SylLy Acres

This time we got a white car. A bit newer, still small and still a manual transmission. I haven’t noticed many automatics around here – I’m not sure why.  We actually kind of like the small cars – they are pretty cozy! 

Our first stop was Mosta, to visit the Mosta Rotunda. You can see the dome in the background. This is a Catholic Church that was built right around the existing smaller church, starting in 1833.

Much of the construction was done voluntarily by the people of Mosta.  After nearly 30 years, the older church (inside!) was dismantled in one week and this new church became the official Mosta Parish Church on 11 March 1860.

The church was modeled after the Pantheon of Rome. The dome is amazing.

The church was really beautiful with ornate carvings, paintings, sculptures and woodwork.

The most fascinating story about the dome took place on 9 April 1942. A German bomb like this replica penetrated the dome  and landed right in the middle of the church. It did not explode and no one was hurt. If you look at the dome photo again, you can see the place where the done was repaired after this incident.

We took some back roads to try to avoid the traffic in Mosta. This is indeed a street. We were happy we didn’t meet any oncoming traffic.

We drove west again to the other side of the island, north of Dingli. The beach was gorgeous but chilly.

These housesare built into the side of the hill. I don’t know if they are year round residences. I did not see any boats, but there were docks in front of the houses, so it may be a fishing village with everyone out for the day.

There are towers like this one all around the perimeter of the island. They were used as lookouts for enemy ships.

Despite the wind and clouds, the girls set up their towels and sat down for some reading time.

We took more back roads to see more coastline and found ourselves driving through farmland and along narrow country roads like this one. This is a two way road, but two cars could never fit side by side, so there were pull-outs now and then.

More beautiful coastline.  We really enjoyed exploring less traveled areas today.

We got the cutest little car. The girls were so excited to hop in, buckle up and head out!

First stop, back to the National Park and Farmer’s Market. This observation area is at the park.

The girls love an adventure!

Walking through the enchanted forest.

After lunch at the Farmer’s Market, we headed to the other side of the Island to the Dingli Cliffs.

They were breathtaking.

Below the cliffs were little farms interspersed with wild areas. I’m not sure if people live there year around or just have their farms there, but Sylvia and I agreed we would love to live in that valley next to the ocean!

The top of the cliffs were quite rocky and made walking a little difficult. Apparently, goats used to graze along here and depleted the top soil leaving a rocky, weedy area.

From here, we could see the sea on the other side of the Island! The tall white buildings in the middle of the photo are in Sliema and you can see a lot of development around there.   The population of Malta is concentrated on that side of the Island.

It was a beautiful place and so far, unspoiled. No hotels, one small restaurant and a new sidewalk along the road for easy walking.

We were so impressed by everything! The floats were amazing – huge, detailed, brightly colored and with moveable parts.

The costumes were so elaborate and colorful, too.  Not only were the dancers all dressed up but so were most of the children, also in elaborate costumes.  It’s their chance to dress up like Halloween, but for five days!

I found some information about how they make these floats here: http://www.valletta2018.org/about/v18-news-overview/v18-news/Carnival-float-making

We went to Valletta again on Sunday morning with Jon. We saw more huge floats, beautiful costumes and tons of people.  Everybody was having a great time- the whole city was filled with exuberance!

We ate lunch from one of the many food vendors in the area. The girls had hotdogs (surprise!) and once again they were served with baked beans right in the bun. It’s actually pretty good!

In addition to gorging on meat before Lent, many people devour sweets during Carnival. There were many stands and this one sold traditional Maltese cake which they sliced off this chunk. It was kind of like dry cookie dough with candied citrus and chocolate chips.

We found King Carnival on one of the side streets. I like how his ring says DAD. 🙂

We followed the king around for a while. It was fun watching the driver navigate the huge float on the narrow streets.

In the 1920s and 30s the caricature of political figures often led to tense situations that induced the Government to ban such customs from future editions of Carnival. This ban lasted until this year when it was realized that there were no such laws in the Maltese Legislature that restricted carnival floats depicting political satire.  So this year, after a long hiatus, floats were allowed to show political satire. Many of the floats featured prominent members of the government with symbols that were generally beyond our limited knowledge of Malta politics.

Taking a back road to the bus terminal to avoid the crowds and loud music.

We went back one last time on Monday night to see the floats in the dark.

We watched some of the float competition. Each float and its associated dancers would pull up to the arena.  There were dancers on the ground and on the float dancing to very loud music. The floats were judged on the theme, the float itself and the dancers.

