| I had just returned to Naples after touring | | | | when the British made Malta a colony which is |
| Sorrento and Capri (Gracie Fields wasn't in) and | | | | how it remained until granting its independence |
| planning to take the ferry to Sardinia to visit a | | | | shortly after the second world war. |
| friend in Caligiari, when a waiter asked me if I had | | | | Arriving in Malta on schedule we have a full day to |
| been to Malta yet. When I said no, he proceeded | | | | explore as we will. Customs is quick and |
| to tell me he was from Malta and how he got | | | | courteous (they love the dollar there) and we |
| over there at least once a month to see his | | | | disembark. A German chap I met on board and I |
| family. | | | | decided to share a taxi to just outside Valetta a |
| Sounded like a nice side trip, and as I was in no | | | | short ways to a stone chapel which marks the |
| hurry, I took a bus from Naples down the coast | | | | spot where St. Paul came ashore after being |
| to Salerno where I booked return passage on the | | | | shipwrecked on his way to Rome. On the return |
| Grimaldi Ferries "Malta Express" that sails from | | | | trip, the taxi driver insists that we visit a church |
| Salerno every Thursday. You can make the | | | | named after St. Barbara. There are paintings |
| return trip in three days, with a day in Valetta the | | | | inside done by a Maltese known as the Cavalier of |
| Maltese capital. | | | | Calabria, because he was apparently as good with |
| Leaving Salerno at noon Thursday, it takes | | | | his sword as with his brush. The legend has it that |
| nineteen hours to arrive in Malta. The Malta | | | | on a trip between Rome and Malta, with a brief |
| Express is what is known as a Ro-Ro (Roll on - | | | | stop in Naples, he dispatched more than a dozen |
| Roll off) and the vehicles are mostly truck trailers, | | | | who had managed to arouse his ire. He died at |
| although there was a big shiny black Mercedes | | | | eighty from an infected nick he received from his |
| which really looked out of place. It has passenger | | | | barber. |
| accommodations which are spare but adequate | | | | Back in Valetta, there was plenty of time to |
| and reasonably comfortable. There is a TV in the | | | | spend in the market place where there are open |
| lounge and of course some slot machines. There | | | | air stalls selling everything you could imagine and a |
| was a poker game going the entire trip in one | | | | few you might not. I'm a poor prospect when I'm |
| corner of the lounge. Apparently the Captain | | | | travelling as I don't want to be weighed down |
| allows it as long as the crew do not play, and it | | | | with "stuff", so I usually have a trail of merchants |
| stays relatively quiet. | | | | haranguing me as I walk along the alleys of a |
| You get three meals a day served in a spotless | | | | market place. I make frequent stops to inquire |
| dining room. The mess staff are Filipino, the deck | | | | politely about prices, shake my head sadly, and go |
| crew mostly Italians and Maltese, and the officers | | | | on my way having added another haranguer |
| Bulgarian. I never recognized any engine crew so I | | | | beseeching me to buy his "stuff" at half the price |
| don't know what they were. The meals were | | | | he first quoted. I've been told this is not good |
| quite good by the way, and served "family" style. | | | | behavior on my part, but I find it a cheap source |
| A blast of the horn signals our departure for | | | | of entertainment; besides I've learned some |
| Malta, and as we get under way, there is a | | | | excellent additions to my multi-language |
| welcome cooling breeze on deck. The scenery is | | | | vocabulary of swearwords and arcane curses. |
| exceptional along the coast. It's just at dusk as | | | | Stopped for a late lunch at a Trattoria Parolaccia |
| we pass Stromboli and then we are passing | | | | (my notes say this might mean "the Talking Place" |
| through the Straits of Messina and on to the open | | | | or "the Place of Words) which was very good. |
| sea. | | | | The chef himself came out and described the |
| After a few hours of sound sleep (I always sleep | | | | specials. Good food, good wine and excellent |
| like a log on ships and trains), we enter the harbor | | | | service. |
| of Valetta. The first things you notice about | | | | Walked through a park with formal gardens and |
| entering Valetta are the massive walls. The Island | | | | monuments dedicated to the brave men and |
| of Malta was a veritable fortress in the | | | | women who defended Malta in WWII. Among |
| Mediterranean Sea, and was attacked repeatedly | | | | those were F/O Buzz Beurling, a Canadian fighter |
| by corsairs, knights both en route to and returning | | | | ace who downed over twenty aircraft while flying |
| from the Crusades, and apparently any riff raff | | | | a Spitfire out of a Maltese airbase. |
| that could sail a boat near the island. Some were | | | | Arrived back on board after a fairly exhausting |
| successful, most not, but the most successful | | | | day, we were served dinner and I headed for my |
| were the Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem. | | | | berth. The sea came up a bit after midnight but |
| They arrived to stay in the eleventh century, | | | | by daylight it had calmed down and we could see |
| kept the various enemies and corsairs at bay, and | | | | the Italian Coast off in the distance. Arrived in |
| finally gained complete control in the fifteenth | | | | Salerno at 4:00 PM right on schedule. Although the |
| century, by which time they were known | | | | entire trip had been less than three days, it |
| universally as the Knights of Malta. They ruled the | | | | seemed like a much longer enjoyable vacation. I |
| island until the close of the eighteenth century | | | | must remember to thank that waiter in Naples. |