My last visitor

My friend Becca has been here for the past three and a half days. Her arrival on Sunday afforded me the opportunity to view a different quirk of the Maltese café culture while I waited for her at the ferry terminal in Mgarr. It seems that, just as at any café, there are a few men and women who treat the waiting area of the terminal as their own personal stomping grounds. At first I thought the row of 4 men and the row of 4 women sitting there were waiting for someone to arrive via ferry but instead, they spent the better part of 2 hours chatting with each other and then going their separate ways. After Becca’s safe arrival we ventured to find her some dinner. We chose Café Jubliee first but all of the tables both inside the restaurant and in Independence Square were full, so we went to Café Antonin instead. Becca loved the house white wine and the Ravioli special they were serving. I stuck to the ravioli that is normally on the menu and loved it every bit as much as I have the last two times I’ve had it there.

Monday we ambled around Victoria, poking in the shops around St. George’s so she could get a feel for the shops and what the souvenirs were like. We also went to the malls, both Duke and Arkadia, and shopped there as well. Becca bought a bunch of cookies from one of the confectionaries where the woman gladly explained each. I guess they aren’t all “almond” flavored like I thought – some are coconut flavored, some have a fig filling…they really all still taste the same to me. Catching an afternoon bus, we spent a few hours in Xlendi. It was a gorgeous breezy and sunny day and so a snack at Churchill’s right in the bay seemed like an excellent idea. We ordered the bruschetta though and were both aghast when it came LOADED with olives, as neither of us are olive people. (I know, how dare we bother spending time in the Mediterranean?) Thankfully a scoop of gelato set the world right again. Doesn’t it always? We meandered the narrow streets behind St. George’s in the late afternoon, and Becca got to meet Anna over at the souvenir shop. We tried Café Jubliee for dinner this time, and managed to get a table before the dinner rush. That night Becca decided we should watch “Just Friends” as she hadn’t seen it before, and like Wim, she loved it.

Tuesday was a day of adventure. We took the 9am bus to San Lawrenz and from there walked down to Drewja. On the way I was treated to seeing the brand new cemetery in San Lawrenz and I look forward to heading back there to check it out at length. The walk down to Drewja wasn’t bad as the sun wasn’t yet too hot and there was a decent breeze. Plus, the view of the Mediterranean as you descend on the road is worth the walk. At the Azure window, we met a family from Australia who offered to take our photo together. The woman was Maltese but it was her first time visiting the island, having been born in Australia. Having arrived before many of the tour buses we almost felt like we had the place to ourselves besides the scuba divers. There are some small fishing boats that offer short tours of the area, taking you through this cave near the window, around to the Blue Grotto of Malta, and onto the window. Thankfully the boatman had enough life jackets for all of us because man was the sea choppy there. As we went through the cave I just kept thinking that I couldn’t believe Wim had actually swam through there last year. I would’ve been paralyzed in fright. It was dark, choppy, and you would’ve never been able to see a jellyfish coming!

After the boat ride we had lunch, and took a gamble on burgers. For my money, I think I lost. The burger came with a mayonnaise/relish sort of topping that stuck to my ribs all day even though I scraped most of it off the burger. Ble-yuck. The best part of the morning was when we did a bit of rock climbing to scale this rock that juts out near Fungus Rock. (In the picture, fungus rock is the one out in the middle and the one we sat on is on the right.) I’d say we probably sat out there for about a half hour, again almost feeling like we owned the place. As the sun moved to the middle of the sky it definitely got hot and it was again but neither of us could bring ourselves to swim as the place was literally swarming with jellyfish. It was like a jellyfish convention! It was very refreshing to end the trip to the window with a lemon calippo after navigating back off of the rock. The bus brought us back to Victoria where we decided to have a bit of a break in adventure and a snack at Coffee Break. Here Becca got to meet Sonja and have a piece of lemon cake. I got to have a very large cappuccino and a snickers pie. We felt that after all of our walking and our bad lunch we deserved it.

Next it was off to Sannat to go to the Cliffs. Only this time, there wasn’t a bus to take us so we walked from Victoria to Sannat, which took about 40 minutes. Once there, it took another 15 – 20 to walk to the cliffs. It wasn’t as late into sunset as the last time I was there but the view was just as breathtaking. By the time we walked back to Victoria it had finally turned dark. With creaking knees and tired legs Becca stopped at Sphynx to try her first Pastizzi – she loved it. We took a bit of a rest before heading to It-Tokk for dinner and scarfing down our food. You would’ve thought we were runners on a carbo load. I woofed down a pizza and Becca inhaled her entire plate of spaghetti gozitano. I think it was well deserved.

Yesterday was a day for a more laid back adventure. Becca revisited some of the stores she wanted to pick up souvenirs at before we caught the 11am bus to Marsalforn. We walked around the bay and I was surprised to see one of the guys who sits outside the Aurora in a group of swimmers there. He saw me too and said hello, remarking on the gorgeous weather. After our walk we had lunch at one of the seaside cafés and this time I played it safe with the ham and cheese toast. Becca also got to try Paprika flavored Pringles and she agrees – they are quite yummy! We then walked to the other side of the bay where Wim and I had swam the last time I was there and here we met a local man named John who, despite sporting speedos and a snorkel seemed more keen to chat us up than to swim. We barely made it away from him in time to catch the bus. Thankfully we’re on Mediterranean time here though so everything is always late. We spent the afternoon at the Citadel, and I was grateful that I went into the Cathedral again, as they’ve changed the look of the place drastically. It used to be covered from floor to ceiling with these red curtain/wall hanging type things and now they’ve been taken down so you can see the limestone brick throughout. It changed the entire look of the place (for the better I think.) After the Citadel Becca decided to venture off on her own to find Sphynx and get one last pastizzi.

In the evening it was a debate about food – do we go somewhere we know Becca will like or try a new place. THANK GOD we decided to venture somewhere new – we went to Maji, which is described in the book as a place where “foodies would delight” and they were absolutely right. The meals aren’t “Gozitan” but rather just these phenomenal dishes highlighting local ingredients and the chef and owner are from Gozo. They said 50% of their customers are tourists and the other 50% are Maltese who come over from Malta but not really any Gozitan customers. The food was phenomenal. Becca had this pumpkin ravioli that wasn’t on the menu but was offered up when she ordered the pumpkin risotto and was told it wasn’t available. She said it was one of the top 10 meals she’s had in her life. I had the pan seared duck breast over a thai barbequed noodle. It was amazing. The food was so good we decided we had to stay for dessert so Becca had the bananas foster and I had the tiramisu – again amazing. The owner was very nice and asked us to have a drink with him and the chef after we ate as we were the only customers. He asked us some questions about where we’re from and it came out that I’m here to study funerals and he seemed very keen on talking about them so I think I’ll go back for an interview. He gave us his business card and we left with very happy tummies. Like Chris when he stayed, Becca had to take the 5am ferry and so I said goodbye to her very early this morning and then crawled back into bed for a few extra winks.

Now it's time for three solid weeks of hard work before I head to Belgium!