Summer time, for me, is always full of adventures and insane amounts of travel. I love it this way, but it can make me rather scattered and distracted. The brief periods that I'm actually at home are usually spent frantically trying to catch up on laundry and make sure my bills are paid. It's hectic, and I wouldn't have it any other way. Okay, maybe I'd have myself having more sleep, but close enough. My summer shenanigans kicked off with a trip to the island of Malta last week, which I am now finally rested enough to relate.
When I heard that was where I was going, several months ago, my response was Great!...now let me just run and check a map and make sure that Malta is where I think it is. Thankfully, my geography, patchy though it may be at times, was correct in this case. It's embarrassing not to know where you're going.
Image Source: http://www.holiday-malta.com
Friday and Saturday were spent traveling and, after a million hour flight (okay, more like two 2 ½ hour flights, 2 long layovers and an 8 hour flight, but who’s counting?), I arrived in Malta to find the sea breeze blowing and the sun shining. The airport is in the middle of the island, towards the southeast. Technically there are different towns/cities but because of the size of the island, most of the really urbanized areas have bled into each other. Even though our hotel was on the other side of the island, it was still only about 25 minutes away. Parts of the island are still agricultural, growing grapes, olives and the like.
On the whole, the island is (not surprisingly) highly dependent on imports for most of it's food. It also has the distinction of being the most densely populated country in the world, with a population of over 400,000 in an area of about 300ish square kilometers. Behold the wonders of world shipping and urban planning. I can't help but wonder how much of that population growth has been in the past 70 years or so. Another fact of particular interest, is that Malta is the only country that has not legalized divorce (excluding Vatican City), although they passed a referendum in favor of writing legislation for it recently.
To follow:
The Knights of St. John
Mdina
Plague!
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