We spent a day in Valletta learning some Maltese history and seeing some popular sites like the Manoel Theater, Upper Barrakka Gardens and the Grand Harbor. They took a tour of St. John’s Co-Cathedral and had some pastizzi on the steps.

I love Valletta and it was fun to just walk around (and up and down) this beautiful city.

We rented a van one day and took everyone on an island tour. First stop, Marsaxlokk. Everyone loved this cute, colorful fishing village.

We went to the Blue Grotto and then on to Hagar Qim and Mnajdra, megalithic temples sites. I had not been before so it was a new experience for me, too!  These temples are over 5,500 years old – the oldest freestanding temples in the world.

We had lunch in Mdina and then walked around the cool little streets admiring the medieval architecture.

And of course, we had fun, silly times everywhere we went!

Our first stop was Verdiana, our bed and breakfast for the next three days. It was nestled in the beautiful foothills of the Italian Alps.  Everything was so green and lush – it felt like May in Iowa!

We chose Verdiana because it was close to Chiampo, the town where my grandpa’s father was from. We spent an afternoon driving to the city (and enjoying the lovely drive!) and walking around.  It’s not a great photo, but you can see Chiampo peeking above the trees.  The city is in a valley with a river running through it.

Chiampo was bigger and more industrial than I imagined. I would love to have seen it 100 years ago when my great-grandfather left to come to America! And as it turns out, Chilese (my mom’s maiden name) is a pretty common name in these parts. The owners of our Bed and Breakfast know a few and were excited to learn that I was a Chilese!

We love a simple supper of bread, cheese, meat, fruit and wine. And what a beautiful setting our bed and breakfast provided!

The next day we spent the whole day in Venice. We loved it!  It’s so unique – no cars, just boats and a lot of walking.  The architecture was quite different from other cities we’ve been to, as well.  The whole experience was great and we all said we’d like to go back to Venice.

The girls thought it was so fun to take a ‘bus’ around town that was really a boat. I thought it was pretty fun, too. 🙂  The water was quite busy at times but traffic flow seemed pretty smooth.  We really enjoyed standing on bridges and watching the boats coming and going.

Everyone thinks of the canals when they think of Venice. But what about the incredible architecture?  This building, the Procuratie Vecchie, flanks the north side of the Piazza San Marco.  It was built in the early 1500s as homes and offices for state officials when Venice was its own republic.

On Friday, we left the foothills and drove to the mountains. Our guest house was in Shenna, about a 3 hour drive from our B&B. It was a beautiful drive and an incredible valley. This whole region, South Tyrol (or Sudtirol), is huge apple country. In fact, the apples we eat here in Malta are from the Sudtirol region.  This is the view from our guest house, the Krebishof.

Krebishof is a working farm. They milk about 15 cows and have about twice as many out in pasture. The father/son duo also have some 14,000 apple trees and several hundred grape vines. The mom/daughter-in-law duo run the guesthouse. Oh – and they have adorable little bunnies! 🙂

We really enjoyed exploring the area. There were a couple impressive castles and although we did not tour either one, we had fun imagining what life was like when they were built hundreds of years ago.

Merano is the largest city in this area and the whole valley is very German. In fact, the area wasn’t a part of Italy until after WWI when the current borders were created. Thus, the majority of people speak German, the food is mostly German and the houses are all named something-hof (and look quite Bavarian, too!).

We spent a couple hours one afternoon at the Trauttmansdorff Castle’s amazing botanical gardens.  It was one of the best gardens I’ve been to.  The girls, despite their complaints about going, really enjoyed it.  There was so much to do and see, and it appealed to all ages.

We tried to fly out of Bergamo on Monday but all the flights were cancelled and we had to stay the night in a hotel. The next day, we had to drive to Turin to fly home. The girls made the best of the situation by setting up a toiletries store in our hotel suite. Good thing because I needed to stock up after being in the airport all day!

We arrived at our hotel around 10 pm and were greeted by this sight from our balcony.

Saturday was a tour day and our first stop was the Acropolis.  The Acropolis is a large fortified area high above the city where several temples were constructed, around 500 BC.  We are standing in front of the Parthenon, the most impressive of the remaining structures.

Before lunch, we spent time in the Acropolis Museum.  It’s an awesome museum, only about 5 years old and full of wonderful artifacts found in the Acropolis.

We walked through the Plaka, the historical neighborhood of Athens, on our way to the Agora.  It’s so impressive to walk around and look up to see this!  Interesting fact: Athens did not become the capital of modern Greece until 1833 (after Greece regained independence from the Ottomans and a new king was chosen).  At that time, there were only about 5,000 people living in Athens, most of them living in the Plaka area.

