{"id":1820,"date":"2017-03-10T07:26:23","date_gmt":"2017-03-10T06:26:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/?page_id=1820"},"modified":"2017-03-10T07:36:33","modified_gmt":"2017-03-10T06:36:33","slug":"week-09-mostly-malta","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/?page_id=1820","title":{"rendered":"Week 09: mostly Malta"},"content":{"rendered":"

I spent most of the week in Malta, where we had 3 days of meetings and a conference. I have created a separate gallery of sights from Malta<\/a>, but in this blog I focus more on the people with whom I spent the week, and various details, not least the delicious food we ate. But I start with some images from Sunday’s bicycle ride in the mountains.<\/p>\n

9_1<\/strong>
\nMountains and clouds, near Busot:
\n\"R001409\"<\/p>\n

9_2<\/strong>
\nA small Danish flag in a driveway near Busot. Apparently there are Danes living in the house, and they must have had a celebration of some kind. It is very common in Denmark to use the flag in this manner:
\n\"R001414\"<\/p>\n

9_3<\/strong>
\nAlong the road between Busot and Aig\u00c3\u00bces. There was a rally here in December, and a driver died in an accident. His friends have installed this small memorial plaque:
\n\"R001415\"<\/p>\n

9_4<\/strong>
\nAt the entrance to Aig\u00c3\u00bces, there is a colourful mural, advertising the pleasures of living in this small town and claiming that you do not need a doctor if you live here:
\n\"R001419\"<\/p>\n

9_5<\/strong>
\n\"R001418\"<\/p>\n

9_6<\/strong>
\nOn Monday morning, I flew to Valletta via Barcelona. At Barcelona airport, I came across this nice family. I asked the man if I could take a picture, and he agreed:
\n\"R001421\"<\/p>\n

9_7<\/strong>
\nAfter checking in at my hotel, I went for a walk. Malta has lots of stray cats, just like Spain:
\n\"DSF1042\"<\/p>\n

9_8<\/strong>
\nI stopped by the Bayview shopping centre to buy some essentials such as beer. They were having a carnaval event for children:
\n\"DSF1047\"<\/p>\n

9_9<\/strong>
\nThe beach at St George’s Bay. Not the usual beach attire on display here:
\n\"DSF1051\"<\/p>\n

9_10<\/strong>
\nIn the evening, I went for dinner at Del Borgo, a very local restaurant in the centre of Valletta. The olive oil and dressing bottles are very standard all around the Mediterranean:
\n\"DSF1061\"<\/p>\n

9_11<\/strong>
\nMaltese food is an eclectic blend of Italian, North African and other Mediterranean influences. It is different from the Spanish food I am used too, but delicious nonetheless. This is the appetizer we had, a Maltese platter consisting of peppered cheese, sundried tomatoes, marinated sausage, fresh tomatoes, artichoke hearts and a kind of hummmus but made of beans rather than chick peas:
\n\"R001422\"<\/p>\n

9_12<\/strong>
\nOur main dish. I replicate the restaurant’s description: “BIL-GUNGLIEN: Maltese bread dough stuffed with pork belly meat, ricotta cheese and oregano, sprinkled with sesames seeds and oven baked”. This is not light food by any means, but a a delicious indulgence:
\n\"R001424\"<\/p>\n

9_13<\/strong>
\nWednesday afternoon, we had a guided tour of Valletta. We started at Upper Barrakka Gardens, from where there is a great view of the city and its harbour:
\n\"DSF1095\"<\/p>\n

9_14<\/strong>
\n\"DSF1104\"<\/p>\n

9_15<\/strong>
\nHere is a distant relative of my golf course cats back in Alicante, on a statue in Barrakka Gardens:
\n\"DSF1100\"<\/p>\n

9_16<\/strong>
\n\"DSF1101\"<\/p>\n

9_17<\/strong>
\nHere is another kitty, enjoying the sunshine near St John’s Cathedral:
\n\"DSF1107\"<\/p>\n

9_18<\/strong>
\nOur tour continued to St John’s Cathedral, an utterly magnificent church:
\n\"DSF1117\"<\/p>\n

