Malta trip #15 – Malta by Foot

 

 

I knew from my research beforehand that Malta has a couple of food items that it’s known for. On our last day, we wanted to cover that as well. In the morning we had breakfast at a place called “Manuela’s”. It was listed on Google Maps as the best place in Malta for Pastizzi. 

 

That hard to pronounce word is the name of a savoury pastry that Malta is known for. By the way, you say pass-tee-zee. It was quite good.

After we came back from the Saluting Battery, we were hungry again. This time we just walked around until we found a bakery shop. I wanted to have a Qassattat this time and I also wanted to try Malta’s famous Kinnie. Kinnie is a bitter soda. I think Roberta also opted for a Qassattat but I wouldn’t swear to it. This was one of the very few places in Malta where we had to pay by cash. This was also the only place in 5 days when we had a racist experience.

It was not a big deal and I didn’t even want to mention it but then I thought what’s the point of writing about my experiences if I am not open and honest about all of them. What happened was that Roberta was short some cash and asked me for a €0.50 change. Now if you are bean-counter type you would ask how did I have change when I had just donated my leftover change at the Saluting Battery? Well, I had just paid for my food at the same shop and he had given me change back.

 

Out of this, I gave Roberta some coins which I was sure amounted to 50 euro cents. But either from my hand to hers, or hers to the shopkeeper’s, we gave him too much. He returned the extra but at the same time made a comment to his friend in a Shakespearean aside “These English cannot count.”

Now, the funny thing here is that I am a naturalised citizen. I was born in India and even though I have a British passport now and live in England, I can’t claim to be English. But his tone was such that it pissed me off. He could have said the same thing in a way and that included us and we could all have laughed at it. But he chose to say it to his friend, loud enough that we could hear him and with that contempt in his voice that was more offensive than the words.

I would have liked to retort but the first comment that came in my head was so bad that it would have started an international incident. I refrained. Roberta didn’t hear his comment, lucky her.

His crime was compounded by the fact that his Qassattat was abysmal. The one that Sam had bought us after the Segway tour was very lightly and fluffy, filled with ricotta cheese but in a way that it was blended in the flour. Here it was very dry and lumpy with the ricotta visible in a big lump in one side. I think I did not finish it.

 

 

Kinnie was a similar story though not through any fault of our racist shopkeeper. It was just a bitter soda and I didn’t like it. Its initial taste was like an Indian soft drink Thums Up which I used to love, but the aftertaste was quite bitter. I did not even finish half of that bottle.

 

Then we walked around aimlessly which is the great joy of walking in a foreign city. While we were walking through the market, we stepped into a tourist trap (souvenir shop) and to my surprise and delight, they had the same soldier figurines that I had seen the day before, except they had them much cheaper. On Sunday, I had found them for €9.99 while the exact same figures here were going for €4.50. They are called tourist traps for a reason.

 

Obviously, I bought my favourite figure right away and also bought a fridge magnet, another soldier figure. This made me very happy. I have told you how little it takes to make me happy. See photos.

 

We had nothing specific to do so we just walked around until it was time to call the taxi. As I have mentioned before Roberta and I both like to get to the airport early to avoid stress. We took a taxi and got to the airport about 1500 for our flight which was at 1655.

 

Because this was our last stop before jumping the puddle to UK, I took advantage by ordering my last Latte Macchiato in Malta at the airport Costa. It sucked.

If you see security screening staff at an airport smiling and being all cheerful, just migrate to that country. I had noticed this when arriving in Malta also and again I saw the same thing. The staff was cheerful and chatty. I have not seen that often. Or may be ever. What’s in the Malta air?

 

Speaking of Malta air, we were flying back from Malta Air on the return journey. The flight was uneventful which is how you want your flights to be, except that wearing a face mask for three hours straight sucks. Neither of us ate anything in the flight so our masks stayed on the whole time. And a good thing it was, too. Watch this space.