Josh and I don't eat eggs. It's one of the few foods that neither of us like - along with mayonnaise, bananas, and sourdough. BUT, eggs are by FAR the worst. The other stuff, we can eat depending on the situation. Not eggs (unless they're in a cake or something where we're ASSURED we won't be able to taste them).
WHY do we dislike eggs so much?
- they are slimy
- salmonella
- there's that gross white stringy thing that looks like snot
- they are pre-meat
- they smell like farts when cooking
- they come out of chicken butts
Really, I can't believe there are people out there that would actually eat them.
HOWEVER, I know they're healthy (although the whole cholesterol thing is still confusing), a good source of protein, and an easy meal. Plus, they're in tons of delicious things, like breakfast tacos. Omelets? They seem like the perfect food! Full of cheese and veggies and meat (for those of you who eat meat).
I've been thinking about trying to make some eggs for us, in various ways, to try and get us to start eating them. We're trying to get healthier, and expand our food horizons. I'm an adventurous eater, and Josh is really getting there as well. SOOOO, I feel like we need to get over our eggaphobia (if that's not a real word, it certainly should be).
I bought a half dozen eggs the other day to make a cake. My thought was that I'd use the leftover eggs for us to eat. Or attempt to eat, anyway.
That is, until I inspected the eggs.
There are small smears of brown on the egg shells. You know what those smears are?
POOP! THERE IS STILL LEFTOVER CHICKEN POOP ON THE EGG SHELLS!!!!
Fuck you, eggs. You're not going to be on an Aycock plate anytime soon. Fuck. You.
Thursday, June 28, 2012
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Trip to Malta & Sicily - Part 3
Oh, what a nice sleep it was after the VERY full day in Sicily!
Our last full day in Malta was a Monday, so Lexie had to go to work & couldn't hang out with us. But, she dropped James off early, so we were able to head out early, and get a start on exploring the main island of Malta!
One thing - I forgot to turn the water heater on when I took a shower this morning. So, after about 5 minutes - ZERO hot water. Although, to be honest, it wasn't that bad. I was tired of being hot & sweaty, and this definitely cured me of that (at least for a few minutes)!
As this was the Trip of Food, our first stop was breakfast. We walked for awhile first, though, just to explore a little bit.
After breakfast (more sandwiches for the Aycocks! we're not much for breakfast foods), we explored a little more, before going to the bus station.
It really is a pretty place!
The plan for the day was to take a bus to Mdina (pronounced Em-dee-na), a walled city a little more towards the interior of the island.
We had a little time to kill before the next bus. So, what’d we do? Meal #2!! :/ Ok, it was about 11am or so, and it had been about an hour since breakfast. Josh and I didn’t eat (we DID have a beer), but James did. Apparently he goes to this sausage place quite often. The owner was an Italian who was raised in Germany, I guess? Or lived in Germany? I don’t know - he know all about the Ramstein/KMC area though, so he was fun to talk to.
After Elevensies (ha! hobbits), time for the bus! Ohhhhh, sweet air conditioning! :) First stop was to this craft area (Ta' Qali) outside of Mdina. It was in a very....strange area. It looked like an abandoned military camp from WWII, and maybe about one in four buildings were occupied by a different crafter - glass blowing, filigree, metal work, jewelers, potters, stuff like that.
Weird location, eh? Felt like zombies were about to pop out.
We loved the glassblowers. The stuff was awesome! But, it always makes me really nervous to walk around places like that. I’m a serial klutz, so expensive glass pieces and I don’t really get a long. :/
An awesome thing about the glass places were that they had whole rooms of “damaged” items that were WAY cheap. But, for the most part, you couldn’t tell what the problem was (maybe a teeny tiny chip on the bottom of a vase, or something). Josh was itching to buy big huge pieces to take home, but we ended up just getting ourselves some small items. I really didn’t want to worry about how to bring a huge glass platter back with us. :/
We walked thru some kind of abandoned arboretum/park kind of place. Well, I don't think it was abandoned, just not really used much. It was still kept up fairly well. However, I swear if you didn't know any better, you'd think you were walking around in Mexico - brown, palm trees, beige, hot, sun.
Up on the hill is the walled city of Mdina
After our little shopping time, it was back to catch the bus to take us to the city. Mdina was the old capital of Malta. The Phoenicians lived there in 700BC, so....yeah, kind of a lot of history. It's walled in, and while cars are allowed inside, they have to be a certain size (duh). Buses, ambulances, stuff like that can't really get in. But, it was SO COOL to walk around! This was my favorite city in Malta.
That’s my “I’m tired of you taking pictures of me, Josh. Leave me alone!” face. :)
This was not a huge city by any means. But, I could probably have gotten really lost (thankfully James has been there several times). All the streets were tiny, twisty, and there were all these nooks and crannies I’m sure you could get lost in.
I think it was maybe 1 or 2 at this point? Maybe a little later...guess what that meant? Yup - lunchtime!!!
Are you sensing, yet, WHY I called this the “Trip of Food”?
Actually, I’m really glad we went to this restaurant (Fontanella). The view was AWESOME!!!
See that large, rounded building? That's the Rotunda church - the one the WWII bomb was dropped on.
The food was pretty good. Josh just had cheesecake, and I had a very very thin pizza. We stayed there for awhile, drinking in the view.
Afterwards, we continued walking around the city.
Apparently door knockers are a big thing in Mdina - all the doors had very ornate brass door knockers, in all different shapes and sizes. We’ve found that many cities in Europe have some kind of “signature” look that you can recognize throughout that city.
It was getting to be late in the afternoon. There was a big soccer game on that night so we all wanted to go out and watch the game. It was England vs. France, so we knew it was going to be playing on all the Maltese televisions (remember - Malta was British until 1964, and there are TONS of British tourists around).
It took us a lot longer to get back to James’ apartment than it did to get to Mdina. We had to stop in Valletta at a big bus depot to get the bus to take us on to Il-Gzira - and of course that was the most crowded route. :/ And of COURSE I had to be sat next to by Mr. Smellypits. But, eh, I was Ms. Sweatyface, so I guess we made a good pair.
BTW, I may have forgotten to mention - all day bus tickets were SUPER CHEAP! I think it was €2.60 for non-residents (James' was something like €1.40). We really need to take advantage of public transportation more often!
So, got back to James' apartment, dropped off our stuff, then headed out to the nearest bar to watch the game. We went to a Tex-Mex bar. Oh my good lord, what a sorry excuse for Tex-Mex. But then, any Tex-Mex establishment outside of Texas pretty much fails on the count of authenticity.
But, they did have 2 for 1 margaritas (which weren't good...but they weren't undrinkable, either). And, the guys ate AGAIN!! (that's restaurant #4, if you're counting). Some kind of beef chipotle quesadillas...I dunno, all I know is that the salsa was mainly some sort of tabasco hybrid. BUT, watching the soccer game was a lot of fun! I'm glad Josh is starting to get into soccer, because I like watching it, also. I don't give a crap about football, but I do like soccer (and basketball).
It's just fun to get into it with the locals, and other tourists who are REALLY into it!
Lexie met up with us after awhile, and we all had a good time. :)
I think it was about 9:30pm or so? James had been talking about this falafel place the entire trip, so guess where we went to next? Yup, restaurant #5.
I'm a sucker for falafel, so I had to have some! Plus, I didn't eat at the Tex-Mex place, so I don't feel TOO bad for eating again. We all sat outside on shared tables. The restaurant (like most businesses) was on the bottom floor, and all of the top floors were apartments. All of a sudden, we feel what we think is rain. BUT, that's impossible, because it just doesn't rain in Malta (at least not during this time period - it does in the winter). We look up, and some dude is cleaning his window at 10pm, and raining dirty nasty window water/cleaner down on everybody, and everybody's food. James starts to yell at the guy, but the guy just won't stop.
Then came the Wrath of Mr. Aycock.
Oh, that husband of mine. He was quite angry. James yelled at the guy, but Josh YELLED at the guy.
Also scared the shit out of several people on the surrounding block, I'm sure. But, he definitely stopped cleaning after that.
