Tuesday (Malta)

We woke up early to watch the boat come into port at 6am. We heard it would be a stunning view of the fortified city on this island... and it was. After docking we grabbed some breakfast and then headed off for the city center. There was a bus at the dock that would take us up the hill, but we figured we could handle it and the exercise would be good for us so we asked which direction to go and headed that way. After half a mile we thought maybe we went the wrong direction and tried to ask someone who was standing on the side of the road. He didn't speak any English but looked at our map, turned it around and pointed in the direction we just came from. Uggh. So after heading the right direction we climbed the steep incline and then 100 stairs to the top of the hill where the city center was. We decided to go to St. Johns co-cathedral which was beautiful. My pictures didn't turn out very well inside. There were signs everywhere saying no flash, so I was desparately trying to figure out what setting would work. Guess I need a little more practice. The camera battery was low and died there, but we brought our old one as a back up :-) After the cathedral we decided to take a city bus across the island to the Blue Grotto. The bus ride was hot and sticky (no AC) and quite bumpy on the old roads. The grotto was an archway rock formation off the coast. You could see small tour boats taking people through and around it from the ledge where we were at. The water was a beautiful blue and it would have been fun to stay longer and enjoy the site. I was worried about missing the next bus so we headed back to the bus stop and took the bus back to the city center. About half way there the bus pulled over and the driver got out and walked across the street. We looked around to see if anyone else thought that was strange. Apparently it was his smoke break. The bus was so hot we decided to get off and wait outside where there was a slight breeze. After a few minutes others on the bus followed suit. 15 minutes later break was over and the driver came back. We all piled back in the bus and were on our way. Once in the city center, we hiked down the hill and back to the ship. We went to the pool for a bit and then got cleaned up for a Murder Mystery dinner. They put us in groups of 6 and gave us a script of clues and information that had to be revealed throughout each scene. It was a lot of fun and the group we were put with were from England. Ken thought he was the one who did it even though each character had motive. At the end you had to guess who the murderer was. It was one of the other guys in the group. We stayed afterwards and talked for a bit with the group. It was nice. That evening we also signed up for a bowling tournament. Yes. This moving ship had 4 real bowling lanes on it and even made us where the special shoes! Apparently neither of us have bowled in a while because we did terrible. I think I had at least 7 gutter balls! And I probably can't blame the ships movement for all of them. Anyway, it was fun. The second game we did better but still not great. It was nice to meet a few other people on the ship as well.