Week 83: Sicily and Malta

Thursday, May 26

We flew to Sicily, one of Italy’s 20 regions. Catania to be exact. For 24 hours, we discovered the second-largest Sicilian city at the foot of Europe’s tallest active volcano–Mt. Etna.

The city was founded 10,000 years ago and has an ancient and eventful history. Catania is certainly not the most glorious city. It is gritty. Traditional. Old. Some may even say dirty.

Catania is known as “the black city” because of the color of its buildings. Blackened by the soot and ashes of the volcano, the eruptions of which often damage or even destroy parts of the region. The blackened walls were intimidating rather than welcoming. To appreciate this part of Sicily, you must have an open mind to find the beauty. I guess this could be viewed as a life lesson–

Do not judge a building by its soot. It overcame alot of devastation to look like this and it still remains standing.

The city has been able to maintain its historic and traditional charm. The lava is what can be used to build back up due to the lava stone being a common building material.

We stepped out of the taxi, which charged way too much, and onto the uneven stone pavement of the Piazza Stesicoro along Via Etna–Catania's main street and where our hotel was located.

If you ever go to Catania, don’t take a taxi. Download Bolt. An app much like Uber, a fast and affordable way to ride without the hassle of unfamiliar buses and train routes.

Just outside of our hotel were ruins of an ancient Roman amphiteater, popup stands selling gelato, and vespas zooming in and out between lanes of cars. Walls covered in the aforementioned black soot and multicolored graffiti and the unfortunate smell of the alley.

Chaos was literally spilling out into the street and every sense was triggered within the first 60 seconds of stepping out of that taxi. For some, this kind of hustle and bustle is welcoming and exciting. For others it can be completely overwhelming, like for Eric. For me, I had our every move planned out on a spreadsheet, so I was able to navigate the chaos a bit better.

Our first stop after dropping our bags off at the hotel was to the cafe across the street, Scardaci Ice Cafè. Sitting down and relaxing with a scoop of Italian coffee and ice cream would surely help us adapt a little faster.

We made our way down Via Etna towards the historical city center.

The center is home to a towering lava-rock statue of “U Liotru”, an Elephant, used as a symbol of good luck!

The square is also nicknamed Cathedral Square due to four churches sitting within only 200 meters of each other.

The church we chose to walk into was the Chiesa della Badia di Sant'Agata, located just behind the Cathedral of Saint Agatha. Not because we wanted to see the interior of the church, but because we wanted to see the exterior from its rooftop as it offers the best view of Catania.

*The view from the Chiesa della Badia di Sant'Agata rooftop*

*The square from the Chiesa della Badia di Sant'Agata rooftop*

The courtyards of the Piazza Università were next on our to do list. The buildings here are the offices for the University of Catania. The school is among the 15 oldest universities in Italy; it predates the other large universities in Sicily by more than three centuries.

Catania really comes to life around the markets.

We bought strawberries for €1 and ate them as we strolled through the rest of the market. After passing several vendors selling the same fruits and veggies, we were hit in the face by the overwhelming smell of fresh fish and seafood.

The Catania fish market is authentic, unfiltered, and is essential to the local restaurants near by. The market has been taking place here since the 19th century.

There are several guided cooking class tours taking tourists through the markets to pick out ingredients to make their own traditional food. We wanted to do a pizza making class, but the tour was sold out and we were on a tight timeline.

We walked through the “Fera o’ Luni”, a traditional sicilian fleamarket. There were piles of clothes for €1. Counterfeit handbags dangling from wire overhead. Picked over produce from the morning rush and vendors performing their final calls to get you to buy something from their table.

This is the place where Catania comes alive. It is a diverse hot spot and strange juxtaposition for those who are experiencing the city for the first time and for those who have never left the city limits.

After spending the morning and early afternoon exploring the main highlights of Catania, it was finally time for us to be picked up for our Mount Etna sunset tour–we did this one.

It was a 6 hour tour, where we explored Mount Etna at 2000 meters up and trekked around its craters and lava flow cave. We even tried some "cantucci" biscuits and "zibibbo" wine.

Etna is in a state of almost constant activity. As the sun was setting and our tour was coming to an end, billows of smoke and large sparks of lava penetrated the night sky.

If you ever go to Sicily, we would not recommend staying in Catania, but would vouch to at least see it. There are other, more beautiful areas we did not have time to see like Taormina, Palermo, Aci Castello and Aci Trezza, and the Aeolian Islands, so we will go back to Sicily someday because there is still so much to see.

Friday, May 27

At 5AM, we took a shuttle to the Pozzallo Ferry terminal. We had to be at the ferry terminal 90 minutes before our departure and Pozzallo was a 75 minute drive from our hotel in Catania. Thus, the reason for the early start.

The ferry was essentially a mini cruise ship. To our delight, it was a wonderful way to travel to Malta! Spacious and comfy seating, drinks and snacks, and a quick 90-minute cruise across the Mediterranean Sea over to Valletta, Malta!

By 11AM, we were checked into our hotel, Valletta Lucente, a luxurious property in the heart of Valletta. When I booked our room, they were having a big booking discount, so we reserved the penthouse room. The room has a spacious two story outdoor terrace with sea views of the Grand Harbour and the Fort of St. Angelo.

