Category Archives: June’s Posts

June's Posts

The Last Blog of SAS Spring 2022

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Well, it has come to an end. The Spring 2022 Semester at Sea voyage had to end sometime, and it ended this week. I am writing this from Frankfurt, where Dan, Joe, and I are spending a couple of days before flying home very early Saturday morning.

Some students had shirts printed up on their own: SAS SPRING 2022 – THE COVID CRUISE. It was so much more than that, but that was a defining feature, certainly. Not sure of the final numbers, but about 30% of our voyagers were either quarantined or isolated just before, or during the trip due to COVID. Fortunately, with everybody vaccinated and most people (except for the younger ship kids) boosted too, there were no serious cases. People were put either in isolation cabins, or left behind in various countries (with Semester at Sea staff to take care of them) until they recovered and flew to meet the ship at the next port. 

Beyond COVID, we have made so many great memories. Seeing the students deal with the emotions of having to end the voyage and return to “real life” brought home to us how much they truly have gained from this experience. Even with all the challenges (and maybe because of some of them) these students have had the adventure of a lifetime, all while learning and living together in the middle of the ocean.

To end my recounting, I thought I’d share a little bit more about ship life, before outlining some of the highlights of our brief time in Germany. I am not sure if I mentioned this before, but there is a faculty and staff lounge on board. During the day, it is a quiet space to work (like a communal office). Not a bad view while writing or just thinking!

My office at sea

But at night it comes alive as a bar (no students allowed). Here are some of us gathered there on our last night on the ship, having some beverages and watching our last sunset together. 

The “ship kids,” the children of faculty and staff, only numbered 5 on this voyage, but they bonded really nicely together. They were a great group, and supported each other in their boredom and annoyance at spending so much time with their parents!

Speaking of ship “kids,” Semester at Sea has a really unique program designed to connect the generations on the voyage. Those people interested in participating are assigned a ship family, who get together for game nights, sometimes meals, sometimes just to chat. We had a great group of “ship children” this time around, and it was so wonderful to get to know them. Here is a photo from our last “cookie night;” all but one of the family was able to attend. Joe isn’t in the main picture because he was the photographer. 

Our Ship Family (minus Ben and Joe)

One of the final events is convocation. The ship’s students selected two faculty to be convocation speakers for the official graduation ceremony, held for the 64 seniors who completed their university experience on board. I was thrilled to be one of them! 

Photo Credit: Brooke Buchan 2022

And as we pulled into Bremerhaven Germany, we watched (for the last time) a pilot jump on and off the ship while travelling, to guide us safely into port. 

After quite a stressful disembarkation day (two cancelled trains, then an 80 minute delay on our final train) we made it (with SO MUCH LUGGAGE) to Frankfurt. I’ve flown through here before, but never spent any time in the city. It’s a very unique mix of very old style and brand new architecture. Because of the war, most old buildings are actually reconstructions. The contrast between old and new was really striking, and quite interesting.

Frankfurt

We had a lovely walk around town, enjoying the spring sunshine, and activating all our allergies!

This is Joe having fun 🙂

And, for the final time on this voyage, we saw one more awe-inspiring cathedral. This one had a really unusual organ, with all sorts of angles to it.

To finish up the trip, I thought I would share a very short “one second every day” video that shows the view from my cabin each day we were on the ship. Sometimes in port, mostly at sea. It really shows how incredibly different the ocean can look (and how yucky some ports are). I hope you have enjoyed these posts – I really enjoyed sharing the trip with you all!

June's Posts

Stockholm

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Happy in Stockholm

Our last official port! We end the voyage in Germany, but Sweden is the last country where we get off the ship to explore and then return.

I didn’t really know much about Sweden before visiting (and honestly, I still don’t know a lot). On the short journey from Copenhagen to Stockholm I was inundated on the ship with final projects to grade, exams to grade, JCR work to take care of… so I didn’t do much advance reading at all. That meant I was incredibly surprised to see that the sea approach to Stockholm is through an area of islands that are reminiscent of the Canadian Shield. It was sort of like being on a cruise ship in Algonquin Park, if the lake was actually the Baltic Sea. It was simply gorgeous, and we had about two hours of this beauty before we arrived in the city.

