Month: October 2017

Malta is the smallest member state in the European Union. It is also the fastest growing economically and, since the Arab Spring scared tourists away from North Africa, has recently doubled its tourism from around one million to two million per year. Not bad for a country with about 430,000 inhabitants.

Most people come for beach vacations (people sometimes swim even in January) or on cruise ships. We started thinking about Malta when we lived in Belgium, a wonderful place with consistently dreary weather. Having sampled Spain and Morocco for our sunshine fix, Malta seemed like a beach destination with an exotic twist, we didn’t know anyone who had been there and the lore of the Knights of Malta made it intriguing. In that 30 years, Malta has undoubtedly changed quite a lot, but so have we.

History buffs know Malta as the European bastion against the Ottoman Empire in the days when the Turks laid siege to Vienna (as well as Malta) and as the home of that Order of Knights of The Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem (Knights Hospitaller), otherwise known as the Knights of Malta (phew).

Indeed, this weekly In Guardia performance in Fort St. Elmo draws a good crowd (almost everyone sat in the shade on our side of the parade ground, carting chairs over from the sunny side). It was close by the apartment we rented for a week in the heart of the 16th century capital of Valletta.

It’s hard to overstate the importance of Malta and of this fort – Fort Saint Angelo – to the discouragement of the Ottomans, for it was the redoubt that saved the Knights from complete disaster in1565 and put a dent in the Ottoman reputation for invincibility. But, it’s not in Valletta.

Sparing you too much detail, this painting in the Grand Master’s Palace in Valletta provides some idea of the lay of the strategic land figuring in that Great Siege. It depicts where the Ottoman forces were arrayed at some point in the siege. Valletta is at the tip of that peninsula separating two big harbors. It’s where the Knights should have built their fortress and where they did build it after their close call with the Ottomans. That harbor on the right is the Grand Harbor and it’s the biggest natural harbor in the Mediterranean.

Not all of the harbors in Malta are enormous. Some are really quaint and charming, like this one at Marsaxlokk, a fishing village of about 3,500 people. Your intrepid travelers got there by the local bus, which is the way we went everywhere on the main island of Malta (except across those enormous harbors in the painting).

We started our exploration in Mdina, the inland Maltese capital before the Knights arrived in 1530 after they were chased out of Rhodes.

As a medieval citadel it has quite a view over the land it commanded. In the distance is St. Paul’s Bay, as in where he had his famous shipwreck.

It’s quiet inside Mdina. Only about 500 people live there now and it’s popular with tourists.

St. Paul’s cathedral reminds us that it was here that Paul converted the Roman governor Publius and healed Publius’ father. Publius is supposed to be buried under the altar. The floor, of course, consists of the mosaic overlay over tombs filling the sanctuary, a common sight.

To find a bite to eat, we went outside the walls of Mdina to Rabat and followed GPS through a maze of streets. If “Rabat” seems like Arabic, it is. It’s the word for a suburb outside a citadel. The Maltese language is the only Semitic language written with a Roman alphabet. It has incorporated lots of Italian and a smattering of other languages.

From Mdina, we headed to the coast on the opposite side of the island from Valletta and deep back into time

To two Neolithic temple sites – Hagar Qim and Mnajdra – that overlook the sea.

Dating from 3600-3200 BC, Malta’s Neolithic temples are the world’s oldest freestanding stone structures, significantly older than places like Stonehenge or the Pyramids.

For us, this was one of those “who knew?” moments. The holes in the curved walls seem to have been for astronomical observation, something like Stonehenge.

This is a motif repeated frequently in the temple complexes

Along with the recurring theme of what they refer to as the “Fat Lady,” although that tends to minimize the achievements of these people who did not have metal tools, but relied on different stones and bones for the arsenal of tools to shape their world.

Meanwhile, back in Valletta to the Armoury at the Grand Master’s Palace and a time when metal was all the rage. Here we can see that the Ottoman troops at the time of the Great Siege were fairly lightly armored.

The Christian troops wore much heavier armor. This better protected them, but also made them less agile.

Clearly, the armor was for a lot more than protection. The decoration was really quite beautiful.

And then there were the innovations that never caught on, such as this 16th century German sword-gun.

The rapier is probably better known from swashbuckling tales than from military merit.

Visits are also permitted to some of the Palace rooms.

Although it’s somewhat limited because the Palace also houses the Office of the President of Malta, so parts may be off bounds for visitors that might normally be open.

Nearby (although Valletta is so small that everything is nearby) is the unassuming (on the outside) St. John’s Co-Cathedral, built in the 1570s.

