DESTINACIJA / DESTINATION
stone façades dating back to the 17 th century, adorned with statues and fountains, representing four identical baroque buildings that form a de fac- to amphitheatre for street musicians. And here they perform everything from Amy Winehouse to opera arias. To the accompaniment of mu- sic, we walked on through the mer- ry Palermo, through a street market where we bought Sicilian flavours to take with us and to enjoy the aromas of in some pasta dishes when we re- turn home. And then we remembered that our ship waits for no one, not even us, so we rushed through the streets of Palermo, though we wer- en’t really concerned that we wouldn’t be able to find our floating hotel, be- cause the ship is so large that you can see it no matter where you are! Oth- erwise, the time of the “all aboard” call is known and it’s better to head back with plenty of time to spare. Back aboard the ship, we treated ourselves to Pizza&Burger fast food – a sinful place offering all those treats that cause you to gain weight and are far from healthy, but that are impossi- ble to resist. It is also open all day long and until two in the morning. It’s real- ly tough to resist all the temptations, though this ship provides ample ways to burn calories. For example, I de- cided each evening that I would head to the top deck with the first signs of morning to do my “Sun Saluta- tion” yoga sequence. There’s also a gym (though I don’t visit such places even under normal circumstances), and I could also have done pilates, but none of that somehow worked out for me :-). Our “Europa” depart- ed Palermo and headed out to sea. We went to the ship’s theatre after dinner and watched some interesting cabaret, and when dawn broke, we didn’t quite grasp that we were now in a place where Italian isn’t spoken and they drive the wrong way. That was because we’d already arrived in Valletta. Hello, Malta! IN MALTA How beautiful it is! High ram- parts rise along the Grand Harbour, and this is another port that’s also fairly close to the town centre. As
soon as you disembark, you’ll delight in the promenade that’s packed with shops and restaurants, because the Valletta Waterfront is a beautiful spot where you can still see the different coloured doors that once protect- ed warehouses, with the colour de- pending on the type of goods stored: blue for fish and green for vegetables, though the Maltese landscape is dom- inated by the colour of desert sand. We set off to clamber to the top of the beautiful fortress that protects the capital, which wasn’t much of a feat because we took the lift! It costs just one euro, is lightning fast and
takes you straight to the beautiful garden and observation point from which we shot photos of this beau- tiful island and, of course, our ship dominating the harbour. Valletta also has many monuments of exception- al historical importance that are list- ed as UNESCO World Heritage sites. Among them is St. John’s Co-Cathe- dral, which dates back to 1572 and is also the church of the Knights of Malta, and which historian Walter Scott described as having “the most striking interior I’ve ever seen”. Pre- served there are outstanding treas- ures, including a collection of sacred
Karavađo je na Malti naslikao čuveno „Usekovanje glave Jovana Krstitelja“ koje možete da vidite u Katedrali It was here on Malta that Caravaggio painted his work The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist, which you can see in the Cathedral
FOTO: Depositphotos
NA MALTI A što je lepa! Visoki bastioni dižu se uz Grand Harbor, luku ko- ja je i ovde prilično blizu centra. Čim izađete, oduševićete se šeta- lištem punim prodavnica i resto- rana jer je Voterfront Valeta pre- divno mesto na kojem još uvek možete da vidite različito obojena vrata koja su nekada čuvala skla- dišta, a boja je zavisila od vrste robe. Plava vrata za ribu, zelena za povrće, mada pejzažom Malte suvereno dominira boja pustinj- skog peska. Krenuli smo da se popnemo na tu prelepu tvrđavu koja čuva glavni grad, što i nije bio neki na- ročiti podvig jer smo se vozile lif- tom! Košta samo jedan evro, brz je ko munja i vozi pravo do prelepe bašte i vidikovca sa kojeg smo fot- kale ovo prelepo ostrvo i, narav- no, naš brod koji dominira u luci. A Valeta ima mnogo spomenika
Ponovo smo na kruzeru, ča- stimo sebe u fast fudu „Pizza&- Burger“, grešnom mestu sa svim onim đakonijama koje goje i nisu zdrave, ali im je nemoguće odole- ti. Još radi ceo dan, pa sve do dva ujutru. Stvarno je teško odupreti se svim izazovima mada vam brod nudi mnoštvo načina da potroši- te kalorije. Ja sam, recimo, sva- ko veče odlučivala da ću sa prvim znacima jutra biti na najvišoj pa- lubi i raditi Pozdrav suncu. Tu je i teretana (no na takva mesta i inače ne zalazim), mogla sam na pilates, ali sve mi se nekako nije namestilo. :) Naša „Evropa“ je na- pustila Palermo i krenula na put, mi smo posle večere bile u pozo- rištu i gledale neki zanimljiv ka- bare, a kada je svanulo, nije nam sasvim bilo jasno da se ovde više ne govori italijanski i da se vozi naopako. Jer već smo stigle u Va- letu. Helou, Malta!
od izuzetnog istorijskog značaja koje su na Uneskovoj listi svetske baštine. Među njima je Katedrala Svetog Jovana iz 1572. godine ko- ja je i crkva malteških vitezova, a za koju je Valter Skot zapisao da ima „najupečatljiviji enterijer ko- ji je ikad video“. Tu se čuvaju izu- zetna blaga – kolekcija sveštenič- kih odora, flamanske tapiserije, ali i Karavađove slike. Umetnik poznat po tome što nije ulepšavao stvarnost, a imao je i preku narav, boravio je jedno vreme na Malti početkom 17. ve- ka bežeći iz Rima posle ubistva nekog čoveka u dvoboju. Zamo- lio je da ga prime u red vitezova, što je papa na kraju i odobrio. Ov- de je naslikao „Usekovanje glave Jovana Krstitelja“ kojem se mo- žete diviti na Malti. Ali jedva da se boja osušila pre nego što je na- prasiti Karavađo, vazda spreman na tuču, ranio nekog viteza, pa je
96 | Mediteren » Mediterranean
Mediterranean » Mediteren | 97
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