All good things must come to an end. But our memories will never end. Nor will our appreciation for this opportunity. We have fulfilled so many dreams. Dreams that started when we saw faraway places in school books. Dreams reinforced by a life time of new events recorded in newspapers magazines and TV. And, dreams enhanced by so many movies. We have been there and we thank you for making it possible.
One last cathedral. It is build in the style of the English and French cathedrals we have seem. There are beautiful massive structures for choirs right in the middle of the cathedral. So that most of the people cannot see the main alter. I think most of the services are small enough so that the people sit between the choir stalls and the main alter, but I’ll bet that Easter finds some people without a view of the proceedings. The cathedral is beautiful. It takes some concentration to not think “another church”. They each deserve praise.
To get to the cathedral, we wind our way through narrow mid evil streets. There is always something special about walking through these streets where so many have walked before us. Plus, you don’t need to worry about cars.
I kept trying to get a picture of the yellow and white bicycles. Apparently, you can lease a bike for 30 Euros a month. This entitles you to ride a bike for two hours a day. The intent is to give you a way to commute to work and avoid the traffic. A bike is easier to move through traffic than a car or scooter. I don’t think you get the same bike each day. I think you go outside and take the first bike you see and then leave it wherever you finish your day. The tour guide asks if we know what they call these bike commuters: Organ Donors. Apparently, they have no helmet laws and the bikers weave their way through the heavy traffic. Anyway, I never go the picture, but I somehow managed to remember the story.
I did get a picture of a mail slot. Not just any mail slot, but one with a message. Like our hare and tortoise story, this mail slot tells a bird and tortoise story. Steady gets the best results. No offense to airmail, this slot was built well before the advent of airmail.
Then we see the Blessed Family Church designed by Gaudi. It is only about one third completed. This is breath taking. They are building like mad because the Pope is coming to consecrate the church this summer. I don’t think that they hope to complete it, just complete more of it. The tour guide offers that due to Latin heritage, they never finish anything on time.
And, then the guide points out this house designed by Gaudi – emphasis on the “di”. Wow, she got our attention. As usual, pictures from a bus window do not do the building justice, but trust me, it was memorable.
They pretty much kick you off the ship around 8:30 in the morning. Our flight doesn’t leave until 4:00 in the afternoon. The challenge is to get us and our luggage to the airport at the same time. And, we do not want to sit at the airport for 8 hours. The easiest way to do this is to book a tour of Barcelona.
The tour guide does her best to point out interesting landmarks and buildings. She is very knowledgeable and tells us all the dates and people involved. Soon I understand that in Barcelona, the architects are the “thing”. We are not told which bishop or king built something, we are told who designed the building.
We see lots of Olympics sites. And again, we are told who designed them.
See the Christopher Columbus Statue and old building pictures.
With all due respect, this poor guide is competing with the Rome and Egypt for limited space in our brains.
We arrived in Malta around 11:00 in the morning. Normally, we arrive while it is still dark or at least barely light. It is nice to be able to stand on our balcony and see the fortress.
Malta is the busiest port we have seen. There are all kinds of ships small and large. There are many fancy yachts. During the day, we saw more yacht harbors.
St. Paul was ship wrecked on Malta. Did you know that Malta is a Christian country? Well, it is. The church’s are beautiful. And, there are 367 churches on the islands (Malta is 5 islands).
We take a bus to Mdina. Yes, I spelled it correctly. One of the first things we notice is the horses. During the day, we see horses trotting around the city. Mostly, they are taking tourists that are not on a bus tour. Did I say trotting. They move out. And if you are in the way, you better move. The cars are only slightly more considerate. There are only a couple hundred people that live in Mdina. It is a walled fortress city. I think the residents would be just as happy if there weren’t any tourists. They shouldn’t live in such a quaint place. We can’t be expected to control ourselves.
There is a grand entrance to Mdena. The city was destroyed in an earthquake in the very early 1700’s. In fact, most of the construction on the island was destroyed. The Knights of St. John are often called the Knights of Malta. They defended Malta against the invading Ottomans and were victorious. Their victory turned the war. They decided to stay in Malta. Napoleon drove them out. The Knights of St. John still exist. They are a charitable organization.
The Knights lived by the port – not in Mdena. The Mdena folks did not like the Knights. After the earthquake, the Knights rebuilt Mdena at the Knight’s expense. Then the Mdena citizens liked them.
This entrance is relatively new. There was an old wooden drawbridge about 20 feet to the left of the pretty bridge.
One of these pictures is of the floor. As you can see by the condition of the pictures, they are marble mosaics. Some mark a buried person. Others simple honor a person buried elsewhere. Nobody can be buried in the churches any more.
A second picture shows the alter. Linda and I agreed that these churches are much better designed than the old churches of England and France where the people sit so far away from the alter, they can’t see what is going on.
This picture shows a Temporary wooded façade that is built for lent. It looks like marble. The guys were working on it while we were there.
I have attached a sign showing the entrance to the catacombs. I could not get the camera to work inside the catacombs. The catacombs were used by the Romans. The put dead people down there. They also had big death parties down there to celebrate the transition of the dead to a better place. Humm, sounds familiar. Apparently the smell was pretty awful.
Can you see the small bird cage on the side of the building. Apparently, they put finches in the cages. The guide told us that they would be put there while the owner cleaned the cage. A couple of minutes later, we saw a man eating lunch at an outdoor café. He was holding one of the small cages with a bird in it.
I think the name of this church was the Assumption of Mary Church. It has a huge dome. And, it was built without scaffolding. In fact, so the parishioners could continue to go to church, it was built over the top of an existing church. People just kept going to the small church while the new one was constructed above them.
During WWII, the Nazis bombed Malta. Three bombs fell near the church while there were three hundred people in the building. Two hit just outside the church and failed to explode. The third bomb pierced the dome and also failed to detonate. Hard to argue that this is not a miracle.
Here are a couple more pictures of the Church. I don’t know if all the churches in Malta are this beautiful, but the two we saw and some pictures I saw of a third Church suggest they are.
Last night, we were fed a 10 meal of the day. The entire buffet area contained chocolate deserts. Anything you can imagine was chocolatized. Most of it was edible. There were several Chocolate sculptures. I think they could be eaten, but I was afraid to ask. As you can see, photograph’s were allowed, no encouraged.
Tomorrow they will drag us kicking and screaming off the ship. As I understand it, we will not be fed every couple of hours any more. What will we do? Well, they have a tour for that. We will be driven around on a bus with our luggage. Then a couple of hours before our flight, we will be deposited at the airport with our luggage. Then it is off to London where we will spend a night before catching the transatlantic flight to San Francisco. Stay tuned for 4 hours in Barcelona.
