Malta and Messina, Sicily – Not Enough Time!

We arrived in Malta late yesterday and got on a open top bus tour at 4.30pm, which was a lot cheaper than the ships’ tour, being 30 E for the four of us rather than 40 E each. We only had a couple of hours of daylight though which was a shame because it was absolutely beautiful. Malta is a group of islands, with 3 main islands with a total surface area of about 320 sq km, 90 km south of Sicily. It gained independence from France and England in 1964 and was the most bombed piece of land on the planet in WW2. Limestone buildings and ancient fortifications run down to the sea in the beautiful port of La Valetta, and inland the gardens and vineyards were lovely. We went to the old capital city of Mdina and had a look around. The cities are immaculate with very little rubbish and no graffiti and beautiful buildings in yellow limestone with green shutters and wrought iron balustrades. It was definitely on the ‘must go back’ list, and it was a shame to have so little time there, but we were held up by the previous days’ turnaround and the cruise people did the best they could in the circumstances. Will post photos soon of this lovely place.


Today we are back in Italy, in Messina, the main port of Sicily. We took at taxi to Taormina, which is Sicily’s main resort town and very lovely with labyrinthine streets, gorgeous buildings and probably the nicest shopping we have seen in Europe so far – that is – real shops rather than the tacky tourist fare. It was about 40 minutes drive, and it’s a pretty quiet drive for us in the car most of the way as the exceptionally high speeds the taxi drivers drive render us all mute! We were dropped back in Messina city afterward and found a lovely pizzeria for lunch – thin and crispy pizzas with mozzarella, ham, anchovies, olives and capers washed down with a glass of red wine. My stomach is expanding at a rate of knots. I think Chris is still in credit after being sick! Our last full day on the ship tomorrow, we are in Naples for the day. The cruise has been good in lot of ways, particularly the ease of getting from place to place – go to sleep in one country and wake up in another – but I think the length of time has been enough and we will be ready to move on when we get back to Genoa on Saturday.