a sunday on malta

although moses absolutely makes our little family ten million times better, it was pretty awesome to spend some baby-free time with my one and only. ian is sincerely my best friend, my deepest love, my true companion and my favourite person. he somehow simultaneously drives me completely crazy and makes me so crazy happy. our marriage is haaaaard work in a lot of ways, and undoubtedly the most difficult thing i have ever navigated – but i am consistently blown away by how much security, happiness, sweetness, and fun it has offered me -- and the challenges have stretched me in hugely positive ways. i love my husband and i love us together. 

and i especially love us together adventuring in malta!

after that dreamy saturday on gozo and comino, we spent sunday on the main island of malta at church and then exploring cities and the coast.

 
^^ it was wonderful to join in on the services of the small branch of the church of jesus christ of latter-day saints in the town of mostra. i never knew what a maltese hymn book looked like until i saw one that sunday! :) ^^

^^ 15 august is a holiday in malta – the feast of santa maria – so lots of the streets we drove or walked down were decked out with flags and garlands. i love that kind of stuff! ^^
 
after church, we set out to find a traditional boat that we could ride around valletta’s grand harbour on. it was a total fiasco that included a big ole spousal fight, a boat crash (seriously!) and the realization that we had paid for a ride around the opposite side of the city from what i really wanted to see form the water (valletta’s domes and steeples). ugh, not our best couple of hours.

but! we still saw some pretty scenes and eventually figured out how to get on a boat that would afford the expected views (although we had to go with a crowded ferry instead of a charming colourful rowboat :) )

we walked through the narrow, atmospheric, hilly streets of valletta for a few minutes before leaving the capital city. a very unique and cool place!
  
^^ there are traditional british phone booths sprinkled around malta and gozo. it was fun to see a little hint of home while on a little island in the mediterranean sea! ^^

we stopped by the ancient city of mdina and took a stroll through its charming streets. it was so quiet and felt so magical!
 
and then we ended our day at the “blue grotto” (see the first picture in this post) at sunset. it was the perfect finale to our trip. so so gorgeous and peaceful.


we definitely need to go back to malta. we barely even scratched the surface of its intrigue and beauty and culture and wonder. but we had a really great trip, just the two of us.