So, after recovering from the excitement of Etnaland and Penguin gelato we awoke on Wednesday morning in Valletta, Malta.
We soon discovered we were not the only Australians in town, with the HMAS ANZAC parked next to ship.
Malta as it turns out was the field hospital for ANZAC troops during the battle of Gallipoli in WW1 (or gal-e-polly as the audio on the hop on/hop off bus tour pronounced it). The island was apparently the most bombed place on earth at one point during the war.
Malta these days is known for a number of things. Their traditional glass blowing, jewellery making and pottery. They are also known for being the setting of a little known television show called Game of Thrones. First stop was Kings Landing, aka Mdina.
The whole town felt like Kings Landing in fact - which isn't surprising given how many of the buildings around the capital had been used as sets for GoT. Even the main harbour where our ship first arrived has been used in shots for the show.
Valletta is an odd mix of ancient buildings and agricultural land. This is the view from the fortified walls at Kings Landing, back out towards Valletta (or Westeros if you prefer).
Even taking the bus into the city centre there was no change in the aesthetic of the town. In retrospect it is impressive that the buildings remain so well preserved given the level of bombing that they saw in the early 1900s (not to mention all the times the island was invaded prior to that).
Sadly it was back to the ship after only a few measly hours on land to set sail back towards Spain (we have noticed the pattern here is all day spent at crappy ports, only a few hours in the awesome ones). We braved the main dining room for lunch where this questionable claim was made of the ice cream being served...
I then decided to hit up the spa for a pedicure, following which they made me wear the most ridiculous spa "shoes" in the history of shoes. It was nothing more than a piece of paper! And yes, I am aware that they are on the wrong feet...
It was Italian night, so we celebrated with gelato (the one containing fruit is of course Riin's and not mine). Quite the party had broken out in the gellataria with live music, an Italian sing a long and some line dancing.
Thursday featured a very long day at sea as we approached Majorca. Originally the ship was to have stopped at Tunisia that morning, but the ports were changed after the cruise line we were on was one affected by the terrorist attacks a few months back. So instead, we joined the chase for Skase. We finally arrived in port at around 9pm.
Majorca (birth place of Rafael Nadal and hiding spot for dodgy Australian businessmen) is much bigger than I imagined. The town of Palma is full of yachts and endless ocean front hotel rooms. The cathedral is however the standout landmark.
It was pretty impressive up close as well.
We even got to wander into the local bull ring (it is still legal in Majorca).
Despite the late hour (approaching midnight at this point) all of the gift shops remained open. The choice of souviners in this town is however pretty questionable. Every store sold the same bottle openers...
If they were too plain you could get these instead...
It was then back to the ship in the wee hours after a hay fever attack or three (thanks for nothing Spring). The boat is currently sailing back towards Barcelona (in some not so nice seas which resulted in me being rudely awoken, on my birthday no less, by the sounds of the people in the next cabin experiencing seasickness) where we will disembark and regain our land legs.
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