The Last Day in Malta

Marty's conference got over on Friday night, so we packed that evening for an early checkout the next morning. I had booked a Saturday morning harbor cruise with Captain Morgan, so we checked our bags with the front desk and took the bus to Sliema, where the cruise began. The day was dark and drizzly in the morning, but about halfway through the cruise, the clouds dissipated and the sun came out. The guide's comentary was delivered in both English and German, and I was gratified to learn I can still understand German fluently - even if I am really rusty in the "speaking it" department.

Here are some interesting anecdotes and observations from the cruise:

• Malta has eight active dry docks and a shipbuilding industry.
• The city of Valletta was built and fortified by the Order of St. John after the Great Siege. It grew up behind the older Fort St. Elmo, which was originally built by Arabs.
• The old Royal Navy Hospital at Bughi commissioned by Admiral Lord Nelson has a lift from sea level up several floors and over the wall so wounded sailors could be taken there directly from their ship instead of needing to be transported up rough and winding roads.
• The largest yacht marina in the Mediterranean is housed in one of the "creeks" off the Grand Harbor.
• Warehouses on the shores outside the walls had colored doors and windows as a guide for shippers - who were instructed to pick up or deliver according to the designated color, rather than the warehouse street address - since there were no streets outside the walls. Today, those warehouses are shops and restaurants.
  

The rest of the next two days, we spent waiting - at the hotel until it was time to go to the airport; at the airport because we got there 5 hours ahead of our flight; at Gatwick because the coaches to Heathrow airport didn't start running until two hours after we landed; at Heathrow because we overestimated the length of the coach ride. By the time we arrived at San Francisco, we were SO GLAD to be able to just pick up the rented car and come home without having to wait any more.

I'm still putting photos up on Flickr and annotating them all - it may take a while - and I'll also be deleting the ones that are not so interesting.