(afterwards, I may have voiced my displeasure at the scene my husband caused, but we don't need to talk about that here) ;)
It's getting late now, so we went back to James' place, and went to bed. And as I'm writing this blog, I just realized that TONIGHT was the night that Josh & I fell asleep before James & Lexie even left the apartment, not the night before (like I said in my previous blog). Oops, my bad.
Our flight the next day wasn't until 3:30pm, so we had time in the morning to explore a last little bit. We went to Valletta, the capital city of Malta. We at first had planned to take the ferry across, but the bus stop was RIGHT there, and SO convenient. Plus, it was hotter and more humid, so we just took the bus instead. I'm fine with that choice. :)
First up, breakfast (duh). This time, salad for me, and ice cream for Josh. I told you - the Aycocks aren’t much for breakfast foods! Well, unless it’s brinner (breakfast for dinner). That’s the only time we eat breakfast food (except eggs....Aycocks don’t eat eggs).
Valletta is where James’ school is located. It was such a cool building - there were tons of old statues, and artwork all throughout the old building. It’d be such an experience to be able to go to school there, and James is definitely a lucky guy!
After exploring his college, we went to check out one of the forts. I am pretty sure it was Fort St. Elmo.
Valletta also had a lot of building “scars” from WWII bombings. It was pretty crazy to walk along, and see “pock marks” in the sides of buildings from old bombs.
See those marks up top, the big "holes"? Bomb marks.
After sightseeing in Valletta, it was time to head back to the apartment, and then on to the airport.
Before we caught the bus back, I had to first try Kinnie!
Kinnie is a local Maltese soda. It’s advertised everywhere, and it was even served on the plane. It seemed as popular in Malta as coke & sprite were. I was really excited to finally try it - a bitter orange herbal soda.
I took one sip. First statement, a couple seconds after swallowing, “Why won’t that taste go away!?” NOT a pleasant experience!!!
But, I had to try it!
James was nice enough to ride the bus with us to the airport. Thankfully we got there when we did - there was one other person in line in front of us (who took FOREVER, jeez) but it seemed like everyone in Malta ended up behind us in the same line.
We then said our goodbyes to James (sad face).
The Malta airport really does deserve all the awards it has received. It was so nice! Very very stylish, and the shops were all really nice as well. We're SO thankful that we had the 3:30pm flight back to Frankfurt, because the 12:30pm flight back to Frankfurt had been delayed until 7:30pm!!
It was funny - there was another lady that was on our first flight (NOT the same lady that we sat next to, that we also saw on Gozo). The reason we remember her from the first flight is because she was balding, with spiky hair, and had on the shortest, tightest dress I've ever seen. Well, we saw her (in the same dress, just different color) at the airport on our way back.
That's the funny thing about Malta. It's its own country, but so small! We were recognizing people all the time! One of James' teachers was at the glassblowing place. I saw one of the Tex-Mex waiters in Valletta the next day. The American girls that were on our van with us to take us to the ferry for Sicily - I saw them while we were touring James' school. Such a small world!
The flight back to Frankfurt was just as uneventful as the flight there (although this time they gave out free wine - score!). AND, no curry AGAIN! :D
As soon as we got back to Frankfurt, and exited the building - OH MY GOD, HOLY CRAP THAT FEELS SO MUCH BETTER!!!!!! Low 60s, cloudy, threatening rain. It was such a relief!!! I gotta tell you, we had a ton of fun in Malta, but after all the sun & heat & burnt skin - I was READY for the relief of cold, rainy Germany!!
So, here's my Malta/Sicily rundown:
Malta:
Courtney's favorite city: Mdina
Josh's favorite city: Mdina
Courtney's favorite meal: the ftira pizza thingy from the Gozo bakery
Josh's favorite meal: the sandwich from Jubilee Foods on the first day
Definitely check out: Gozo & Mdina
Sicily:
Courtney's favorite city: Modica
Josh's favorite city: Syracuse
Favorite meal: duh, the lunch
Really, we don't need to go back to Malta again. It was nice & we had a ton of fun, but I don't know if it's a "Must See" necessarily. Sicily is DEFINITELY a "Must See". We could go back and spend a week on Sicily if we could.
We're so happy we took this trip, though!! The main reason was to see and hang out with an old friend, it was just a major plus that he was where he was. :)
Our last full day in Malta was a Monday, so Lexie had to go to work & couldn't hang out with us. But, she dropped James off early, so we were able to head out early, and get a start on exploring the main island of Malta!
One thing - I forgot to turn the water heater on when I took a shower this morning. So, after about 5 minutes - ZERO hot water. Although, to be honest, it wasn't that bad. I was tired of being hot & sweaty, and this definitely cured me of that (at least for a few minutes)!
As this was the Trip of Food, our first stop was breakfast. We walked for awhile first, though, just to explore a little bit.
After breakfast (more sandwiches for the Aycocks! we're not much for breakfast foods), we explored a little more, before going to the bus station.
It really is a pretty place!
The plan for the day was to take a bus to Mdina (pronounced Em-dee-na), a walled city a little more towards the interior of the island.
We had a little time to kill before the next bus. So, what’d we do? Meal #2!! :/ Ok, it was about 11am or so, and it had been about an hour since breakfast. Josh and I didn’t eat (we DID have a beer), but James did. Apparently he goes to this sausage place quite often. The owner was an Italian who was raised in Germany, I guess? Or lived in Germany? I don’t know - he know all about the Ramstein/KMC area though, so he was fun to talk to.
After Elevensies (ha! hobbits), time for the bus! Ohhhhh, sweet air conditioning! :) First stop was to this craft area (Ta' Qali) outside of Mdina. It was in a very....strange area. It looked like an abandoned military camp from WWII, and maybe about one in four buildings were occupied by a different crafter - glass blowing, filigree, metal work, jewelers, potters, stuff like that.
We loved the glassblowers. The stuff was awesome! But, it always makes me really nervous to walk around places like that. I’m a serial klutz, so expensive glass pieces and I don’t really get a long. :/
An awesome thing about the glass places were that they had whole rooms of “damaged” items that were WAY cheap. But, for the most part, you couldn’t tell what the problem was (maybe a teeny tiny chip on the bottom of a vase, or something). Josh was itching to buy big huge pieces to take home, but we ended up just getting ourselves some small items. I really didn’t want to worry about how to bring a huge glass platter back with us. :/
We walked thru some kind of abandoned arboretum/park kind of place. Well, I don't think it was abandoned, just not really used much. It was still kept up fairly well. However, I swear if you didn't know any better, you'd think you were walking around in Mexico - brown, palm trees, beige, hot, sun.
After our little shopping time, it was back to catch the bus to take us to the city. Mdina was the old capital of Malta. The Phoenicians lived there in 700BC, so....yeah, kind of a lot of history. It's walled in, and while cars are allowed inside, they have to be a certain size (duh). Buses, ambulances, stuff like that can't really get in. But, it was SO COOL to walk around! This was my favorite city in Malta.
This was not a huge city by any means. But, I could probably have gotten really lost (thankfully James has been there several times). All the streets were tiny, twisty, and there were all these nooks and crannies I’m sure you could get lost in.
I think it was maybe 1 or 2 at this point? Maybe a little later...guess what that meant? Yup - lunchtime!!!
Are you sensing, yet, WHY I called this the “Trip of Food”?
Actually, I’m really glad we went to this restaurant (Fontanella). The view was AWESOME!!!
The food was pretty good. Josh just had cheesecake, and I had a very very thin pizza. We stayed there for awhile, drinking in the view.
Afterwards, we continued walking around the city.
Apparently door knockers are a big thing in Mdina - all the doors had very ornate brass door knockers, in all different shapes and sizes. We’ve found that many cities in Europe have some kind of “signature” look that you can recognize throughout that city.
It was getting to be late in the afternoon. There was a big soccer game on that night so we all wanted to go out and watch the game. It was England vs. France, so we knew it was going to be playing on all the Maltese televisions (remember - Malta was British until 1964, and there are TONS of British tourists around).
It took us a lot longer to get back to James’ apartment than it did to get to Mdina. We had to stop in Valletta at a big bus depot to get the bus to take us on to Il-Gzira - and of course that was the most crowded route. :/ And of COURSE I had to be sat next to by Mr. Smellypits. But, eh, I was Ms. Sweatyface, so I guess we made a good pair.
