(Day 4, Malta) Our Trip Of A Lifetime: Cruising the Mediterranean

Day 4: Port of Call... Valletta, Malta

I was up at 6:00 a.m. (still dark outside) to watch out the porthole as we sailed past the many smaller islands of Malta and into the harbor at Valletta!

It's so exciting... another day, another country, another adventure!

The sun was not yet up, as we saw activity begin to stir among the large ships and smaller fishing boats in the harbor.

When the sun rose over the hillside, it lit up the picturesque city covering the hills as we approached our dock.

There were truly "postcard-worthy landscapes" everywhere you looked!

Ruins of majestic buildings, medieval fortresses, and colorful modern buildings were crammed together in this Valletta cityscape.

Colorful, rusting, but still seaworthy ships were anchored throughout the harbor.

The city itself quickly rose a few hundred feet above the harbor.

At dockside were rows of colorful shop doors, windows, and kiosks to greet us Disney shoppers.

Our Disney Magic was finally tied down in port about 7:30 a.m. and prep started to let the passengers go ashore.

Meanwhile, when Kathy got up about 7 a.m., we dressed but then waited a bit to go to breakfast at the Topsider restaurant... big mistake... it was already crowded! Still a great breakfast buffet selection, but crowded with dozens of excited, anxious passengers.

We met the rest of our tour group #15 in the Disney Theater at 9 a.m. and loaded on the bus going to the Blue Grotto and the Marsaxlox fishing village.

First stop was the seaside fishing village of Marsaxlox, with scores of colorful boats... (some not much larger than a bathtub)... and several small tent vendors along the dock sidewalk.

(By the way... "marsa" means "port" and "xlox" means "northwest"... so, this is the northwest port village on Malta.)

The boat colors, relaxed atmosphere, and the ancient city buildings were amazing to see.

A gorgeous blue sky, perfect weather, and a warm sea breeze made this village picture-perfect... (now I must admit, the dead fish smell was obvious... but you get that at any real fishing port... and you get used to it).

Their harbor-side vendors were in little clusters and, for the most part, they didn't mind a little bargain-hunting and dickering over their merchandise prices as marked.

Kathy loved it! Most of the items for sale were good quality, much was locally made, and she could wheel-and-deal a little with the vendors!

Souvenirs ranged from high-quality linens, paintings, and statuettes to Malta fridge magnets and postcards.

(It was also our first taste of how to purchase things with Euro bills... and then receiving Euro coinage as our change was a bit confusing.)

Kathy bought Pashmina scarves and embroidered linen napkins... and I, of course, bought a fridge magnet and collector pin for my hat.

A colorful Valletta fishing boat named the Leonardo Da Vinci.
(I don't think it was really his though... it didn't look quite old enough.)

Here are a few of those mini, bathtub-sized fishing boats... not more than 6 feet long!

I hope they use these just to get out to their "real life-size" boats somewhere out in the harbor.

This local fisherman was busy getting ready... (and none too friendly this morning to us passing tourists... as he scowled and looked away when we waved).

The basic red and white Maltese flag flies over a local government building.

Their flag also incorporates the famous Maltese Cross on it (a historical tribute to the Maltese Knights of the medieval Crusades era... they were some pretty tough hombres from what I hear).

("No", we didn't find any black Maltese Falcon statues... like in the Humphrey Bogart movie.)

After 45 minutes walking and shopping around the fishing village of Marsaxlox, it was off on a bus ride to the famous Blue Grotto on the edge of the Mediterranean Sea.

Their soil is so brown, dry, and stone-filled... the local farmers clear and plant small fields anywhere they can... like this one (notice all the rocks still in the soil and around the edges).

This medieval, lookout signal tower sits high on a rocky hilltop overlooking the sea lanes. It has been restored somewhat and is still in use by their government.

Our bus wound high along the clifftop roads until we came to the overlook of...

the Blue Grotto! It was an amazingly gorgeous sight to see from hundreds of feet above it.

The sheer, rock cliffs above the Blue Grotto fell straight down to the Mediterranean here.

It was very windy up on the cliffs above the Grotto and as Kathy hopped off the bus, her sun hat started to fly off her head!

As she grabbed her hat, her skirt blew up... (Marilyn Monroe-over-the-subway-vent-style)... giving a quick "show" to several others and causing her to hold tight to hat and skirt alike!

We quickly hiked down a very steep, 1/4-mile-long boat ramp to load into a small, 8-person motorboat, just like the one above.

