Sitting at
a small café in Valetta, looking at the old St. John’s cathedral and having
lunch with friends from the ship, I’m starting understand this whole European
lifestyle thing people keep talking about. The ability to take a moment and
enjoy it for all it’s worth is a common language I’m seeing as I’m making my
way from port to port in Europe. The capability to enjoy the culture, the
history, the religion and the food and still live a productive life.
From our
outdoor table at the café, I people-watch and take note of all the different
people, speaking different languages. I’m trying my best to guess their
nationality as the pass by the language or just their overall look. The bells
at the church ring at the top of the hour and I decide may it would be worth it
to go inside the church and peek around. St. Johns is an old church and could
be cool. I walk out of the café and maze my way past the busy people and find
the front entrance. I pay the 6-euro to get my ticket and enter the church.
Immediately
you are overwhelmed with the decorations. The ceilings are very high and are
covered in religious fresco’s that are incredibly detailed as every foot or so
has its own unique scene. The front of the church it decorated in gold colored
architecture and glows from the light entering from the stained glass windows.
Looking
down, I saw large stone rectangles that each had its own décor and writing. It
turns out that all of the rectangles are graves from different knights. I
thought it was sort of a strange to have you step on dead people as you walk
through the church. From the few times I’ve been to a cemetery, I was always
told that you weren’t suppose step on graves. I guess if the bodies are still
in the church, that’s ok? (No idea)
On each
side of the hall, there were rooms that seemed to pay tribute to different
things. I wish I had spoke Maltese so I would have been able to explain what it
was. Whether I could speak the language or not, I was still able to appreciate
all the elaborate artwork that detailed the church.
It took me
about 20 minutes to see the entire church and I decided to leave and just walk
around the city. The city had a classic old European look that I could only
relate to a few shopping centers in Orange County, California that obviously
tried to rip the style off. It was exciting to see the real thing however. The
buildings were very old looking and each one had their own charm. Even the
McDonalds building looked like it had been there for 300 years! In the streets
there were lots of café’s where people were sipping cappuccinos and reading the
paper or chatting with friends. I walked past a guy singing Italian opera in
the streets for tips. The street life was very exciting to walk through and it
seemed like every few minutes I would bump into somebody because I’d be looking
around and not paying attention to where I was going.
As I walked
back to the ship, I came across a great view of the ocean and of the rest of
Malta. The density of old buildings yielded a stop for me to take some
pictures. Making my way down the hill to the ship, I passed several olive trees
and date palms. The whole city was like some European dream. It was kind of
surreal that there was actually a place like this. You see places like this on
TV or in a documentary but nothing will substitute the human experience of
traveling. I don’t think that airline or cruise ship industry could ever go out
of business because of that fact alone. No matter how many hours you spend on
Youtube or Google Images, nothing can replace the sight, smells sounds and feel
of a city. -DB
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