In the afternoon, we walked around the Ancient Agora, learning more about life in ancient Athens (and picking flowers).  The Agora was the city center where politics were discussed, commerce flourished, courts ruled and people interacted with each other over everything from current events to arts and culture.  There were also many temples in the area making the Agora a religious center as well.

By the end of the day, the girls were excited to spend some time at the hotel drinking tea and discussing the history of Athens on the balcony.

Later that night, the students and I attended Easter midnight mass at a nearby church. Again, everyone gathered outside the church, this time waiting for the priest to emerge.  He stood outside and chanted in Greek for a while, then everyone lit candles while he chanted some more.  Suddenly bells rang while everyone cheered and started kissing each other’s cheeks.  I’m pretty sure that was the Christ Has Risen! part.  🙂

On Easter Sunday, a group of us decided to climb Mt. Lycabettus. On the way, we walked through the National Gardens and found this playground. We played a mean game of tag on this rope contraption and had so much fun!

One of many views of Athens from our walk up Mt. Lycabettus.  Once again, there’s that Acropolis sticking up!

We ate a delicious Easter lunch at Smile restaurant. Jon had lamb, a traditional Easter meal. We also enjoyed Greek beer and music, and some dancing (I even joined in the dance party).  We also got to witness plates getting tossed over Lily’s head and smashing to the ground accompanied by a big hearty OOOPAH!

On Monday, we all went our separate ways.  The students split up and went to Ireland, Paris, the French Alps, northern Greece and a couple Greek Islands. We headed west, down the Greek coast to Nafplio. It’s a cute little down dominated by a huge rock and a beautiful bay.  Nafplio has quite a history in Greece, including a stint as the capital in 1829, before Athens took over the title a few years later.

We hiked up the huge rock, also known as the Fortress of Palamidi.  Built between 1711 and 1715, it is a group of bastions built to protect the city.  The fortress included water reservoirs, food storage areas and “murder holes” among other things.  There are supposedly 999 steps up to the top.  We counted 907 coming down.

We spent a little time on the beach in Nafplio.  The water was freezing! And the rocks were hard to walk on, but the sea was so beautiful we still loved it.  Later that afternoon, we took a bus back to Athens and left the following morning at 6 am for the last leg of our journey – Italy.

Our first stop was the Basilica of St. John. It was built in the 6th century, and it is believed that John (who wrote the book of Revelations) is buried here. The layout and design of the church is very similar to that of the Haiga Sophia.

The view from the Basilica, looking toward the Aegean sea. At one point, the sea covered this valley. The building with the 2 domes is an active mosque, Isa Bey.  It was constructed in 1375 and has a different design from more current mosques.

Goofy picture, I know, but seriously – the coolest public restroom I’ve ever seen. Most of the public bathrooms we encountered in Turkey charged a one euro entrance fee which helped pay for someone to take care of it. Obviously the woman who took care of this bathroom loved flowers and took pride in her work!

Gravestones at the mosque. I love the Arabic writing.

One of my favorite Turkish treats – pomegranate juice!  It was really fun to watch someone effortlessly smash half a pomegranate with the squeezer contraption and retrieve the fantastic juice.

The tall column in the foreground is the Temple of Artemis. This was a Greek temple to the goddess Artemis and said to be one of the 7 Wonders of the Ancient World. In the background is the Isa Bey mosque, the Basilica and a castle that we could not visit due to reconstruction.

The girls had their own bedroom in Selcuk! We loved our cozy little hotel.

The next day we went to Ephesus, an ancient Greek city that flourished under Roman rule in about the 2nd century BC. The city itself was quite impressive with a sophisticated aqueduct system, public baths, housing and water mills.  The ruins were extensive and well preserved.  So much remains that you could really get a sense of what the town looked like – from the houses to the main roads to the market place.

The Library of Celsus, one of the best preserved buildings.

Ephesus was important in early Christianity and is featured many times in the bible (Ephesians, Acts, Corinthians, Gospel of John and Revelations). According to legend, this the stadium where Paul, who lived in Ephesus, preached to the citizens.

This was how Lily spent much of the day. The history lessons were not so interesting to her –  meh, they’re just a bunch of old rocks. 🙂

I finally got my Turkish coffee! We had lunch in Sirince, a pretty little town in the hills surrounding Selcuk. The drive was lovely.  Wish I could say the same for the coffee. I think it’s an acquired taste.  🙂

We flew into Istanbul in the evening, stood in line at the visa checkpoint for nearly and hour, arrived at our hotel and went right to sleep! The next morning, first thing, was the Hagia Sofia (which means Holy Wisdom).

