We just returned from a great time in Malta. For such a little island, it has so much history. The people were very friendly and the weather warm and sunny. We took city busses everywhere, and I swear they were built in the 1940's. It was a real experience! AND since they were under English rule for a very long time, they drive on the left. We found some great Italian and Maltese restaurants, loved the local wines, and did lots of walking. Fred lost trying to negotiate with a Maltese fishing woman when I was buying one of her homemade net bags. She kept showing him her arthritic hands, and he just paid her what she wanted.
The cathedral in Valetta (the capital)was a cemetary with the entire floor covered with marble markers for people who died in the 1600s. We also enjoyed looking at the oldest (even older than the pyramids) freestanding manmade structures. M'dina (another very old city) was unique and interesting. I would even go back someday.
Friday, October 24, 2008
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Brugge and Gouda
We took a three hour drive to Brugge, Belgium Saturday morning. It's a great town with incredible architecture, beautiful canals, and great piazzas. The chocolate in Belgium is to die for, and there's beautiful hand-made lace in lots of store windows. We were there eight years ago and there's a lot more stores now. We didn't have any trouble finding a hotel without reservations, but there were lots more tourists than you'd expect for early October.
We got up Sunday morning and decided to abandon the expressway and take small roads through the Zeeland. This is mostly reclaimed land from the sea, and its tunnel...bridge..tunnel...bridge. I hate driving through tunnels (one was 3 KM long!) knowing there's water above me, but it is incredible what the Dutch have done with water control. They've added lots more coastline since the 1954 flood when they lost 8,000 people to a dyke breech at high tide.
We had lunch in Gouda. It's pronounced "How-duh" in Dutch. Through the pouring rain we looked at some great churches, had yummy cheese dishes for lunch, and found a great CD in an Afganistan store. The leaves are changing and falling here. It's getting dark earlier, and it's dark when I go to school in the morning. We're just enough farther north to make a noticeable difference. People are buying SAD lights. I guess they get really depressed in the winter here. I'm planning on going to Malta and getting some sun later this month!
We got up Sunday morning and decided to abandon the expressway and take small roads through the Zeeland. This is mostly reclaimed land from the sea, and its tunnel...bridge..tunnel...bridge. I hate driving through tunnels (one was 3 KM long!) knowing there's water above me, but it is incredible what the Dutch have done with water control. They've added lots more coastline since the 1954 flood when they lost 8,000 people to a dyke breech at high tide.
We had lunch in Gouda. It's pronounced "How-duh" in Dutch. Through the pouring rain we looked at some great churches, had yummy cheese dishes for lunch, and found a great CD in an Afganistan store. The leaves are changing and falling here. It's getting dark earlier, and it's dark when I go to school in the morning. We're just enough farther north to make a noticeable difference. People are buying SAD lights. I guess they get really depressed in the winter here. I'm planning on going to Malta and getting some sun later this month!
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