Day 28 - Friday, 12/06/24 - Valetta, Malta - Day 2

 This morning found us waking up to our 7 AM alarm to get ready for day two in Valetta. After breakfast, we met up with our group in the third floor atrium and scanned off the ship and walked the length to the ship from the front to the back and into the terminal and then out through the tunnel and met up with Rita. She then guided us to the van where John was waiting.  

For the first part of the day, we were driven over to the other side of the harbor by the shipyards and the historical Fort Saint Angelo and the city of Birgu where we did a walking tour around the base of the fort and then through the maze of the narrow streets of the community there. There was very interesting architecture there, and I would say that the streets were extremely narrow, although the small cars had no problem navigating them. We then drove back over to the Valetta downtown area where we were dropped off and did some more walking touring in the downtown area and again observing some significant architecture and historical statues. We all decided to walk back to the ship after lunch so we released John and the van to go back to its headquarters. We found a restaurant on the main square by the area where they're setting up for a Christmas concert. Part of the group went inside to a restaurant, but four of us felt that it was way too loud and active to enjoy a meal comfortably so we two couples found a restaurant out in the square and sat under the canopies and had a very nice Maltese lunch.  

After lunch, the group reformed and Rita took us on a short walking tour through the city to the St. John's Cathedral, which she said absolutely shouldn't be missed. The senior rate for going in the cathedral was €12 and once you enter the cathedral, I would say it's probably the most ornate cathedral that I have ever visited. While the much of the gold is not real gold (it's paint over wood). It's still really really impressive. The amount of detail that is in its eight chapels that are on the sides of the main sanctuary is simply stunning. There are all measure of frescoes, carvings, Maltese crosses, and the like. Rita gave intense detail about much of the features of the cathedral and it's clear that it's a favorite spot of hers. At times I felt the narrative was too overwhelming. One of the highlights, though was to see an original painting by Caravaggio of the beheading of John the Baptist. This painting was featured in one of our art lectures and so we were keen on seeing it in person. It's very moving and emotional to observe.  With frescoes on the ceiling and walls it was important to not miss that the floor was paved in exquisitely crafted marble crypt like pieces. All of these had historical significance that's way beyond my ability to describe, but shouldn't be missed.

Leaving the cathedral we then strolled over to the Upper Barracca Gardens that's above the harbor and took the elevator down to street level. We then strolled back towards the ship and Angela and I separated from the group so that we could do some souvenir shopping. We said our goodbyes to Rita and thanked her for a wonderful day and a half.

We made it back to the ship and on board by 3:15 PM and the on board time was 3:30 p.m. when we scanned on the ship, there were still some 90 people yet to come on board. We dropped our things off in the stateroom and headed up to the Crow's Nest to watch the sail away. I used the time to download the pictures I've taken so far these couple days (well over 200). We left a little bit after our scheduled departure of 4 PM due to six people being late returning to the ship. One was brought up in a police car so he had apparently needed some assistance in getting back to the ship. The staff captain moved the ship away from its birth and slowly rotated the stern clockwise 180° so the ship was facing the open sea after passing through the S turn required by the breakwater. Returning to the Crow's Nest, I sat down on a bench by Angela and it turned out that there was a lady there who worked for Holland America in Alaska and she and her husband had converted a Dodge Promaster van for camping use and had lived in the van for the last five years. Her husband eventually joined us after trivia was over, and we had a very pleasant conversation about van camping and cruising and related topics. It was a very fun conversation and that's one of the things I like about cruising when we experience these kinds of conversations.

With the ship out in the open sea and darkness surrounding us, we adjourned to the Lido for dinner. After dinner, we attended the Repertory Company's presentation of Songbirds which featured songs of  3 female artists. It was really good and we thoroughly enjoyed it. With the evening still young, we adjourned to the stateroom as once again we need to be up early for our arrival and touring in La Goulette, Tunisia tomorrow morning. It's sort of hard to believe that we're now down to four ports left on our voyage after Tunisia, but that's the nature of cruising.  At some point every cruise is going to end. And ours ends in two weeks.