Swedish Cottage Country!

The beauty continued in Stockholm itself. We arrived on a sunny Sunday morning and had a fair walk from the ship to the hotel. We were able to cut through a large city park, where toddlers and doggies bounded around their families. It was lovely. We splurged on a very expensive and delicious lunch right at our hotel. Once checked in, it was time to explore this gorgeous place. Here are just a couple of shots; I have so many more!

Our first full day of sightseeing started with another awe-inspiring church. We’ve seen so many now, but even as a non-religious person I never fail to find these places calming and inspirational at the same time.

We headed to Gamla stan, Stockholm’s oldest section, located on the original island that was the city. It’s home to museums, including the Nobel Prize museum, but we decided to tour the Royal Palace and Treasury. What a great choice. First, we got to gawk at some serious treasure; I didn’t count the crowns, but there were many, many crowns. And swords. Many, many swords. 

One of at least a dozen jewel-encrusted crowns
It’s hard to see, but the entire blades are inscribed with illustrations

And of course, what’s a royal without one’s ermine cape?

Then, after watching a short segment of the changing of the guard, it was on to the Palace.

This palace was the most impressive we have seen yet, I think. It’s still used for official business, but not as a residence. I took many more pictures than I can share here, but here are just some examples of the over-the-top style and opulence.

The next day was another unseasonably warm and sunny day. We decided against another indoor day, so skipped some of the museums that were supposed to be “must see” (and the Abba museum) and instead explore Skansen, an “open-air museum with farmsteads and a zoo” on another island. It was more for children, but it was really pretty, with old historical 17th century buildings and lots of animals. For readers in London, ON, think Storybook Garden, plus the Children’s museum, plus Fanshawe Pioneer Village, on steroids (and with an aquarium)! And because it is on the top of a hill, there are lovely views of the city of Stockholm. 

Tomorrow it is back to the ship. Here’s the COVID plan: as always, we will test everyone as we get back on the ship. But this time there is a bit of a twist. Anyone testing positive will be ending their voyage here in Sweden, and leaving the ship permanently to enter an isolation facility/hotel. The rest of us (I pray the rest of us includes Dan, Joe, and I) will carry on to Germany, with no further testing. After 7 days at sea, which include finals, convocation (the students chose me as one of the Convocation Speakers – yea!), and a final “Ball” and some other fun things, we arrive in Bremerhaven Germany at the conclusion of the voyage. 

June's Posts

Dolphins (and Copenhagen)

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Life at sea heading to Copenhagen was pretty sweet. I got to do a bridge tour, where you get to see where the captain and his crew control the ship. Some of the technology looks like the dials and devices in the 1970s, and some looks cutting edge. It’s an odd mix. 

Also, dolphins! There have been sightings through the voyage but I was never able to get the camera in time. This time, they frolicked for quite some time right outside our cabin, before heading under the ship to the other side. 

Dolphins!
Dolphins!

We also held the sea Olympics, which is always fun. The faculty, staff, ship kids, companions, and life-long learners (basically, the older people and the kids) make up the “White Sea” team. There are a variety of other seas on board and students are assigned to seas. The White Sea won the basketball tournament, and I got to play, so that was fun, but really, really cold. The court is on the top of the ship, and it was only about 2 degrees C and very windy. Our team also did a very funny rendition of “the Time Warp” from Rocky Horror Picture Show for the lip synch contest. With everyone having to wear masks, the lip synch contest really became more of a dance contest. I got to do Magenta, and again, super fun. No pictures though, as I was competing.

But not goin’ to lie, Copenhagen has been sort of a tough port for us. Maybe it is just because we are nearing the end of the voyage, and both students and faculty are very busy with end of term academic work. Maybe it’s also due to the cold weather; the ship wasn’t really built for the cold, and we had a couple of days where our cabin (and others) was quite freezing. And ice on the decks means staying largely indoors. We even had a bit of snow at sea.