Once loaded in, with life jackets on, we headed out into the choppy waves and around the rock outcropping to the Grotto.

Large caves along the waterline (called grottoes), sheer rock walls, and weathered stone archways were all carved out by the sea's wave action in this area.

Going inside the largest grotto here, the Blue Grotto, you see a hint of the "blue" in the water.

The "blue" is very evident when you reach over the side of the boat and stir up the warm, salty cave water with your hand. This causes phosphorescent particles in the cave's water to somewhat "glow" a bright sapphire-blue color all around your submerged hand!

There are also blue-black stalactites that hang menacingly from the high, arched grotto ceilings.

Grottoes were all along here, with many being too small for our boat to enter and exit safely.

The boat ride took about 30 minutes and was awesome.

We regrouped near the tour bus, high on top of the extremely long, steep hill. They then arranged for a local "snack" for us in the "Blue Fin"... a pub on the hilltop.

This "snack" consisted of:
- a small, very bitter cola-based drink of some sort,
- a very hard sandwich bread with some kind of meat-spread on it,
- and some type of refried, mashed beans.

Sorry to say, but... it was not very tasty at all!
(No one I saw could eat or drink all of their "snack". We appreciated their gesture, but... !)

We did sit and talk with Michele, a fellow Disney Magic passenger from Adelaide, Australia and one of her young daughters, Amelia. They couldn't handle eating the snack either.

(This surprised me since they are probably used to eating things like Koalas, Kangaroos, and Crocodiles anyway...

Hey... wait, wait... I'm joking, I'm joking !!!)

The half-hour bus ride cross country got us back to port by 2 p.m.

Here you can see the bright red stacks of our Disney ship rising high above the surrounding neighborhoods.

A full-size fuel truck is dwarfed by the Magic as it sits at dock awaiting our return.

Since we had some time, we shopped along the wharf at the colorfully painted shops and bought some toy soldiers for our grandsons and some postcards.

We then stopped for a local beer (Cisk) for me and a peach iced tea for Kathy.

We also ordered an appetizer... (a forcaccia, I think)... with cheese, tomatoes, and basil on it. When it came, it was as big as a medium pizza!

We ate at this open-air cafe (the Tal-Kaptan) and the food was very good. However, the waitress was not! She was very slow, aloof, and had no personality toward her customers (except maybe a rotten one).

I even had to go inside to find her, just so I could pay our 11 Euro food bill!
Needless to say, she got no tip from us.

We shopped a bit more and then headed back to the boat.

Along the way, we saw a submarine and crew docking nearby.
I didn't recognize the flag, so I looked it up and... it might be The Netherlands!
(Luxembourg also has a similar flag, but... I don't think they have much need for a navy.)

Boarding our own ship, I was stopped and had to show my picture ID (...but Kathy didn't)!
(I must look like some kind of terrorist with this scruffy goatee of mine.)
Finally allowed back on the ship, we were soon waylaid by the dasterdly Captain Hook.

Then just minutes later, I was cornered by a goofy dog named Pluto up on deck.
(Really, who looks sillier... him or me?)

We took one last look at Valletta, Malta's amazing, old buildings before we left port and set sail.

Kathy was worn out from our shore excursions and went to the room for a nap. Meanwhile, I went up on deck to sit in the sun and catch up on my vacation journal notes.

A local harbor cruise ship sails by and admires the sheer size of the Disney Magic.

I returned to the room about 5:30 p.m.and Kathy was dead-to-the-world.

I woke her long enough to ask if she wanted to go see the magician show in the Disney Theater at 6:00. She just groaned, shook her head, and rolled over to sleep some more.

"Okay", I said... so I laid down for a little nap, too.

I figured she was so tired that she wouldn't even want to go to dinner at 8:30 tonight... well, I was wrong again!

She woke up about 8:00 p.m. and said, "Hey, we've got to get ready and go for dinner!"

So, off we scrambled through our showers, getting dressed, and racing to the Parrot Cay restaurant to eat!

It was a good thing we went to dinner, because Ron and Nita (the Britishers) were the only other ones to show up at our reserved table #35. (One couple was dining at Palo, the fancy ship restaurant for adults only... and the other couple was AWOL for the evening).

Parrot Cay restaurant has a tropical island atmosphere, decor, and dinner menus.

Two colorful and energetic flamenco dancer girls came out and danced a couple of exciting flamenco routines. They were soon followed by Minnie Mouse, who joined them for a long Conga dance around the room!

