Beth's Cruise Day 10

Jan 14

We arrived in Malta late. We didn’t even get to disembark until 11:30AM. Our first order of business was to find an internet café where we uploaded quite a few photos and took care of some email and skype business. From there we sought lunch at a lovely little Maltese café. On the way, we stopped to buy new books, having finished the ones we brought. We each, ironically, chose a book that sort of fit both ourselves and our trip. Gwen chose a book that centers around Gaudi and the Sagrada Familia. Mine centers around Alexander the Great and his lost tomb.

From there we wandered down the main street, stopping to admire the Cathedral of St. John. We paid to enter the Armoury of the Grand Masters. Apparently the island was run and protected by these warrior monks the Knights of St.John. They held off the Muslim armies of Suleiman through a siege in 1565. Ten of their number killed 3000 muslims in one assault. The grand masters ruled the order and the one who was the head during the siege (John Valette) had the fortress built and named the city Valetta for himself. Their armament even contained rocket launchers and air guns.

We walked to the gardens of Barakka and then hired a horse carriage to take us around the city and back to the boat. Back onboard we met an awesome couple in the hot tubs. From there we ran to dinner in Alizar and then hurried to catch Lenny Windsor’s comedy in Spinnaker, which sucked. Afterwards, we checked out the Chocoholic Buffet, complete with chocolate dragons etc., before bed.