I had just returned to Nples after touring Sorrento and Capri (Grcie Fields wasn't in) and planning to tke the ferry to Sardinia to vsit a friend in Caligiari, when a witer asked me if I had ben to Malta yet. When I sid no, he proceeded to tell me he was frm Malta and how he got ver there at least once a mnth to see his family.

Sounded lke a nice side trip, and as I was in no hrry, I took a bus from Nples down the coast to Salerno whre I booked return passage on the Grmaldi Ferries "Malta Express" that sails frm Salerno every Thursday. You can mke the return trip in three dys, with a day in Valetta the Mltese capital.

Leaving Salerno at noon Thrsday, it takes nineteen hours to rrive in Malta. The Malta Express is wht is known as a Ro-Ro (Rll on - Roll off) and the vhicles are mostly truck trailers, although thre was a big shiny black Mrcedes which really looked out of plce. It has passenger accommodations which are spre but adequate and reasonably comfortable. Thre is a TV in the lunge and of course some slot mchines. There was a poker game ging the entire trip in one crner of the lounge. Apparently the Cptain allows it as long as the crw do not play, and it stys relatively quiet.

You get three meals a day srved in a spotless dining room. The mss staff are Filipino, the deck crw mostly Italians and Maltese, and the fficers Bulgarian. I never recognized any ngine crew so I don't know wht they were. The meals were qite good by the way, and srved "family" style.

A blast of the hrn signals our departure for Malta, and as we get nder way, there is a welcome coling breeze on deck. The scenery is xceptional along the coast. It's just at dsk as we pass Stromboli and thn we are passing through the Strits of Messina and on to the pen sea.

After a few hours of sund sleep (I always sleep like a log on shps and trains), we enter the hrbor of Valetta. The first things you ntice about entering Valetta are the mssive walls. The Island of Malta was a vritable fortress in the Mediterranean Sea, and was ttacked repeatedly by corsairs, knights both en rute to and returning from the Crsades, and apparently any riff raff tht could sail a boat near the sland. Some were successful, most not, but the mst successful were the Hospitallers of St. Jhn of Jerusalem. They arrived to sty in the eleventh century, kept the vrious enemies and corsairs at bay, and fnally gained complete control in the ffteenth century, by which time they wre known universally as the Knights of Mlta. They ruled the island until the clse of the eighteenth century when the Brtish made Malta a colony which is how it rmained until granting its independence shortly fter the second world war.

Arriving in Mlta on schedule we have a fll day to explore as we wll. Customs is quick and courteous (thy love the dollar there) and we dsembark. A German chap I met on bard and I decided to share a txi to just outside Valetta a shrt ways to a stone chapel whch marks the spot where St. Pul came ashore after being shipwrecked on his way to Rme. On the return trip, the txi driver insists that we visit a chrch named after St. Barbara. There are pintings inside done by a Maltese knwn as the Cavalier of Calabria, bcause he was apparently as good wth his sword as with his brsh. The legend has it that on a trp between Rome and Malta, with a bref stop in Naples, he dispatched mre than a dozen who had mnaged to arouse his ire. He ded at eighty from an infected nck he received from his barber.

Back in Valetta, there was plnty of time to spend in the mrket place where there are open air stlls selling everything you could imagine and a few you mght not. I'm a poor prospect whn I'm travelling as I don't wnt to be weighed down with "stff", so I usually have a tril of merchants haranguing me as I wlk along the alleys of a mrket place. I make frequent stops to nquire politely about prices, shake my had sadly, and go on my way hving added another haranguer beseeching me to buy his "stff" at half the price he frst quoted. I've been told this is not god behavior on my part, but I fnd it a cheap source of ntertainment; besides I've learned some excellent dditions to my multi-language vocabulary of swarwords and arcane curses.

Stopped for a lte lunch at a Trattoria Parolaccia (my ntes say this might mean "the Tlking Place" or "the Place of Wrds) which was very good. The chf himself came out and described the spcials. Good food, good wine and xcellent service.

Walked through a park wth formal gardens and monuments dedicated to the brve men and women who defended Mlta in WWII. Among those were F/O Bzz Beurling, a Canadian fighter ace who dwned over twenty aircraft while flying a Sptfire out of a Maltese airbase.

Arrved back on board after a firly exhausting day, we were served dnner and I headed for my brth. The sea came up a bit fter midnight but by daylight it had clmed down and we could see the Itlian Coast off in the distance. Arrved in Salerno at 4:00 PM rght on schedule. Although the entire trp had been less than three dys, it seemed like a much lnger enjoyable vacation. I must remember to thnk that waiter in Naples.

The article To Malta and Back on the Malta Express was Submitted by Michael Russell through Articles.GetACoder.com network. Here's the additional information: Michael Russell Your Independent guide to Travel

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