Not wanting to be outdone in opulence by the Pope, the Knights decided to remodel in the 17th century

Resulting in the baroque-iest baroque interior we’ve ever seen.

After a while it becomes overwhelming.

A nice treat, however, were two magnificent Caravaggio paintings in the Oratory (no photos allowed). The Beheading of St. John the Baptist is considered to be one of his masterpieces. It’s a very large painting and the only one he actually signed. It is displayed in the space for which he painted it. Of course, Caravaggio ended up as a prisoner after he became involved in a deadly fight with a prominent Knight.

The Knights weren’t those fellows with the pikes or crossbows. They were from the aristocracy across Europe and as a religious order had tremendous wealth at their disposal.

So, with the labor of 5,000 Turkish slaves, they hurriedly built Valletta (named after the Grand Master at the time of the Siege) on the high ground of the peninsula overlooking both harbors, creating the only city we know where walking to any destination within the city is uphill and returning is even more uphill.

But, time for another bus ride. This one is out to the Tarxien Temples, four Neolithic temples in close proximity under a big protective tent. Again, they date from 3600 to 3000 BC. One of the mysteries of these temples is that all trace of whoever made them disappears at around 2500 BC. The Bronze Age people who show up next in the pre-historical record are unrelated.

That artifacts such as these temple sites should have survived is, to us, remarkable.

Even more remarkable is a nearby site from the same epoch. Rather than being constructed of stone slabs hewn from the earth, it was carved from the rock itself as an underworld realm for the dead. It is the Hal-Saflieni Hypogeum, Hypogeum being derived from Greek for “underground.”

Dating from 3300 to 3000 BC, it is a re-creation of the above ground temples we’d already seen. It has convinced archeologists that, for instance, the Neolithic temples had roofs. The difference is that the placement of door openings allowed for a significant depth of human bones to accumulate within each room of the Hypogeum as the builders gradually worked their way to ever deeper levels to accommodate their dead.

The survival within this protected environment of some decorative elements using ochre also provides some insight into how the above ground temples might have been decorated. As it is, all that remains for us are elements made of stone. All else is gone.

Steeped in enough prehistory to last for a while, we boarded a ferry and sailed past the tiny island of Comino

To the sister island of Gozo, where the Maltese go to relax and enjoy a slower pace of life and lots of tourists go for the beach.

Before picking up our rental car, we headed up to the citadel in Victoria (also known as Rabat, naturally) to get the lay of the land of this Manhattan-sized island that’s less than 9 miles across in its largest dimension.

It’s significantly more rural than Malta Island with lots of small tractors on the roads running between fields.

It’s where people from the larger island come to relax, away from the hustle, bustle, and overcrowding of the main island.

And the location for some film work. The famous Azure Window, an enormous natural rock window and the backdrop for the wedding scene of Daenerys to the Dothraki warlord Khal Drogo in the first episode of Game of Thrones, has unfortunately tumbled into the sea after a severe storm in March 2017.

Still with us since Roman times are the salt pans

Used by local residents to process sea salt.

In this wildly primal setting

Just outside Marsalforn, the island’s largest beach resort, where we took a swim on a warm late October day.

(Maybe you’ve noticed the marsa in Marsaxlokk and Marsalforn and, indeed, Marseille, Arabic for “harbor.”)

While you hold that thought, Gozo is also the site of more of those Stone Age temples.

The Ggigantija Temples were the most famous of the temple sites and were on the grand tour for many in the 18th and early 19th centuries and were depicted in a number of paintings. Unfortunately, they were destroyed by thoughtlessness by 1840 and archeologists have had to use those paintings to reconstruct what the Temples looked like.

However, Ggigantija has a wonderful museum with a treasure trove of Neolithic art from the site and nearby ones.

We were impressed with the artistry and skill of the craftsmen working in stone and clay

And cow toe bones (these are really very small).

Having held that thought about harbors, you’ll recall that Valletta is on a peninsula between two natural harbors (very large ones), the Grand Harbor and Marsamxett.

Across the Marsamxett is the resort town of Sliema and all of the outfits happy to take you out for a cruise in the waters around Malta.

Across the Grand Harbor

Are lots of history

And ship building, ship repair, and waterways clogged with every manner of ship.

