Lucca, Italy and the island of Malta

Where has the time gone? We've been away for more than 3 weeks now, with only 1 week to go! Before we know it, we'll be sitting at our own kitchen table, back in our home town, eating normal healthy food again. With this in mind, we are enjoying every day we have here, but also realizing we have to buy some food to take home with us!

Lucca, Italy

Lucca is tiny mid evil village with narrow streets, surrounded by a completely intact wall, just North of Florence. We took a time out last week and made an over night trip by train. We arrived on Monday morning, and like the true Italian style we've grown to appreciate, the entire town was closed because it was cold. Yes, shops, stores, restaurants, you name it. Just like Tiff's favorite gelato shop in Florence has been closed for 2 weeks now because John Paul doesn't want to come out in the cold.

We gladly took advantage of the quietness of off season and strolled on top of the wall, climbed to the top of the bell tower, and ate at the only local restaurant open. It was a nice break from the constant go, go, go we have experienced here.

Malta

Malta, is a small set of 3 islands located south of Italy in the Mediterranean Sea. We were just saying how this was our first ever trip that was not island based.... well,not entirely at least! We hopped on a train, a bus, and a plane with Tiff and made our way south towards the warm tropical island; after all, we need to defrost! Now, before you get too excited, let us say that 50 degrees is WARM and tropical means rain and clouds and blue water. Well, Malta is also having their coldest, wettest winter in 40 years.

The guide books warned us, friends who lived here warned us.... DON'T RENT A CAR- THOSE MALTESE ARE CRAZY DRIVERS! Heather's answer... Adam will fit in perfect here! :) Needless to say, we rented a car. Adam drove sitting on the right hand side, in the left hand lane, with lots of round abouts, and no street signs. We never found any crazy drivers because Adam can at least keep up with their rule breaking. People always say, do what the locals do!

Malta is also home to the oldest man made structures and temples on earth (that have been found)... older than even the pyramids. We took a tour of a prehistoric megalithic hypogeum that dated back 3600 BC.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypogeum_of_%C4%A6al-Saflieni

No cameras allowed. There were 3 levels of structures, with two underground that were used as burial and worship sites. They were ornate, impressive, and incredibly mysterious. Who knows what statues, paintings, and tools were used for over 5000 years ago???

There were also temples above ground that we were able to tour. These dated 3000BC.

We were disappointed to find that Malta is incredibly built up and is geared towards the sun worshipers that flock there during the summer; however, we found our own piece of paradise in the form of a small fishing village, far away from the hustle and bustle of the cities.

Are they sisters or what?

We were also lucky enough to have a day with sunshine down by the beach, overlooking the cliffs. Ahh....

And last, but not least the food of Malta! Don't worry, did you think that we would actually write an entire blog and not mention food? Surprisingly, Malta is so close to Italy, that most of it's food is at least Italian inspired, which is great when you want some Napoli pizza and pasta stuffed with crab and prawn, or a bowl of fish soup. But pastizzi's are purely Maltese. They are flaky pastries stuffed with cheese, meats, and vegetables. And they are insanely cheap, only 30-50 cents.

As we write, our west coast friends and family are just waking up, and we are finishing our bottle of wine with baguettes stuffed with salami and brie cheese...
a late afternoon snack. Tomorrow is our last day in Florence before we head to Rome and say good bye to Tiff. :( But what a wonderful couple weeks we have all had together! We are constantly thankful for our many blessings.