Molto Malta e Pure Italia!

I just finished writing up the entry about our latest bike trip over the Via Claudia Augusta to Italy and realized I forgot to post about our winter trip through Italy to a new land for us: Malta! I've been wanting to go there since my friend Matt raved about it a few years ago and my research turned up that it was interesting, historic, picturesque and....inexpensive! I finally convinced Matthias to give it a try for our winter trip this year after promoting the fact that we could get there without flying (something he dislikes more and more these days) and - did I mention - it would be relatively inexpensive. 

We spent January in Passau taking care of medical appointments and other humdrum domestic details, and then I got a chance to meet up with Matt in Vienna for a few days at the end of the month. We spent a dizzying two days running around doing silly and wonderful things (Strauss Experience and boys choir: BAD, Light show at the church and Freud House : FAB!) and then I came back to get ready to go (and to pick up and complete our absentee ballots for the German election - as soon as they were available.) I had found a way to take the train from home all the way to Sicily in one day + one night, but since Matt was going to be in Munich as we were passing through, we took the opportunity to spend a night there. That turned out to be a nicer, more relaxed way to do it anyway - taking an afternoon train to Munich on February 4th and spending the evening with Matt before getting the train to Italy the next morning. 

Light show in Vienna

Matt and Matthias in Munich

On the morning of Feb 5, we got our favorite train over the Brenner Pass (to be revisited by bike this spring) to Bologna, then had six hours to spare before our night train to Siracusa, Sicily. We walked around Bologna and had a nice dinner before going back to the station where we had to wait until midnight (that sucked) in the vestibule because the rest of the station closed at 10. But once we got on the train our beds were made and we were able to sleep relatively well. We had our water cooker and coffee with us so we didn't have to wait until the little dixie cup with espresso was delivered in the morning, and we spent the day in our private cabin (unfortunately they never made the beds, but it was still comfy) and enjoyed the scenery of Southern Italy. Around midday the entire train was loaded onto the ferry to Sicily and we were able to get out and enjoy the boat ride. We arrived in Siracusa on time at about 4pm on the 6th and found our lovely apartment where we would stay for four nights. Siracusa was great. The old town was impressive, but we mostly enjoyed the markets and wandering around the outskirts. We bought fresh veg and Matthias made delicious tomato salad! Wonderful cheese, decent bread and more fresh vegetables rounded out our in-apartment meals. We also found a cute (and cheap) restaurant nearby, and I had some amazing gelato and fresh cannolis in the neighborhood. 

Snacks on the overnight train

Train on the ferry!

Archeologic Park, Siracusa

Siracusa coastline

From Siracusa we took a quick trip on the local train to Pozzallo and walked through the town to catch the 1.5-hour ferry to Malta. I was so excited to use our new personalized Maltese bus passes (had to order them for 25 Euros, but they're good for unlimited bus rides in Malta forever!) Unfortunately, it was a little complicated to find the bus stop and bus was super crowded (it happened to be a national holiday) so we had to stand for the hour-long bus ride to the apartment I rented. Luckily, our moods were buoyed when we arrived at the fabulous "penthouse" apartment. Huge kitchen, large bedroom, two bathrooms and two balconies were ours for the next three weeks. The location in Mellieha was great - walking (hiking) distance to the beautiful rugged coastline, or beach, and the bus was there to take us wherever else on the island we wanted to go. We spent most days walking around and exploring the island, with bus trips Valletta, Rabat/Mdina and (of course) Lidl. I also ventured out to Gozo Island on my own and also made a day trip to the Blue Grotto. And one day I was able to get Matthias onto a ferry to visit Comino Island where we spent a lovely day wandering around. At the end of our trip, I booked two nights in Valetta (mainly because the ferry left at 6am!) and we spent a couple of days exploring the harbor and the Three Cities area. All of it was gorgeous! I have to say, our impression of Malta was muted at first...after the charm of Italy it seemed a bit "too British", although we did enjoy pub night watching Premier League Soccer. To be fair, they don't have a lot of space to grow fresh vegetables like in Sicily and there have been so many cultures passing through the island we couldn't seem to get a good feel for the Maltese culture (which I somehow expected to be more "mediterranean"?) Anyway, the place definitely grew on us, and I would go back in a heartbeat. Even Matthias said he'd go back in the winter, if we were able to get our same fabulous apartment!

Hiking in Malta

Fab apartment kitchen

Mdina

Valletta

After three weeks in Malta, we started our sojourn back toward home. We got the ferry back to Pozzallo and a special "shuttle" that took us further to Catania, where we booked a place for two nights. We also liked Catania, although our apartment there was the least wonderful we had. It was just fine, but the internet and cell service was spotty, so our evening entertainment suffered. There was a great market, though, and good walking-around opportunities. And we were easily able to get the train to our next destination on the way home: Salerno. 

Catania

We got an apartment in Salerno for five nights, mainly because it coordinated well with the train schedules, but also because I wanted time to see the Amalfi Coast and Pompeii. Salerno itself was also great, and our apartment was just down the block from the daily market, which was awesome. More tomato salad!! As our first outing, we took the harrowing and scenic bus trip to Amalfi where we caught another bus up the mountain so we could hike the path of the gods. It was pretty spectacular, even if there were some other tourists around (good thing it was off-season) and Matthias was quite moody. Also, once we finished the hike, we needed to take a few buses - for a few hours - to get back to Salerno. The ride was still pretty, but we were kind of done. Still, it was a great day! The next day we went to Herculaneum in the morning and then on to Naples in the afternoon. It was another full day, but really nice. On our last day in Salerno, I made my way to Pompeii on my own and had nice, relatively peaceful time exploring the ruins. We went out for a nice supper in Salerno on our last night and got the train the next morning to Verona - just a stopover for one night before getting the train back over the Brenner Pass to Munich and then home. 

Almafi

Seaside in Salerno

Herculaneum

Pompeii

It was a wonderful winter getaway and got us pretty excited about living so close to Italy. Thinking about exploring more of Southern Italy and Sicily (and maybe Sardina) in the future. We'll see....

Here's the Photo Album!