But, as everywhere, it’s the people now living in a place that make it unique and give you a lasting impression. The shop assistant drawn to work in Valletta by the opportunity of work, but missing her home in Catania, Sicily. The retired banker on his way home after a break from hectic and stressful Malta on Gozo. The Gozo man who loves his life there but also relies on the ferry to see his doctor. And, the sobering reminder in the car bomb murder of a Maltese journalist that the world we value is a fragile one and that it takes courage to resist the temptation to acquiesce in the silence that protects greed and corruption. That’s also the lesson earlier related to us by someone in Sicily who told us of his change of heart in deciding not to leave Sicily after all when the people determined to take the streets back from the mafia. The world is a tumultuous place. We can only hope to find more beauty than not in it and to contribute a bit of that beauty ourselves.

There isn’t much that people care more about than food. It helps define them and is filled with significance, for family and the memories of childhood and of good times with friends. To an outsider, of course, people’s attachment to a particular food can seem puzzling. We stopped by a grocer and butcher on the way to Etna to pick up some outstanding sandwiches. While we were waiting, the butcher insisted on sharing one of his (and the region’s) specialities.

Outside on the sidewalk, a fire continuously simmered the pork for frittole (pronounced like the snack food brand).

To us, it would best be described as a pork fat sandwich.

Or, a great moment with our guide Davide and a welcoming butcher. In fact, throughout Sicily, we found people to be – with few exceptions – very open and warm. It was not unusual for someone to go out of his or her way to be helpful and friendly.

One of our most memorable meals was in Selinunte, at a place called Boomerang (for some obscure reason).

Sorry for the half-eaten plate. We decided a little late to document the meal.

It’s a place with a fixed menu. Everyone gets the same thing, whatever the owner brought in that day on his fishing boat

The fish just kept coming, with a quick identification.

All of it was perfectly prepared and delicious,

As were the very good cannoli that topped it off. [Our all time favorite cannoli (after substantial sampling across Sicily) remain the ones from Cipolli Cannoli in Collingswood, NJ, where the cannoli kits are created fresh before your eyes in their tiny operation.]

Of course, cannoli aren’t the only canonical sweet treat in Sicily. The thing to eat in Palermo is gelato on a brioche. But, gelato all over Sicily is hard to beat, and we seldom resisted.

The gelato in Valletta on Malta (spoiler alert) may be more artistically refined, but the quality in Sicily is unsurpassed.

Mount Etna in some senses helps to define Sicily. It dominates the landscape over a vast terrain. It doesn’t have that iconic volcano profile like Mount Fuji, but has currently six active volcanic craters within it and a range of other craters and vents over a substantial area.

It has frequent eruptions and flows of lava, although they are much slower moving than some other volcanos so that it is a less dangerous volcano than many. Here is an area of lava flow from 2002. The depth of the lava at this point is about 10 to 15 meters. What looks like snow stakes are, in fact, snow stakes. There is a ski resort nearby. It was destroyed by the lava flow and has been rebuilt.

As can be seen in the middle distance, lava will flow around higher terrain, leaving swaths of untouched land. Of course, the edges of the untouched land are scorched by the tremendous heat causing vegetation to die off.

There are different kinds of tubes within lava. Here’s one that was formed by a tree trunk.

Two older, dormant craters are in the distance.

The “ash” put out by a volcano consists of various sizes, weights and densities of material, ranging from dust to “lava bombs” (near right) that make quite a dent when they land.

As we descended to a lower altitude, the vegetation changed from pines to birch and broom (the Italian term meaning “rock breaker”). The birch is a species unique to the Etna area. It was nice to have a former Park Ranger as our guide for a better understanding of what we were seeing.

Donning helmets to explore a lava tube turned out to be a good idea.

The tubes were formed when a hotter stream of lava flowed through lava starting to cool.

The particular tube we explored was used to store snow over the summer and the steps were carved into the lava to make this easier in the 1770s.

Not far from Etna is a river gorge famous for rafting. Our guide had found a remote spot that offered a quiet way to enjoy the Alcantara Gorge.

The bored hole appears to be a post hole for a bridge from Ottoman times.

In winter, the gorge is full to the brim with its swift flowing river. If the day was any warmer, we would have stopped to go in the water.

Back in Taormina, taking the cable car down to the beach, Ken took advantage of the Mediterranean.

With a farewell to Taormina, we headed down the coast

To Vendicari Nature Preserve

For a walk

A chance to admire herons and flamingos and some spoonbills scurrying through the water chasing their lunch

And our own downtime on the beach.

Here’s an amphitheater in Segesta, originally a city founded by the non-Greek Elymian people but taken over by Greeks. We enjoyed the impromptu serenade by a group of school children.

And, the temple was just down the hill, actually really far down the hill. We gave ourselves the luxury of taking the shuttle bus up the hill and then down again. (This photo was taken with our biggest telephoto lens.)

One amazing place after another.

