Cruising the Adriatic--Valletta, Malta

Valletta, Malta, was a happy surprise.  We had never been there and didn't know what to expect.  Our cruise director encouraged everyone to be outside, on deck, as we cruised into Valletta at 7 a.m. because, "It's beautiful."  It was.  The city was made of golden sandstone and shimmered in the morning light.  The harbor, we were told, was the best natural harbor in Europe.

 

We noted the ship in dry dock.  Valletta's industries are involved in many aspects of shipping.  The Celebrity Silhouette is registered in Valletta.

Valletta has been a crossroads of cultures for thousands of years--first by Greeks, Romans, and Arabs.  It was chosen by the Knights of St. John, in the 1500s, as their capital, after they were evicted from Rhodes by the Turks.  The Knights of St. John were founded by aristocrats from Europe during the Crusades, to act as protectors of the pilgrims traveling to and from Jerusalem.  Later, they became militant and fought off the Turks who tried to invade Europe.  For centuries, Malta was ruled by Knights from eight separate kingdoms, who each had palaces in Valletta.  Their supreme ruler was the "Grand Master."  In the late 1700s, Napoleon conquered Valletta and then, from 1800 to 1964, it was ruled by the English. We began our tour by walking across a bridge, over a moat, into the Old City.

The gate was marked with an intricate crest, one of dozens of flags, crests and banners identifying Maltese conquerors.

We were in Valletta on a Sunday, which was also the island's Memorial Day.  We paused in the city's Memorial Park, filled with heroic statues honoring various distinguished people and events.  "What does Alfred Einstein have to do with Malta?" one of our tour mates asked.  "Nothing," our tour guide said.  "We have a statue of him just because we admire him."

 

 

 

The Memorial Park looked over Valletta's perfect harbor, including its old fort.

 

We wandered through the city, past its beautiful buildings.  We passed cannons brought by the British to defend the island, a statue of one of the Knights of St. John accepting the charter to the city, and a statue of Pope Pius V, one of the many popes who dabbled in Mediterranean politics.

 

 

 

Coming and going, we passed military bands, parading around Valletta in honor of Memorial Day.

 

 

We also passed policemen carefully protecting what we assumed were the city's "bigwigs"--large and self-important--and ushering them into shiny, chauffeur-driven cars.

We paused at the Archeological Museum.  Ancient Maltese fashioned gods and goddesses and temples as early as 3600 B.C. "before Stonehenge or the Pyramids," as our guide pointed out.  The goddesses were headless and very fertile-looking, and the altars looked like something used by the Canaanites.

 

 

We toured the Palace where the president of Malta now governs.  Malta is independent and a member of the EU.  There were suits of armor, intricately painted walls and ceilings, marble seals of Malta embedded in the floors, and paintings of the "Grand Masters" of the Knights of St. John.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alas, the cathedral was closed to all but "worshippers." Our large tour group didn't qualify.  We could only admire its bell towers and the mosaics along its outside walls.  Inside, above its altar, is a famous painting by Caravaggio.  Another time.

Because of Valletta's multicultural past, its language is based on Arabic, but uses the European alphabet, rather than the Arabic one.  These choir boys, stationed outside a church, advertise a message in Maltese that doesn't look like any words from Latin, Slavic, or Greek--"Ghinni nsir oassis."

As a Mediterranean land, Malta has a café culture.  Old men relaxed together around an outdoor table.  A man dressed for Memorial Day with his chest full of medals sat on a bench in the piazza.  We ate our gelato and watched everyone else.  One of the cafes advertised that it was founded in 1837, soon after the British arrived.

Maltese crosses and Maltese dogs originate in Malta.  We saw Maltese crosses in all the shops, and I bought one to remember this picturesque spot.  I don't remember any Maltese dogs.  I guess they're fake.   

Cruising the Adriatic--Day at Sea

We had a day at sea, as the Celebrity Silhouette made its way, at some 30 mph, from Corfu to Valetta, Malta.  This was a busy cruise, with port stops during 12 of our 13 cruise days.  After taking shore excursions lasting seven hours or longer at nearly every stop, we were ready for a day to relax and enjoy the on-board activities.  One option was to relax in our comfortable cabin, reading.

Dave and I walked around the jogging track or walked on the treadmill every day, at sea or on shore. 

