Honeymoon Adventures Part III
Day Six: The Silent City and Getting to Gozo
We woke up relatively early this day and packed up all of our bags and left them in the hotel storage room after we checked out. We were headed to the smaller island of Gozo later in the day, but first we wanted to check out a medieval fortified city called Mdina that many tourists said we must visit. It is a walled city high on a hill and also home to several gates that were featured in HBO's hit series Game of Thrones. I've read all the books and seen both season one and two of the TV show. Unfortunately we only made it two episodes into the third season before school and wedding stuff completely consumed our lives in May.
The day was overcast, chilly, and windy. Again, I was terrible and did not pack enough warm clothes for this trip! We were freezing for the entire day and I actually contemplated buying a giant hand knitted poncho at a tourist shop just to wear it around and feel warm.
We spent the afternoon moseying around the city and stopped to have cafe lattes and cake at a cute little restaurant right on the fortified walls of the city. Too bad it wasn't warmer and the weather nicer (it had begun to rain) -- otherwise it would have been a perfect day! But we were still able to marvel at the narrow little medieval cities where Maltese villagers drive their cars. Only people who live in the village are allowed to drive there, and surprisingly a lot of people still live there, mostly people who have been there for many generations!
After Mdina we had to return to Valletta to gather our bags from the hotel storage. We said our heartfelt goodbyes to the lovely little city, but then it was off on an hour and a half bus ride to the docks to take the ferry to Gozo. The bus ride was what I imagine hell to be like; two crying babies, hot, crowded, the bus jostling around the roads in an uncanny imitation of Mr. Toad's Wild Ride at Disney World. I felt car sick. Some creepy, stinky man sat next two me and kept poking my leg and trying to make small talk. I wanted to throw the crying baby into the sun. The journey seemed to last an eternity, but finally we arrived at the shores of Malta and we spotted the ferry waiting for us at the docks ahead. What a welcome sight! The best part is that the ferry is free on the way over and has a small restaurant inside with drinks and snacks. We sat at a table and ate two more delicious pastizzis and I tried not to get sea sick once the ferry took off across the small expanse of Mediterranean that separates the two islands.
Gozo is the smaller, more rural sister island of Malta. Between the two is an even smaller little stretch of land called Comino where apparently knights were exiled in the past. Below is a shot of Comino as we passed it on the ferry. You can see St. Mary's tower in this photo which was built in 1618 by the Knights of Malta.
When we arrived at the port in Gozo we had a new friend waiting for us -- Bunty. Bunty is the reason we decided to come to Malta in the first place, an island that we had never even heard of before January of this year. Bunty is the cousin of our co-worker Jane Berger, a woman who works as the social studies coach for the school district. Jane often arranges training sessions and helps us with curriculum and classroom materials. We befriended her ages ago but for some reason in January she was working with us one school day morning when we ended up talking about vacation spots. She mentioned that she had family on Malta and thus visited Malta often. Intrigued we asked for more details and Jane went on and on about how amazing Malta is -- the beaches, the history, the culture -- and how much she loves to visit and how her cousin Bunty rents renovated farmhouses to vacationers. Gavin and I became even more intrigued. Suddenly plans for spending our honeymoon in Costa Rica were quickly fading into oblivion. We had a complete honeymoon 180 in a matter of minutes. Jane was suddenly e-mailing her cousin asking about her rental properties. In a week or so we had booked Bunty's three bedroom farmhouse on Gozo, complete with a kitchen, living room, wifi, a rooftop terrace, and a private pool -- all for 90 Euros a night. A steal.
Bunty was standing outside in the chill air holding a sign that read "ERIN" -- I'm glad because I would not have recognized her from her Google gmail picture! We exchanged hugs and gave our sincere thanks for her picking us up at the ferry to take us to the house. We had certainly had enough with the Maltese bus system for the day. Her husband Anton was waiting in the car and they whisked us away to our private farmhouse, built 400 years ago and renovated into quite the cozy and relaxing oasis in this part of the world. When Bunty gave us the tour of the house we were flabbergasted! It was absolutely incredible. The sandstone walls, roof, and wooden support beams make you feel as if you are sleeping in a castle! The entire first floor was once a barn where the animals were kept. The living room has a TV alcove which was originally a manger. There are several holes carved into the stone which were used to tether animals inside the barn. It is amazing to be staying in a place with so much history!