This Norman Castle was built on the location of the Temple of Venus reputedly founded by Aeneas and where animals simply walked up to be sacrificed. (That last one may be a stretch.)

This 3rd to 4th century BC wall at the Temple of Venus site is said by tradition to have been built by Dedalus, the builder of the labyrinth on Crete to contain the Minotaur. We’re not sure how to fact check that one either.

Founded by the Elymians, then settled by the Phoenicians and then the Greeks, Erice is now mostly a Medieval town. It also has a little pastry shop the B&B owner from Palermo sent us to where they make a Genovese filled with creme fraisch after a recipe from the nuns and only sold there. It was worth the search. Delicious.

This is the largest archeological site in Europe. Selinunte was a Greek colony founded in the late 7th century BC according to Thucydides.

What’s remarkable are the piles upon piles – vast areas – of what looks like rubble and is what has been unearthed in recent centuries, only for archeologists to work out what it was and to reassemble portions of it for us to admire and wonder at the scope and scale of the structures that once stood on the landscape and formed cities for these peoples to live in.

Selinunte had been a relatively large city of about 30,000 free people, plus slaves. There were five temples centered on an Acropolis.

They were in constant conflict with the Elymians of Segesta until Selinunte was sacked by Carthage in the 4th century BC when they didn’t choose sides wisely.

And, never regained their stature or strength.

 

Agrigento was another large Greek city of around 100,000 to 200,000 people founded in 580 BC that tried to stay out of the conflict between Athens and Syracuse. However, they didn’t avoid sack by Carthage in 406 BC or getting the worst of it when Carthage and Rome went at it in the First Punic War when Rome enslaved all the inhabitants around 260 BC. (Then, back to Carthage, then Rome, until their citizens were given Roman citizenship after the death of Julius Caesar in 44 BC. Phew, too much history!)

The reassembled temples were truly monumental.

And, again, the piles of rubble spoke to the archeological work still to be done.

Meanwhile, in the Archeological Museum in Agrigento there is an impressive collection of artifact with ample English language signage. Here’s a 7th Century BC ceramic piece notable for both for being in a style established on Rhodes and for the central motif. It’s the triquetra or triskeles, a symbol evoking Sicily because the island is essentially triangular in shape with three substantial capes.

A few segments of one of these enormous human figures is laying on the ground at the archeological park, difficult to decipher in the field.

With an imposing head.

All of which becomes a lot clearer when you see the model helpfully provided by the museum.

 

PIAZZA ARMERINA

Fast forward to the Middle Ages. 11th Century. There are a lot of medieval towns in Sicily, most of them with a certain charm, after you navigate impossible roads and wait for the sheep to be safely crossed by the very alert and attentive sheepdogs. This little cathedral was the reward as seen from the balcony to our room on the cathedral square.

Down here someplace was the restaurant people liked on TripAdvisor.

A terrific place for an overnight and an early start the next day.

 

VILLA ROMANA DEL CASALE

 

Nothing quite prepares you for the Villa Romana del Casale. Thanks to a mudslide long ago, the villa of a very important Roman figure has been remarkably well preserved. It’s what Vesuvius did for Pompeii, but Pompeii was a city with ordinary people and a few wealthy ones. The villa exudes power and position. We don’t know who owned it, but this appears to be the reception room where he received people when exercising that power.

The courtyard is imposing.

But, it’s the mosaics,

The mosaics on every theme

Decorating every room that most impress.

This one of women athletes being rewarded for their prowess is very unique and popular.

The subject matters go on and on.

Even the utilitarian servant’s areas are decorated, although “only” in beautiful geometric patterns.

In large rooms and small.

Then there is what is beneath. Here are the works for the heated baths.

And, finally, a nicely decorated lavatory for the master’s family.

 

Cicero referred to Syracuse as the greatest and most beautiful of the Greek cities. It was certainly one of the most powerful cities of the Mediterranean world, along with Athens and Carthage, and was the equal of Athens in size. It was the home of Archimedes.

Its amphitheater was not built into a hillside, but carved, and would allow 16,000 people to enjoy performances. It’s where Aeschylus sat to enjoy the last of his plays.

Dionysius kept prisoners here in a cave now known as the “Dionysius Nose” where he could eavesdrop on their conversations through a small opening at the top.

When the Romans took over, they constructed an arena for their entertainment.

Inside.

And out. Actually, having visited countless cathedrals over the years, the Syracuse cathedral is now our favorite for its intimacy, beauty and human warmth. We respected the “no photos” admonition in the most beautiful side chapel. Notice the Virgin Mary in the center looking over the plaza, placed where Athena stood when it was her temple. We also enjoyed the atmosphere of the old part of the city and the wonderful gelato just across from the cathedral.