The famous “Little Mermaid,” which was very close to our ship

But also, Denmark was added to the itinerary recently, to replace Poland. It’s difficult to find lodgings off the ship while at sea, because the internet is not good enough to search well. We had three Airbnb bookings cancel on us, our bank decided to “protect us from fraud” by cancelling our main credit card while we are still travelling, and most hotels and restaurants in Copenhagen are very, very expensive. And literally no one here wears masks, anywhere, and we were told several times we don’t need to wear ours. So, weird.

We had two days of sun (although cold, still very lovely). But then it switched to cold, dark rain. After using the ship as a hotel the first night, we found a hotel for a couple of nights of good wifi and “off-ship” time. The room overlooks the water, so today (as I write this) we just worked and looked out at the harbor and the pouring rain. We’ll see what happens tomorrow… For now, here are some pictures from our sunny first days in the city.

June's Posts

Scotland

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I was so excited to visit Scotland, because it’s been on my “I want to go there list” for a long time and I just hadn’t ever made it here. My paternal grandmother’s second husband was a Scottish man, so I grew up with “Grampa Duncan” and stories of Scotland. They also visited Scotland many times, and I even spent the summer housesitting for my Grandma in Florida when she went back to Edinburgh once. I was 16, and that is a whole other story…

Unfortunately, we only had 3 nights here, which is not nearly enough time to really explore. After spending time more in countryside settings for the last two ports, we decided we were ready for a city again. So although we docked on the west of the country (at Greenock), we hopped on a train to Edinburgh. We had to switch train stations in Glasgow as well, so we saw it for about 5 minutes…

Edinburgh is beautiful. Really, really beautiful. We stayed in an apartment sort of nestled between Edinburgh castle and the Royal Mile (more on that below), the theatre district, and the University of Edinburgh. On our first full day we toured the Castle. It is massive, and is still home to a garrison. Several small museums are inside the castle itself, it has an awe-inspiring war memorial (more like a church; but no photos allowed inside), and gorgeous views of the city.

Edinburgh Castle from below
Edinburgh Castle
One of the many city views from the Castle

Then, we walked down the Royal Mile to the Palace of Holyroodhouse, which is the official residence of the British Royal Family when they are in Scotland. It is called the Royal Mile because it is about a mile from palace to castle, and the kings and queens of old would be transported from one to another along that route in their carriages.

Along the way it is pretty touristy, but there are still gorgeous buildings, small mews (alleys), and impressive statues. And about halfway, there is St. Giles Cathedral, which was gorgeous. And among all the kilt and souvenir shops, there are also really nice sweater stores. Joe got a stylish wool sweater that he really loves. 

Exterior, St. Giles Cathedral
Some interior shots, St. Giles

At the other end was the Palace. I don’t much care about the current royals, but this is also the place where Mary Queen of Scots lived, and where Bonnie Prince Charles and the other Stuarts lived. So much history here, and the palace is pretty impressive.

Holeyrood Palace
Interior courtyard, Holeyrood Palace
Bedrooms of famous Kings and Queens

On the way home we stopped at Greyfriers Graveyard, which Dan and I had spotted on our first evening looking around. It’s very old, and frankly super creepy. Lots of plague deaths, and 17th century graves with memento mori skull and crossbones. And apparently there is the grave of an actual Tom Riddle, for you Harry Potter fans, as well as a Mcgonagall, and other names that inspired J.K. Rowling. Some of the graves and headstones are built right into the ancient city wall. 

This place is super creepy at night…

The second day we wondered the other direction, away from the more touristy areas and to the university, and its lovely greenspace called The Meadows. Really a beautiful spot with the sun shining and lots of students out and about. Also dogs, so Joe was very happy. Beautiful skyline views of the city as well. 

