Week 12

Tuesday

Tuesday afternoon, I left work early for another trip to the airport. This time, I'd be picking up my aunt and delivering her safely to her flat in Valletta. The pick-up went well, despite my bus having a 25 minute delay; and once we managed to correctly figure out the location of her apartment, that went well too. It was a lovely little place, with air-conditioning and a sunroof. The roof especially turned out to be an incredible feature. The street the apartment was on was only one off from the end of the city, close to the water, so the view from the top did not suffer any obstructions. Sure, you couldn't see far into Valletta itself, as the buildings rose one higher than the other, but you could see the flatter parts of the island in the distance, the ocean, and across to Sliema.
After dropping off my aunt's luggage, we then started a short trek through the city. We were hunting for a restaurant, if which there were many, but hopefully a little outside the busy scene and slightly less pricy. In the end, we took quite the walk, visited the Lower Gardens on the way, and found a tiny spot near the other side's edge of the city. This place had maybe 4 or 5 tables, we seemed to be served by the owner, and both the atmosphere and food had a very homemade feel to it. It was exactly what we'd been looking for, and made for a lovely evening. Both of our dishes were great as well, and I could check having rabbit -- a staple of Maltese cuisine -- off my Malta bucket list as well.

That said, I still had to work this week, so I was glad to make my way home. Work this week honestly seems like a distant memory, so I won't have much to report on that subject. Even though I was truly exhausted from being busy the week before, as well as struggling to adapt to the heat (and a mosquito issue I had the past week or so) and get some good sleep, I still went out to do stuff with my aunt after work most days. My aunt had been keeping herself busy, adding onto the list of things we'd already planned to attend. Within her first 24-hours, she'd already somehow managed to get her hands on free tickets for an open-air movie viewing in the trenches near the Valletta city gate for two days and two guests each. Wednesday however, I let her continue to do her own thing, while I got groceries and spent some time at home.

Thursday

On Thursday, my aunt picked me up from work, and off the went. We took the bus to Birgu, a cherished historical city also called Vittoriosa, and took in the sights. Unfortunately, Fort St. Angelo, one of the main reasons for our trip, seemed to be closed despite the listed hours. Instead we walked a spiral through the city and eventually landed a restaurant table in a small side-street just off the bus station we'd initially arrived at. Aside from lovely food, and the charming atmosphere of a thin and surprisingly steep street, there was also an absolutely delightful display of decor inside the restaurant. Near the bathrooms, the building turned into a bit of a grotto, with a nice fountain. And nestled below a set of stairs was a quaint, nicely decorated pond. I cannot put into words how nice this little area was.

Either way, we finished our food and made our way back to Valletta. Much like the connection between Valletta and Sliema, Valletta and Birgu aren't that far away from each other if you just cross the water. Because of this, there are small boats offering to carry you across for 2€ per person, which saves you the much longer bus trip on land. Once in Valletta, we freshened up at the flat, then went back out to catch one of the movies my aunt had scored tickets for. The open-air cinema was a short, 4-day event titled 'Cinema in the City'. They'd set up the screen all the way at the bottom of the trenches of Valletta, featuring popcorn stands and what I can only assume is a little photo-op mimicking a red carpet. Definitely an enjoyable setup, and with the original Matrix playing, we were in for a good time. Luckily, I'd brought a change of clothes to save myself the trips back and forth, and slept on the futon at my aunt's holiday flat. Not only was the movie longer than usual feature length, but they put a 20-minute break into the middle of it, and we ended up back home way later than expected. However, the air-conditioning (and maybe the exhaustion as well) meant that I got a genuinely refreshing night of sleep.

Friday

Foolishly, I had thought that the way to work from Valletta would be faster than my usual commute. It was, after all, closer, and I'd only have to take the one bus. And I'd only take the bus a few stops before the one I usually transfer at. Well, I underestimated the solid 15 minute walk it took for me to get to the bus stop! It's not really viable to take bus in Valletta. I think there is one that drives around the city to deliver you at the main bus stop out front, but it doesn't run often enough to be a viable option. I still made it to work on time though, and the day went by fast, and I could soon make my way home. While it would have been convenient to stay at my aunt's place again, at this point the social exhaustion was hitting me pretty bad, and I preferred the bus ride home and a bit of a couch potato start into the next day.