When we opened the fridge there was a bottle of champagne, milk, orange juice, strawberries, and two different kinds of dip with crackers waiting for us. Oh, and the absolutely delicious tomato, cheese, olive, and onion plate you see below. There was also a sweet wedding card sitting on the kitchen table. I was again amazed! Bunty and Anton's generosity is certainly something--all of this for complete strangers! I am still brainstorming a way that we can thank them. I think I might commission someone to create a watercolor drawing of the outside of their house -- something small and easy to mail that they could have framed for the house.
After the tour Bunty and Anton dropped us off at the nearest grocery store, a short ten minute walk from the farmhouse. There Gavin and I bought food for dinner (ingredients for homemade spaghetti), snacks, drinks, and breakfast foods. It was nice to stop eating out so much and actually stay in and cook for ourselves! Plus, it saves so much money here. The store was very tiny and simple, but well-stocked with necessities.
Unfortunately, as has been the running theme of this honeymoon, we had some trouble finding our way back to the farmhouse from the store. We knew it was a short ten minute walk, but the drive was so quick and we didn't have long to get a good look at the front of the farmhouse (which is rather nondescript anyway as it is mostly just a big sandstone wall with a gate that leads into the courtyard and pool area). We wandered around for about 45 minutes carrying heavy groceries. Eventually we found our way -- the irony being that it was the first way we had gone but lost confidence in and turned around. If we had just walked for another minute or so, we would have arrived at our destination on the first try! Of course we would screw it up -- after being personally driven and dropped off there by the owners, we would find some way to make things complicated! I think part of the problem is that both Gavin and I have a terrible sense of direction. It's like being in a canoe with both paddles on one side -- we just can't seem to get anywhere! In the picture below you can see Gavin carrying grocery bags, but before the "lost" debacle.
Finally after arriving back at the farmhouse we were able to sit down and start cooking our spaghetti dinner. We used homegrown garlic so kindly left by the woman who lives next door. After an hour of so of cooking, the spaghetti was ready and it was absolutely delicious -- or maybe it was just the hard work and day's journey put into it that made it taste so good. Then it was time for a good night of sleep in the quiet little (well, not so little -- with three bedrooms and three floors -- four counting the terrace on the roof) farmhouse. Gavin was asleep quickly, but I laid awake for some time listening to the wind. The wind outside was howling. The pipes were creaking, making strange noises. The wooden shutters were banging. It certainly was a little hard to fall asleep in all that noise in such a strange place. The farmhouse is neat but also a little creepy at the same time, but I've warmed up to it over the last few days. :)
We woke up relatively early this day and packed up all of our bags and left them in the hotel storage room after we checked out. We were headed to the smaller island of Gozo later in the day, but first we wanted to check out a medieval fortified city called Mdina that many tourists said we must visit. It is a walled city high on a hill and also home to several gates that were featured in HBO's hit series Game of Thrones. I've read all the books and seen both season one and two of the TV show. Unfortunately we only made it two episodes into the third season before school and wedding stuff completely consumed our lives in May.
The day was overcast, chilly, and windy. Again, I was terrible and did not pack enough warm clothes for this trip! We were freezing for the entire day and I actually contemplated buying a giant hand knitted poncho at a tourist shop just to wear it around and feel warm.
We spent the afternoon moseying around the city and stopped to have cafe lattes and cake at a cute little restaurant right on the fortified walls of the city. Too bad it wasn't warmer and the weather nicer (it had begun to rain) -- otherwise it would have been a perfect day! But we were still able to marvel at the narrow little medieval cities where Maltese villagers drive their cars. Only people who live in the village are allowed to drive there, and surprisingly a lot of people still live there, mostly people who have been there for many generations!
After Mdina we had to return to Valletta to gather our bags from the hotel storage. We said our heartfelt goodbyes to the lovely little city, but then it was off on an hour and a half bus ride to the docks to take the ferry to Gozo. The bus ride was what I imagine hell to be like; two crying babies, hot, crowded, the bus jostling around the roads in an uncanny imitation of Mr. Toad's Wild Ride at Disney World. I felt car sick. Some creepy, stinky man sat next two me and kept poking my leg and trying to make small talk. I wanted to throw the crying baby into the sun. The journey seemed to last an eternity, but finally we arrived at the shores of Malta and we spotted the ferry waiting for us at the docks ahead. What a welcome sight! The best part is that the ferry is free on the way over and has a small restaurant inside with drinks and snacks. We sat at a table and ate two more delicious pastizzis and I tried not to get sea sick once the ferry took off across the small expanse of Mediterranean that separates the two islands.
Gozo is the smaller, more rural sister island of Malta. Between the two is an even smaller little stretch of land called Comino where apparently knights were exiled in the past. Below is a shot of Comino as we passed it on the ferry. You can see St. Mary's tower in this photo which was built in 1618 by the Knights of Malta.
