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| Ostia Antica |
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| Malta |
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| Malta |
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| Dingli cliffs, Malta |
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| temple in Malta |
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| temple in Malta |
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| Gaeta |
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| Nude palm |
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| Pompeii |
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| Pompeii streetview |
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| In the Amphitheater |
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| Pompeii -- for grinding grain |
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| Ostia Antica |
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| Pompeii |
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| view from Merlona |
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| Sperlonga Beach |
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| St. Julian's Bay, from the hotel |
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| Valletta |
For our Easter holiday, we decided to go somewhere a little exotic but nearby, and decided that Malta fit the bill. On our way, we spent a night in Ostia Antica which has Roman ruins and is near Fumicino airport. The ruins are large in area -- this was a very large village near the seaside and well-preserved because it filled up with silt and the sea retreated. Mostly foundations of buildings. And lots of school groups and other tourists.
MERĦBA: (Welcome -- note the H with a stroke!)
We flew to Malta (about an hour and a half from Rome) and spent 5 nights there. Quite different from what we expected. It is the most densely populated country in Europe, and very catholic. Our hotel overlooked St. Julian's bay and there was a great promenade for walking and running. And the weather cooperated nicely. Apparently, it hits +45 C in the summer (lots of cacti) so we appreciated the cooler weather. The language is a strange mix of several languages -- Turkish, Italian, Arabic, etc. but with a Latiny alphabet. The pronunciation is fairly phonetic. But of course everyone speaks English too and they drive on the left side of the road -- lots of Brits.
We went on 3 bus tours to see the sights; on 1 tour we were the only passengers so we chatted with the driver quite a bit and learned a lot about the local customs and concerns (African immigrants for example), as well as the obvious historical/cultural landmarks. The stronghold of Valletta was built by the Knights of St. John and has a lengthy military history including a visit by Napoleon and the second World War. Now that the British navy has vacated, there is more room for tourists.
You can check wikipedia for interesting info on Malta but the highlights for us were: the Caravaggio painting (The Beheading of St. John the Baptist), the ancient temple ruins from circa 2000 BC., the archaeological museum which includes traces of pottery from 5000 BC and rooms full of bones from tiny (local) elephants and hippos. Food was good, people were friendly, hotel was great, and the traffic was awful. A lovely holiday.
On our way home, we took a side trip to Napoli for 1 night and then went to Formia to meet up with our host and his family who took us to Pompeii and some smaller nearby villages (Gaeta, Sperlonga, and Merlona) -- all were very interesting in their own way. There is a bug attacking the palm trees in this area and the piazzas look a little ravaged.
OK, Pompeii. Very impressive. We spent about 5 hours poking around the ruins and at least scratched the surface. Again try wikipedia for a proper history lesson, but the volcano erupted in 79 AD and the town was covered in ash and thus quite well preserved -- more than just foundations. We were a big group of 5 adults and 2 kids some with audio guides and others just waiting for ice cream (it was quite hot but not brutal).
Napopli was like everything we had heard -- noisy, crowded, crazy crazy traffic, garbage piled everywhere and people on the streets talking and enjoying themselves. Southern Italy is quite different from "the north".
