Back in Valetta, the other shoe dropped! There is always that other shoe!

Another fiasco awaited us at our Valletta hotel! I had booked a triple room where children could stay free. I had completely overlooked that fact that children meant 3 and under in Europe. They would not allow the 5 of us to stay - amd there was no vacancy there - it was Good Friday. No hotels near the Valletta Harbor had any rooms and I was getting a bit worried. Finally we found a wonderful hotel in te heart of Valletta - for a pretty penny ofcourse - and we would have to split up the family for he night. A little inconvenience - considering the alternative!

The last thing on my now haywire spreadsheet, were the Three Cities - Vittoriosa, Senglea and Cospicua, -three fortified medieval cities across Valetta's Grand Harbor, where every stone has a story to tell.

The plan had been to walk to the Upper Barakka gardens and take the elevator down to the ferry terminal amd take the 10 min ferry ride to to Vittoriosa. And you guessed it - the ferry was cancelled!

So we took a long taxi ride to Vittoriosa. It is a quaint seaside town with Fort St Angelo towering in the middle. The yatchs docked in the harbor were straight out of the movies - a playground for the rich and the famous.

We walked around the ramparts with stunning views of Valletta on the opposite side, caught a Good Friday service at a local church and accompanied by mesmerizing chamber music wafting through the Brigu town square, had some very interesting pizza (with boiled ages on top) at a restaurant that had formerly been the music society. And met a man from Kerala selling gelato.

As the sun rays softened chirch music coukd be heard wafting through the square, and Good Friday services starting up, with life-size displays of the Crucifixio reminders of the ultimate sacrifice.

I could have wa ered tye street for hours - but little legs were getting tired and we decided to get back to Valetta.

Back in Valletta - we were hoping to catch the Good Friday procession we had heard so much about! There was a bit of time before the parades, and the modern art museum was right there!

Aftee the modern, a leisurely stroll in a light drizzlw brought us to St. Paul's church - but alas, it was closed for preparations for the parade. Oh well - there was still the parade I thought.

But wouldn't you know it! It was pouring by parade time and the parade was cancelled. Walking back a bit dejected, we discovered the Valletta Food market - spent the evening chatting over a 5 year old Maltese wine, momos, salmon ragu, a Phillipino street noodle soup and the thickest of mango lassis while outside the winds died down and the wet streets glistened gold.

However, back at our hotel, the wanderer in me had not had enough. The two older girls and I decided to go on a midnight stroll just for one last time bidding adieu to the city, with promises to come back.