Many years ago, long before I knew the course of my present life I visited Malta with Paul Wilberding, an Army buddy. It is a wonderful country and as fantastic as its historical sites are there are five things about the visit that stand out in my memory (this is before birding, so the birds of the country is not one of the five):
- The taxi trip from the ferry (we got ripped off);
- The cutting of stone. Much of the stone on Malta is malleable and, as shown in the photo below, is shaped with axes. The link between the day-to-day construction on the street and the ancient temples is eerie and adds an immediacy to structures thousands of years old;
- Traveling around the country side, along narrow roads, between rock walls, in the local buses - each with its own shrine in the front of the cab;
- Watching Jesus Christ Superstar in a local theater - at the cost of 25 US cents; and
- A language which I could not begin to understand but which sounded maddeningly English (as in United Kingdom).
Photographs from the trip are posted in the Malta Photo Gallery.
