him.

The morning began with full breakfasts, and-for some of the more decadent of the group- cake.

Would you like to see some photos from a day spent wandering, posing, acting like lions and wishing we were Santa Claus?

Here goes:

Andy is Peacocking, but this Pigeon is doing it much better. Who's a pretty boy then?

This will be our Christmas card next year.

Andy thinks I am taking a photo of him. He is outshone (you know, literally but also in the metaphoric way) by the building!

I'm sure y'all know the phrase 'the family that poses like a lion together, stays together'

Andy has never really had any contact with animals, and- a bit like the painters of old who tried to make a lion by putting a mane on a greyhound- is a little unsure of what to do.

Mother is much more convincing.

Although possibly less fabulous than us:

We visited a(nother) church. One with decorators who had clearly never heard of 'less is more'. I described the whole experience as 'Rose Porteuos meets Bollywood'

They did have a whole lot of this very pretty etiolated grass though!*
*For those of you playing at home, my PhD project revolves around etiolation- which is what happens when the plant doesn't get any light and fails to become green.

There were cats...

'Come, let me guide you through my city'

... and there was dramatic cloud coverage.

And the next day: the Brightest of Blues in the sky.

Mother is excited to go into Mdina- the silent city (there are no cars). Probably because Andy and I have spent the whole trip discussing the relative value of each of our destinations as a refuge in the coming zombie apocalypse and she is ready for some silence on the matter.

There were more lions, but they were too high for us to pose with.

M'dina has many churches, but apart from that there's really not very much going on. You know that Joni Mitchell song about paving paradise and putting up a parking lot? Well it feels a lot like that there. They've taken away anything that could be interesting (except for the churches), and put in tourist shops. Which makes the quiet city kinda boring.

We stopped for lunch and.. Guess what granddad?? Brajioli!
This is thin meat, which is wrapped around a mixture of olives, bacon, maybe cheese- and then slow cooked for hours so that the flavours infuse the meat and the whole thing is a tender deliciousness.

My granddad used to make it a lot when we were kids, and I love it.

This, unfortunately, was not so great. They seemed to have forgotten the 'slow gooking' part- and the whole thing was quite tough, almost dry- and not particularly tasty.

Low walls and close proximity of the nearby cities makes this an un-ideal location for the zombie times.

Plus, the streets are very narrow. You want wide streets in a zombie apocalypse.

After a very short time in the old city of M'dina, Andy and I went off to explore the slightly-less-old surrounding city, while mum checked out some Roman Ruins.

On the way back home we stopped in at Mosta, which holds the St Marija Assunta Church, which in turn holds the 'third largest unsupported dome in the World' (behind the Pantheon (check), and the Vatican St Peter's (check)). Andy, who had not seen a dome for several days, was ecstatic.