Monday, May 02, 2005
Magic Malta
So here we are in wonderful Malta, the island off the coast of everywhere else. It is a completely unique place, one of the most densely populated places on the planet, with an almost arabic/north african feel to the language and alleyed towns outside of Valletta, yet still an absoutely baroque and catholic country. I suppose I am a bit biased in my love of Malta, as I worked here on an IAESTE program for BCS back in 1996.....lots of great memories.
http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?formtype=address&searchtype=address&country=MT&addtohistory=&city=
We've been to Paris, Strasbourg, Marseille, Corsica, Rome, Napoli, Salerno/Amalfi Coast, Sicily/Siracusa and now Malta. So we have more than a few blanks to fill in...
I am going to start from here and work backwards (and forwards) with the blog as things can be funnier when they are fresher! I'll be using Fragrant Vagrants for general observations and happenings, and using the 'Vague Rants' blog for little nuggets of detail on people and thoughts and happenings.
Anyway, Malta has to be one of the friendliest places on the planet. We are lucky of course that we are being hosted with old friends of mine. They also happened to be getting married last weekend and we were allowed to witness the event - which was pretty incredible. 
The wedding was in fort St. Angelo near Vittoriosa, one of the Three Cities east of the Grand Harbour overlooked by Valletta. (Valletta is a Baroque City and a World heritage site, one of the earliest examples of urban planning when layed out by the Knights of St.John in the late 16th Century as a celebration of the defeat of the Ottoman Turks). Fort St. Angelo is actually owned by the Knights of St. John, and as such it has its own autonomy within Malta (something between an embassy or ambassadorial residence, and the UN in NY) and is run and maintained by the Knights. I wasn't aware that there were Knights active still, or even that you could still be invested a Knight -as far as I know the title is not heridetary and Chastity (celibacy) is a requirement of the order. You maybe invited to be a Knight after years of being a friend to the Order (everyone I think knows the Order Of Malta Ambulance Corps etc.). So if anyone is interested in becoming a knight, there is another way..... the picture on the left below is from Valletta, the day before the wedding, you can make out the Marquee on top of the Fort.
There were about 550 people at the wedding, which is quite normal for a wedding in Malta, there was 600 invites, so it was quite a good turnout. Mat surprised and delighted all by crooning his way through 'Just the Two of Us' with a Jazz band backing group and then continued as MC for the next two hours. I believe he could turn his hand to being a presenter on Italian TV, no problem. Ingrid battled through the 550 odd greetings with an unshakeable smile. We met a great crew of people, many sons and daughters of Maltese emigrants come home from Germany and Australia and the States. Certainly things are booming in Malta at the moment. But there are a fair amount of immigrants here too, Austria, States, China, Belarus, Yugoslavia, which must be pretty tough breaking into the village life of a small island...
The food was great, (Mats cousins were catering) the booze was fantastic, the DJs were excellent (Chris, the best man, no speeches!) and the only person I met that I didn't like at the wedding was someone who mistook me for a waiter....
things are chaging pretty quickly over here. Years of tradition are being pushed aside and the new international is arriving. It is all getting shaken up.
Mat and Ingrid's wedding cake is a nice example of the new and the old. Mat is one of the younger designers pushing the Maltese Design envelope....(Ill tell you more about M&I's amazing house in Vague rants) The Cake Created by Mat's catering cousins, the cake was a minimalist masterpiece - all the more impressive in a country where the Baroque style hasn't quite worn off (check out the buses). There was serious concern among the caterers that people would think that the cake hadn't been finished yet, not without the prerequisite Bride and Groom on top and loads of inticate filigree lace type icing....... 
Anyway, we spent the last week recovering from finishing the various leftovers from the wedding, including the open bottles left from the bar, (Mats Negroni mix is great - 1/3 gin, 1/3 Campari, 1/3 Martini Rosso and a splash of tonic, magic....) and treking aroung Malta and Gozo. First evening (after washing the car three tims to get the egg and shaving foam off it) we walked up to Laterno Cross to take in the view - next day it was Clapham Junction and Dingli cliff and on over to Mgarr (im-jarr). Clapham junction is a place where the are cart ruts ( of indeterminable age) just randomly traced accross the rock at the top of Dingli cliffs. there are prehistoric graves and other bits and pieces around. We proceeded driving around the island checking out some excellent coves and headlands, and generally just ambling around. I liked , Gnejna Bay, west of Malta...Solene had a go at another watercolour, not so successful.
While we were there, a truck carrying a skip arrived, and lowered it into the water off the rocks. The skip seem to be entirely filled with concrete yet floated reasonably well, the top staying about 15cm off the water with 4 people and an out-board motor on board. Then one of the chaps lit up the motor and headed out of into the bay. I have no idea what they were up to....but it is quite a creative boat I have to say.... no photos sorry.... And I am totally serious.
We headed back to get lost in the middle of Malta again, almost inevitable as they are redoing the main roads of the island with european money (long needed repairs), but it is the equivalent of closing the M50 around Dublin for a year completely, or the M25 from Bristol to Bath...
We went off to Gozo overnight thursday friday, and had an amazing walk from Victoria (smack in the middle of the island) out to Marsalforn in the north and then west to Hekka Point, along the cliffs and Salt Pans to what will be forever know as Hunters paradise. The Maltese, and the Gozitans in particular I fear love shooting. Anything that moves by the look of it. Not many Clay Pigeon places here...It is definetly an article for the vague rants page, but just imagine an English garden allotment with a gun emplacement (or tower in some cases) at one end, and you begin to get the picture....Anyway, we managed to stumble out of here with vague recollections of our Corsican Maquis adventure (coming soon) and on down to Fungus Rock, the Inland sea and Azure window all at Dwerja Point - hitched back with an Australian couple and made it back to Malta in time for a Rabbit Dinner. Fenkata - delicious. A must have if you are here, the national dish. Although Horse is very popular as well if you fancy....
Anyway, we went picnicking in Buskett (lit. Little Woods)yesterday, and it feels like a Monday morning today. we've been winding down from Party all last week, and now Mat and Ingrid are back in work and we're planning departures.
Til the next post (i'll make them shorter, promise...)
K