Okay, one more sweet treat! I liked the treats at the other stand (the one with the cake) better. Those sweets were Nutella based – yum! The treats at this stand were made with chestnut paste, candied citrus and spices – not as appealing to my palate.

We got off the bus near the National Park so we walked through the park on our way to the market. There is not an entrance fee and you cannot drive through the park. It is small by US standards, but then again, this country is smaller than Winneshiek county!

I love the palm tree berries. And I can’t get over all the blooming flowers. There are annuals all over that I can only grow for 3 months in Iowa – calendula, lantana, African daisy and dianthus, to name a few.

There is a farm yard petting zoo in the park. The girls loved seeing the animals.  Chickens, ducks, geese, goats, sheep, a horse and donkey. It made us miss home! But we were glad that the Maltese city kids have a chance to interact with the animals.

The girls loved the rabbits. So did I.  There may be a rabbit in our future…

On our walk from the park to the market, we had a chance to take in the lovely Maltese countryside. We don’t see very much of this from our flat in Sliema!  It really is quite beautiful.  In front is a winery that we’ll have to go back and visit.

The city on the hill is Rabat, the former capital of Malta. We haven’t been there yet, but it sure was inviting. The big lights are at the National Football Stadium.

The Farmer’s Market. Lots of wonderful, delicious things to look at.  We loved being at the market.  It was very similar to our market in Decorah, everything was just in a different language!  There was nothing too unusual, unless you count that we bought tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and green beans in February.  🙂

Strawberries! In season now until about May or June. And delicious. The farmer is the one on the right but he wanted his friend in the photo.  🙂

We bought lots of flowers – calla lilies, daffodils and these fragrant beauties. I’m not sure what they are but I love them.

We ate lunch at the market at a stand that was selling traditional Maltese food. The menu was all in Maltese so we just ordered what the person in front of us ordered – rabbit! Rabbit is a traditional Maltese food but this was the first we’ve tried. It was very tasty. The girls got a whole chicken and they had a lot of fun digging into it.

After lunch, we walked back to the park. There are huge prickly pear bushes like this growing all over the country side. They are amazing!

Last stop of the day, a huge playground at the National Park. The girls played for a couple hours. Behind them is a high ropes course.

Lily is showing off her Kinnie, a Maltese soda that none of us really like, and her imqaret, a fig filled pastry reminiscent of a fig pop tart – yum!

Jon and I sat here drinking our cappuccino while the girls played. Notice the planters full of blooming rosemary plants – I wanted to break off a few branches to take home and cook with!

On our way out to catch the bus. Oh, the bus woes. The first bus was early (we watched it fly by as we walked to the stop), the second bus didn’t stop for us (we’re not exactly sure why), we were standing at the wrong stop for the 3rd bus and the 4th bus also sped on by (it looked like a full bus). Jon’s phone was dead so we decided to go straight to the top – the US Embassy.  Luckily, it is right across the street from the bus stop and we kindly asked the guards to call a taxi. They did and we were home in 20 minutes after waiting for 2 hours for the bus.

We took the subway to the Vatican. It was a fun adventure!

We are heading into the museum. We skipped the huge line because we bought our tickets online beforehand. Whew!

Our guide Cecilia has a Master’s in Art History and shared with us so many interesting things about the paintings on the Sistine Chapel as well as the other art we saw.

The statue, dating back to ancient Rome was an inspiration to Michelangelo. You can see similarities in the face of this statue with the face of Jesus that Michelangelo painted in the Last Judgement in the Sistine Chapel.

A painting by Raphael in the museum.  We visited 4 rooms adorned with paintings from Raphael or his students.  The Raphael rooms used to be living quarters for the pope.

St. Peter’s Basilica, named so because it is believed to be the burial site of St. Peter, apostle of Jesus and first bishop of Rome. Michelangelo designed the dome but did not live to see it finished.  It is one of the biggest churches in the world – truly an amazing structure.

Inside the Basilica. It was started in 1506 and completed in 1626.  It is phenomenal.  Apparently there is mass everyday but I’m not sure where or how since there are hundreds of tourists and not many pews!

Inside, the church is mostly marble and stone, with many beautiful statues. There is not much for colorful artwork but the pictures that are there (like this one) are not paintings but rather made of tile so that they will last for as long as the rest of the church.

A view of St. Peter’s as we crossed the Tiber River.