BTW, I may have forgotten to mention - all day bus tickets were SUPER CHEAP! I think it was €2.60 for non-residents (James' was something like €1.40). We really need to take advantage of public transportation more often!
So, got back to James' apartment, dropped off our stuff, then headed out to the nearest bar to watch the game. We went to a Tex-Mex bar. Oh my good lord, what a sorry excuse for Tex-Mex. But then, any Tex-Mex establishment outside of Texas pretty much fails on the count of authenticity.
But, they did have 2 for 1 margaritas (which weren't good...but they weren't undrinkable, either). And, the guys ate AGAIN!! (that's restaurant #4, if you're counting). Some kind of beef chipotle quesadillas...I dunno, all I know is that the salsa was mainly some sort of tabasco hybrid. BUT, watching the soccer game was a lot of fun! I'm glad Josh is starting to get into soccer, because I like watching it, also. I don't give a crap about football, but I do like soccer (and basketball).
It's just fun to get into it with the locals, and other tourists who are REALLY into it!
Lexie met up with us after awhile, and we all had a good time. :)
I think it was about 9:30pm or so? James had been talking about this falafel place the entire trip, so guess where we went to next? Yup, restaurant #5.
I'm a sucker for falafel, so I had to have some! Plus, I didn't eat at the Tex-Mex place, so I don't feel TOO bad for eating again. We all sat outside on shared tables. The restaurant (like most businesses) was on the bottom floor, and all of the top floors were apartments. All of a sudden, we feel what we think is rain. BUT, that's impossible, because it just doesn't rain in Malta (at least not during this time period - it does in the winter). We look up, and some dude is cleaning his window at 10pm, and raining dirty nasty window water/cleaner down on everybody, and everybody's food. James starts to yell at the guy, but the guy just won't stop.
Then came the Wrath of Mr. Aycock.
Oh, that husband of mine. He was quite angry. James yelled at the guy, but Josh YELLED at the guy.
Also scared the shit out of several people on the surrounding block, I'm sure. But, he definitely stopped cleaning after that.
(afterwards, I may have voiced my displeasure at the scene my husband caused, but we don't need to talk about that here) ;)
It's getting late now, so we went back to James' place, and went to bed. And as I'm writing this blog, I just realized that TONIGHT was the night that Josh & I fell asleep before James & Lexie even left the apartment, not the night before (like I said in my previous blog). Oops, my bad.
Our flight the next day wasn't until 3:30pm, so we had time in the morning to explore a last little bit. We went to Valletta, the capital city of Malta. We at first had planned to take the ferry across, but the bus stop was RIGHT there, and SO convenient. Plus, it was hotter and more humid, so we just took the bus instead. I'm fine with that choice. :)
First up, breakfast (duh). This time, salad for me, and ice cream for Josh. I told you - the Aycocks aren’t much for breakfast foods! Well, unless it’s brinner (breakfast for dinner). That’s the only time we eat breakfast food (except eggs....Aycocks don’t eat eggs).
Valletta is where James’ school is located. It was such a cool building - there were tons of old statues, and artwork all throughout the old building. It’d be such an experience to be able to go to school there, and James is definitely a lucky guy!
After exploring his college, we went to check out one of the forts. I am pretty sure it was Fort St. Elmo.
Valletta also had a lot of building “scars” from WWII bombings. It was pretty crazy to walk along, and see “pock marks” in the sides of buildings from old bombs.
After sightseeing in Valletta, it was time to head back to the apartment, and then on to the airport.
Before we caught the bus back, I had to first try Kinnie!
Kinnie is a local Maltese soda. It’s advertised everywhere, and it was even served on the plane. It seemed as popular in Malta as coke & sprite were. I was really excited to finally try it - a bitter orange herbal soda.
I took one sip. First statement, a couple seconds after swallowing, “Why won’t that taste go away!?” NOT a pleasant experience!!!
But, I had to try it!
James was nice enough to ride the bus with us to the airport. Thankfully we got there when we did - there was one other person in line in front of us (who took FOREVER, jeez) but it seemed like everyone in Malta ended up behind us in the same line.
We then said our goodbyes to James (sad face).
The Malta airport really does deserve all the awards it has received. It was so nice! Very very stylish, and the shops were all really nice as well. We're SO thankful that we had the 3:30pm flight back to Frankfurt, because the 12:30pm flight back to Frankfurt had been delayed until 7:30pm!!
It was funny - there was another lady that was on our first flight (NOT the same lady that we sat next to, that we also saw on Gozo). The reason we remember her from the first flight is because she was balding, with spiky hair, and had on the shortest, tightest dress I've ever seen. Well, we saw her (in the same dress, just different color) at the airport on our way back.
That's the funny thing about Malta. It's its own country, but so small! We were recognizing people all the time! One of James' teachers was at the glassblowing place. I saw one of the Tex-Mex waiters in Valletta the next day. The American girls that were on our van with us to take us to the ferry for Sicily - I saw them while we were touring James' school. Such a small world!
The flight back to Frankfurt was just as uneventful as the flight there (although this time they gave out free wine - score!). AND, no curry AGAIN! :D
As soon as we got back to Frankfurt, and exited the building - OH MY GOD, HOLY CRAP THAT FEELS SO MUCH BETTER!!!!!! Low 60s, cloudy, threatening rain. It was such a relief!!! I gotta tell you, we had a ton of fun in Malta, but after all the sun & heat & burnt skin - I was READY for the relief of cold, rainy Germany!!
So, here's my Malta/Sicily rundown:
Malta:
Courtney's favorite city: Mdina
Josh's favorite city: Mdina
Courtney's favorite meal: the ftira pizza thingy from the Gozo bakery
Josh's favorite meal: the sandwich from Jubilee Foods on the first day
Definitely check out: Gozo & Mdina
Sicily:
Courtney's favorite city: Modica
Josh's favorite city: Syracuse
Favorite meal: duh, the lunch
Really, we don't need to go back to Malta again. It was nice & we had a ton of fun, but I don't know if it's a "Must See" necessarily. Sicily is DEFINITELY a "Must See". We could go back and spend a week on Sicily if we could.
We're so happy we took this trip, though!! The main reason was to see and hang out with an old friend, it was just a major plus that he was where he was. :)
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
Trip to Malta & Sicily - Part 2
Man, 4:45am came really, really quickly. :/
BUUUUUT, today was the day for Sicily, so we got over our tiredness pretty easily.
There's a company (Virtu Ferries) that not only does just ferry rides from Malta to Sicily, but also guided tours. It was €117 per person for the roundtrip ferry ride, and the all-day guided tour. We chose the "Syracuse & Iblean Gems" trip. MOST people choose the Mt. Etna & Taormina trip. However, we're SO GLAD we chose to do Syracuse. I'll explain why later.
So, we're up at 4:45am, and have to walk over to a nearby hotel, where a van picked us and a few other people up, to take us to the docks. The Virtu Ferry is actually a catamaran, but it's quite large. I think it held almost 500 people, and it had two snack counters, a casino, and a gift shop on the main deck (no telling what was in the "first class" deck). The ferry left at 6:30am, and it's about an hour and a half to get to Sicily (they're only 50 miles apart).
It was a nice enough ferry. We all had breakfast, then James took a nap while Josh & I played Fluxx.
(btw, you must buy Fluxx, if you don't already have it...it is AWESOME)
(btw #2 - I won, 2 out of 3. In your face, Aycock!)
Hokay, so like I said earlier, we chose the Syracuse tour. I had no desire to go see Mt. Etna. Yes, it's famous, blah blah blah. I've seen volcanoes before. Hell, I've seen a volcano erupt before. You've seen one, you've seen all. PLUS, (and we didn't find this out until later), Mt. Etna can be a huge tourist trap. The tour will take you to the mountain, but if you want to go to the top, you have to pay another €20, and if you want to take the cable car up to the VERY top, that's another €20ish per person. No, thank you.
The Etna tours were done on huge double-decker coach buses. I think there were 2 or 3 buses for just the one tour. Ours, being not as popular, was just a regular coach, and we only had 21 people. I was very thankful for that. Plus, our lunch was included (and on the other tours, it wasn’t).