It was a great dinner with lots of talking and laughing with Ron and Nita.

We said goodnight and were back in our room by 10:30 p.m.

Tonight it was Stitch (from Lilo & Stitch) who welcomed us back to our stateroom!

We've set sail for a long night of travel... and tomorrow morning, we will be in the port of Tunisia... in North Africa!

Wow, what a trip this is!

(Day 3: At Sea) Our Trip Of A Lifetime: Cruising the Mediterranean

Day 3: A Day At Sea !

This first full day of our cruise was a "day at sea"... which in cruise-talk means you are just traveling all day to get to your next port of call.

This meant a long, non-stop haul all the way from Barcelona, Spain, across the western Mediterranean, past the south of Sicily, and south of Italy to our first stop which will be the large island country of Malta.

We dressed casual for the day and went to breakfast at Lumiere's. There were always fancy touches to decorate the food bars and dining rooms... like this horse head ice sculpture.

After breakfast, we hiked around the ship... watching the people, relaxing and taking in the "rough" life of this elegant cruise ship.

Even the elevators sported a touch of Disney... with Mickey's hand as the floor indicator!

Trying to get familiar with the various floors of the ship, (finding the different restaurants, theaters, and outdoor event areas, etc), we came to the main lobby area where, lo and behold, it was jam-packed with Disney Princesses !

There must have been 6 or 8 of them... a couple we didn't even recognize! (We are a little rusty on the newer Disney Princess heroines.) There was Cinderella, all smiles and sweetness...

And Tiana, one of the newer ones we didn't know, sharing her charms with a little passenger...

And of course, Belle (without the Beast) looking so radiant with 2 little mini-Belles matching and sitting on her flowing dress...

Of course we can't forget the enchanting Snow White, the gorgeous Princess who started it all...

And the adorable Cinderella again, with a mini-Snow White and her passenger family!

The whole main lobby buzzed with excitement as little girls and adults alike waited patiently to get to meet, talk to, get the autograph of, and finally get their picture with the Princess(es) of their dreams!

Above the Princesses were colorful banners of each Princess and hung in the center was a gigantic and colorful glass chandelier by the world-famous glass sculptor, Dale Chihuly!

Going out on the decks, we saw kid activities like dancing... here led by a staff member...

and outdoor exercising for the kids... led by none other than Goofy himself...

and little kids playing in the pool area... here chasing the "dancing" water spurts!

There were sunbathers of all shapes, sizes, and shades of "whiteness" trying to get a suntan while watching the kid events on stage and up on the huge "live-action" TV screen above!

Even out to sea, there are the occasional islands that we pass by... not knowing their names, we just wave and continue sailing on to Malta.

Kathy kicks back, looking out over the sun deck in her cool shades, sun hat and colorful, matching jewelry... trying to soak up a little sun herself.

Hey, look who we bumped into up on deck! It's Donald Duck the sailor!

Hey, What's Mickey doing smooching Kathy on the cheek?!?

Maybe I better watch that little mousy character... he looks like a smooth operator!

After hiking around the ship, we ate lunch outside at Goofy's Grill. We each had a small sandwich and a large fruit plate... the Disney folks are big on offering fresh fruits with meals... cantaloupes, honeydews, watermelon, bananas, papaya, grapes, pineapple and even kiwi fruit.

Checking our daily "Personal Navigator"... our cruise guide for scheduled events... we decided to go inside and...

learn how to make origami paper flowers! It was kinda fun, but complicated.

Ponz (our instructor from the Philippines) said you just have to remember:
1) hotdog fold; 2) tall-house fold; 3) arrow fold; 4) canoe fold; 5) in-half fold; then just wrap around the stem, poke up, fluff... and POOF... it looks like a flower!

(I told ya it was complicated.)

After that excitement, Kathy went to the room for a nap while I stayed and Ponz showed us how to make a hi-tech origami paper airplane that did end up flying pretty well. (But... it took about 25 steps to make it... so, me thinks I'll stick with my old 5-step plane that flies almost as well.)

I went to Guest Services and exchanged 300 American dollars for 215 Euro dollar bills in 20's, 10's, and 5's... (they use all coins below the 5-Euro bill).

It sure looks and feels like Monopoly money to me, don't you think?

Going back to our room, I woke Kathy and we partially packed a day-bag for the Malta excursion we were going on the next morning.

