OAT: Undiscovered Adriatic: Malta, Puglia, and Venice
September 28 - October 19, 2021
At the beginning of April (2021), OAT began to reopen its tours. We looked over the possibilities and chose a small ship cruise that was on our "possibles" list: The Undiscovered Adriatic: Venice, Puglia, and Malta with a post-trip to Trieste and Ljubljana, Slovenia. A couple of the places on the itinerary weren't new to us, but Malta, San Marino, and Trieste were and several of the other places, Urbino, Ravenna, Venice, and Ljubljana are "places to return to." Besides, after sitting at home for 18 months (by trip time), we were ready to travel again to see the new and revisit the "old"!
The trip itself was somewhat of an adventure. Bad weather (Bora winds) to the north whipped up the Adriatic Sea so we were usable to get to two of the ports (the Tremiti Islands and Ravenna) and we spent four days in Monopoli instead of two. The same weather system caused us to have three nights of sailing with very rough seas.
Traveling during the Covid pandemic was also something of a challenge. Each country (and some cities - Venice) has its own rules and procedures that threatened to change at any moment. We spent a lot of time completing the various required forms and online applications. The Sunday before our Tuesday departure we went up to the Tucson airport for a Covid test (free). It wasn't required for entry into Malta, but we wanted to be prepared in case they changed the rules. Three more Covid tests were required during the trip, all of which we had to pay for. Fortunately, all of our tests were negative, as were those of all the people on our tour. Our original Covid vaccination forms were required in many places: for entry into the country, entry to many museums, and to enter and eat at some restaurants.
Trip Map September 28-29
Tucson-Denver-Munich-Malta - Valletta and Sliema September 30 - October 2 Malta: Valletta; Cathedral of St. John the Baptist; Caravaggio; Hagar Qim; Vittoriosa; Embark the Artemis; Rabat; Mdina October 3
October 4
Otranto: Aragonese Castle; Cathedral of Otranto; Constantine Foundation; Monument to Drowned Albanian Refugees
October 5-8
Monopoli: Alberobello's Trulli Houses; Masseria Farm; Matera; Bari
October 9
October 10
October 11
October 12-13
October 14-16
Redipublia War Memorial; Trieste: City Tour; Saint Justus Basillica; Roman Theater; Castello Miramare; Motovun; Groznjan
October 17-18
October 19
Tues - Wed, 9/28 -29 - Green Valley to Sliema, Malta
After 25 hours of travel through airports in Denver and Munich, we arrived in Valletta, Malta. There were long lines in Malta because passengers had to show their VeriFly QR code on their cell phones and some people evidently had problems with that. The young lady at the counter (when we finally reached it) had difficulty bringing up our information on the cell phones and she finally just gave up, accepted the paper copies and cleared us on through. Perhaps they are trying to be a little too "techy."
A driver met us at the Malta airport and drove us to our hotel, the Victoria, in Sliema, a district - not really a suburb. We met our very Italian tour director, Marco Minella and were given a welcome drink of Kinnie, a local cola that tasted like root beer with an orange citrus aftertaste. Gale liked it, Marge didn’t.
Trip map: OAT Undiscovered Adriatic
We went in the Malta to Venice direction
Flag of Malta
Malta's EU License Plate
Map of Malta - Main Island, showing places we visited
Malta lies in the Mediterranean Sea 60 miles south of Sicily and 200 miles north of Libya. It has an area of only 122 square miles and has five large deep, natural harbors. Because of its location in the Med and its harbors it has been a much sought after target for control throughout most of history starting with the Phoenicians (8th century BCE) and Carthaginians (6th century BCE), Romans, Greeks, Ottomans, Normans, Aragonese, Knights of St. John (1530-1798 CE), French, and British, among others. Malta became independent in 1964 and joined the EU in 2004.
After a rest, we walked to the local labor party union hall used by its retired members to meet, drink, play cards, and reminisce. Our hosts provided drinks (Cisk, the local beer and Kinnie), then chips, popcorn, and a local “snack” that was made like lasagne but was finger food. We snacked enough to forego dinner and walked back to the hotel and to bed. It was a very long day.
View from our hotel - at least you could see the Mediterranean
The preferred local soft drink - different!
Thurs., 9/30 - Valletta, Malta
Breakfast at 7 AM was a full buffet in the hotel. Plastic gloves were provided to wear at the buffet tables and everyone was supposed to wear masks when not eating. It worked fine and the food was very good and typical of the better hotels.
Today's activities began with a tour of Valletta which is on the peninsula between the Marsamxett (north) and Grand (south) harbors. Valletta is the capital city in which are the prime minister’s palace and parliament building. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Fort Saint Angelo
Fortifications
St. Peter and Paul Counterguard
St. Peter and Paul Bastion containing the Lascaris War Rooms, the underground complex that housed the headquarters from which the defence of the island was conducted during WWII.
Grand Harbor - Valletta
Fort Saint Angelo and some very expensive yachts in the
Grand Harbor - Valletta
Monument commemorating the Migration Summit meeting which brought African and European leaders together in Malta in 2015.
The Monument, in the shape of a knot, also symbolizes Malta's foreign policy since the 1970s and was inspired by Malta's geographic position as a link between two continents. Artistic work of Vincent Briffa.
Auberge de Castille et Leon - office of the Prime Minister
Prime Minister's automobile - no license plate
Bilingual street sign - Maltese and English
Streets are narrow and there are lots of hills
Bilingual directions
These two were outside guarding a shop - very cute
Typical architecture
Ruins of the Royal Opera House
The theater received a direct hit from aerial bombing in 1942 during World War II. Prior to its destruction, it was one of the most beautiful and iconic buildings in Valletta.
Local taxi cab
The day's highlight was the tour of the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist that houses two original Caravaggio paintings. The cathedral is built with limestone and the interior is carved limestone covered in 24 karat gold leaf. It is atrociously overdone.
The artist Caravaggio painted two pictures in the church while he was there after fleeing from Italy for killing a nobleman. The large wall painting is "The Beheading of John the Baptist." Caravaggio signed his name in red blood on this painting. It is the only painting he signed. The other painting is his "St. Jerome."
Cathedral of St. John the Baptist
Cathedral of St. John the Baptist - Interior
Cathedral of St. John the Baptist - Interior
Cathedral of St. John the Baptist - Interior
Caravaggio - "The Beheading of John the Baptist"
Caravaggio - St. Jerome
More narrow streets and interesting facades
Fort Tigne on Tigne Point in Sliema - guards the approach to Marsamxett Harbor
Fort Manoel on Manoel Island - a star fort commanding the Marsamxett Harbor and Sliema Creek anchorage
Ferry from Valletta to Sliema across the Marsamxett Harbor
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