Malta

After wrapping up the disappointing tour in Malta, we returned to the ship to eat lunch and regroupi. I joined a group of 10 cachers for what turned out to be one of those memorable “this is what I love about caching” experiences (Jana stayed on the ship). 

We’d already had rain that morning and even though the forecast didn’t necessarily call for more rain, I decided to keep my coat in my backpack. A good choice. We retraced some of our steps to some caches that not everyone had found earlier, then wandered over to an interesting earthcache highlighting a particular statue. We were there for a few minutes, long enough to see a dark cloud expand from a small section of sky to one thayt took over the sky. And also long enough for an Irish cacher to join our North American expedition. 

As we approached our next destination the cloud burst. We sometimes joke that Oregonians have 27 words for rain, and this storm provided ample opportunity to exercise some of our vocabulary. It was a deluge that want from merely humid to torrential within a couple of minutes, skipping right over mist, drizzle, sprinkle, rain, and even pour. Fortunately the next cache turned out to be under a canvas cover. 

There was no doubt that remaining at this location was the right answer. We probably stood there for about 15 minutes. We saw several flashes of lightening, each followed quickly by ominously booming thunder. The canvas cover took on lots of water and drooped precariously but we were unable to empty it so there was a bit of a risk that the canvas would split and gallons of water would fall on us instantly, fortunately this did not occur. We were near a hilly street that instantly turned into a shallow river, with water pouring down it and cars creating impressive splashes as they drove. I took a few pictures that may be shared later. 

Eventually the rain intensity decreased and we strategized about our next destination, sans the Irishman who had left a bit earlier.  We walked quite a distance on “narrow streets of cobblestone,” dodging numerous puddles and traffic. We found ourselves at the harbour which proved to be both a lovely photo stop and near another cache. Indeed, Malta provided fascinating and mysterious light throughout our visit as they received long-overdue and much-needed first rain of the season while we were there. 

If memory serves, this is the cache where we serendipitously met up with several other cachers from our cruise group. As an aside, one of the greatest treats of traveling with such a large group is how welcoming at “at home” it feels to encounter familiar friendly faces while exploring a new city/country. I would have a similar experience at the Vatican on our last full day of travel, but that’s getting ahead of the Malta story.

After encountering our friends we found our next cache which turned out to be at a pedestrian bridge over a road. While we were there we met some young British travelers who took a group photo of us. Then we realized that even though we had a few more caches on our wish list we were approaching the ship and our dinner time. So we walked quickly, found two more caches, and made it to dinner nearly on time, though perhaps not dressed quite as formally as usual (that was the night that, lacking proper adult supervision re my attire, I confirmed empirically that this ship permitted women to wear shorts to dinner). Between the morning tour and the afternoon adventure I walked nearly 25,000 steps in Malta. 

Our ship stayed in Malta overnight, leaving about 8am the next morning. It was fun to enjoy the interesting light one more time as I took photos as we departed. 

Of all the ports we visited, Malta felt the most comfortable, and it’s a place I’d love to return to someday though it’s unlikely since it’s a bit difficult to get to given how isolated it is. I think the reason it felt so comfortable is that it was “easy” — English is one of the official languages, it felt very safe, the architecture seemed spacious, and the driving was the most similar to home (despite driving on the left side of the road). And getting to share it with a group of new friends all being spontaneous together was one of the best treats of the vacation.