When we arrived at the port in Gozo we had a new friend waiting for us -- Bunty. Bunty is the reason we decided to come to Malta in the first place, an island that we had never even heard of before January of this year. Bunty is the cousin of our co-worker Jane Berger, a woman who works as the social studies coach for the school district. Jane often arranges training sessions and helps us with curriculum and classroom materials. We befriended her ages ago but for some reason in January she was working with us one school day morning when we ended up talking about vacation spots. She mentioned that she had family on Malta and thus visited Malta often. Intrigued we asked for more details and Jane went on and on about how amazing Malta is -- the beaches, the history, the culture -- and how much she loves to visit and how her cousin Bunty rents renovated farmhouses to vacationers. Gavin and I became even more intrigued. Suddenly plans for spending our honeymoon in Costa Rica were quickly fading into oblivion. We had a complete honeymoon 180 in a matter of minutes. Jane was suddenly e-mailing her cousin asking about her rental properties. In a week or so we had booked Bunty's three bedroom farmhouse on Gozo, complete with a kitchen, living room, wifi, a rooftop terrace, and a private pool -- all for 90 Euros a night. A steal.
Bunty was standing outside in the chill air holding a sign that read "ERIN" -- I'm glad because I would not have recognized her from her Google gmail picture! We exchanged hugs and gave our sincere thanks for her picking us up at the ferry to take us to the house. We had certainly had enough with the Maltese bus system for the day. Her husband Anton was waiting in the car and they whisked us away to our private farmhouse, built 400 years ago and renovated into quite the cozy and relaxing oasis in this part of the world. When Bunty gave us the tour of the house we were flabbergasted! It was absolutely incredible. The sandstone walls, roof, and wooden support beams make you feel as if you are sleeping in a castle! The entire first floor was once a barn where the animals were kept. The living room has a TV alcove which was originally a manger. There are several holes carved into the stone which were used to tether animals inside the barn. It is amazing to be staying in a place with so much history!
When we opened the fridge there was a bottle of champagne, milk, orange juice, strawberries, and two different kinds of dip with crackers waiting for us. Oh, and the absolutely delicious tomato, cheese, olive, and onion plate you see below. There was also a sweet wedding card sitting on the kitchen table. I was again amazed! Bunty and Anton's generosity is certainly something--all of this for complete strangers! I am still brainstorming a way that we can thank them. I think I might commission someone to create a watercolor drawing of the outside of their house -- something small and easy to mail that they could have framed for the house.
After the tour Bunty and Anton dropped us off at the nearest grocery store, a short ten minute walk from the farmhouse. There Gavin and I bought food for dinner (ingredients for homemade spaghetti), snacks, drinks, and breakfast foods. It was nice to stop eating out so much and actually stay in and cook for ourselves! Plus, it saves so much money here. The store was very tiny and simple, but well-stocked with necessities.
Unfortunately, as has been the running theme of this honeymoon, we had some trouble finding our way back to the farmhouse from the store. We knew it was a short ten minute walk, but the drive was so quick and we didn't have long to get a good look at the front of the farmhouse (which is rather nondescript anyway as it is mostly just a big sandstone wall with a gate that leads into the courtyard and pool area). We wandered around for about 45 minutes carrying heavy groceries. Eventually we found our way -- the irony being that it was the first way we had gone but lost confidence in and turned around. If we had just walked for another minute or so, we would have arrived at our destination on the first try! Of course we would screw it up -- after being personally driven and dropped off there by the owners, we would find some way to make things complicated! I think part of the problem is that both Gavin and I have a terrible sense of direction. It's like being in a canoe with both paddles on one side -- we just can't seem to get anywhere! In the picture below you can see Gavin carrying grocery bags, but before the "lost" debacle.
Finally after arriving back at the farmhouse we were able to sit down and start cooking our spaghetti dinner. We used homegrown garlic so kindly left by the woman who lives next door. After an hour of so of cooking, the spaghetti was ready and it was absolutely delicious -- or maybe it was just the hard work and day's journey put into it that made it taste so good. Then it was time for a good night of sleep in the quiet little (well, not so little -- with three bedrooms and three floors -- four counting the terrace on the roof) farmhouse. Gavin was asleep quickly, but I laid awake for some time listening to the wind. The wind outside was howling. The pipes were creaking, making strange noises. The wooden shutters were banging. It certainly was a little hard to fall asleep in all that noise in such a strange place. The farmhouse is neat but also a little creepy at the same time, but I've warmed up to it over the last few days. :)