September Malta trip summary by Joe

Jessie and the boys returned from the U.S. on September 6th. I then whisked them away to Malta (tiny island nation just south of Sicily) from the 9th to the 19th. We are now back in Cairo and settling in again after a lot travel.


Malta was great! There are 3 islands: big, medium and small. We spent the majority of our time on the small island Gozo because it has less people and is more laid back. We rented a car and Jessie drove because they drive on the "wrong"side as a result of 200 years of British occupation. We saw lots of things and the boys' favorites were the "unicorn bridge", castles, fossils, beaches, boats, ferries, swimming and caves. We went into 3 caves, two of which are accessed via someones house. Yes - you knock on their door, walk through their living room and down into there basement and down, down, down into caves! A hundred years ago their relatives were digging water wells and accidentally found caves. Now, the decendents are entrenuers and charge tourists a couple dollars to see their caves. We also saw Calypso's cave where the beautiful witch "kept" Ulysseus for 7 years. I investigated it thoroughly and me and the boys spend some time in there really hoping to encounter a hot witch. I had no luck, but the kindly witch did leave a candy necklace (still in its plastic wrapper) on a rock near the entrance where Jessie was waiting for us. H&N were ecstatic and Nathan did NOT want to leave the cave until he found the nice witch. He still talks about it. Me and the boys may have to go back for another looks sometime…

We also saw some neolithic temples that are even older than the pyramids. They were constructed in 3600BC and are amazing. Of course, I didn't get to see much because Henry skinned his knee and screamed/cried at this very ancient and holy place. We left after 30 minutes. There are 5 or 10 such sites in Malta. Check out the Malta link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malta

On our last day we went to where the Knights of St. John built a city in the 1500s called Valleta (it is the capital). It is a fortified city and castle and is amazing and dripping with history. We toured the canons and we got to see up close how they work, had a classroom session on powder, rammers, different canon balls (some with chains, some that open, some grape shot etc) and finally witnessed it loaded and fired. The boys loved that - but not as much as Ray would have!

All said, a good trip and our first vacation as a family unit without the much needed help of grandparents or friends with the twins. So as they approach their 4th birthday in October, life is getting easier. A little.

Joe