The tours are also multi-lingual. Our tour was English & Russian. Quite a combination, eh? Our tour guide was a woman who was from Moscow, but married to a Sicilian. I guess the area is a hot spot for Russians?? I don’t know, but it was fun to listen to all of ‘em talk....presumably about borscht & Communism....
The first thing we noticed when we got to Sicily is how much drier the air was. It was still warm & sunny, but it was such a relief to not be sweating QUITE as much. Plus, even though it was a pretty dry place, there was a LOT more green around. Weird, since it's only 50 miles from Malta.
Anywho - first stop, Syracuse.
Archimedes Square
The Cathedral of Syracuse on the Piazza Duomo
Have I mentioned before that I hate birds? Ok, I don’t hate birds, but I’m terrified that they’re going to poop on me while they’re flying overhead. There were about a million stupid seagulls flying around the Piazza, and the entire time we’re walking around, I’m doing a side-to-side dance trying to avoid being directly under these stupid things. I must have looked like a crazy person, but I care not....I didn’t get pooped on. (next time we go on a trip, I’m taking an umbrella to hold over myself the entire time we’re outside - I don’t CARE if I look like one of those people).
We went into the Syracuse Church for a little while. It was pretty, but what was really cool were the human bones on display. I’m assuming they were the bones of Saints, but who can read Italian?? (okay, yes, millions of Italians, but I’m not one of ‘em). On second thought, it was probably Latin....same thing, still can't read it.
We had about an hour and a half to kill while in Syracuse. So, what do you do when you’re in Italy? You eat gelato. Never mind that it was 10:30am. Josh had strawberry, I had lemon, and James had chocolate (although apparently James has chocolate gelato once a day in Malta...lush).
I definitely won the flavor contest. The strawberry was good, but the lemon was AWESOME!!! But, it was soooooo lemon-y, that I could only eat about 2/3 of it. Don't care, still worth it.
So, James and I are walking in front of Josh, while we're all eating our gelato. We're walking along the sidewalk on the edge of the city, overlooking the water. We stop to talk about something. James and I turn back to look at Josh.
Hilarity ensues.
Josh is standing there, eating his gelato. He's got it all over his shirt, all over his mustache, all over his CHEEK, dripping down his neck, dripping down his hand. He looks like a hairy 4 year old (or a mentally-challenged adult), trying to eat his ice cream. It was probably the funniest he's ever looked. He looked so pathetic, but so happy at the same time. Of COURSE I didn't get a picture of it, because he had the camera (and I'm pretty sure the camera strap also had gelato on it). Rest assured, it was awesome.
Anyway, we wander around the town some more. Syracuse ended up being Josh's favorite city from the day.
An hour and a half just wasn’t enough time there. Especially since I spent 20 minutes trying to find a bathroom. :/ It was starting to get kinda hot, though, and I could feel myself cooking - so, it was nice to get back on the air conditioned bus (god, I’m such an old lady sometimes....).
After Syracuse, it was on to lunch - although it was another hour and fifteen til we got to our lunch stop. It was a really nice drive thru the Sicilian countryside, though. Our guide talked most of the way (five minutes in English, five minutes in Russian), talking about Sicilian life.
So, as I said, lunch was included. And this was hands-down, the BEST lunch we have EVER had. It was held near the town of Ragusa, outside, by a lake, next to the restaurant. There was also an Italian Harley meet-up going on at the same time. They all seemed pretty drunk (and high - there was definitely some weed smoking going on), and they thought we were the funniest people in the world. Couldn’t understand what they were saying, but I KNOW they were laughing at us. Not in a nasty way, just more of a “haha, look at the crazy gringos!” A bunch of ‘em even let some of the people on our group sit on the bikes to take pictures (insert eye roll here).
Anyway, lunch was by the water. It was all-you-could-eat, and best of all, all-you-could-drink wine. The three of us must have gone thru a whole bottle each. (The Aycocks know how to get their money's worth). First off, antipasto. Plates of spicy olives, sundried tomatoes (love), eggplant caponata (I normally don’t like eggplant, but this was amazing), bread (which actually was the only thing that wasn’t that great), salami, and cheese. Then, they brought out little bread pockets stuffed with onion & cheese. Then, they brought out a sort of stromboli filled with tomato sauce & parsley.
Following that, the pasta course. Penne in tomato sauce with fresh cheese. Now, any of you who know the Mister, knows that he’s not a pasta fan (he doesn’t trust the way it wiggles....his words, not mine). He’s ok with penne, farfalle, angel hair - anything small (he cuts up the angel hair - what was I saying earlier about him being a hairy 4 year old?). So, because this was penne, he was fine with trying it. It was TO DIE FOR!!! He said it was the best pasta he’s ever had, and I think all of us ended up having two helpings of it. It was absolutely amazing, and I’m really upset that we don’t live in Sicily....
Next up - the main course. Although, at this point, We’re all pretty full. First, they come out with platters of sauteed mushrooms, apples, and almonds in a lemony sauce. It was for the meat dish, which was sauteed pork. I was the only vegetarian on the trip, but they still made me a special plate. They brought me a plate full of fresh quartered tomatoes, drizzled with olive oil & sea salt. I was a little upset that I was so full, because good lord was that good....
BTW, we’re still drinking our wine.
Next up, was the dessert. They just brought out baskets of fresh apples & apricots, then if you WANTED, they would bring you some cannoli. We actually didn’t have any of it, we were so full. Blurgh.
It was such a relaxing meal. We chatted a little bit with the English couple (they were from Oxford, so we chatted about that - I did a summer semester at Oxford). Then a puppy came to hang out, and I got irritated with the Russian lady across from me that fed the puppy practically a whole pig’s worth of pork chops from off her plate. :/
We were SO full, and happy, and slightly buzzy, that it was such a drag to get back on the bus. I could have laid in the shade and hung out there all afternoon.
But, it we were on our way to the town Marina di Ragusa. This stop (I think we were there for an hour and a half??) was really just to let people have some beach time. We didn’t have our swimsuits, but we were wearing shorts, so we waded along the beach, people-watching for some time. Josh had never been to the Mediterranean before this trip, so he wanted to be able to say that he’s been in the Mediterranean.
I must admit, I got a little cranky during this stop. Once again, we were trying to find a bathroom. I was trying to find a place to get some water, Josh was trying to find a place to get some cigarettes, and we just started snipping away at each other. BUT, our snips are always very short-lived, so we were soon back to our happy Aycock selves.
Our last stop was Modica. This was my favorite town that we visited in Sicily. This town is situated in a deep valley, with buildings going up both sides of the valley. The sun was down (yes!!!!), and it wasn’t really busy - it was around 6pm on a Sunday night, after all.
First stop was to a gift shop to try some Modica chocolate. This ended up being the best kind chocolate that either of us has either had. There were probably 20 different flavors (peperoncino was our favorite). It’s like a crystallized chocolate, that’s a little crunchy. VERY different, but really good - and I’m not even a chocolate person.
Josh walked up 250 steps to go see this church. I did not.
But, we did then go to this church. Mass was going on, and we stepped inside the door, but then I felt weird because I was in shorts & a tank top, so I left. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again - I may be a heathen, but I’m a respectful heathen.
We walked around a little bit longer, stopped into a restaurant to have a rest, and try the local drink (some bitter, orangey liquor cocktail - ick), and it was back to the bus, to go back to the ferry.
The ferry ride back to Malta was not NEAR as nice as the ferry ride to Sicily. There were easily twice as many people, and I think they were all stupid. They were definitely all irritating. But, then the soccer game started on tv, and it calmed down a little bit.
We got back to Malta around 11:30pm. Such a LONG DAY!!!! We grabbed some takeout from a nearby chicken & fry shop. Lexie came over to pick up James to take him back to her place. Josh and I were asleep in bed before they even left the apartment; we were SO EXHAUSTED.
But, man, that trip was awesome. :)
BUUUUUT, today was the day for Sicily, so we got over our tiredness pretty easily.
There's a company (Virtu Ferries) that not only does just ferry rides from Malta to Sicily, but also guided tours. It was €117 per person for the roundtrip ferry ride, and the all-day guided tour. We chose the "Syracuse & Iblean Gems" trip. MOST people choose the Mt. Etna & Taormina trip. However, we're SO GLAD we chose to do Syracuse. I'll explain why later.