This is the third church built on this property and it was finished in the year 537.  It was built as a Christian church (the largest built by the Eastern Roman Empire in Istanbul).  In 1453 after the Ottomans conquered Istanbul, it was turned into an Islamic mosque,  Now it is a historic museum. It is a spectacular place! Very unique in that you can see Christian pictures of Jesus, Mary and others right alongside Islamic calligraphy.

Across a lovely park and pedestrian area is the Blue Mosque, built between 1609-1616. We were able to go inside and see this active mosque   It was Sylvia’s favorite thing we did on our trip because this was the first mosque she has ever been in (that wasn’t a museum, like the Hagia Sofia).

After lunch, we toured the Archaeology Museums. There were so many interesting artifacts – we learned so much!  And Lily almost lost a hand…..

A highlight for us was meeting up with friends from Decorah right there in Istanbul! On the right of Jon is Stuart, a Luther grad. On his left is Huseyin and next to me is his wife Elvan and their adorable little girl, Bejna.

We went out to eat with Huseyin, Elvan and Bejna and had some delicious fresh fish. Then they took us to the most amazing baklava place – Karakoy Gulluoglu.  It was the best pastry I’ve had – full of pistachios, flaky crusts and honey sauce. Yum – it will not be forgotten!

Next day, we toured Tokapi Palace where the Ottoman sultans lived for hundreds of years. We learned about their lifestyles, harems (the designated spaces for the women of the family), life during the Ottoman times and so much more. One of the most stunning things about the palace were the interior walls, ceilings and floors made of thousands of beautiful tiles.

We spent the afternoon on the Asian side of Istanbul in Maltepe with Elvan and Bejna. We went to their local bazaar, their home and a newly established park close to the sea.

We packed in a few more things on our last day in Istanbul. First was a museum featuring Roman remains of tile flooring. It was very impressive work, and the pictures told a lot about Roman culture at the time.

We went to another Roman site – the Basilica Cistern. This was amazing! It’s an underground water system that stored water brought from nearby mountain streams. The cistern kept the water clean and was connected to houses so that families could have running water in their homes.

In the late afternoon, we went on a boat tour up the Bosphorus River. It was a great day to be out on a boat and it was fun to see Istanbul (the third largest city proper in the world!) by boat.

We sat up top for the best views.

Our last evening in Istanbul. We ate dinner at a rooftop restaurant and had beautiful views of the water, Hagia Sophia and Blue Mosque.  A great way to end our time in Istanbul.

On Monday, March 31st, we drove 2 hours to Milazzo.  Five minutes before departure, we hopped on board this ferry to the Aeolian Islands.

Our first stop was Lipari, the largest of the 8 Aeolian islands both in size and population (about 11,000). We walked through the old walled city (built 1556) as well as other parts of Lipari (town and island have the same name!).

Lots of charm in Lipari – no wonder the town nearly doubles in size in the summer!

We had fun finding pieces of obsidian along this little beach. Pumice rocks are also found around the island, and there are mines that extract and sell pumice around the world.

We had a great lunch – a meat and cheese tray with locally cured meats and delicious cheeses. We sampled some local Liparian wine, Malvasia, and some awesome cured caper fruits.  We bought a whole bag of them!  Of course, gelato for dessert.

We took a small boat from Lipari to the island of Vulcano which has one of Sicily’s three active volcanoes. The boat ride was awesome! The weather was beautiful and the cruise around the islands was so fun!

The island of Vulcano – you can see the steam coming from the active vent in one of the volcanoes.

Vulcano has a sulfur hot spring bath which is said to help improve problems with arthritis, skin problems and asthma.  We had to walk past a sulfurous rock face that had such a putrid smell, Lily and I were sick to our stomachs.

We walked to a black sand beach – I’ve never seen anything like it!

The girls had fun playing in the sand. We had to bring a bunch home…along with lots of obsidian and pumice rocks.  Lily and I are total rock collectors.

On Tuesday, April 1st, we flew back to Malta, but not until 10:30 pm.  That left plenty of time to hike around Mt. Etna, the tallest active volcano in Europe and one of the most active volcanoes in the world. You can see the cooled lava from the 1992 eruption in the foreground.  The road was cut and built right through it!

Our main hike was to this huge crater, Valle del Bove. Our guide Andrea was great. He was full of information about the history and geology of the volcano.

The landscape was so different than other mountains I’ve hiked. The soil was black and kind of sandy, and the vegetation was so unique.

