On to Malta

Hello World,

Life is Good and I am in Malta. Good bye to Tunisia and it's Crowded colorful Souks and it's Medina and abundance of unloved starving street cats.

Good bye to shop keepers that don't know the word Thank You.

Good bye to the Hot sunny sweat producing weather and the non-existant Vegetarian Restaurants of Tunisia.

Good bye the to rush for limited seats on the train and Good Bye to the Beautiful Blue and White houses of Sidi Bou Said.

I am happy I went to Tunisia. I do recommend visiting if you have never been there. Once is enough for a life time.

So Hello to Malta. Hello to a small and Beautiful Country. The different views of Malta are beautiful and inspiring. The view from my hotel 'The Grand Harbour Hotel' is awesome and immense.

As soon as I got to Malta I liked it. Even the people at Customs were friendly. I moved through immigration and I got a smile. Unlike Tunisia that checked my carry on bag just a little bit too vigorously for some one LEAVING their country...

I stopped in the tourist office at the airport in Malta and the woman there went out of her way to help me. She suggested the Grand Harbour Hotel to me and I am glad I took her suggestion.

Nice old hotel with a great view and stairs in the hall way that go no where except into the ceiling. Mario and his brothers Robert Chris and Raymond that run the hotel are nice people too.

If you take the stairs from the 6th floor to the 5th floor the stairs just stop, so you have to go to another part of the building to find a complete set of stairs.
Did I mention that my room number is 69?

My first night in Malta fire works were being shot off over the Harbor. I accepted that they were being shot off for me, and they were.

It seems that Malta is BIG on Religious Festivals. Every town has a Festa. They attempt to out do each other and then after a week of Festa that town closes up shop and goes on Vacation.

There was a "Festa" here in the Capitol city Valletta. There are nearly 60 festas in Malta. The Maltese festa, a religious celebration organized by the local parish happens most during the summer months.

It was the Festival for St. Dominic I went to it. It started at the entrance to the Church of St. Dominic. The streets in front were filled with people young and old. I felt comfortable in the crowd.

The Festa started with the bells of the church Madly Ringing... then bishops and others of the cloth proceeded out the door carrying long candles and crosses and religious icons. On and on it went. At odd moments the crowd would wildly applaude some thing or some one exiting the church.
There was even a Marching Band that followed the procession.

The large procession proceeded to parade down the street and on for several blocks. It was quite a religious and party like event. Fireworks shot off at various times during the celebration.
It is good to be a Saint in Malta.