So, we're up at 4:45am, and have to walk over to a nearby hotel, where a van picked us and a few other people up, to take us to the docks. The Virtu Ferry is actually a catamaran, but it's quite large. I think it held almost 500 people, and it had two snack counters, a casino, and a gift shop on the main deck (no telling what was in the "first class" deck). The ferry left at 6:30am, and it's about an hour and a half to get to Sicily (they're only 50 miles apart).
It was a nice enough ferry. We all had breakfast, then James took a nap while Josh & I played Fluxx.
(btw, you must buy Fluxx, if you don't already have it...it is AWESOME)
(btw #2 - I won, 2 out of 3. In your face, Aycock!)
Hokay, so like I said earlier, we chose the Syracuse tour. I had no desire to go see Mt. Etna. Yes, it's famous, blah blah blah. I've seen volcanoes before. Hell, I've seen a volcano erupt before. You've seen one, you've seen all. PLUS, (and we didn't find this out until later), Mt. Etna can be a huge tourist trap. The tour will take you to the mountain, but if you want to go to the top, you have to pay another €20, and if you want to take the cable car up to the VERY top, that's another €20ish per person. No, thank you.
The Etna tours were done on huge double-decker coach buses. I think there were 2 or 3 buses for just the one tour. Ours, being not as popular, was just a regular coach, and we only had 21 people. I was very thankful for that. Plus, our lunch was included (and on the other tours, it wasn’t).
The tours are also multi-lingual. Our tour was English & Russian. Quite a combination, eh? Our tour guide was a woman who was from Moscow, but married to a Sicilian. I guess the area is a hot spot for Russians?? I don’t know, but it was fun to listen to all of ‘em talk....presumably about borscht & Communism....
The first thing we noticed when we got to Sicily is how much drier the air was. It was still warm & sunny, but it was such a relief to not be sweating QUITE as much. Plus, even though it was a pretty dry place, there was a LOT more green around. Weird, since it's only 50 miles from Malta.
Anywho - first stop, Syracuse.
Archimedes Square
The Cathedral of Syracuse on the Piazza Duomo
Have I mentioned before that I hate birds? Ok, I don’t hate birds, but I’m terrified that they’re going to poop on me while they’re flying overhead. There were about a million stupid seagulls flying around the Piazza, and the entire time we’re walking around, I’m doing a side-to-side dance trying to avoid being directly under these stupid things. I must have looked like a crazy person, but I care not....I didn’t get pooped on. (next time we go on a trip, I’m taking an umbrella to hold over myself the entire time we’re outside - I don’t CARE if I look like one of those people).
We went into the Syracuse Church for a little while. It was pretty, but what was really cool were the human bones on display. I’m assuming they were the bones of Saints, but who can read Italian?? (okay, yes, millions of Italians, but I’m not one of ‘em). On second thought, it was probably Latin....same thing, still can't read it.
We had about an hour and a half to kill while in Syracuse. So, what do you do when you’re in Italy? You eat gelato. Never mind that it was 10:30am. Josh had strawberry, I had lemon, and James had chocolate (although apparently James has chocolate gelato once a day in Malta...lush).
I definitely won the flavor contest. The strawberry was good, but the lemon was AWESOME!!! But, it was soooooo lemon-y, that I could only eat about 2/3 of it. Don't care, still worth it.
So, James and I are walking in front of Josh, while we're all eating our gelato. We're walking along the sidewalk on the edge of the city, overlooking the water. We stop to talk about something. James and I turn back to look at Josh.
Hilarity ensues.
Josh is standing there, eating his gelato. He's got it all over his shirt, all over his mustache, all over his CHEEK, dripping down his neck, dripping down his hand. He looks like a hairy 4 year old (or a mentally-challenged adult), trying to eat his ice cream. It was probably the funniest he's ever looked. He looked so pathetic, but so happy at the same time. Of COURSE I didn't get a picture of it, because he had the camera (and I'm pretty sure the camera strap also had gelato on it). Rest assured, it was awesome.
Anyway, we wander around the town some more. Syracuse ended up being Josh's favorite city from the day.
An hour and a half just wasn’t enough time there. Especially since I spent 20 minutes trying to find a bathroom. :/ It was starting to get kinda hot, though, and I could feel myself cooking - so, it was nice to get back on the air conditioned bus (god, I’m such an old lady sometimes....).
After Syracuse, it was on to lunch - although it was another hour and fifteen til we got to our lunch stop. It was a really nice drive thru the Sicilian countryside, though. Our guide talked most of the way (five minutes in English, five minutes in Russian), talking about Sicilian life.
So, as I said, lunch was included. And this was hands-down, the BEST lunch we have EVER had. It was held near the town of Ragusa, outside, by a lake, next to the restaurant. There was also an Italian Harley meet-up going on at the same time. They all seemed pretty drunk (and high - there was definitely some weed smoking going on), and they thought we were the funniest people in the world. Couldn’t understand what they were saying, but I KNOW they were laughing at us. Not in a nasty way, just more of a “haha, look at the crazy gringos!” A bunch of ‘em even let some of the people on our group sit on the bikes to take pictures (insert eye roll here).
Anyway, lunch was by the water. It was all-you-could-eat, and best of all, all-you-could-drink wine. The three of us must have gone thru a whole bottle each. (The Aycocks know how to get their money's worth). First off, antipasto. Plates of spicy olives, sundried tomatoes (love), eggplant caponata (I normally don’t like eggplant, but this was amazing), bread (which actually was the only thing that wasn’t that great), salami, and cheese. Then, they brought out little bread pockets stuffed with onion & cheese. Then, they brought out a sort of stromboli filled with tomato sauce & parsley.
Following that, the pasta course. Penne in tomato sauce with fresh cheese. Now, any of you who know the Mister, knows that he’s not a pasta fan (he doesn’t trust the way it wiggles....his words, not mine). He’s ok with penne, farfalle, angel hair - anything small (he cuts up the angel hair - what was I saying earlier about him being a hairy 4 year old?). So, because this was penne, he was fine with trying it. It was TO DIE FOR!!! He said it was the best pasta he’s ever had, and I think all of us ended up having two helpings of it. It was absolutely amazing, and I’m really upset that we don’t live in Sicily....
Next up - the main course. Although, at this point, We’re all pretty full. First, they come out with platters of sauteed mushrooms, apples, and almonds in a lemony sauce. It was for the meat dish, which was sauteed pork. I was the only vegetarian on the trip, but they still made me a special plate. They brought me a plate full of fresh quartered tomatoes, drizzled with olive oil & sea salt. I was a little upset that I was so full, because good lord was that good....
BTW, we’re still drinking our wine.
Next up, was the dessert. They just brought out baskets of fresh apples & apricots, then if you WANTED, they would bring you some cannoli. We actually didn’t have any of it, we were so full. Blurgh.
It was such a relaxing meal. We chatted a little bit with the English couple (they were from Oxford, so we chatted about that - I did a summer semester at Oxford). Then a puppy came to hang out, and I got irritated with the Russian lady across from me that fed the puppy practically a whole pig’s worth of pork chops from off her plate. :/
We were SO full, and happy, and slightly buzzy, that it was such a drag to get back on the bus. I could have laid in the shade and hung out there all afternoon.
But, it we were on our way to the town Marina di Ragusa. This stop (I think we were there for an hour and a half??) was really just to let people have some beach time. We didn’t have our swimsuits, but we were wearing shorts, so we waded along the beach, people-watching for some time. Josh had never been to the Mediterranean before this trip, so he wanted to be able to say that he’s been in the Mediterranean.
I must admit, I got a little cranky during this stop. Once again, we were trying to find a bathroom. I was trying to find a place to get some water, Josh was trying to find a place to get some cigarettes, and we just started snipping away at each other. BUT, our snips are always very short-lived, so we were soon back to our happy Aycock selves.
Our last stop was Modica. This was my favorite town that we visited in Sicily. This town is situated in a deep valley, with buildings going up both sides of the valley. The sun was down (yes!!!!), and it wasn’t really busy - it was around 6pm on a Sunday night, after all.
