The next day was a Friday and since we had swung far afield the previous two days, we left Friday for Valletta. Valletta is Malta’s largest city and also its capital. We had once before been to Valletta and were excited about having the time to walk through the quaint older part of the city.
We took one of Malta’s very famous buses to the city. Malta has a collection of buses from everywhere they drive on the left side of the street. All of the buses are painted the same colors and for years, they have been a favorite feature of Malta visits. As of July 3 this year, the old buses will be retired and a new modern transportation system will be implemented. So, we were happy to have the opportunity to ride an old Malta bus while they still are in service.
While walking in the pedestrian mall, we stumbled upon an archaeological museum. My husband suggested that we go and see it, and I reluctantly agreed. Since I am pretty ignorant in the field of archaeology, I don’t really enjoy seeing ancient artifacts, but I was pleasantly surprised to see that they had an exhibit of Alphonse Mucha’s work at the museum. It was a wonderful exhibit that included a documentary on his life. It was just beautiful. After seeing that exhibit, my husband spent a good deal of time in the regular exhibit and I spent a good deal of time in the gift shop. Unfortunately, there was nothing there that tempted me.
The center of town is lovely and we sat down nearby to have the lunch we had packed. Then we got up and walked on further. We came to a shop that was selling cosmetic products from the Dead Sea, apparently relabeled for sale in other countries. The product was described as from “The Holy Land, Israel.” The man selling the items was, of course, Israeli.
We passed by the seat of government and watched the guards walking their posts. We enjoyed seeing the inscriptions on the wall that were taken from letters received in Malta during World War II. Malta withstood the war with honor.
What makes Malta so picturesque is that the sea seems to be everywhere.
We walked along another street and bought some huge delicious bananas and we heard someone playing some well-known Israeli songs on a guitar. It seemed appropriate for a Friday afternoon!
We were almost feeling completely free of the worries of the day when we were reminded that there are lots of problems in the world still to be solved.
It reads “Association of Libyans, resident in Malta”
We returned to our hotel happy and relaxed and awaited our shabbat adventure!
Recent Comments