Off to Mdina
Rather than dragging our bags a significant distance along rough sidewalks we called up a Bolt car instead (similar to Uber) and ridiculously cheap. A local gift shop conveniently ran a business to store visitor’s luggage so we deposited ours and went off to do more exploring until the ferry departed at 6 that evening. An old green and white Malta Bus caught our eye off to the side of the main plaza … it did trips to Mdina and the connected town of Rabat along the coast – perfect for an afternoon visit. Through the busy town of Sliema past fields and farms to Mdina high on its hilltop. This was the original capital of Malta dating back into antiquity https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mdina Not overly busy – which was pleasant – a few Gharries clopping and jingling through … spectacular views of the whole coastline hereabouts. Suddenly the quiet was shattered as deafening retort after retort thundered and echoed through the streets, giving no indication of direction. Turns out there are canons concealed by vegetation just down the hill but sounding remarkably close … puffs of smoke were visible a few seconds before the sound reached us.
Across the main road is Rabat which couldn’t be more different by contrast. Every street was ablaze with flamboyant, multi-coloured banners … streamers overhead fluttered in the breeze … streets bustled with people. Most of the sidewalk cafes near the entrance were filled – most likely with visitors – but further in we noticed a tiny shop doing a roaring trade in local sandwiches and sweet crepes – only a handful of tables inside which necessitated waiting for someone to leave before pouncing and squeezing in. We selected Maltese sausage as a filling and lemon/sugar crepes to follow (the portions were huge so we shared both). Ftira are like giant crusty round bagels baked daily, and only found in Malta … ours arrived hot and crispy on the outside, satisfyingly chewy on the inside with the most amazing sausage and fried onion filling. We devoured every crunchy delicious morsel. Then with perfect timing, a vast crepe appeared drizzled with fresh lemon juice and a sprinkling of sugar. This was a memorable lunch worthy of 5 stars anywhere in the world and only 13 euros. Outstanding. A amiable, rotund fellow dressed all in navy (knitted hat included) positioned himself in a corner at the rear and appeared to be the ‘bus boy’ … clearing tables as they were vacated and washing dishes. We sat chatting for a bit before leaving to explore a little more.
Figuring the bus might fill up quickly for the return trip (which it did) we arrived in ample time, secured a seat and sat back to wait. People passing by seemed intrigued with the antique bus and many took photos. Don’t know how this fellow makes any money as a return journey only costs 5 euros … maybe he’s retired and enjoys it. Whatever the case it was a brilliant afternoon.
Bags collected, another Bolt car to the ferry terminal … this time our driver was a friendly guy from the Sudan who’d been in Malta 19 years. Came for the work but his family were all still in Sudan so he found it quite lonely.
The ferry to Sicily is a large, fast catamaran built by Incat in Hobart, Tasmania. Capable of carrying 900+ passengers, 23 commercial truck/trailers and a hundred or so cars, it can travel at speeds of 62/63 km/h or more than 35 knots. https://incat.com.au/incat-delivers-large-new-fast-ferry-to-virtu-ferries-of-malta/ This is not the biggest or fastest of the Incat ferries .. there’s one that travels between Argentina and Uruguay at 58 knots … fastest vessel in the world at maintained speed. Conversations in Italy are always conducted at full volume and usually involve multiple family members or friends who then expand into whatever space is available, completely blocking any public access routes. It’s just a fact of life! (grin) Upon arrival, despite announcements to the contrary, everyone surged forward jostling for position, and we then we all stood there, unmoving, for the next 40 minutes. BC Ferries could have disembarked passengers and cars, then reloaded and taken off in the time it took to even begin the process here! Oh well. What made it worse were the dog passengers … transported by loving owners in fancy wheeled contraptions … two and three to a conveyance. A great yapping commenced as Frenchies spotted Yorkies or tiny white Pomeranians objected to the proximity of Sausage dogs. It was quite the cacophony.
Giovanni at the hotel in Pozzallo was picking us up at the ferry, but what we didn’t know is that only taxis were permitted inside the terminal and we didn’t know where he was meeting us. In the meantime we were beset by the ‘Don’ of taxi drivers, insisting we take his cab . . . “only 6km to the hotel … a bargain at $20 euros … for you 15 euros” (turns out is was only about 2 kms!). Giovanni rescued us in the nick of time and whisked us off to the hotel.
