Upper Barrakka Gardens

 

Good Day to You

I'm catching up on my posts, so this was yesterday's activity, not today's. I had to find something that did not require a ticket. Fortunately Valletta, despite the climbing and All Those Stairs, is fun to walk around. I went down toward the harbor to visit the Victoria Gate.

                                            

One site highly touted is the Upper Barrakka Gardens. There's a Lower Barrakka Garden, too, and I passed it on my way to Fort St. Elmo, but it's under repair, so all I saw was the tops of the trees. But yeah--a park! I was excited. And then very let down. There were plenty of tourists, and the views across the city and harbor are terrific, but the place isn't really a park or garden. It's a piazza with a few flowers and shrubs.

I figured out that all those references to "Melita" were to the Island itself in the Maltese (Melitan?) Language. Melita comes from a Greek word for a species of honey bees, since the islands were and still are famous for their honey. Under Arab influence this became Malta. But there's another theory.  The name could stem from the  Phoenician term "Maleth" meaning refuge, and that makes a lot of sense as well.

Let's talk about Apero. Mine is So Very Med. I have some olives, lush and salty and some raw almonds and a splash of Prosecco to wash it down. I have some bitter extra virgin olive oil, and I'm lovint the Maltese bread and cheeses. I've tried cows milk, sheep's milk and goat milk, which tend toward the hard side, so I slice it thin and enjoy.  I follow the Mediterranean Diet at home and eat a lot of fish. Italian tuna is good. I'll have some for dinner today. I like plain best, but if you want flavors, you can find them. I have settled on my favorite Maltese wine--a rose frizzante, meaning slightly fizzy. It goes with everything.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do the rest of my trip. The weather may turn. There's rain in the forecast for later today and for the rest of my visit. Bad weather may or may not happen, but for now I need to get caught up on my bike race.

Bye for now