We stopped at Piazza Navona and enjoyed a snack, the fountains, people watching and all the artists displaying their work.

Of course, we had to stop and get gelato (3 days in a row, Lily was happy to announce).  We are on Via del Corso, one of the busiest streets with many shopping opportunities!

Sure looks good!

Lily is trying out a drinking fountain again, this time drinking directly from it rather than filling a water bottle. It’s harder to stay dry than it looks (at least for Lily)!

Our Sunday morning walk.  I loved the orange trees lining the streets. And the details in the buildings.  Every street we walked down had something beautiful to look at, and according to Sylvia, at least 3 churches!

Triton Fountain in the Piazza Barberini.

A view of the city from Villa Borghese Park.

Our hotel, Hotel Oceania, is located on the 3rd floor of this building. Among other things in this building are a Korean Methodist Church and another hotel on the 4th floor.

The “scary” elevator in our hotel that turned out to be pretty fun and not so scary after all.

We love Rome!

On our first day, after settling into our hotel room, we set off to find the nearby park. The girls were happy to play and run in the grass. I spent 2 hours at the Borghese Museum where I saw statues from Bernini, and paintings from Raphael and Caravaggio.  I really enjoyed the museum’s collection as well as the frescoes painted on all the ceilings!

At the park

Friday morning, we headed down to the Colosseum (the Flavian Amphitheater) to begin a 4 hour tour of Ancient Rome.  There’s the Colosseum, way down at the end of the street.

Our guide Cecilia did an excellent job explaining the architecture, history and politics of the Colosseum.

The Colosseum.  It was started in 72 AD and finished 8 years later.

Restoration scaffolding – I can’t imagine the process of restoring this!

Here we are inside the Colosseum, where the games took place. Sylvia found the description of the games to be so interesting and she could relate to the similarities between the Colosseum and a football stadium!  This is the underground tunnel system and you can see a partial floor in the lower right corner.  Animals were kept in the side caves and then brought up to the floor by elevators hoisted by 4 or more men.  Cecilia described it like a movie set: well orchestrated with the right animals at the right time, getting them from one place to another and then up the elevator, just in time for the show!

Next, we walked around the forum and learned about the buildings and the lives of the people living thousands of years ago.  We saw remains of temples, palaces and government buildings.  Some of the buildings are still standing and in good shape – these were buildings that were turned into churches at one point and were maintained.

The girls loved the tour. I asked them a few times if they wanted to stop and read for a while but they wanted to listen the whole time, just taking a sitting break now and then.

Filling up our water bottles at one of public water fountains that are found throughout Rome.

The Pantheon, right in the middle of newer buildings.  The Pantheon was built nearly 2,000 years ago as a temple to all the gods of Rome.

It’s hard to imagine how this was built 2,000 years ago – the dome is amazing.  Outside, there are 8 huge marble pillars that were brought to Rome from Egypt -up the Nile, across the Mediterranean, up the Tiber river and over land by elephants. And all the pillars are in one piece.  Wow!

My favorite traveling companions! We had lunch at a lovely little piazza and met a woman from Madison who was happy to talk with us Iowans!

The pizza was so good we went back for seconds and ate the way the locals do. The pizza is paid for by weight – it’s not that expensive and it’s really good!

This is another set of ancient ruins, Largo di Torre Argentina. It’s so interesting how it’s right in the middle of a busy part of the city. It is sunk down because actually the city was built on top of all these ruins. It makes you wonder how much more might be found under the city streets!

Also at Largo di Torre Argentina is a cat sanctuary run by volunteers.  Stray cats are spayed, neutered and vaccinated as well as fed and cared for.  They adopt dozens of cats out every year and accept unwanted cats, as well. We had fun seeing and petting all the kitties.

Trevi Fountain. A very popular fountain – there were hundreds of people here but it is pretty spectacular so I’d expect lots of people there to admire it!

Mass was in the morning. For the rest of the day, people celebrated by walking with the band through the streets of Valletta.  At half past 5, a large statue of Paul was carried out of the church and around the streets.

People walked along or trailed behind, cheering and enjoying the music. The band would march along, then stop and play.  They would take a break and then return marching along more streets, stopping and taking a break.  Pretty much all day!

As part of the celebration, people threw tons and tons of shredded paper from their balconies.

The kids went wild over all the paper on the ground. The air was filled with shrieks of happy children as well as paper!