The Meadows, University of Edinburgh

So I can’t wait to come back to Scotland. I want to visit the north, go hiking, see Glasgow, Inverness, Aberdeen, you name it. And I could definitely spend more time here in Edinburgh. But this was a wonderful sampling, which is something I love about Semester at Sea.

Next up: six long days at sea, as my courses start to wrap up, students start presenting their final projects, and get ready for final exams. Instead of Poland next, which was cancelled for a variety of reasons, we are heading to Copenhagen, Denmark. We have 5 days in Denmark and as I write this in our last night in Edinburgh we have no idea about where we will stay and what we will do. I’ve been to Odense and Copenhagen before, and I have fond memories, but that was about 25 years ago, so this will feel really new again I think!

June's Posts

Brittany

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After many beautiful, but bustling, cities, we were due for some relax and rejuvenate time. Our port in France was Brest, and we did spend most of our first day exploring there. As a navy base of operations, Brest was largely destroyed during World War 2, so it is pretty modern. And the passage into port was very narrow and interesting to watch as we threaded the needle in. But I can’t really show you any of that though, as it was raining most of the day, so I didn’t take the camera out with me. But there is a beautiful, very modern church with some unusual stained glass that I captured using my phone camera.

Modern church in Brest

In the late afternoon, we rented a car and headed to the Crozon peninsula, which is just south of the peninsula Brest is on. This area of France is called Brittany. We have been to southern Brittany before, which was also gorgeous, but quite flat. This part of Brittany is full of rolling hills and beautiful cliffs. The house we rented looked out over lots of trees and the ocean. This was an excellent place for me to catch up on some work, and Joe to catch up on some schoolwork, and yet also be in gorgeous scenery. The views from the backyard (and the living room) were gorgeous. There is a long hiking trail behind the house that largely follows the coast for many miles.

Sea view from the backyard!

On our first full day here, Dan and I hiked in one direction along the coast at low tide. This is yet another port where it is so difficult to choose which photos to share. Every twist and turn in the trail showed us another amazing view. 

And there were also some old gun battlements along the way.

Along the GR34 trail

We decided to turn around at one of the nearby beaches. But first we had to go down and explore. We found some sea stars, including this guy.

How cute is this guy?

But we also found lots of empty shells and half-eaten sea stars. And we watched this gull lug his sea star leg away from us to eat in peace, all the while shooting dangerous looks at us for interrupting his lunch!

Later that day Dan hiked a lot more in the other direction while Joe and I worked. Then we all headed into the town of Morgat for a crepe snack, a short hike on the southern tip of the peninsula, then back to Crozon for dinner.

Morgat-sur-Mer

The southern part of the peninsula has serious windswept, desolate vibes (Joe loved it), and lots of gorse, which is a yellow flower that smells of coconut and that we have only seen before in Ireland. 

Southern Crozon peninsula

And of course, we ate crepes, Dan drank cider (both are Breton specialties), and we had excellent wine and cheeses. It is France, after all!

Southern Crozon peninsula

Oh, and I thought I would close with sharing a bit of “ship life.” The TV in our rooms has a channel that shows us where we are at any given time, and also shows the rest of our ports. And there is always a view from the front of the ship, which is neat to see as well.

Next Stop? Scotland!

June's Posts

Portugal

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I am writing this on our final day in Portugal, and boy, have we ever packed a lot into 5 days! We came into Lisbon in the early morning, and the trip in featured a beautiful sail under the 25th April bridge, which was designed by the same team as the Golden Gate and looks it.

The 25th of April bridge

We had three nights in Lisbon. It was sunny and gorgeous as we came in, but generally Day 1 was a tad rainy and cool, so we had a later start off the ship, walked up to our apartment, and had an excellent lunch along the way. Pretty lazy day, really; explored the neighborhood, had a great dinner and an early turn-in.

