malta

“Two things to remember in life. Take care of your thoughts when you’re alone and your words when you’re with people.”

 

As I was going through pictures for this post I was reminded of all the fun we had in Malta. Unfortunately, I had not been remembering our few weeks here very favorably. The weather had been cold and windy and we had a couple unpleasant interactions that were clouding my memory. It’s interesting how the mind can gravitate towards the negative so easily. At least it’s something I need to be vigilante against.

We stayed the first few days in Sliema but easily took a ferry to Valleta. There were some fun festivities happening and we had a good time dancing with Indra. People were out and about in costumes and music was blaring. The city was incredibly beautiful and had recently been named Capital of Culture for 2018.

Really beautiful architecture everywhere you look.I was starting to indulge my pregnancy sweet tooth a little too much. Indra didn’t seem to mind. Somehow sharing made me feel a little less guilty.Traditional Maltese sweets. They looked amazing. In reality… they were so-so.Marsaxlokk Fish market. We did not buy fish but I bought a bag full of pastries and some cheap sunglasses. Indra got to run around so it was win-win.Beautiful bays and countryside. In better weather it would be a great place to swim!Family selfies!Next we went to the coastal town Mellieha. I read it was a great place to vacation with families. We had wanted out of the Valleta area, it was really congested and we weren’t really interested in staying in a big city the entire time. I think Malta must really come to life in the summer. You can tell the beaches and water are beautiful, but it was still the off-season and everything just seemed a little dirty, empty and rundown. Oh well.Indra had no problem entertaining herself with all the new cultural experiences. I mean, she got to dig in a suitcase with views of the Mediterranean!Must be about 21 weeks!Still digging.So even if the weather was a little cool, the landscape was incredible once the sun came out.Not so ugly. I think we took a wrong turn and just ended up seeing this view.The best part of this trip was just getting to spend time together as a threesome. Ezra would take off time in the mornings, when he could, and we’d go for a drive or a walk. It made everything all worthwhile – to have this time together.Stopping to smell the flowers. No, really. I mean like every. single. flower.Spending some time at this golden beach.These two just make my heart swell.Knowing we were coming to Malta, I scheduled my 20 week ultrasound, even though I was closer to 22 weeks. We went to this little hospital and got lost along the way. Ezra let me out of the car and I ran the last couple blocks trying to find it. It was such a strange experience – all the nurses wore old-school uniforms, and I was told to wait in random lines, and the ultrasound machine seemed ancient. Indra freaked out when she saw me lying on the table and Ezra had to take her out of the room because she wouldn’t calm down. But as soon as I saw the baby on the monitor for the first time, I was just overcome with feelings of love. I felt protective and the baby seemed so real.Post ultrasound celebration in the car.Stopping to smell flowers again.Checking out Mdina, the former walled-capital. Overlooking the countryside while trying some traditional foods. Like Pastizzi and maybe some pizza and warm milk. Those last two are local right? Hey, I’m sure they’ve got cows somewhere.After our time in Mdina we took a ferry over to Gozo. We walked down to the water and met some farmers that gifted Indra with oranges. Salt pans near our apartment.So Gozo was great! It also happened to be cold. Our apartment was so cold that we had to sleep with about seven blankets and wore winter hats to bed. There was a gas heater, but it came with instructions not to sleep with because of the fumes. So that sort of put a damper on our experience and were feeling a little rundown from the chill all day.I’ve only seen a few episodes of Game of Thrones but there were scenes shot in Gozo. So we headed over to check out the Azure window, which actually collapsed, but it was stunning coastline nonetheless. But first, here’s Indra heading toward the flowers.Indra trying to figure out the fetoscope. She did not have much luck.We were having a pretty good time in Gozo but we had some decisions to make. Did we want to stay in Malta longer? We didn’t really want to. So what was next?We headed back to the Valleta area for a few more days. We were really trying to figure out what was next. We played with the idea of going home, but we didn’t really want that. I was tired of all the moving around and was feeling bad for Indra so we headed out and bought some toys. Something I should have done much sooner. Here she is blissed out.Her new teddy that she picked out. She saw it and just grabbed for it. I’ve never seen her more excited.Helping me cook.

At this point in the trip I was struggling a bit. I really was wanting to nest and find a home. But we had return flights and the cost to bump them up just didn’t seem worth it. We played around with crazy ideas of just hanging out in Florida for a few weeks or going to Bermuda. None of which made any sense. So instead we booked tickets to Cyprus and hoped for warmer weather. I wasn’t wanting sightseeing, I was wanting some relaxed time as a family.

Our last night before we head out.

 I am really glad we came. I’m not sure if I’d ever feel the need to go back, but it was an experience. I think I’ve just learned that traveling while pregnant and with a toddler has its challenges. But still worthy ones.More beautiful architecture.

My little bear cub.