At one point, we left the band to find the church of St. Paul’s Shipwreck. Notice the snake carving to the right of Sylvia. Legend has it that when Paul landed on Malta, he was bit by a poisonous snake. He was not harmed, leading the Maltese to believe that he was a special person. St. Paul is also the patron saint of snake bites.

The streets were decorated with huge banners in bright, cheery colors.

We had a great afternoon.  It was fun to be a part of the celebration and to experience the pride the Maltese have in their heritage, history and religion.

Looking out over the bay to the other side of the town. The fishing boats are so colorful!

The market is right next to the water, along the promenade.  It just keeps going and going and going…

Finally we reached the fish section!

We enjoyed watching the vendors working and selling their fish.  The highlight was watching an octopus climb out of its tray. It almost fell off the table!

Beautiful Catholic church in the middle of a large plaza. We had the pleasure of hearing the bells ring during lunch.

We took a break and had lunch here. It was so nice to sit outside!

Lily, soaking up the sun. You can see the plaza where we we had lunch and the market and the water beyond.

Another view of the market looking back, from where we came. We did a lot of walking – the girls are getting used to walking  and they hardly complained.  🙂

One last view of the water and green hillside as we walk toward the bus stop.

Lily was excited to sit in the seats facing backwards!

The first thing we do after breakfast is go out for a short walk in the neighborhood (well actually, before that even, we get dressed which can sometimes take a really long time!).  It’s good to get outside first thing, check out the weather and give our legs a little workout!

When we return to our flat, Sylvia writes in her weather journal and Lily puts a fruit on her weather tree. Then it’s down to business. Lily is working on a math unit and Sylvia started a language arts unit. They do most of their work at this table in the guest bedroom because it has a lot of natural light.

Lily learned how to knit last week. Sylvia, who has been knitting for more than a year, gave her some pointers.

Now it’s Lily’s turn!  “Bunny in, around the top, bunny out and off he hops!”

The fun really begins in the afternoon when we are done with our lessons! We take a walk to the water everyday. Most days we play at a park, too.

Sometimes we never leave the water and spend time collecting rocks, seashells and sea glass, and wading in the water.

Sometimes Jon comes with us. This day we stopped and got cannoli on the way to the beach. Amazing! There is the best little bakery 2 minutes from our flat and the cannoli are only .60 euro. They might become a staple!

We walk along the promenade….

…and stop to play at a park. The girls played for well over an hour here one chilly day.

Exploring another waterfront area. There’s not much for sandy beaches in Sliema, but the rocky waterfront is still pretty cool.

Back home, when they have down time, I can often find the girls here…

They recently created this cozy spot in their closet as a quiet place to read. Both girls spend ample amounts of time reading everyday. They’ll ask: Am I free? And then run off to read.  Not a bad way to spend part of a day!

In 1565, Malta fought the Great Siege against the Turks. Greatly outnumbered, the Maltese managed to drive out the Turks. As a result, in 1566, leaders decided to move the capital to a city across the harbor which was to be fortified. This city became Valletta. You can see the huge wall outside the central gates to the city. They are doing some renovation work there now.

Entering Valletta through the City Gates.

Walking down the main walkway, Triq Ir-Repubblika (Republic Street).  There are stores, restaurants, government buildings and, offices.  Valletta is less than a mile long and less than half a mile wide.  It was designed on a grid pattern, a pretty new concept at the time when it was built.

The architecture is stunning.

Continuing down Triq Ir-Repubblika. We are leaving the shops and government buildings and heading into a more residential area.

Love the windows!

And the doors!

In more recent times (like late 1800s, early 1900s), goatherds would bring thousands of goats into the city every day. The goats would roam the streets while the goatherds would take goats door to door to milk them for the resident. That’s fresh milk! To prevent the wondering goats from entering the houses, gates like these were installed in each doorway.

On one side of Valletta is Grand Harbor which looks out onto the Three Cities (one of which was the capital before Valletta).

The Siege Bell, commemorating the dead from WWII, rings every day at noon. And we were there when it rang! We felt the vibrations in our whole body!

Not every road is drivable!

On the other side of Valletta, across Marsamxett Bay, is Sliema.

Manoel Island, in Marsamxett Bay, between Sliema and Valletta.  It is the home of  Fort Manoel which is currently being renovated after years of neglect.  It is also home to the 170-year old Malta Yacht Club.

Looking back towards Valletta as we chug out in to the bay on the ferry back to Sliema.