Lisbon from the water

Day 2 had a lot packed in. Dan took off to the Sintra area with a friend from the ship. He and Heather mountain-biked some rough terrain, and saw some amazing scenery. But I had the camera, so only a phone photo to represent them 

Dan and Heather, somewhere near Sintra

Joe and I climbed to the top of St. Jorge’s Castle. Lisbon is a hill town, with lots of climbing (the city even has some elevators installed in various places). But this added even more in!

Stairs, stairs, and more stairs!

The views from the top were breathtaking; it’s always so hard to pick just a few to show. Joe also took one of the rare photos of me that I like, and it also shows the bridge in the distance, so I thought I’d throw that one into the mix.

The other unexpected and fun part of the castle was their resident peacocks. There had to be 20 or so, just wandering around like they own the place.

Who you looking’ at?

Day 3 I had a field class with my students. We visited Tourism Portugal, the LX Factory (a sort of artisan collective/hippy mall), and Navigator, a pulp and paper company that is one of the world’s largest, and one of Portugal’s biggest brands. The entire day was instructive, but we weren’t allowed to take photos in the factory, which would have been outstanding. It is largely robotic-run, and the main drying machine is the length of 4 Airbus 380 planes. It was cool, really.

After 3 days in the city, and actually mainly city visits in ports this trip, it was time for a change. We rented a car and drove south through the coastal countryside to Sagres, on the farthest south-western tip of Portugal. Historically, it was the home to a navigational school (Christopher Columbus and Vasgo de Gama studied here). Now, it’s a surfer dude sort of place. The place is gorgeous. Once again, so difficult to choose images. Here is one of the views from our room.

Nice place to sit and drink wine!

Before we got to the hotel, we visited the fort of St. Vincent. It’s out on the point here at Sagres, and offers beautiful views of the town. That is our hotel in the far back right of this picture of Joe.

Joe at the Fort of St. Vincent

While Joe completed one of his online school courses, Dan and I rambled around the area on cliffside paths and onto the town beach. Really a gorgeous place. Lots of unusual birds here too, but I wasn’t quick enough to get good pics. Here are some shots from the walk, including a look back at our beautiful hotel. There were only a handful of guests, and one night we were the only dinner guests in the restaurant. It was sad to see, but also gave the place a funny sort of Fawlty Towers sort of vibe.

Posada Sagres

One our final full day we took a really short trip to Faros, which was known in the 15th century as the “end of the world” as that is the point, at the end of Europe where Portuguese explorers set sail. There is a still a working lighthouse there, and different soaring, amazing cliffs.

View at Faros

The Faros Lighthouse

I will leave you with a short video from Faros. There is a small cave in the cliffs that occasionally seems to spit the waves back out as spray; it’s really cool to watch!

June's Posts

Gibraltar

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The Rock of Gibraltar

This port was added to get the ship out of the Schengen zone, to help with the visa issues I mentioned in a prior post. We only had a day here, and I wasn’t really sure what to expect. But it was a really interesting place to spend a day.

For those who aren’t aware, Gibraltar is a U.K. territory at the southern tip of Spain. The Straits of Gibraltar, which we sailed through, separate Gibraltar from Morocco (northern Africa). Here is also where the Atlantic Ocean meets the Mediterranean Sea, so after leaving, we are now sailing in the Atlantic. 

So, Gibraltar (“the Rock”) is basically a small city at the base of a huge rock mountain. We walked through town from the ship, and took a cable car to the top of the mountain to explore. The town itself is quite pretty, and felt quite British to me, with pretty little parks and botanical gardens, lots of stone walls, red phone booths, and pubs.

Botanical garden

The view from the top was spectacular. 

Gibraltar was defended by the British for centuries, and we explored gun towers and some of the tunnels cut into the rock. You can certainly see far and wide to defend from here.

