Malta: land of friendly people and stray cats

So, as most of you already know, I decided not to go home for Christmas this year.  When I started looking for tickets, they were over a thousand dollars… I kept my eye out and saw prices go down to 900 or so, but felt that it was still too much to spend, especially since I was lucky enough to have been home for a bit in October with med school interviews.  I also saw this break as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity where I’m living in Europe and really have very little/nothing that I have to do during this time.  So… I decided to go for it and planned a whirlwind European tour: Marseille to Malta, Malta to Girona (Spain), Girona to Barcelona (still Spain), and Barcelona to Venice (Italy).  It’s been a bittersweet decision:  I’ve been both extremely excited to have the chance to take such an awesome trip, and also really sad to not be with my family.  “I’ll be home for Christmas” has come on several times on my itunes holiday playlist and has induced several bouts of tears.  Anyhoo, enough of the Debbie Downer business.  Malta! 

In case you don't know where Malta is...

Flying with Ryanair is great as far as your checkbook goes (my flight to Malta cost a grand total of… 24.99, in euros obviously.)  However, the glitch is that they charge you literally an arm and a leg to check a bag, which is great incentive to travel with only a carryon.  I’m packing all of my clothes, toiletries, technology, and other necessities into one small hiking backpack that just fits within the 55x40x20cm carryon travel restrictions.  How did I make it work?  I’ll fill you in on the secret later! 

Anyway, I had all of my things together early in the day, but my flight didn’t leave Marseille until 9:30pm.  The story is much longer, but in the interest of time/space, suffice it to say that when I arrived at the train station at 6:05, the trains had been cancelled (due to weather, I think) and my only option took a long detour and would get me to the aiport by 9:10... for a 9:30 flight.  I checked in with a cab driver just for kicks and giggles… He looked at me like I was crazy and told me, “plus de 100 km; plus de 200 euros” Eek!!  I didn’t know what to do, so I called my host family for advice.  Steve didn’t even hesitate and told me to wait there and that he was on his way to bring me to the airport himself :)  He and Renaud showed up about 35 minutes later and drove me straight to the airport.  I was plenty early and didn’t have any problems checking in.  Whew!  They’re angels for sure. 

Yes, it is December

Our flight took off half an hour late, but still arrived ten minutes early, which reminded me of a Ryanair trick.  They advertise that over 90% of their flights arrive on time or early, more than any other European airline… which I am convinced is due to the fact that they consistently overestimate how much time it will take to get there.  The passengers applauded when we landed, which also makes me laugh.  Since it was almost midnight, I took a taxi to get to my hostel, which at 20 euros cost almost as much as my entire flight :)  At the hostel, I met Lynnette and Michael, an Aussie girl and a Canadian guy who live and work at the hostel, and Cathy, an Irish girl on vacation. 

This is "snow" ;)

Stray cat haven

I really had nothing in mind for the following day, so I just started walking.  I used my awesome sense of direction and went completely the opposite way that I thought I was going, but my only real goal was to get to a beach and since I was on an island, if I walked long enough in any direction, I think I would have been able to succeed.  I ended up at a picnic area in Pembroke, where I took off my sundress and hopped in the water, reading a “smutty” (holla if you love the Music Man!) French book for a couple of hours.  The water was way warmer than I was expecting, so I actually was sitting in the water while I read. 

After that, I explored Paceville (which is pronounced more like Patch-a-ville) and St Julians and Sliema and Manoel Island, walking along the seashore and enjoying the 65 degree weather.  Several examples of the extremely friendly people; while I was eating a slice of pizza at the waterfront for lunch, not one but two guys came up to me- one of them told me that my pizza looked good and the other asked where I was from and how I liked Malta and talked a little bit about the lack of snow at Christmastime.  And I legitimately felt that neither one was hitting on me and they didn’t outstay their welcome… no awkward, “well… I’m going to go now” or “I hope you have a nice day!” to encourage them to get a move on.  One other extremely common phenomenon?  Stray cats EVERYWHERE.  I’ve never seen anything quite like it.  Cathy said that in Valletta there’s an area where people come to feed stray cats, kind of like the way that people will bring bread to throw to ducks in harbor areas.  Speaking of ducks… Manoel Island had quite the interesting display. 

Duck gardens at Manoel Island

In case you couldn't read that sign... hahaha

Cathy and I grabbed dinner in Paceville at a cute little pasta place- it was a good example of the difference in cost of living.  I think that things in France are generally fairly expensive… you’ll rarely find a restaurant where you can get something for less than 8 euros, and 10-14 is probably more common.  However, here, we were able to get HUGE pasta portions AND a drink for less than 7 euros!  We tried to check out a place where we had seen advertisements for salsa dancing, but it didn’t look like much was going on-maybe because it was a Tuesday night.  Cathy and Lynnette and Mike and I chatted for a while and then watched Mamma Mia- it was so nice to have such awesome people at the hostel.  More to come from the rest of my Malta excursion!