We stopped for lunch at a restaurant at 2000 m (6500 feet) and then walked around these three craters: the Silvestri Crateri, formed in 1893.

After our mountain hike, Andrea took us to a nature reserve on a cliff above the sea. In less than an hour, we went from over 2000 meters to almost sea level! The reserve was very lush and warm – a stark contrast to where we’d just been.  The whole day was just super!  Our whole trip to Sicily was fantastic and many of us are planning to return before we leave Malta.

We left so early on Saturday that even with our 30 minute flight and 2 hour drive to the hotel, we still arrived in time for breakfast! We took time to relax a bit in our room before going out to explore. We stayed in a lovely hotel with beautiful grounds and a great view of La Rocca, behind Sylvia.

First stop, the beach! We stayed in the town of Cefalu, on the northern coast. The beach here was expansive and sandy – quite different from the rocky beaches in Sliema. The Tyrrhenian Sea was so beautiful!

We strolled around the old part of Cefalu eating gelato of course, and enjoying the old narrow streets lined with balconies.

Later in the afternoon, we met up with our tour guide, Saro (the man on the right in front). He took us to his friend’s house to learn about agriculture in Sicily.  The tour was a highlight – the farmer was so excited to show us around and tell us all about his gardens.  He didn’t speak English so Saro translated everything for us.  We saw lemons, tangerines, fig, pomegranates, kumquat, olive trees and more.  The farmer gave us a huge crate of his lemons and tangerines to take home.

Saro then took us on a drive through the Medonie Mountain Range. The whole drive was spectacular! This little mountain town was so beautiful in the afternoon sun.

Our last stop was Castelbuono – one of my favorite spots. It is a sweet little mountain town (about the size of Decorah). The town was very active this evening, with people coming out to meet in the piazza, lots of kids out playing and church bells ringing.  It was a very charming time of day.

A view of Cefalu (pop. 15, 000) as you approach from the west. This area was probably first inhabited in the late 5th century BC. The name comes from the Greek word ‘Kefaloidion’ which translates to ‘head’ – the Greeks thought the rock looked like a giant head.

On Sunday, we hiked up La Rocca, the huge rock in Cefalu. At the top are the remains of an old castle built in the 13-14th centuries.

The view of Cefalu from the hike up La Rocca. How beautiful! Mountains, sea, beaches, history and culture – Sicily rocks!  🙂

Sunday afternoon, we played on the beach. Lily dug a hole all the way down to water!

We ate gelato and visited this duomo, or cathedral, in the old city. It was built between 1131 and 1240. It’s quite unique and different from other churches we’ve seen because it has Norman style architecture, reflecting the ruler at that time, and Arabic influences in other parts of the structure.

On our way home, we took this great trail that went along the waterfront over the rocks.

Old town Cefalu. I strongly encourage anyone who’s ever thought of going to Sicily (and even those who haven’t!) to go. And visit Cefalu – you will love it! I even have a great recommendation for a guide and hotel.  🙂  More information on the city here: http://www.cefalu.net/cefalu.php?lingua=en

Our address is 15 Marian Flats, Triq Depiro.  Marian is the name of the building (named after the Virgin Mary) and we are flat number 15 (the flats are numbered 8-15 so we are the last one!).   Triq means street and Depiro is the street name.  So, our building does not have a street number, but rather a name, as do many homes in Malta.  We’ve found houses that are named Sylvia and Lily, too!  The middle window in the top row is ours.

Welcome to Marian Flats!

First, you must walk up 4 flights of stairs, or 60 steps. Ready?  The building is made of limestone and the flats all have high ceilings – both are ways to keep it cool in the summer.  Incidentally, those same features keep it cool in the winter as well. 😦

You made it! Welcome to Flat 15!

When you first walk in our door and turn left, you will find yourself in our home school room/spare bedroom.  We love this room because it is spacious with lots of natural light.

If you turn right, you will see this long hallway (all the way back to our bedroom).  All the rooms are off to the right of the hall.

The first stop down the hallway is the dining room. This is also our living room/hangout room. Our flat is furnished and some of the furniture is family heirlooms – we try to be really careful!  🙂

Continuing down the hall a bit, we come to our small but functional kitchen.  The girls are making me lunch!   And yes, the kitchen is too small for the refrigerator so you’ll find it in the hall.  However, the washing machine does fit nicely in the kitchen, right behind me.

After the kitchen is the bathroom and then Lily and Sylvia’s room.  The girls wanted their bed pushed together so they could sleep next to each other like at home.

Finally at the end the hall is our room. Another nice, spacious room with good natural light.

