1) “There’s still time to redeem yourself in the eyes of all Europeans,” my English friends Whatsapped me this evening. The principal impression they’ve formed from my travels is only, I hope mockingly, “croquettes, some sort of omelette thingy, some apartment blocks, steps, and what foreign women choose to wear.” I think they were only looking at Barcelona. 😉
1a) They are going to read this, which is just proof of our enduring friendship. ❤️
1b) But they have a point. My illness since that unfortunate dinner in Marsalforn — I now refer to it as my mal de merde — has kept me from doing, seeing, writing, enjoying as much as I’d like to. Now that I feel at last on the mend, I can start to share more of my journey.
1c) Besides, Thursday I return to Barcelona — Thursday! — and Saturday, finalmente, I fly back home. Time’s a’wastin’!
2) Spontaneity is just not my thing, but after breakfast I did something fairly spontaneous: catch a bus in 15 minutes, because it was going to the Blue Grotto. (Capri doesn’t have a monopoly on blue grottos — surprise!) The excitement of deciding to catch a bus in 15 minutes!
2a) Again, this wonderful old-fashioned hotel is a hop and a skip from the bus station, and I go there two minutes before boarding. Good thing, too — the bus was full of people going to the same place. I wore my face mask for possibly the first time since I got to Valletta. (And I was the only one.)
3) Bus route 74 does not take the most picturesque route through the island, or even very wide streets. I swear the buses themselves must have to do yoga every morning and get greased with Vaseline to negotiate these narrow streets and hairpin turns!
4) Google Maps said to get off at the stop called Panorama, but when the bus pulled up at the stop called Grotto, everyone made a bolt for the door, so I felt I’d better, too. We were right, and Google was wrong.
5) What’s involved in seeing the Blue Grotto? I really had no idea! I was sort of hoping there would be a beach. Turns out what you do is pay eight euros to get in a small boat with other tourists; the boatman steers you there, through, and back, maybe 20-30 minutes. We were three to a bench, and the boatman had us sit toward the center to maintain balance.
6) Was it worth the trip? I’ll let the photographs tell the story. I wouldn’t have wanted to miss this!
7) Disembarkation back at the dock was tricky, but with the urgency of the boatman to get everyone out and start the next trip, one does what one’s told.
8) On the return trip, the bus magically changed from a 74 bus to a 73 bus, but it was still going to Valletta! I saw more of the island, including actual highways.
9) Following siesta, I drifted into the streets for happy hour and dinner, ending up at a place that served black arancini and knockout ribeye with mushroom sauce.
10) Tomorrow I have to get up early because I have a 9 AM scheduled departure to tour Mdina, “the silent city.”