Saturday

I couldn't waste away the entire day though, as we once again had something booked for Saturday. Around noon, I got myself ready to visit the Hal Saflieni Hypogeum. I think as far as cultural experiences go, this will remain the high point of my trip. The Hypogeum is a subterranean structure, much like the Neolithic structures strewn across Malta. It was recommended to me at the hostel, and sounded like something my aunt would enjoy, so I suggested it. Turns out she knew exactly what I was talking about, and was excited to hear that the Hypogeum was open to the public -- it had not been the previous times she visited Malta. This was also something we learned more about as we started the tour this week. Before even entering the actual structure, we watched a presentation about its history. It was a lot more interesting than I'll be able to make it sound, but conservation of old structures in Malta apparently wasn't always done well. The Hypogeum suffered a lot from being open to the public, and exposed to the elements -- that would be why the tours now host so few people, and are often booked months in advance. The other bit of much-needed context was the initial discovery of the Hypogeum. I always expected that it, alongside the temples, would be found in a less-populated area, out in the landscape. The Hypogeum however is in Paola, not far from MCAST at all, and was discovered while cisterns were being dug out for the houses above. Apparently not too bothered, the city still developed around it, and the cave below simply stretches out under the regular city scenery. Even the entrance to the tour doesn't betray this charade, as it looks like any regular little shop in the area, making you wonder how many more of these structures may be hidden under modern Malta.

It should come as no surprise, that taking pictures was no option. I would recommend looking at pictures online, though they truly cannot encapsulate the feeling. The place is quite slippery as well, despite the grated metal stairs built to be safely walked upon, with moisture from the ceiling constantly gaining the weight to drip down. Then there's the almost inconceivable design to the architecture; even though the Hypogeum is categorized into separate levels, there is rarely any uniform height between its rooms and tunnels. There's always another doorway or hole to see from where you are, that seems to go into a direction you wouldn't expect. The tour makes use of this feature by changing up the lighting -- and suddenly you realize which pathways were actually connected, as the light shines though, and suddenly you realize how far into the distance you can see if there's light near the end. They unfortunately shy away from truly mimicking the way things would have been lit: with the light of flickering torches, making the red ochre swirls on the walls waver and come alive. But still, from the moment you start the presentation, you walk in darkness. Even the exhibition rooms features lights on the actual pieces, gently lighting up to showcase finds one after another. I suspect that this is to get your eyes used to the darkness, to let you take in more details in the Hypogeum itself, and maybe allow for less damaging lighting to be used. But even if it serves no purpose, the atmosphere it created was worth it. I wasn't sure what to expect from the tour, but it clearly left a strong impression with me. Together with the audio guide (a smart way to offer different languages without offering different tours, no doubt) constantly emitting a low atmospheric noise as well, my visit to the Hypogeum left me with a deep sense of having experienced something mysterious and meaningful.

At the end of the tour, we were also told to go consider checking out the nearby Tarxien Temples. With my newfound understanding that these structures were not in fact faraway day-trips, and rather smack dab in the middle of the city, we spontaneously chose to go there as well. The temple we found above ground, under a large tent -- another interesting bit of conservation history, as we'd find out. For this structure we needed no tour, but we did download their app and have it read the informative plaques out loud for us like an audio guide would. It didn't work very well, so I was glad to have the physical plaques in front of us as back-up. I quite enjoy the fact that these places usually contain so much information about the actual discovery process and care-taking of the structure. The Tarxien Temples as well have had a troubled history, with recommendations to build a tent above them first going ignored. Instead, the original funds were used to supply the structures with concrete additions, further damaging the original limestone. The walkway here takes you around, but also through the temple, letting you get a good view of some quite intricate carvings. These are mostly replicas though, as the originals were brought to the National Museum of Archeology instead. Once we were done (and the temples were closing, anyway), we decided to walk back through the city and enjoy some window-shopping, as the area was quite populated with stores. These too, were soon closing though, and I once again opted to make my way home.

Sunday

For Sunday evening, we'd booked tickets to see a ballet piece in Teatru Manoel in Valletta -- I think I spent more time in Valletta this week, than I will for the rest of my stay. It is definitely a nice place to be in, if you're looking for events or the hospitality sector. There's always something going on there, always stages and music, rehearsals for one thing or another, banners for event after event. If you don't want to plan ahead, you just go to Valletta and see what's happening the next few days. I ended up making my heading out in the afternoon, and meeting my aunt at the flat. In the evening, we left a little early to look around, but couldn't quite settle for a restaurant. Instead we found a spot to slowly sip one cocktail in, featuring live music, and postponed dinner until after the theater visit.

The performance was nice, and I'm glad my aunt loved it as much as she did, since she said it was her first ballet. It's worth noting that visiting this theatre is also about visiting the building -- like many theatres across the world, it's an old building with a lot of painted walls and gold detail.
Afterwards, we let out gut lead us, and we were led well. The restaurant just across the road ended up quite busy, especially lacking in tables for small parties, and I feel we were lucky to get there when we did. It was by far the best restaurant experience I've had in Malta; likely my whole life if you're going by the food. I'd always suspected that many of the restaurants in Valletta may not be worth the price tag they carry, but this one clearly was. 
Alas, all good things must come to an end, and I could not in fact spend the rest of my life eating the best food I'd ever eaten. I could however, enjoy a nicely air-conditioned night of sleep, staying in Valletta in order to get an early start on Monday.