And here, standing in our bedroom door, I can look all the way down the hall to the home school room and the front of the flat.  The doors on the left are the girls’ bedroom, bathroom, kitchen and then the dining room through the wood doorway.  See the fridge in the hallway?

Last but not least, the roof. Where we hang our clothes (always), read and eat (sometimes) and run around (whenever possible). We love the roof and are happy to only have to walk up one flight of stairs to get there.

We wandered the streets of Rabat when we first arrived to get a sense of the celebration.  We could tell the band had walked around once already since there was shredded paper all over the street.  Like the festival in Valletta, people throw paper off their balconies when the band marches by.

Flags, banners and lights were hung up all along the main street as well as many side streets.

Everything is so colorful!

St. Joseph’s Church, the hub of the celebration.

We found a park, of course.

We also explored Mdina, the old capital. The city has a giant wall all around it that would definitely deter me if I were coming to attack.  🙂

Walking through the front gates into Mdina.

I love all the limestone! Mdina is a lovely little city – very medieval feeling with narrow streets, churches and fancy houses.

Apparently, many wealthy people live in Mdina and some of the homes have been in the families for generations.  I love the purple!

I’m always surprised to see the sea from other parts of the island. You can see Sliema in the middle of the horizon with the tall buildings.

We skipped this vendor – we were looking for something more Maltese-ish to eat.

We went back to St. Joseph’s in the evening to watch the procession. We watched some of the church service and then waited outside the church to watch the procession. We waited quite a while, but we were happy to have a good spot – there were loads of people all trying to catch a glimpse of the statue.

St. Joseph. It was Sylvia and Lily who pointed out that this is the Joseph that raised Jesus. I just figured it was some random saint, but the girls recognized the baby as Jesus.  Makes sense!

There he goes…8 men carry the statue around the streets with people cheering and singing as the statue goes by. It was really quite a sight.

It was so crazy trying to leave. I don’t think I’ve ever been that crowded. It was like Walmart on Black Friday. I kept asking Lily if she could breath! At least Jon and I were taller than most everyone around us so we could see each other through the crowd. We stopped to let the crowd dissipate and had a delicious supper at a cafe.

The only way to get to Gozo is by ferry. The huge ferry carries vehicles as well as people on a 25 minute cruise. The ferries run quite regularly and the fare was less than 5 euro.  Lily is watching our approach into the harbor on Gozo.

We stayed at a monastery in Rabat (Victoria), the largest city on Gozo. We had time to wander around before our tour started. I loved the narrow, car-free, winding streets. We didn’t exactly know where we were going, but the city was small enough we eventually found our way back home.

Our first stop of the afternoon tour was the Ggantija Temples, part of which was constructed as early as 3600 BC. The temples were used for about 1,000 years, most likely for rituals about life and fertility.

What a beautiful view!

We saw Ramla beach, one of Gozo’s finest, from high above. We were at Calypso’s Cave, which was mentioned in Homer’s The Odyssey.

The Azure Window, near Dwejra. Not only is the rock formation incredible (328 ft!), but the water was such a deep rich blue – quite unusual. It was a stunning place.  The Maltese islands are made of 3 different kinds of limestone and 2 different kinds of clay. It’s the soft limestone that allows formations like these to be created with the help of the common northwesterly winds and the power of the sea.  The Azure Window was featured in the show Game of Thrones.

Our last stop for the afternoon was back to the capital, Rabat. We went to the Citadel, the original walled city perched high on a hill. The city was built to offer protection to the Gozitans, and even as Rabat grew outside of the walls, the people were required to sleep inside the walls until the late 1600s.

Rabat is an Arabic word for knot or closely tied together. Rabat in modern lingo means suburb. Rabat grew up around the Citadel. Today, only 4 people still live in the Citadel while the rest live in Rabat.

On Sunday morning, we explored on our own and found this gorgeous little valley right in Rabat. It was fun to see so much green and lots of garden plots with spring vegetables.

We also found a fun little park!

On Sunday, our guide was a student at the University who is a Gozo native (well, technically, he was born in Detroit, but has lived on Gozo since he was 3).  He took us to some of his favorite places and our requests.  Our first stop was the salt pans.  These squares fill up with saltwater which evaporates.  The salt is then collected and sold as, you guessed it – sea salt!

We climbed up to this lighthouse for beautiful views of the island.

The view. 🙂

We stopped at Ta’ Pinu Basilica in Gharb. The church was beautiful and the carved limestone was quite impressive.

Another natural arch carved out of stone by the forces of wind and water.

Mgarr, the port town where we arrived and departed by ferry. Goodbye, Gozo! We will return.