First stop was to a gift shop to try some Modica chocolate. This ended up being the best kind chocolate that either of us has either had. There were probably 20 different flavors (peperoncino was our favorite). It’s like a crystallized chocolate, that’s a little crunchy. VERY different, but really good - and I’m not even a chocolate person.
Josh walked up 250 steps to go see this church. I did not.
But, we did then go to this church. Mass was going on, and we stepped inside the door, but then I felt weird because I was in shorts & a tank top, so I left. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again - I may be a heathen, but I’m a respectful heathen.
We walked around a little bit longer, stopped into a restaurant to have a rest, and try the local drink (some bitter, orangey liquor cocktail - ick), and it was back to the bus, to go back to the ferry.
The ferry ride back to Malta was not NEAR as nice as the ferry ride to Sicily. There were easily twice as many people, and I think they were all stupid. They were definitely all irritating. But, then the soccer game started on tv, and it calmed down a little bit.
We got back to Malta around 11:30pm. Such a LONG DAY!!!! We grabbed some takeout from a nearby chicken & fry shop. Lexie came over to pick up James to take him back to her place. Josh and I were asleep in bed before they even left the apartment; we were SO EXHAUSTED.
But, man, that trip was awesome. :)
Monday, June 25, 2012
Trip to Malta & Sicily - Part 1
Alternate Title: Eating Our Way Through Malta - A Story of Weight Gain
Seriously, I can honestly say that I've never had a trip that was so food-centric. And that's saying a lot, because I've been on cruises before. And, those ships are basically just floating restaurants.
Please note, I'm not complaining about our Malta trip at all. Who doesn't like to eat?
But, let's start at the beginning.
My BFF from college is James. Yes, he's a guy. No, we're not related (although, most people we came across assumed we were brother & sister). No, he's not gay. No, we've never had anything other than a friend-type relationship. Yes, men and women CAN have perfectly platonic friendships. Shocker!!
Anywho, James went to graduate school in Malta for the past year. His major is something hippyish that I can't really remember right now....eco-hippy-tiedye-ology or something like that. Why Malta? Why not Malta! Actually, there are four colleges in the states that have a partnership with the Malta college. He went thru James Madison University, so if you're interested, check out their program.
Well, we couldn't pass up the opportunity to visit James in Malta. We'd probably never get there if we didn't go to visit a friend. It's never really been super high on my radar until recently (the opportunity to have a free place to stay on a Mediterranean island figured in greatly). Sooooo, we planned a 5 day trip to go visit James.
We left for Malta on a Friday night, via Air Malta. You all know my distaste for flying (OH GOD, NO, I HAVE TO FLY SOMEWHERE!?!? NOOOOOO!!!!!!). So, because our flight wasn't until 6:30pm, I had all day to stew & worry about it. Great. And, of course, getting thru the Frankfurt Airport is no Swiss picnic. I swear, we always get stuck behind the dumbest of dummies. This time it was a group of about 20 Japanese senior citizens. Every single one of them tried to go thru security with bottles of water. Every. Single. One. But, they all refused to get rid of the bottles, so they all sat there, chugging their water. BUT, they couldn't all do it at once (because apparently they weren't paying attention to anything until it was their turn, so, one at a time, they all went thru the same rigamarole). Come on, people!! How do you not know the rules by now??
Other than that, the trip was uneventful. Actually, Air Malta is a lovely airline. I've heard that they can be delayed a lot, but we had no problem. Well, except the smell. I'm confidant that Josh and I were the only Americans on the flight. I'm also confidant that we were the only ones wearing deodorant on the flight. After being here over a year, we're pretty used to that, though. Except when you're sealed in a big metal tube with 130 other people who embrace the "au natural" scent.
But, like I said, the airline itself was lovely. The flight was just a little over two hours. And, they gave us dinner. I had the vegetarian meal, and for the first time in FOREVER, the vegetarian meal WASN'T CURRY!!! This really excited me. Courtney is not a curry fan.
We arrive in Malta around 9:45pm. Stepping off the plane, we were immediately coated with a thick layer of sweat. At least I was (unfortunately, I sweat like a whore in church, so I was damp the entire trip). It wasn't hot at all (probably low seventies), but holy crap the humidity!
One note - because we were going from one EU country to another, nobody ever checked our passports. We walked off the plane, waited about 5 minutes for our bag, and were immediately on our way. The Malta airport has won several "Best Airport" awards. It's even been named one of the top 15 airports worldwide! It's very small - if any of you have ever been to the Newport News, VA airport, it's about that big.
James & his girlfriend Lexie (she's a Malta native) were there waiting for us. It's always so good to see friends/family when you step out from an airport baggage claim, isn't it? Anyway, the two psychos were drinking hot chocolate (I'm sweating now, just remembering how much I was already sweating then). Psychos!
Apparently they drive on the left side of the road in Malta. Makes sense, though, as Malta was British-owned until 1964. In fact, the two official languages are Maltese & English. Everyone spoke English there. Maltese is an Arabic-based language, and therefore super-confusing to us. Thankfully, every single sign/menu/storefront was in English.
Lexie drove us back to James' apartment, about 15 minutes away. Holy crap, are the roads awful in Malta!! James told us that the Maltese government basically spends all the money on tourism, and ignores the needs of the Maltese people. Suckfest.
So, James is a lucky bastard, in that his apartment was looking out over the marina. His town is Il-Gzira, Malta...although, pretty much all of the cities run into each other, so it was impossible for me to tell where one town ended and another began. His apartment was an older one, but perfect for a college student, or a young couple. Unfortunately, there was only one A/C unit, right over the bed. And, it wasn't turned on during the day (it's an energy sucker). So....more sweat for Courtney. BUT, at least every other building in Malta had super awesome A/C!!
After we plopped our stuff down, we all walked down to the Black Gold Pub in Sliema. This was where James and a bunch of his classmates always go. There was a local band playing wonderfully awful covers of pretty much every song, ever. It was so much fun to watch the locals. It's very very very obvious who is Maltese, and who isn't. Josh, James and I are all giants compared with the Maltese. They're all little, tiny, round people. But, man, do they love American classics! The dancing was awesome, as well.
We stayed there a couple hours, but Josh and I are early risers when we're on vacation. We don't travel to relax, we travel to explore. James stayed with Lexie, so we had the apartment to ourselves. The plan was to get up and moving by 9am the next day. Welllllll, it didn't exactly happen like that. Josh and I got up earlier than we planned, so we went for a walk while we waited for the other two to meet back up at the apartment.
OH MY GOD, THE SUN!!! SO bright, and hot. Thankfully, the air wasn't hot (it was maybe in the low eighties), but the sun! I applied sunscreen several times, but it didn't matter. I was toast after 15 minutes.
But the place is lovely.
We walked around for about an hour, just taking in the sights & sounds. It’s a very bustling little city. But, we were starving!! James and Lexie came back around 9:40am or so, and we all walked down to a restaurant called Cafe Jubilee. It's a Maltese chain (I think they have one in Budapest as well, though) restaurant, that also sells local foods (olives, jams, sea salt, etc). Man, did it hit the spot! Even though it was still mid-morning, we all had sandwiches. I had a caprese sandwich on Ftira bread. Ftira is the local Maltese bread. Very crispy on the outside, but soft & chewy on the inside. Delicious, but I'm pretty sure I cut the crap out of the inside of the mouth on the bread. Worth it.
At this point, it was getting kinda late in the morning, and we were ready to get out & explore! This day was spent going to Gozo, one of the 3 islands that makes up Malta. The main island is Malta, and then there is another island, Comino. But Comino is tiny, and there are only 4 permanent residents there (although a ton of people go there for the snorkeling & hotel).
Even though the main island is small, it took us forever to go up north to get on the ferry to take us to Gozo. The roads are so windy, and small, and beat up. Then, you get stuck behind a bus for a few miles or so. We did do a quick stop at the Rotunda (Church of St. Mary) in the town of Mosta. During WWII, a bomb was dropped on the church while 300 people were inside for Mass. The bomb ended up being a dud, and no one was injured. Although I'm sure a couple people may have had to change their pants after that. :/
It’s kinda hard to get a good picture of a huge building when you’re right in front of it. :/
Next up, the ferry ride to take us to Gozo. It was a quick, 20-25 minute ride. What was weird is that the same German lady that we sat next to on the plane, was on the same ferry with us.