We then went to see the nightly stage show in the Walt Disney Theater on deck 3. It was "Cinderella, Another Story" which had great costumes, good music, and a light-show built into the hour-long, short musical.

After the show, we rushed back to the room and changed for our "dress up formal" dinner.

Dinner was rotated every night and tonight it was in the "Animator's Palate" room where everything is black and white... until, as the night progresses, the walls begin to light up and all the decor starts to change into colors! Pretty cool, eh?

I wore a sport coat, silvery tie, black shirt, and white pants... while Kathy wore her sexy new sparkly black dress! (Woo-Woo !)

The other couple who were MIA the night before (Laura and Bob from "somewhere" Connecticut) joined us for dinner... so we finally had a full table.

It was another very enjoyable dinner, but it took 2 hours to eat!!! A lot of chattering between meal courses I think.

It was nearly 11 p.m. when we got back to the room... and what did we find on our bed?

A cute little "towel-penguin" and 2 bedtime chocolates! How sweet it is.

We went to bed kinda early to get rested for our big day in our first port of call... Malta... bright and early the next morning.

(Days 1 & 2) Our Trip Of A Lifetime: 12+ days Cruising the Mediterranean

Days 1 & 2: Takeoffs, Landings, & Bon Voyage !
(These 2 days became one as we traveled back through 7 time zones to get to Europe.)

Up and at 'em... our daughter Jaclyn (aka Jaci) and grandbaby Nolan (aka Charlie) took us on the early morning drive to the St. Louis airport and off-loaded us at the American Airlines terminal.

Our plane was on time and, a short 40-minute flight later, we made it to Chicago for a windy, wobbly, and hard landing. Not to worry.

After a typical 2-hour layover in O'Hare Airport, plus an additional 1-hour delay due to the high winds... we were finally off to Madrid, Spain on Iberia Flight 6274.

The long flight was uneventful... well, for the first few hours or so anyway... the flight was smooth but the seats were cramped.

Then, out over the Atlantic Ocean, an oriental, pregnant, young lady in the seats in front of us became sick and passed out!

Her husband quickly got help for her and she was okay after a while, but it caused a stir for the rest of the flight... doctors, stewardesses, and well-wishers checking on her continually. She apparently got a touch of food poisoning somewhere before the flight, but was much better when laid out across several seats and given cool washcloths.

In a "small-world-isn't-it" happening on the plane... the young, 20-something girl and her husband sitting next to Kathy were from Phoenix, AZ. When Kathy talks to the girl, she discovers that she grew up and went to school in Lawton, Oklahoma as an Army-brat, too!!!

No way!!! Strange... but true!
So, the two of them kicked around old Lawton, OK memories until they finally went to sleep.

That "sleep" didn't last more than about 45 minutes all "night"... because they soon had us up for our "breakfast in a long box". This breakfast consisted of a fruit cup, a kit-kat chocolate bar, a small ham-like sandwich on a small, very hard roll, juice and coffee.

We soon arrived in Madrid after the 7-hour flight... it was 8:30 a.m. their Madrid-time... but, actually 1:30 a.m. on our bodies' time!

So, we were officially in Europe now... and "Day 2" is off and running!

We had to scramble and walk nearly 2 actual miles across and around the Madrid terminal to finally go through Customs and find our connecting airplane to Barcelona. All signs are in Spanish (duh) and sort of confusing... and not many workers speak English (go figure). We found our connection with just minutes to spare... and it was an even more cramped Iberia plane.

BUT... guess what?

As we were boarding this plane to Barcelona, a young, 20-something, American girl said to Kathy, "I'm going to the same place you are!"

Kathy was surprised and said, "What? How do you know where I'm going?"

The young girl and her traveling friend laughed and pointed to Kathy's carry-on... which had her Disney Cruise Line ID tag on it. They all laughed and, of course, started talking about the cruise. This young girl told Kathy that she has been on 5 or 6 Disney cruises already and that we would love how they treat us.

BUT... that's not the most unbelievable part...
this girl (on the right) was ALSO born and raised in Lawton, Oklahoma as an Army brat!!!
(This is getting too spooky, eh?)

We all made the quick flight to Barcelona, grabbed our luggage, and headed for a Disney kiosk where handlers whisked our luggage away to the ship for us.