As we were walking around in search of a lunch spot, we were taken by the beauty of the city. While still old, the buildings are made with “Globigerina Limestone”, a soft, gold-coloured limestone. Total opposite of the blackend walls in Sicily the day before. The gold colored buildings accented with bright colorful doors and windows make Malta such a magical spot on the Mediterranean.

Sitting down at Eddie’s outdoor cafe to have lunch was one of our highlights for this trip.

With 31 Michelin restaurants across the island, the food in Malta is on another level.

We walked up, down, and around Republic Street, Strait Street, and Merchants Street so many times admiring all of the sweets and shops.

Two fun royalty facts–

Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip lived in Villa Guardamangia in Malta from 1949 to 1951 when they were first married. Once Queen Elizabeth became the queen, they never returned to their Malta home.
Meghan Merkle, is part Maltese, with her great-great grandmother born on the island.

As we walked around, we made our way high above the Grand Harbor to the Siege Bell Memorial. This is a monument dedicated to the 7,000 civilians, servicemen and women who fought and died for Malta during World War II.

Malta was subjected to incessant bombing raids between 1940 and 1943. During the first half of 1942, Malta endured 154 days and nights of continuous bombing.

There is bombing evidence left over from in many of the building facades.

The siege was finally broken with the arrival of 14 Merchant Navy ships in August of 1942, escorted by the largest and most powerful escort the British fleet had ever assembled in what became known as Operation Pedestal.

Of the 14 ships, only five made it into Grand Harbour, rescuing Malta from starvation.

Malta has several public gardens.

Two of the most beautiful being the Upper and Lower Barrakka Gardens offering a panoramic view of the Grand Harbour.

The Upper Barrakka Gardens contains the Saluting Battery, which is the oldest saluting battery still in operation anywhere in the world and is one of Malta’s biggest visitor attractions.

For almost 500 years, the guns protected the harbour against naval assault.

Today, everyday at noon and 4pm, a naval officer loads the cannon in the upper garden’s lower platform, while hundreds watch from above, and carries out the ceremony dictating the time to all ships who can hear it.

Malta is known for its warm climate and breathtaking landscapes that serve as locations for major film productions such as Game of Thrones, Captain Phillips, World War Z, and The Da Vinci code.

*A map in the gardens showing all the film locations for various movies.*

By 5pm, we were back in our hotel and the bell from the church across from the hotel was ringing. The bell was not automated though. There was an old man inside ringing it for at least 30 minutes.

After the sun set, we went back out to the streets where the city came to life even more than before. The side streets that were just steps a few hours ago, were now lined with tables and chairs for dinner.

Street musicians serenaded people as they enjoyed their evening meal and filled the city with romantic tunes.

Saturday, May 28

We kicked off our Saturday at the Blue grotto–a complex of sea caves along the Southeastern part of Malta and a popular tourist attraction.

We took a 25 minute boat excursion to get a closer look at the caves and would definitely recommend seeing this if you ever find yourself in Malta.

After we finished lunch overlooking the Med, we “Bolted” back to Valletta.

We took a traditional “dgħajsa” boat across the grand harbour to Birgu, one of the three orginial Maltese cities.

There are three fortified cities that sit like a trio of villages and were built over thousands of years.

In Birgu, where we went, there is a fort located at the center of the Grand Harbour. The fort was originally used as a castle and rebuilt by the by the Knights of Malta between 1530 and 1560. The Fort is best known for its role as the Order's headquarters during the Great Siege of Malta.

The fort suffered considerable damage during World War II, but it was later restored. We walked around Fort of St. Angelo for about 2.5 hours.

There is alot of info regarding the Knights of Malta that are hard to piece together, but here are a few facts:

The Order of Malta was founded c. 1099.
The Order is led by an elected Prince and Grand Master.
Today, Fra' Giacomo Dalla Torre del Tempio di Sanguinetto has been elected the 80th Grand Master of the Order of Malta. Once you become grand master, you are grand master until you die.
Today, there are 100 members in the Order of Malta, in Malta, and 13,000 member worldwide.
The mission of a Knight is to defend the Holy Land and provide care to those in need.
If you are a man in the Order, you are a Knight. If you are a woman in the Order, you are a Dame.
Anyone can become a member, but you must be invited first.
It takes a year of preparation to offically be a member.
Fra Critien is the only remaining knight who has taken the Order's full vows, making him the last true Knight of Malta in Malta.

It was time to go back to Valletta to get our bags and then head to the airport.

Malta is the world's tenth-smallest country, and even though we spent two full days there, it was not enough time to see everything. Much like Sicily, we will be back to Malta hopefully in the near future.

The final 24 hours were quite long and the rest of our trip was just making our way back home.

We flew back to Catania Saturday night and slept at the airport hotel. On Sunday morning, we flew to Vienna, took a train from Vienna to Linz, then drove from Linz to Gmunden. We were happy to be back home to say the least.

….We are heading to Croatia this week, so these midweek recaps are starting to become the norm :)

Week 83: Sicily and Malta

Thursday, May 26

Friday, May 27

Saturday, May 28

Week 84-85: Croatia

Week 82: Eric’s Birthday in Slovenia