Lexie’s family rented a vacation home on Gozo. Apparently everyone on the main island goes to Gozo to relax. And the atmosphere on Gozo was definitely much more calm than on Malta. Eventually we were going to Lexie’s family’s vacay home, but first we were able to explore Gozo.
The first stop was the Inland Sea, and then the Azure Window (they're right next to each other). Of course, as soon as we parked the car and got out, we saw the same German lady from the plane. She was VERY excited to see us.
Oh, jeez, the sun....sooooo bright. Gah!! Josh and I made sure to stay well hydrated on the trip. We also had a Maltese beer at the Inland Sea. We had to! It was too hot to NOT have one. :) Also, we took a 15 minute boat ride thru the Inland Sea. It was only €3.50 a person, and well worth it.
Crocodile Rock!
Then, we walked up to the Azure Window. It was really an awesome place, and the water was sooooo blue!!
After that, we decided to go up to a nearby lighthouse. We had to park at the bottom of the hill, and walk up....I was not excited about that. Buuuut, did it anyway, with only a small amount of complaining. :) One good thing to know is that there are no poisonous snakes on Malta. We never saw any snakes, just lizards, but the landscape would’ve been PERFECT for big ol’ nasty snakes.
After the lighthouse, I think we were all ready to get out of the sun for a little bit. So, what’s that mean? That’s right, it’s time to eat! There is this little bakery (Maxokk Bakery) in the middle of some sleepy little town on Gozo that makes pizzas, Ftajjar (a local savory pie), and Ftira (not the same as the bread I was talking about before - more like a pizza, but made with the same Ftira bread dough). We called ahead to order, but we still ended up waiting for about twenty minutes or so. At least we were in the shade!
We ended up just taking the food to the vacation house. Oh my god, was it good food, too! Check the link to the bakery, and look at the menu. We ordered the vegetarian ftira, sausage ftira, and pepperoni pizza. The veggie ftira was AMAZING. I’ve always thought people that put potatoes on pizza were big old weirdos. How wrong I was. It was just covered in potatoes, green olives, capers, tomatoes.....oy, I really want one right now....Josh wasn’t TOO fond of the sausage ftira, but he’s not really a cheese-lover, and it was FULL of local cheese. The guys both said the pepperoni pizza was awesome, though.
Lexie's family was very welcoming. The house was amazing. There was even an underground cave in the back of the house. It was used as a wine cellar or something, but back in the day I guess all the houses were linked up via this underground cave system? Or something?? I don’t know.....I thought it was creepy. :/ Everyone was really nice, though. We did find that the Maltese are a very generous, hospitable people. Quit a difference from the typically.....reserved nature of Germans. (I had to think of a diplomatic way to put "cold and untrusting", so I went with "reserved" ;) ). Check out the view from the house.
Although, her family did do one thing that Josh and I thought was hilarious. Everyone was outside by the pool, either lounging or playing cards, while we were inside eating. The sun went down behind the house (it was late afternoon, early evening at this point). They all came in because they were too cold sitting out there.
TOO COLD!?? These Mediterranean people are nuts. This was the first time I stopped sweating in the past ten hours! James laughed too, and said most Maltese get cold if it drops below 90. ;) (btw, that’s only a slight exaggeration...very slight)
Lexie stayed with her family on this night. James, Josh and I had a trip to Sicily the next day, and we had to be ready to leave by 5:30am. (James had a cot to sleep on, as he had given Josh and I his bed for the weekend) So, Lexie drove us back to the docks, and dropped us off so we could catch the ferry. Then, we took a bus from the ferry back to James' neighborhood. It took us probably 40 minutes (minus the stop at the Rotunda) to get from James' house to the ferry. Taking the bus back, it took about an hour. I thought the roads were bad when we were in the car. Being in the back of the bus on the Maltese roads practically vibrated my kidneys out of my body.
The bus we took dropped us off about twenty minutes from James' apartment. We could've taken another bus, but decided to walk thru the Maltese Red Light District.
Not quite as spectacular as the Amsterdam RLD, lemme tell ya. We saw maybe 3 hookers....they were, um....not quite as lovely as some of the A-dam hookers. BUT, we still felt pretty safe walking thru the area. Malta, in general, is a very safe country. Although it's still pretty late in the game on some humanity issues. Divorce just became legal last year, and the government is now working on a "cohabitation" bill, providing legal recognition to unmarried couples who live together.
Anyway, we finally got back to James' apartment. I think it was almost 11pm at this point. Such a LOOOONG day, but we had a great time. But we crashed almost as soon as our heads hit the pillow. Which was a good thing, because we had to be up at 4:45am the next day, to take our trip to Sicily.
Seriously, I can honestly say that I've never had a trip that was so food-centric. And that's saying a lot, because I've been on cruises before. And, those ships are basically just floating restaurants.
Please note, I'm not complaining about our Malta trip at all. Who doesn't like to eat?
But, let's start at the beginning.
My BFF from college is James. Yes, he's a guy. No, we're not related (although, most people we came across assumed we were brother & sister). No, he's not gay. No, we've never had anything other than a friend-type relationship. Yes, men and women CAN have perfectly platonic friendships. Shocker!!
Anywho, James went to graduate school in Malta for the past year. His major is something hippyish that I can't really remember right now....eco-hippy-tiedye-ology or something like that. Why Malta? Why not Malta! Actually, there are four colleges in the states that have a partnership with the Malta college. He went thru James Madison University, so if you're interested, check out their program.
Well, we couldn't pass up the opportunity to visit James in Malta. We'd probably never get there if we didn't go to visit a friend. It's never really been super high on my radar until recently (the opportunity to have a free place to stay on a Mediterranean island figured in greatly). Sooooo, we planned a 5 day trip to go visit James.
We left for Malta on a Friday night, via Air Malta. You all know my distaste for flying (OH GOD, NO, I HAVE TO FLY SOMEWHERE!?!? NOOOOOO!!!!!!). So, because our flight wasn't until 6:30pm, I had all day to stew & worry about it. Great. And, of course, getting thru the Frankfurt Airport is no Swiss picnic. I swear, we always get stuck behind the dumbest of dummies. This time it was a group of about 20 Japanese senior citizens. Every single one of them tried to go thru security with bottles of water. Every. Single. One. But, they all refused to get rid of the bottles, so they all sat there, chugging their water. BUT, they couldn't all do it at once (because apparently they weren't paying attention to anything until it was their turn, so, one at a time, they all went thru the same rigamarole). Come on, people!! How do you not know the rules by now??
Other than that, the trip was uneventful. Actually, Air Malta is a lovely airline. I've heard that they can be delayed a lot, but we had no problem. Well, except the smell. I'm confidant that Josh and I were the only Americans on the flight. I'm also confidant that we were the only ones wearing deodorant on the flight. After being here over a year, we're pretty used to that, though. Except when you're sealed in a big metal tube with 130 other people who embrace the "au natural" scent.
But, like I said, the airline itself was lovely. The flight was just a little over two hours. And, they gave us dinner. I had the vegetarian meal, and for the first time in FOREVER, the vegetarian meal WASN'T CURRY!!! This really excited me. Courtney is not a curry fan.
We arrive in Malta around 9:45pm. Stepping off the plane, we were immediately coated with a thick layer of sweat. At least I was (unfortunately, I sweat like a whore in church, so I was damp the entire trip). It wasn't hot at all (probably low seventies), but holy crap the humidity!
One note - because we were going from one EU country to another, nobody ever checked our passports. We walked off the plane, waited about 5 minutes for our bag, and were immediately on our way. The Malta airport has won several "Best Airport" awards. It's even been named one of the top 15 airports worldwide! It's very small - if any of you have ever been to the Newport News, VA airport, it's about that big.
James & his girlfriend Lexie (she's a Malta native) were there waiting for us. It's always so good to see friends/family when you step out from an airport baggage claim, isn't it? Anyway, the two psychos were drinking hot chocolate (I'm sweating now, just remembering how much I was already sweating then). Psychos!
