3 Weeks in Europe, Part 2: Malta, Gozo, and Blue Water

Second stop after London was Malta.  There are terrific cheap flights between London and Malta, especially if you are willing to fly at odd hours. You are not alone if you are not quite sure where or what Malta is - we have had that reaction by many.   Malta is a very small country that sits in the Mediterranean, a tiny dot on the map south of Sicily.   It is made up of 3 islands - Malta, Comino, and Gozo.  Comino is so small that it is not even inhabited.  The majority of the population lives in and around the city of Valletta on Malta, and the rest of Malta and Gozo is very sparsely populated and fairly quiet.  I have to say that Malta is not for everyone.   One person described it to us as "the Florida of the UK", and that is a fair statement probably.  Everyone on Malta does speak English, the stores are stocked with the foods you might find in the UK, and there do appear to be a number of people from the UK that have retired to Malta or visit there on a winterly basis.

However, Tom and I found renting a flat in the very quiet village of Gharb on Gozo to be an ideal getaway for us - just our speed.  We could make our own morning coffee, fix up a picnic, and take off on a new hiking or exploring adventure every day.  The timing of being there late April/early May seemed to be ideal to our purposes.  The weather was terrific, but not uncomfortably hot.  The wildflowers were in abundance, and the hills were still fairly green.  The hunters had abandoned their blinds and were no longer shooting everything that flies.  This is one very sad and unfortunate fact of Malta - there is a huge national pastime of shooting birds.  Considering the fact that the islands are very well situated between Africa and Europe they would be an ideal stopping place during the twice yearly migrations, were it not for the fact that the birds will likely get shot if they do make this stopover.  Malta is part of the EU, and the EU along with many bird loving countries and organizations is trying to put some controls in place to stop or at least curtail the hunting practices.  The residents of Malta however are not convinced and the practices persist largely unabated.   

So it is somewhat ironic that bird lovers like ourselves would enjoy having a holiday on Malta, but we do like more on this planet than just birds.  And we did see some birds.  The Spanish Sparrow is ubiquitous and nests 2 or 3 times per spring.  They were making nests or fledging chicks out of every available crack and crevice on every house and every rock wall.  We had a few sightings of a lovely large brown raptor that appeared to be their Marsh Harrier, and saw various cliff birds in several places by the sea.

 The Mediterranean Sea as viewed from Gozo and Malta is just an amazing sight.  I have never seen water this blue anywhere else.  Tom says that the large amount of minerals leeching into the water from the limestone cliffs is the secret recipe for this beautiful blue color.

 We spent many of our days hiking the villages and cliffs of Gozo, and I probably took over 1000 pictures just from these hikes.  Every rock wall, every new glimpse of the many many churches and cathedrals that have been built on this tiny island, and then especially all of the views of the sea and that gorgeous very blue water.

I found my last posting of pictures on this blog site very frustrating, so I will only be putting a few pictures in the blog, but posting links here to the larger sets of pictures I have posted to Flickr:   http://www.flickr.com/photos/hawkperson/sets/72157618662367001/

3 Weeks in Europe, Part 1: London - Images

Images appearing in some sort of non specific order (I have not yet conquered this blog layout tool.....)

My sister Mary at the Blueprint Cafe: 

Kuniyoshi image (postcard):

Picasso image (postcard): 

Plates of food at Ottolenghi (I was scolded for this one....):

Perfectly pulled cup of coffee:

The Egyptian room at the British Museum:

and some other familiar sights ....

3 Weeks in Europe, Part 1: London

First some background on this trip.  Last year when our friends Chris and Rob left to live in Amsterdam for a year, we decided this would be a good year to get back to Europe.   We at least had the excuse of visiting them. At the same time American Airlines announced that it was increasing the miles needed to obtain free tickets, so we jumped on the chance to "buy" early and avoid the increase.  After hours and hours of spare time searching, for two freebie business class tickets with reasonable routings and timings,  I finally found us two business class tickets to Zurich through JFK.  Both flights were on AA's newly remodeled 767, with just a business class and coach.  By the way, the new business class seats were amazingly comfortable.  We both feel that this was the easiest ocean crossing we have ever made.

Over the following few months an itinerary developed.  We originally planned to go to Greece, including  the island of Santorini.  We wanted to include some island time with blue water and solitude, with a helping of ancient culture on the side.  Unfortunately the main ancient attraction on Santorini is currently closed - see  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akrotiri_(

Santorini), and it was tricky to get flights that connected well with  the Zurich flights.  So we investigated Malta.  We had thought about visiting Malta some years ago and for various reasons it did not work out at that time.  This time it worked very well.  The low fare tickets to Malta are through London, so we grabbed round trip tickets through London.  My sister lives in the UK and she and her partner Simon were able to plan some  time to be with us.  So part 1 of this journey became London, staying at a flat in the center of London with Mary and Simon.  

The flat is located near Leicester Square, amazingly situated in the heart of the theater district and a stone's throw from many galleries and museums.  Our few days in London were jam packed with activity.  We attended an exhibit of work by Japanese woodcut master Kuniyoshi, the British Museum, a movie (independent - "Shifty"), the play "War Horse", a Picasso exhibit, and Tom took in the Design Center while Mary, Simon, and I did some walking.  Mary and Simon

 know where all of the best meals are to be had in London (and many other places in the world) and  so we had some pretty amazing food also.  Favorite for me was Ottolenghi,

 see http://www.ottolenghi.co.uk/  .    You enter a small restaurant and are immediately surrounded by platters of gorgeous vegetables, meats, and sweets.  While you wait to be seated you size up the platters and start choosing your selection.   And oh yes, lots of great talking, cryptic crosswords, and outstanding coffee....

Introduction

Having just completed a wonderful 3 week vacation in Europe with my husband Tom, this seems like as good a time as any to start a blog.  My blog title refers to my addiction to photography.  I feel incomplete when I do not have a camera handy and have started to feel that I experience the world differently now than I did before that addiction began - that I am roaming the world with one eye shut, sizing it up from the perspective behind the lens.  It seems likely that there will be more photos than words in this blog. We will see.....