We were guided to a Disney rep who held up a "Mickey Hand" sign on a stick (which we would get very used to looking for over the next 2 weeks). Then we loaded on a bus and started our 30-minute drive through downtown Barcelona to get to the port where our ship was docked.
Driving through Barcelona was astonishing... everything was so jam-packed with old, medieval buildings mingled with new high-rises... and people everywhere coming and going.
They say the city of Barcelona is not very large, but... to a small-town couple like us, it is spread out, bustling, and HUGE!
And then... THERE SHE IS !!!

The Disney "MAGIC"... pride of the Mediterranean and our "home" for the next 12 days!

It was huge, colorful and very organized!
We shuffled our way along the reception and check-in lines where we were greeted, passports checked, and then each given our "Key To The World" room card.

This magical "Key To The World" card was: a room key, a charge card for all things on the ship, and our personal ID cards... from that point on, no cash, credit, or other charge cards are used onboard ship! Amazing!

Then it's a winding walk to the gangplank and finally... we are onboard "The Magic"!

Disney staff are everywhere... all smiling and greeting you happily! They even "announce" your entry onto the ship and welcome you onboard.

We followed well-marked hallways to our room 2582 on the second level and found our luggage waiting outside our door! Upon opening our stateroom door... WOW !!!
It was like a small hotel room in there! We had been on other cruises, but this was twice the sleeping and sitting room we had ever had before!

There was a large Queen-size bed, a relatively large, "2-room" split-bathroom... with the usual shower... but it had a small TUB, too! Practically unheard of... and amazing!
The rest of the room and decorations were spectacular and classicly outfitted. There was a separate sitting/TV area, BUT best of all was the HUGE 5-foot wide porthole! We were about 25 feet above the waterline and it gave us amazing views out over the water.

I kept waiting for them to come tell us we had been given the wrong room... but they never did!

We unloaded our carry-ons and took a small break since our jet-lag and no sleep was starting to catch up to us... a very long trip indeed.
About 2 hours after arriving, instructions were announced as to how, when, and where to assemble on deck for the "required" Lifeboat Drill for all passengers... where you get your lifeboat assignment in case The Magic somehow becomes The Titanic.

When the alarm was sounded, we got our lifevests on and headed to deck 4, section K... we felt goofy with the vests on (how appropriate... get it? "Goofy") but it is required, could be useful, and kinda fun anyway.
That evening, we cleaned up and roamed over the ship until it was supper time at Lumiere's... on deck 3... where we were seated at table 35.

We met our table mates for the next 12 days: Nita and Ron from Bristol, England and Pat and Andy from Philadelphia, PA. (Two other passengers for our table were missing from that meal.)

The food was great with fancy appetizers, salads, main entrees, and super desserts! If you don't like something... you just tell them and they take it away... and they will bring you whatever else you might like... no questions asked!

Our table waiters were Matt (from Poland) and Jayson (from the Philippines)...both were super nice, entertaining, and helpful with recommendations during the whole cruise.

The ship set sail from Port Barcelona during our supper and, as we sailed out to sea, we all made a toast wishing "bon voyage" (good travels) to us all.

After initial small talk and a great supper, we stopped by the "Rockin' Bar D" lounge where they were playing a "Match Your Mate" game... kinda like the old "Match Game".
There were 2 older couples and a newlywed young couple as game contestants. After several embarassing questions, followed by some risque and comical answers, it ended with the young newlyweds as winners!

When it was over about 11:30 p.m., we went back to our room and passed out! We slept in till almost 9:00 a.m. the next morning... and it felt good!

Wow... what a great, hectic way to start our Mediterranean vacation... and with a whirlwind of experiences already under our belts!

Start Of Our Trip Of A Lifetime: A 12-day+ Mediterranean Cruise

Our IBERIA airplane was so big it wouldn't fit in one picture so...
here's the other half ! It flew us from Chicago all the way across the Atlantic Ocean and we landed in Madrid, Spain... before going on to our port of embarkation: Barcelona, Spain.
That first day was a real doozy... starting off at "0-dark-30" in Girard, IL then down to the St. Louis, MO airport where we then zipped up to Chicago and finally blazed that long, long trail across the Atlantic to Spain.

The flight is so long that we lost 7 hours worth of time zones... meaning it was only dark on board for a couple hours, which made it really hard to get any sleep. (Plus the excitement of the adventure had a bit to do with that too.)

Tomorrow I will start with my detailed journal account of our trip... not too detailed as to bore you with minutia, but enough that it gives you a feel of what we experienced on this great trip of a lifetime!

Our trip begins with tomorrow's entry. See ya' then.