Apparently they drive on the left side of the road in Malta. Makes sense, though, as Malta was British-owned until 1964. In fact, the two official languages are Maltese & English. Everyone spoke English there. Maltese is an Arabic-based language, and therefore super-confusing to us. Thankfully, every single sign/menu/storefront was in English.
Lexie drove us back to James' apartment, about 15 minutes away. Holy crap, are the roads awful in Malta!! James told us that the Maltese government basically spends all the money on tourism, and ignores the needs of the Maltese people. Suckfest.
So, James is a lucky bastard, in that his apartment was looking out over the marina. His town is Il-Gzira, Malta...although, pretty much all of the cities run into each other, so it was impossible for me to tell where one town ended and another began. His apartment was an older one, but perfect for a college student, or a young couple. Unfortunately, there was only one A/C unit, right over the bed. And, it wasn't turned on during the day (it's an energy sucker). So....more sweat for Courtney. BUT, at least every other building in Malta had super awesome A/C!!
After we plopped our stuff down, we all walked down to the Black Gold Pub in Sliema. This was where James and a bunch of his classmates always go. There was a local band playing wonderfully awful covers of pretty much every song, ever. It was so much fun to watch the locals. It's very very very obvious who is Maltese, and who isn't. Josh, James and I are all giants compared with the Maltese. They're all little, tiny, round people. But, man, do they love American classics! The dancing was awesome, as well.
We stayed there a couple hours, but Josh and I are early risers when we're on vacation. We don't travel to relax, we travel to explore. James stayed with Lexie, so we had the apartment to ourselves. The plan was to get up and moving by 9am the next day. Welllllll, it didn't exactly happen like that. Josh and I got up earlier than we planned, so we went for a walk while we waited for the other two to meet back up at the apartment.
OH MY GOD, THE SUN!!! SO bright, and hot. Thankfully, the air wasn't hot (it was maybe in the low eighties), but the sun! I applied sunscreen several times, but it didn't matter. I was toast after 15 minutes.
But the place is lovely.
We walked around for about an hour, just taking in the sights & sounds. It’s a very bustling little city. But, we were starving!! James and Lexie came back around 9:40am or so, and we all walked down to a restaurant called Cafe Jubilee. It's a Maltese chain (I think they have one in Budapest as well, though) restaurant, that also sells local foods (olives, jams, sea salt, etc). Man, did it hit the spot! Even though it was still mid-morning, we all had sandwiches. I had a caprese sandwich on Ftira bread. Ftira is the local Maltese bread. Very crispy on the outside, but soft & chewy on the inside. Delicious, but I'm pretty sure I cut the crap out of the inside of the mouth on the bread. Worth it.
At this point, it was getting kinda late in the morning, and we were ready to get out & explore! This day was spent going to Gozo, one of the 3 islands that makes up Malta. The main island is Malta, and then there is another island, Comino. But Comino is tiny, and there are only 4 permanent residents there (although a ton of people go there for the snorkeling & hotel).
Even though the main island is small, it took us forever to go up north to get on the ferry to take us to Gozo. The roads are so windy, and small, and beat up. Then, you get stuck behind a bus for a few miles or so. We did do a quick stop at the Rotunda (Church of St. Mary) in the town of Mosta. During WWII, a bomb was dropped on the church while 300 people were inside for Mass. The bomb ended up being a dud, and no one was injured. Although I'm sure a couple people may have had to change their pants after that. :/
It’s kinda hard to get a good picture of a huge building when you’re right in front of it. :/
Next up, the ferry ride to take us to Gozo. It was a quick, 20-25 minute ride. What was weird is that the same German lady that we sat next to on the plane, was on the same ferry with us.
Lexie’s family rented a vacation home on Gozo. Apparently everyone on the main island goes to Gozo to relax. And the atmosphere on Gozo was definitely much more calm than on Malta. Eventually we were going to Lexie’s family’s vacay home, but first we were able to explore Gozo.
The first stop was the Inland Sea, and then the Azure Window (they're right next to each other). Of course, as soon as we parked the car and got out, we saw the same German lady from the plane. She was VERY excited to see us.
Oh, jeez, the sun....sooooo bright. Gah!! Josh and I made sure to stay well hydrated on the trip. We also had a Maltese beer at the Inland Sea. We had to! It was too hot to NOT have one. :) Also, we took a 15 minute boat ride thru the Inland Sea. It was only €3.50 a person, and well worth it.
Crocodile Rock!
Then, we walked up to the Azure Window. It was really an awesome place, and the water was sooooo blue!!
After that, we decided to go up to a nearby lighthouse. We had to park at the bottom of the hill, and walk up....I was not excited about that. Buuuut, did it anyway, with only a small amount of complaining. :) One good thing to know is that there are no poisonous snakes on Malta. We never saw any snakes, just lizards, but the landscape would’ve been PERFECT for big ol’ nasty snakes.
After the lighthouse, I think we were all ready to get out of the sun for a little bit. So, what’s that mean? That’s right, it’s time to eat! There is this little bakery (Maxokk Bakery) in the middle of some sleepy little town on Gozo that makes pizzas, Ftajjar (a local savory pie), and Ftira (not the same as the bread I was talking about before - more like a pizza, but made with the same Ftira bread dough). We called ahead to order, but we still ended up waiting for about twenty minutes or so. At least we were in the shade!
We ended up just taking the food to the vacation house. Oh my god, was it good food, too! Check the link to the bakery, and look at the menu. We ordered the vegetarian ftira, sausage ftira, and pepperoni pizza. The veggie ftira was AMAZING. I’ve always thought people that put potatoes on pizza were big old weirdos. How wrong I was. It was just covered in potatoes, green olives, capers, tomatoes.....oy, I really want one right now....Josh wasn’t TOO fond of the sausage ftira, but he’s not really a cheese-lover, and it was FULL of local cheese. The guys both said the pepperoni pizza was awesome, though.
Lexie's family was very welcoming. The house was amazing. There was even an underground cave in the back of the house. It was used as a wine cellar or something, but back in the day I guess all the houses were linked up via this underground cave system? Or something?? I don’t know.....I thought it was creepy. :/ Everyone was really nice, though. We did find that the Maltese are a very generous, hospitable people. Quit a difference from the typically.....reserved nature of Germans. (I had to think of a diplomatic way to put "cold and untrusting", so I went with "reserved" ;) ). Check out the view from the house.
Although, her family did do one thing that Josh and I thought was hilarious. Everyone was outside by the pool, either lounging or playing cards, while we were inside eating. The sun went down behind the house (it was late afternoon, early evening at this point). They all came in because they were too cold sitting out there.
TOO COLD!?? These Mediterranean people are nuts. This was the first time I stopped sweating in the past ten hours! James laughed too, and said most Maltese get cold if it drops below 90. ;) (btw, that’s only a slight exaggeration...very slight)
Lexie stayed with her family on this night. James, Josh and I had a trip to Sicily the next day, and we had to be ready to leave by 5:30am. (James had a cot to sleep on, as he had given Josh and I his bed for the weekend) So, Lexie drove us back to the docks, and dropped us off so we could catch the ferry. Then, we took a bus from the ferry back to James' neighborhood. It took us probably 40 minutes (minus the stop at the Rotunda) to get from James' house to the ferry. Taking the bus back, it took about an hour. I thought the roads were bad when we were in the car. Being in the back of the bus on the Maltese roads practically vibrated my kidneys out of my body.
The bus we took dropped us off about twenty minutes from James' apartment. We could've taken another bus, but decided to walk thru the Maltese Red Light District.
Not quite as spectacular as the Amsterdam RLD, lemme tell ya. We saw maybe 3 hookers....they were, um....not quite as lovely as some of the A-dam hookers. BUT, we still felt pretty safe walking thru the area. Malta, in general, is a very safe country. Although it's still pretty late in the game on some humanity issues. Divorce just became legal last year, and the government is now working on a "cohabitation" bill, providing legal recognition to unmarried couples who live together.
Anyway, we finally got back to James' apartment. I think it was almost 11pm at this point. Such a LOOOONG day, but we had a great time. But we crashed almost as soon as our heads hit the pillow. Which was a good thing, because we had to be up at 4:45am the next day, to take our trip to Sicily.
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