When Michael
or I hear the name, “Malta,” the first thing that always came to mind was the
“Maltese Falcon.” Upon arriving in
Valletta, our quest was to find a statue, or, preferably, a magnet, of the
Maltese Falcon. It proved harder than we
had thought. Apparently, the old
Humphrey Bogart movie was too old, too American, too obscure, too whatever, to
make popular in current-day Malta the symbol of a great American mystery novel. (A bit of trivia: Long before Humphrey Bogart played Sam Spade
in The Maltese Falcon, the Knights of Malta gave a trained peregrine falcon to
King Charles V of Spain as a tribute.)
But, I’ll get back to our quest later….
Located in
the middle of the Mediterranean, Malta is just over a mile south of Sicily with
a population of about 7,000. It has a
typically Mediterranean climate with five to six hours of sunshine per day
during the winter and twelve hours in the hot, dry summer. Average temperature is about 64 degrees. Just lovely.
The city,
itself, lies way above the coast where our ship was docked so our option was to
(1) take a taxi; (2) walk up the hill which included 200 stairs; (3) take a
horse and buggy; or (4) take a high-tech elevator to the top.
For a senior
rate of 1€ roundtrip, we opted for the elevator which brought us right to the
Upper Barrakka Gardens. The gardens were
lovely and were nearby the row of canons that are shot at noon and 4 p.m.
daily. We missed the actual firing by
only a couple of minutes but saw the display on tv later on as part of the DVD
“Reflections” collection offered by Princess.
I was also
on a quest for Communion and Confirmation gifts that are NOT made in China –
many of you will know my aversion to buying religious items made in China – and
was hoping that somewhere in Europe I would get lucky. Considering the Maltese islands is the home
to over 350 churches, I thought we had a good chance.
On our way
on Republic Street, we stopped in a lovely store where I bought a beautiful
dress and belt and continued to look for religious stores. The very large St. John’s Cathedral was right
up the road but we found out that it cost 10€ to enter the building AND the
gift shop was closed. Unbelievable on
both counts!
I love
signage, and, probably, one of the best signs I saw on a pharmacy included, in
addition to “perfumerie,” was “toilet preparations.” There was a grocery store that sold “American
hot dogs” in a jar and “sparkler candles” that I thought were really neat. You can buy a “6” and “0,” light them up and
think it’s 4th of July any time of the year! There were several Communion suit and dress
shops (so my quest for religious items was hopeful).
We went into
just about every souvenir shop to find a Maltese Falcon magnet but we had to settle
on one that was in the shape of an “M” embossed with a knight, the eye of
Osiris, the Maltese cross and the Cathedral.
Quite a lovely magnet, but, disappointingly, no falcon!
During our
stop in one of the souvenir shops, I meet a gentleman looking at souvenir
plates. He said his wife sent him out
for a plate and showed me, on his cell phone, pictures of the various rooms in
his home with several walls adorned with plates from all over the world. I left him as he selected one that he thought
would be perfect. We would later find
out that he and his wife were celebrating their 70th, yes, 70th
wedding anniversary. A few days later,
our waiter told us that this lovely couple, who sat right behind our table at
the second seating, would be celebrating that evening and that the Captain and
cruise director would be coming down during dinner to acknowledge this extraordinary
anniversary. After the evening’s
entertainment, we took the chance that the happy couple would still be in the
dining room, and, sure enough, there they were with friends enjoying the
festive celebration. We wished them well
and left them to enjoy the very sizable cake that had been specially baked for
them and enjoyed by all the passengers in the dining room earlier in the
evening. Wow!
We decided
to have some lunch and went to a little restaurant that seemed to have lots of
local customers. I did enjoy the goat
and goza cheese salad, but thought the “vegetable” soup was pretty much
tasteless. Of course, we probably spent
too much on lunch, but, after I expressed my enthusiasm for the pen (I do love
pens) the waiter gave me to sign the credit slip, he graciously gave me the
pen.
When we left
the restaurant and headed back to the ship without any religious items or a
Maltese falcon, we met our new friends, Rosemarie and Norm, and decided to walk
back with them. At that very moment, I
looked to my left and what did I see?
“The Missions’ Gift Shop” – with the words “Faith, Hope & Charity”
above the sign. I immediately told
Rosemarie and Norm about our quest and told them we’d see them on the
ship. I found exactly what I was looking
for (although I mis-calculated the number of items I actually needed for
Communion and Confirmation gifts) and everything I bought was “made in Italy”
and NOT China. I was ecstatic.
Heading back
to the elevator to make our descent to the port area, I was happy with my
purchases but disappointed that a Maltese falcon was not to be found. When we got to the terminal, I said to
Michael, “let’s go in the duty free shop.”
Not seeing much that I needed, I mentioned to the gal our disappointment
in not finding a falcon and she said, “wait, come over here.” I couldn’t believe it! There, on the shelf was a laminated 5 x 7
card depicting Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Sidney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre
in back of a row of 4” Maltese Falcons!
Unfortunately, they were not black, but correctly designed otherwise,
and way too much price-wise, but I had to have one. The gal at the register looked at me like I was
crazy as I explained how we were looking for this item all day. She had no idea the significance of the
little bird and the movie but I was very happy.
Thrilled
with our purchases, an okay, but not exceptionl, lunch and a beautiful day in
Malta, we embarked our ship to enjoy a sea day and our next port o’ call,
Mallorca.
Michael’s Observations: I have to say that I
could’ve spent a lot more time in Malta – there were lots of cobble-stoned
alleys with small shops that would take a lot more time to see. Down the center of the main thoroughfare was
an active swap meet with sellers of t-shirts, underwear, socks, coats, hats,
etc. Had a fun time looking, but, sadly,
didn’t buy anything because I have too much stuff with me already. I was reminded that my office was above the
office of the Consul of Malta when I started practicing many years ago, and it
was a lot of fun just to be in this wonderful place.
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