Malta - Day Three

A Few More Notes on Busses

We returned to our previous bus stop just in time to catch the bus heading back to Paceville. Unfortunately, they wanted us to wait at a different bus stop for the bus back to Paceville, so we had to walk down the hill to where a lot of other people were also waiting for the bus.

We got there in time to catch the bus we saw outside Mdina. Unfortunately, we learned something important about Maltese busses and that is the fact that there are only so many people allowed on to them. And we got stuck behind a large crowd of people who had presumably been waiting since they got stuck behind a large crowd that got onto the last bus to come through. I figure that is the case because we got left off of the bus and we had to wait for the next one.

Stress We Didn't Need

Neither of us was too happy with this situation. Personally, I was just trying to keep a good position where we did not look too anxious to get onto the next bus. You look anxious, other people get anxious. Other people get anxious, people start jostling for position. I am fairly large and can jostle when required. My wife is not large in any way and, therefore, I did not want her to be jostling or getting jostled. So I was attempting to keep ahead of the pack without pushing it into action. After all, the actual bus pickup was not entirely specific in its location, so if the driver doesn't plant his door right where we were standing, we might end up waiting for another bus after the next one.

Chris, however, was ready to drag me by the arm to get me to the door of the bus the second it pulled up. Which, after a long, wet, angry wait, she did.

I should note here that we ended up with a seat over the wheel well again on this trip. I note this because I don't think we ever had a bus seat anywhere other than over the wheel well, with the sole exception of the bus we took back to Paceville from the ferry stop. But we'll get to that later. Or maybe not, it's really not that interesting.

The Bus Back

It was a warm, humid ride back to Paceville thanks to a whole lot of wet people being packed into one small little bus. But I really felt sorry for people who were trying to catch the bus along the way, because we were barely below capacity when we left Mdina and we got to capacity at the first bus stop off of the hill. So it's a good thing that we didn't take any side trips while we were coming home, because then it would have been a particularly long, particularly wet, particularly angry wait that I did not want to contemplate.

After the long travels, the long wait, all the rain, and a generally very tiring day, we were beat. In fact, Chris was so tired that she was actually falling asleep on the bus. Despite all the jostling, bumping and swerving that the bus provided on the drive back, Chris nodded off several times during the trip. She would quickly wake up when she leaned forward and whacked her head on the seat in front of her, but the fact she was able to fall asleep at all was surprising.

Meanwhile, I had learned from my first experience on the busses of Malta and I was looking for landmarks. I had set out a couple of good ones and, after a bit of a drive, we found ourselves outside at a bus stop again, just in time. Just in time for what? Have I mentioned the free drinks? Free drinks rule.

Getting to the free drinks was something of an issue, however. The elevators in the Intercontinental had been, according to one person we saw earlier, struck by lightning. As a result of this, they seemed to have no idea of where they were, where they were going, or just why people kept pushing buttons and waiting for them. So we watched elevator go up and go down and not stop at our floor quite a lot during our stay in Malta. Tonight, however, we were not in the mood for this sort of nonsense and we just used the stairs to go up three stories, walked through some sort of kitchen, some sort of storage area, then through an access door (that probably said "Authorized Personnel" on the other side) to our desired drinking destination. This was a valuable experience because it taught us to just wait for the elevator from then on.

Right Restaurant, Wrong Month

Following our free drinks, we headed down to a seafood restaurant that would have been wonderful for sitting outside in warmer weather. Just down the road from our hotel (in fact, it was technically part of the hotel), it was a beachside restaurant with a long deck that allowed diners to enjoy the sun while enjoying their food. It would have been one of those perfect spots to sit while watching the sun set after a good, hard day of laying by a pool somewhere. But, since it was raining and dark outside, we ate inside.

The meal was excellent and we loved it except for one small issue: the calamari. I don't know what they did to their calamari, but this was the most rubbery calamari I have ever had in my life. I can't even call it chewy, because that would imply that chewing would have done damage to it. I tried cutting it with my fork, but the fork wouldn't even leave a dent in tiny, white tributes to tire rubber. In fact, the only difference between this calamari and tire rubber is that tire rubber eventually wears out. Moral of the story, stick with the fish parts, put the calamari on the side of the plate.

After our dinner, we adjourned ourselves to the comforts of the room. Tomorrow, we would be traveling to Gozo and we needed to get our rest.