On this at sea day, I attended three lectures.  At one, the captain explained how he piloted the boat, including the many fail-safe features if any navigation system failed.  "And if all else doesn't work, we tell the passengers in the cheap cabins on Deck 2 to pull the oars out from beneath their beds and row," he finished.  Luckily, Dave and I were one deck up, on 3 (out of 14 decks).  The captain was a charming Greek who was quite proud of his experience, including "breaking in" the Celebrity when it was a brand new ship two years ago.

I also attended a lecture by the ship engineers, who described all the ship systems, from disposing of sewage to turning sea water into fresh water, to generating power to turn the turbines.  "The ship is a small city of 5000 people," they said. 

A third lecture was by an art historian, who gave four presentations during our journey, on various artists whose works we saw--Michelangelo and Raphael, Caravaggio, Titian and Tintoretto, and the artists of Pompeii.  She was excellent, and I committed to someday taking an art history course in SLC.

 

I enjoyed sitting on the pool deck, listening to my favorite of the many musical groups who performed each day.  They were a quartet from the Philippines who knew hundreds of pop songs and belted them out with style and talent.  Our shipmates lounged in the hot tubs as they listened.

 

 

I treated myself to a gelato and a lemon bar, during our day at sea.  There was food everywhere--a 24 hour buffet restaurant, our assigned seating in the main restaurant, and cafes, grills, and snack bars around the ship.

 

Dave and I enjoyed a "formal dinner" with our tablemates, Bob and Sue, Jean and Linda, and Marilyn and Jim.  We became good friends during the four-course, two hour dinners we shared every night. We joined Bob and Sue one night at the "Murano," a "specialty restaurant" with extraordinary food and service.  We also enjoyed our servers, from the Philippines and (I think) Eastern Europe.

 

On this day at sea, we enjoyed a dance and gymnastics show presented by the Celebrity dance troupe.  It was a Cirque de Soleil-style show, but others had been a Broadway song and dance revue and a dance show with cutting edge music and costumes.  Every night there was an evening performance--a pianist, a violinist, several singers, a magician, even a "mentalist."

 

There was so much to do on the Celebrity Silhouette.  Another time, we'll try the spa, the dance lessons, or the dress up dance nights (maybe).  We had such a good time, we definitely want to go again!

Cruising the Adriatic--Corfu

Corfu is a strategic island.  It is at the mouth of the Adriatic Sea, where the Adriatic empties into the Mediterranean.  It also is within sight of both the Greek and Albanian coasts

Between 1000 and 1500 Corfu was one of the Venetians' most prized possessions.  It allowed them to keep intruders out of "their" sea.  We took a shore excursion that toured the Paleokastritsa Monastery and then made a circle tour of the island.

The Peleokastritsa Monastery was run by the Greek Orthodox Church and was wonderfully exotic.  We enjoyed the flags and icons of the Virgin Mary, in Byzantine style, and the flickering candles and ornate decoration inside the church.

 

 

 

The devout made offerings of gold and silver.  They worshipped at an icon of Mary and the baby Jesus with their heads surrounded by silver.

 

The Monastery was overrun with cats, lounging unconcernedly among the crush of tourists.

The Monastery is perched on a cliff thousands of feet above the sea. It is known for its gardens and its views of the sea.  Our guide pointed out an island which, according to legend, is Odysseus' ship, turned to stone.

 

Our guide also pointed out a tiny village, high on the mountainside above us.  That was our next stop.

On our way, we passed views of the sea and of Albania and Greece across the strait.

Lunch included Greek olives and feta cheese, as well as grilled meats and, for our fellow tour mates, the local wine.

Dave and I wandered around the little village where we ate lunch, checking out the orange trees and shops.  One shop was labeled "cheap" to lure tourists. 

 

We had time at the end of our tour to wander around Old Corfu.  Each stop on our cruise had an interesting mix of historical influences.  Corfu had a French/Italian feel, due to its 400 years of Italian occupation and its French occupation in the 1800s.  We saw the ruins of the fort that defended Corfu in its fights with Turks, Venetians, Genoese, and French.

We saw tourists and residents lingering over coffee and pastries at the many cafes, and we wandered along narrow streets, looking for the specialties of the island--kumquat jam, olive oil, and Greek nougat filled with nuts.

 

We bade goodbye to our guide, who looked very Greek, and returned to the Celebrity Silhouette.