July 24, Sunday- Valletta, Malta
This is a special day. We will be visiting Malta for the first time ever. Oh yes, and I turn 80.
We will be touring Valletta, Malta on our own. The Mediterranean heat wave continues. It is near 95 degrees. We have water, hats and sun screen. Upon leaving Oosterdam we had to walk a quarter mile to the terminal exit. Then we had to walk back the same distance on the outside of the port to the bow of the ship. This is where the elevator up to the city is located. The 16 story ride was quick. We stepped off into a garden. It was a short distance from the ramparts wall and the defensive battery. We would visit the battery at the end of our walk.
Our walk through the garden took us to a square in front of some government buildings and near a church. Walking to the ramparts at the edge of the square gave us nice views to the sea and a fountain below and to the right. The one disconcerting thing about walking on our own is that we follow signs or line of sight to reach our objectives and seldom know our actual direction of travel. That works fine for us but I can only tell you left or right, not north or south etc.
From the square we visited the church and ventured down a street beside it. Returning to the square we proceeded down some ramps and stairs to the large plaza that is home to a beautiful fountain. On our way we passed over a bridge high above the ruins below us at sea level. This was quite the gathering spot. City buses arrived on one side. A tourist information office was on another. Back across the bridge if you proceeded straight ahead you were at the beginning of a long street lined with shops and souvenir stands.
We looked for postcards at the first shop we came to. The cards were uninspiring but I did glance through a nice book about Malta. It was not expensive at just 8 euros, but preferring postcards to books we moved on. A block away we found a bookstore that had the same book for 11 euros. We had not found any good quality postcards so we went back and bought our bargain book for 8 euros.
We have not been big shoppers on this trip. We called it quits and started back to the battery and the elevator for our return to ground level. After passing the garden again we stepped out and down to the battery. The view was fantastic. We could well imagine troops here defending the city. We rode the elevator down and returned to Oosterdam.
Looking down to the elevator base
We will celebrate my birthday dinner on the Pinnacle. Showers and change of clothes were definitely in order. We arrived at the Pinnacle at 5:30. After a very friendly greeting the host took us to the same table we had last week with Ervin as our waiter again.
Since I had the New York strip steak last week I chose the pork chop this time. Since Alice loves the lamb chops here she ordered them again. Our sides were grilled baby beets and creamed spinach. Accompanied with a splendid Cabernet Sauvignon our meals were delightful. We had ordered desserts from the menu. Before they were delivered Ervin brought out a very nice happy birthday chocolate cake. My lovely wife had ordered it for me. Once the song had been sung we decided to have Ervin wrap it for eating in our stateroom. It was too much to eat now and our ordered desserts were a more reasonable portion.
At the completion of this wonderful celebration, Ervin brought us a beautifully wrapped cake which we took with and placed in our refrigerator.
Oh, I almost forgot. While we were at breakfast our stewards delivered a present from the captain. It was a single chocolate cupcake. No words can express the extent of my reaction.
in any event thanks to my wonderful wife it was a wonderful day. She made the 80th card for me.
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