Malta

We’re in Malta and the weather has finally broken and it turned out to be a beautiful day! I’m sitting on our veranda snacking on spicy, garlicky olives as I write this and my super awesome husband is off getting me a pina colada. Our ports were amazing rain or shine and we had a really great time in all of them so far but at times we were making the best of it, especially in Pompei, and that’s just not how you want to be feeling on vacation.

Ah yes now I have the pina colada and am properly inspired.

Up until today we have been shaken out of bed every morning as we dock by the ships engines. I’m not sure why they are more powerful as we dock, but like clockwork at 6:30am our room feels like it’s suffering from an earthquake. One morning it was so violent it shook my water glass right off the bedside table and sent it crashing to the floor. This morning was the first that we were able to sleep past 7:30 (the day we were at sea we did too but we were all prepared to sleep till like 10 or so when they made a public announcement bong bong get up and see mount Etna on the starboard side. Grrrr. Happy to see Etna but man we really needed to sleep in) since we were tugged in to Valetta.

We went through the Messina strait yesterday and it is really something to see. I didn’t have a clue that a) Italy and Sicily were so close together and b) that Sicily was so flipping big. We could see it all night on our trip and on a clear day you can actually see it from the north side of Malta. After spending some time on the very windy deck to take pics of the strait we headed down for our spa treatments. It was the second best spa treatment of my life (Costa Rica wins that contest every time hands down.) I got a seaweed wrap and half body massage. Michael got a full body massage. We were like jello afterward.

Today was Malta and we went to Mdina via open bus and had a look around. Very interesting city. We had a pizza and baguette for lunch (I love the way Europeans eat) and then headed back to the boat. It was an especially short day at this port. It’s 4pm now and the boat is ready for departure. Malta is very nice but it is really hard to follow up Rome and Pompei . There is just no comparison. Even in the rain those two ports blew me away. Tomorrow is Tunisia and we have a tour booked to go to Carthage. I think it’s a half day tour which is good because I would really like to at least swim in the Mediterranean Sea once on this trip. It’s just been too cold and miserable to even consider it. Malta was sunny but still a bit too cool to go for a swim with no towels to warm us after the dip.

We have found people to hang out with which was no small task since 80% of this boat is 80 years of age or better. Michael and I were invited to a special cocktail reception at 11:30am (weird time) for honeymooners and guests celebrating their anniversary. There were very few honeymooners and most of the couples were celebrating their 50th anniversary.
Our niche is the martini bar. It’s frosted over by a refrigeration unit and creates “snow” on the bar. So, of course we made a snowman. We went there initially because the music is tolerable and the atmosphere is relaxing. We met a really nice gay couple from Los Angeles and now we have dinner with them since the couple next to their old table kept flashing them death looks. We see them ever night at the martini bar at 7pm on the dot. After a few nights we read our daily information paper and turns out 7pm at the Martini Bar is “Friends of Dorothy” hour. I really think that a majority of the passengers on the boat have no clue what that even means.

Our “Isaac” is actually named Jonny. He is quite nice.

One more port and one day at sea and this is all over. See you all soon!