But nowadays, the tourists often come to the top of the mountain to see the Barbary Apes. They are the only wild apes or monkeys on the European continent. It’s pretty likely they were brought in from Morocco a long time ago. For decades, the British military actually took care of them, but now there is a local group that does. They are so used to tourists that they have become aggressive thieves, and we were advised not to carry any bags, as they associate those with food. And frankly, they are unsettling. They sometimes follow you with intent, they jump from trees onto people sometimes, and we were also advised not to make direct eye contact, which can provoke them. So adorable, but also a little bit the stuff of nightmares…

We are in Lisbon as I write this, and heading to Sagres, Portugal in a couple of days. This will be our last warm port, as we continue to head north from here. For now, cheers from the top of the Rock!

Local Gibraltar beer up at the top!

June's Posts

Barcelona

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Well, after aimlessly floating off the coast of Spain until our COVID numbers came down, we were finally allowed to dock in Barcelona. We had six nights there, but because I had to lead a field class on day 3, we used the ship as our hotel for the first few nights. Day 1, we explored the main city park and the gothic quarter. It was a beautiful sunny Sunday, so the park was crowded and the gothic quarter was deserted.

Arc de Triomphe

We also saw the ancient and beautiful Barcelona Cathedral.

The next day we actually did some shopping along the waterfront and had a long Spanish style lunch in the harbor (long and full of sangria).

Day three was my class, and we learned quite a lot about consumer behavior in Barcelona by visiting several types of markets. 

For the latter half of our visit, we moved into an apartment a block from Sagrada Familia, the Gaudi designed cathedral that will take more than 100 years to build. The view from the apartment was great.

Sagrada Familia at night

It’s still under construction, but it is simply spectacular. I took so, so many pictures. It’s hard to choose, but here are just a few. It’s really hard to explain the scale of the place. It’s absolutely massive. The inside was designed to look like a forest, and as the sun comes in different windows the light just changes completely.

Outside, the cathedral is also incredible. The biblical stories are told in stone in massive sculptures. And yet there are also some Gaudi flourishes that make it so clear it is one of his buildings.

On our final full day we headed to Park Guell, also Gaudi designed. It’s a long hike up, but has amazing views and awesome architecture. 

Park Guell various shots
June's Posts

Drama At Sea!

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So, it’s been awhile since I’ve added anything, and that is largely because we have been out at sea, away from effective wifi. Why, you ask? Well, let me tell you a story. It’s a story about letting your COVID guard down… I think. We are fully masked on the ship, and before Croatia and then Malta we were generally doing everything possible to avoid stricter measures. Here is one more picture of wonderful Malta as we sailed away…

Sailing away…

We had in-person classes (masked) and we were asked to keep our masks on even outdoors on the ship, unless we could stay very far away from one another. But then we had a couple of port visits where masks were basically non-existent and vaccination rates are very low (Croatia), and no vaccine mandates were in place for restaurants and shops (both Croatia and Malta). We went from zero cases to about 42 positive cases of COVID, plus many “close contacts” (mostly roommates). Basically, lack of precautions and then having to eat meals together in a small inside space is not a great combination. We ran out of specially designed isolation rooms, and we had quarantined students distributed throughout the ship (including outside our cabin, which was scary). 

As a result, we were not allowed to port in Spain on schedule. Spain demands 3.5% positive cases or less, which for the number of people on board made 23 for us. So, leadership made the decision to postpone our arrival to Spain and to go into a “shelter in place” model for 4 straight days. We moved to virtual teaching (which, without streaming – so no Zoom – meant recording narrated powerpoints in my cabin for my students). No one was allowed out of their cabins except for meals (in small groups) and after a day or so, 30 minutes extra of outside deck walking time each day. We had a window (see the picture below) so it wasn’t that bad for us. But for those with inside only cabins, three to a room with no sunlight, this was a tough four days. We got to enjoy some lovely sunrises and sunsets, but it was weird. To be expected when you get on a ship mid-pandemic maybe…

Thank Heavens for our window!