9_19<\/strong>
\nThe Ten Commandments:
\n\"DSF1138\"<\/p>\n

9_20<\/strong>
\nA grave inside the cathedral. Our guide explained that the smiling skulls were a particular (and strange) Maltese tradition:
\n\"DSF1134\"<\/p>\n

9_21<\/strong>
\nWe continued on to Mdina, an ancient walled part of Malta with narrow streets like this one:
\n\"DSF1181\"<\/p>\n

9_22<\/strong>
\nClaire and Stephanie, two dynamic ladies:
\n\"DSF1171\"<\/p>\n

9_23<\/strong>
\nAn evening view of St George’s Bay. The Corinthia Hotel on the right was my home during the stay in Malta:
\n\"DSF1196\"<\/p>\n

9_24<\/strong>
\nOn Thursday, we had a conference on enforcement. I made a presentation early in the day on counterfeit smartphones, but afterwards I took my place among the audience and could photograph my colleagues in action. Here they are on the right; on the left is George Agius from Maltese customs, a very nice and very competent public servant, together with a Finnish customs officer:
\n\"R001440\"<\/p>\n

9_25<\/strong>
\nDuring a lunchtime walk along St George’s Bay, I took two pictures that are among my favourites from the week, when juxtaposed. First, a group of young people playing beach volleyball:
\n\"R001445\"<\/p>\n

9_26<\/strong>
\nAn old man emerges from the water:
\n\"R001443\"<\/p>\n

9_27<\/strong>
\nOn Thursday night, we were going to a restaurant near the fishing harbour, owned by a friend of our Maltese host George. On the way out, I saw yet another kitty near the hotel pool area:
\n\"DSF1198\"<\/p>\n

9_28<\/strong>
\nThe area where we were going to eat is called Marsaxlokk. We arrived a bit early, so we went for a walk along the harbour. Stephanie found her boat:
\n\"DSF1210\"<\/p>\n

9_29<\/strong>
\nThe restaurant was called Ta’Victor, Maltese for “at Victor’s” or something like that. The owner is Victor Aquilina, a delightful man who takes pride in his cooking, and rightly so. Before dinner, he explained to us what were going to eat:
\n\"DSF1235\"<\/p>\n

9_30<\/strong>
\nAnd Victor’s food turned out delicious, and the servings were huge. Quality in quantity is a winning combination. This was our starter, a platter of marinated sausage and other Maltese delights:
\n\"DSF1219\"<\/p>\n

9_31<\/strong>
\nThe second dish was this delicious ravioli. There is a discernible Italian influence in Maltese cuisine:
\n\"DSF1228\"<\/p>\n

9_32<\/strong>
\nThe main dish was a generous serving of fish:
\n\"DSF1238\"<\/p>\n

9_33<\/strong>
\n\"DSF1239\"<\/p>\n

9_34<\/strong>
\nA good time was had by all:
\n\"DSF1245\"<\/p>\n

9_35<\/strong>
\nMalta is overwhelmingly Catholic, and small altars like this one, on a corner of Victor’s bar, are common:
\n\"DSF1221\"<\/p>\n

9_36<\/strong>
\nDinner is finished, and Victor relaxes and chats with his guests:
\n\"DSF1246\"<\/p>\n

9_37<\/strong>
\n\"DSF1248\"<\/p>\n

9_38<\/strong>
\nGeorge looks stern here, but really he is not:
\n\"DSF1249\"<\/p>\n

9_39<\/strong>
\nAfter dinner, we were offered a chupito<\/em> by Victor:
\n\"DSF1250\"<\/p>\n

9_40<\/strong>
\nThe restaurant is decorated with articles and photographs, and Victor clearly enjoyed talking about them:
\n\"DSF1252\"<\/p>\n

9_41<\/strong>
\nWe finished a delightful evening with a group photo outside the restaurant:
\n\"DSF1259\"<\/p>\n

And then we took a taxi back to the hotel, and on Friday we made our way back to Alicante. A wonderful week had come to an end.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I spent most of the week in Malta, where we had 3 days of meetings and a conference. I have created a separate gallery of sights from Malta, but in this blog I focus more on the people with whom I spent the week, and various details, not least the delicious food we ate. But […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":1779,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1820"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1820"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1820\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1828,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1820\/revisions\/1828"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1779"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1820"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}