Post 1: The Dream

It seemed like such a good idea, a dream come true. My husband John, under the pen name Raymond John, wrote a mystery set in Malta 15 years ago and we continue to promote it in the U.S. and in Malta. The country has fascinated him since childhood and I got infected (bad metaphor given the subject) when we married. We’ve been there more than a dozen times.

The dream was to introduce others to Malta, this hidden gem, by leading a tour group. We recruited eight people, some we knew well, others friends of friends … all adventurous travelers over 60. I spent months researching housing, looking for a place we could live together to help build our tiny community and enable us to plan and reflect on what we were seeing. I recruited Maltese friends to visit with us while we were there. I reserved places we had experienced on past trips. I gambled on new experiences like a ghost tour and a sheep farm where we would learn how to make cheese. We arranged a special presentation by the head of the country’s heritage preservation organization. We reserved a visit to the 7,000 year old Hypogeum, an underground burial site (only ten people allowed in at a time, how perfect for us). And there would be a night tour.

The house we rented – after a months-long web search — was a renovated 16^th Century palazzo in Mdina, the ancient walled city appropriately called the Silent Cit. Cars not allowed. The pictures online were beautiful, and we’d have the palazzo to ourselves.

What could go wrong? How about a world-wide plague? By our departure date, the virus was on the build, but travel to Malta was still considered safe. Four of our group members decided not to go, for various reasons. The remaining six, including John and me, couldn’t bear to miss the experience for which we had so long prepared.

 So, we went. Mdina was exactly the way we remembered it, high walls, cobbled narrow streets, cathedral and museums, regal and quiet. We settled into the palazzo, the Casa del Tesoriere, which includes a sunny herb garden with orange and lemon trees, five bedrooms, two formal dining rooms, one with a library, and a modern kitchen, thoughtfully stocked with food and wine by the owners. It was everything the website said. Heaven, even if the microwave didn’t work, and you had to pull a chain to flush and push a button to take a warm shower.

We followed our itinerary for a while, then went with the flow when transportation and other logistics got in the way. We wandered through lovely Valletta and viewed the spectacular Grand Harbour. On the other side of the island, we climbed inside historic Mosta Dome, all 70 steps worth, and enjoyed the well-named Golden Bay where sunbathers were out in numbers in their bikinis in early March. We met a representative of Din L’Art Helwa’s, the preservation society, and learned the history of Valletta’s first church.

We had barely left the church when we learned from the U.S. Embassy that all Americans must be immediately on quarantine, for the next 14 days. Breaking quarantine would result in a 1,000 Euro (about $1,100) fine. And this was only the second day or our planned 10-day adventure.

Up next:  Post 2: The Quarantine