Glorious sunsets and sunrises from our cabin

And if you think COVID is the only glitch this leg, you would be wrong! SAS leadership realized they made a pretty critical mistake. When COVID restrictions closed both Morocco and Ireland to cruise ships, we changed the plan to more time in Spain and Portugal instead of Morocco, and then Denmark for Ireland. But that change brought many voyagers, including us, into direct conflict with the Schengen zone rules (which I had never heard of before). So, here’s the deal. Once SAS told us we didn’t need visas for any of our ports, I never gave immigration another thought. However, the Schengen area (which includes about 24 countries that are also in the EU) limits visits by Canadians and Americans to 90 days out of a rolling 180. Our new voyage plan was going to keep up in the zone too long, and many of us would be at risk of having to leave early, pay fines, be deported… lots of fun options. So, we have changed itineraries again! Now we are heading to the U.K. twice. First, we are heading to Gibraltor between Spain and Portugal. Then, we are heading to Scotland instead of Denmark. I am pretty excited, as both are new countries for me.

At any rate, as I write this now we have been in Barcelona for a couple of days. We are staying on the ship for the first few nights and heading into town on day trips. I have a field class tomorrow with my students, and then we are heading to an Airbnb for three nights. It’s beautiful here, and I am sharing a couple of Barcelona pictures now. But there will be plenty more in the next installment!

The pictures below are the Cathedral of Barcelona, and a church and courtyard (with the fountain) that was heavily bombed and destroyed during the Spanish Civil War. Franco’s forces bombed and attacked this church, where children were taking refuge from the bombardment, and many of them died. You can see a lot of gun fire and bomb damage on the façade, which was the only part of the building left standing.

Cathedral of Barcelona

We spent a good part of this afternoon drinking sangria and enjoy fantastic weather. So, onward and upward!

June's Posts

Marvellous Malta

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I arrived here not knowing much at all about Malta (sad to say). I knew it had been ruled by various groups, knew it had been a British colony, and I think I even knew something about the Knights of St. John (probably from movies, to be honest). But I know a lot more now. And it strikes me as just what you might expect from a former British colony near Sicily. Feels both British and Italian, with a lot of other cultural influences mixed in. 

Although there are many parts of Malta to explore, we stayed in the city of Valleta. This port was one of the easiest we’ve seen, on this voyage or our last one. Our berth was just below the city wall, in a gorgeous area of gardens and monuments. We were simply able to walk straight of the ship into the city (with the help of an elevator up the city wall).

Our berth in Malta

Although we walked around a fair bit the first day off the ship, on our first day of full sightseeing we headed straight to St. John’s Co-Cathedral (the “co” means it is both a cathedral and a Bishop’s seat). Pictures cannot do it justice (but I will try). Built in the 1500s, it is awe-inspiring. It’s very, very gold. And very “knighty;” many Grand Masters of the Knights of St. John’s are interred here.

St. John’s Co-Cathedral from the balcony
One of the many overwhelming views in the church

The other really interesting aspect to this cathedral, for you art buffs out there, is the room devoted to several major works by Caravaggio. The art history prof on the ship had briefed us ahead of time, so I was able to appreciate the major differences between his style and the mannerist style that immediately proceeded it (and that decorates most of the church). It was fascinating.

The Beheading of St. John the Baptist (and other paintings) by Caravaggio
Saint Jerome Writing, Caravaggio

Back to the city. Joe was happy to once again be in a city of cats. In one particular area there are many public cat-condos. We laughed to see some of them labelled “cats,” and Joe joked that this was just in case any dogs got any bright ideas…

Cats and cat homes

There is just such much beauty here. The stones glow yellow in the sun (and it was sunny the entire time we were here). It was hard to choose which photos to share, but here are some of my favorites. The city is full of statues, war memorials, and thick walls and fortifications.

Upper Barrakka Gardens

We stayed in a hotel this time, and it had a rooftop garden with a pretty pool and fantastic views. In addition to some photos, here is short video taken at sunset one night.

Night views from the rooftop of the Embassy Valletta Hotel

One day we found our way to a terrace restaurant on the side of the city walls. You have to take a tunnel under the wall to reach it. Fantastic meal in a stunning setting. We learned a lot of history and thoroughly enjoyed our visit. Next stop: Barcelona!