 

TAORMINA

 

The entrance to our hotel in Taormina gives some idea of where the town is situated – the town, that is. Of course, our hotel was also a challenge. We asked the hotel staff to drive the car back up the ramp when we departed.

At least we didn’t have a big climb to get to the ruins. Not only is the Taormina amphitheater the second largest in Sicily (after Syracuse), performances still take place there. You may remember that they recently hosted the G7, although that must have been a logistical and transportation nightmare.

It is, however, a beautiful view.

And a charming, although really expensive, town.

For a city that’s 2700 years old, any beginning seems arbitrary. So we begin with a less popular site, one that goes unmentioned in the leading guidebook for Sicily. Zisa Castle or el Aziz, was a summer hunting retreat built in the 12th century by the Norman kings.

Begun by William I and completed by his son William II, it had fountains in the main hall on the ground floor as well as in the castle gardens and was fashioned by Arab artisans.

We dropped by the archeology museum to be reminded just how deep history goes here, from Neolithic times to the Mycenaeans to the Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Normans, and so forth. Legend has it that this is where the refugees from Troy came. Here we have a tomb from 3000 BC.

A nice slipper shaped bath tub.

Poor old Actaeon being torn apart by dogs for having seen Artemis, the goddess of hunting, naked (450 BC).

And a procession of Amazons on a sarcophagus (170 AD).

The al-Qasr (now the Royal Palace or Palace of the Normans) was started by the Emir of Palermo in the 9th century. It was then enlarged and transformed by the Norman Kings following their conquest of Sicily in 1072.

Most of the interior of the Royal Palace was completed by Roger II, the father of William I. This room is known as the Roger II Hall.

The Royal Palace is the oldest royal palace in Europe. The Swabian emperors continued to use the palace, although it was only an administrative palace under the Angevin and Aragonese Kings until it became once again a royal residence under the Bourbon royal family when Leopold of Bourbon commissioned this Pompeian room.

The most sublime achievement of King Roger II was the Palatine Chapel built in 1132 on the second floor of the Royal Palace. The mosaics are so stunning, we forget to look down.

The chapel combines Byzantine, Latin, and Islamic styles in a way peculiar to Sicily.

Arab craftsmen built a wooden ceiling typical of Arab architecture, a muqarnas ceiling.

There is a Christ Pantocrator in both the dome and central apse.

It’s said that Pope Gregory I founded a Byzantine church here in the 6th Century. Now known as the Cathederal of Palermo. When the Saracens took over in the 9th century it became a mosque until the cathedral was founded around 1185 in the reign of William I.

The crypt contains tombs and sarcophagae from Roman, Byzantine, and Norman times. The oldest we noticed was from the 11th century.

The highlight was the roof.

It’s good Jim didn’t realize that the access consists of a narrow, two-way walkway on the crest of the roof.

The views are, however, spectacular.

From high above the city, we go deep beneath another neighborhood to the Capuchin Catacombs where the monks and many, many, many other people were from the 18th through the early years of the 20th centuries propped up and even posed as a celebration of death.

Not particularly our cup of tea, although our B&B hostess has taken her 3 year old daughter there a half dozen times and finds it inspiring. It was hard to relate to that. (No photos allowed, these are courtesy of the tourist brochure)

We preferred the market.

Wherever we go, they’re hard to resist.

They are full of interesting people.

And inspiring food.

Teatro Massimo was conceived as a way to promote Palermo as the second largest city in southern Italy just after the unification of Italy in 1861. It was finally completed in 1897.

With a reputation for perfect acoustics, it’s the third largest opera house in Europe (after Paris and Vienna).

We understand it’s also renowned for a dramatic death on the front steps in the third Godfather movie.

But, there’s much more about Palermo to recommend it.

From quirky fountains.

To a weekend street scene packed with people of all ages out walking and enjoying their city.

Just outside the city perched in the hills is the small town of Monreale where the Bishop of Palermo fled upon the 9th century takeover of Palermo by the Arabs. Following the Norman return of the island to Christianity, Monreale remained important and William II started construction on a cathedral in 1174 and the pope designated it as a metropolitan cathedral in 1182.

The interior is, like the Palatine Chapel, entirely decorated with exquisite mosaics, one layer featuring stories from the Old Testament and the other featuring stories from the New Testament.

The effect is dazzling.

Adjoining the cathedral is the cloisters, built in 1200 as part of the Abbey. There are 108 pairs of marble columns, each with both a unique mosaic decoration and a unique floral capital.