|
|
Contents |
Day 1 |
Day 2 |
Day 3 |
Day 4 |
Day 5 |
Day 6 |
Day 7 |
Malta - Day TwoBack to the Hotel |
|
As it turns out, all we needed to do to get from the bus stop to our hotel was follow the road we were on until we got to a sidewalk stairway filled with bars and restaurants. The bottom of the stairs was right next to our hotel, so it could not have been easier. Which also meant that subsequent trips to get to our bus stop were monumentally simplified by this discovery. Things were definitely looking up in Malta. However, the stairway itself was a danger all its own. The steps were irregularly spaced, sometimes steep, and sometimes a stair appeared out of nowhere, and there was almost nothing lighting the way. How herds of drunk college students navigated this public safety hazard stairway at night is still a mystery. It took as much concentration to walk down this thing as it does to merge onto a busy highway. And the risks of an accident were probably about the same. You know how it feels when you walk off of a stair that you thought was going to be flat ground? I can assure you that you never get used to it. Following our successful completion of Paceville's sobriety test, we headed upstairs and dropped off our stuff before getting to another of the wonderful perks of our hotel room: the free drinks. Bottoms UpNow I want you to remember again that this was our honeymoon. And, again, we are only getting one of these things. So I was getting as many perks as possible for this vacation. And one of the selling points of the nicer room at the Intercontinental Malta is the perks. For instance, you don't just get the free breakfast every morning -- you get free drinks every night. Have I told you the hotel was awesome? On the downside, we had to peel our own grapes. A New Planning SessionIt was while we were sitting on a sofa in the 15th floor lounge at the Intercontinental Malta, pleasantly sipping our respective drinks that we assembled the plan for the next day. Unfortunately, I got my signals crossed with the Hypogeum, which was one of the must-see places on Malta. The problem was that there is a strict limit of 70 people per day allowed inside the Hypogeum. This is because it is a highly protected, very historical location that is quite the to-do amongst the archaeology set. But because the carbon dioxide breathed out by the many visitors who used to be allowed inside was damaging the walls, the number of tickets is tightly controlled. Which means that I should have reserved tickets several months prior to our visit. Which I did not. Which meant that we needed to assemble a plan. Instead of attempting the Hypogeum, we decided to visit Mdina and Rabat, a pair of cities located in central Malta. As they are among the bigger sightseeing destinations in Malta, they were on the list. However, they were also something of a long drive, so we decided to get up early so we could get on the bus and get there with time to appreciate the sights. The day after that would be a trip to the island of Gozo and the final day would be a short trip to Valletta and a nice afternoon by the pool. Our week was set and we were looking forward to all of it. |