Lady Omega

I haven’t been writing in my blog for quite a while, because we went on a trip to Europe. So, whoever was desperately waiting for my next post - sorry about that.

Malta is a 7000 year old island, which is situated 93 km south of Sicily. Though it’s a small country, it has a very rich historical past. It has been invaded by several cultures - Sicilian, Phoenician, Roman, Byzantine, Turkish, Arabic, French, Spanish and British, hence the variety of styles in Maltese architecture and their peculiar language. Maltese language is considered a Semitic language, however it’s the only Semitic language which uses Roman alphabet.

The climate in Malta is great - when we arrived to Malta from Germany, we were wearing winter clothes, but we had to take them off immediately, since it was very warm and some people were even sunbathing on the roofs of the hotels. I was very happy about that, since i dislike cold weather very, very much. We stayed in Sliema, one of the cities on the coast. The day we arrived, we decided to go for a walk and check out Sliema, but by walking around for about 3 hours we ended up going through 3 cities - Sliema, St.Julians and Gzira. Malta is small but very beautiful.

Sunset in Sliema

Kinnie - a maltese drink

I like trying new food and drinks. So, one of the first drinks i tried in Malta was Kinnie. Some people may like it, but i thought it was pretty nasty. Kinnie is a non-alcoholic drink, made from bitter oranges and aromatic herbs, and it was too bitter for me. It was invented by Mr.Cisk, who produces Maltese beer.

Gzira - Immortal cat

They sure do have cats in Malta, and plenty. This particular one is obviously a fan of Immortal. And i think, it looks more evil than Abbath.

The next beautiful city we saw was Valletta - the capital of Malta. Valetta has amazing Baroque architecture and is also full of history. The city was found by the French Jean Parisot de la Valette in 1566, who fortified the city to maintain the hold of the Knights of Malta. The city was planned to be a refuge to care for injured soldiers and pilgrims during the Crusades in the 16th century. Most inhabitants of Malta preferred to reside in Valetta, since it was strongly fortified.
Nowadays Valletta is one of the main tourist attractions, with its amazing view of the Grand Harbour, the Barrakka Gardens, cathedrals and various places of entertainment. You can take a ride on a horse carriage around Valletta and feel like you are in the middle ages.

Valletta walls

Lower Barrakka Gardens

Lower Barrakka Gardens offer an amazing view of the Grand Harbour of Valletta.

The Grand Harbour

The Grand Harbour of Malta has been used since the Roman times.

Valletta street

Valetta is the “new” capital of Malta. The old one was Mdina. Mdina is truly a medieval town, with narrow streets and amazing architecture. Mdina has been there since 4000 BC, and was fortified by Phoenicians in 700 BC. Mdina is called “The Silent City”, therefore you are not allowed to make noise, especially after the sunset. It is an unforgettable experience to walk in Mdina at night.

Mdina walls and orange trees

Medieval horse ride

The horse may not see what’s around it, but it can still make faces at you.

A fountain

Mdina alley

Mdina walls

You can view almost the entire Malta from Mdina walls, since Mdina is in the centre of the island. Many brave young people go on top of the walls, lay there and relax, enjoying the great view.

Mdina, of course, is full of things to see - there’s chapels, cathedrals, a natural history museum, a benedictine monastery, and Mdina dungeons - the museum of medieval torture. We surely visited it, but that will be a whole new post

Not so long ago we went to the north of Israel. It was an interesting trip, i took loads of pictures so here’s a “short survey” on what we saw:

Akko

Akko is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, dating back to the time of the Pharaoh Thutmose III (1504-1450 BCE). There are still historical remains of Ottoman, Muslim and Crusader conquests in the city. Akko was once a leading port in the Middle East, in the same league as Alexandria and Constantinople. Today, it is home primarily to small fishing boats.

Khan-Al-Omdan
I consider this picture one of the most awesome pictures i have ever taken.

Khan-Al-Omdan is a large merchants’ inn near the port, which was used for international trade. Merchants who arrived at the port unloaded their goods at the storerooms of the inn on the first floor and stayed in the rooms of the second floor, which constituted a unique hotel.

Old Akko walls

Akko had walls built in the shape of a pentagon, but not all of them remained.

The El-Bachar or El-Mina Mosque, formerly Sanan Pasha Mosque

The first Muslim house of worship in Akko that was mentioned in the writings of the Ottoman Period is the Sanan Pasha Mosque, which was near Khan El-Faranj. It is estimated that the mosque was built in the late 16th century.

The Terraces of the Shrine of the Ba’b

The Terraces of the Bah’¡’i­ Faith are garden terraces that form nine above and nine below the Shrine of the Ba’b on Mount Carmel within Haifa, Israel. The are also known as the Hanging Gardens of Haifa and described as the Eighth Wonder of the World.

Baha’i faith, is a religion founded in Iran in the mid-19th century by Mirza Hoseyn ‘Ali Nuri, who is known as Baha’ Ullah (Arabic: “Glory of God”). The cornerstone of Baha’i belief is the conviction that Baha’ Ullah and his forerunner, who was known as the Bab, were manifestations of God, who in his essence is unknowable.

Baha’is believe in the oneness of humanity and devote themselves to the abolition of racial, class, and religious prejudices. The great bulk of Baha’i teachings is concerned with social ethics; the faith has no priesthood and does not observe ritual forms in its worship.

Kibbutz Sasa

We stayed overnight in Kibbutz Sasa on the mount Miron, 1km from the border with Lebanon. A kibbutz is an Israeli collective community. The movement combines socialism and Zionism. People that live in kibbutzim nowadays represent 7% of the country populaiton.

A view from kibbutz to the border with Lebanon

Tzfat

That’s where we went to the next day. Tzfat (Safed) is a city in the Northern District of Israel. Safed is one of Judaism’s Four Holy Cities, along with Jerusalem, Tiberias and Hebron, and a center for Kabbalah.

There is a legend that Tzfat was founded by a son of Noah after the great flood.

Many artists live in Tzfat and it’s also a place of a great interest for those who are into mysticism and occult. There are lots of art galleries and kabbalah stores everywere, the place is very authentic and has its’ own athmosphere.

Kabbalah bookstore

Oh noooooooooo! (a pillar next to one of the art galleries)

Yummy yemenite food

Nahal Ha-Shofet

Nahal Hashofet is one of the most uniquely beautiful landscapes in Israel - forested hills, rich, lush countryside with running streams and trees. It’s very pretty and relaxing.

Mount Bental - The Golan heights

“Golan” is the name of a city mentioned in the Bible as a “City of Refuge”. It has also come to denote a geographic region stretching from the biblical site westward towards the Sea of Galilee.

In the Yom Kippur War of 1973, Mount Bental was the site of one of the largest tank battles in history. Mount Bental is a key strategic point for Israel due to its advantageous observation point. Since there was a lot of iron remnants after the war, inventive israelis made funny and cute sculptures out of the scraps.

La Cucaracha

Bat out of iron

The view from the mount Bental is amazing, but, due to bad weather i didn’t get to take any decent pix…

Tabgha

After spending another night in kibbutz, we went to Tabgha. Tabgha is the traditional site of the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes in Christianity. The cults name is derived from the Greek name Heptapegon (”seven springs”).

The funny thing was, that, thought we got to Tabgha, we couldn’t get inside the church, because it was THAT SAME day when Jesus performed the multiplication miracle . So we just got to walk around and peek through the bars, as the priests and monks had a grand mass.

Tel Dan

Dan , formerly named Laish, is a town mentioned by the Bible, in which it is portrayed as the northernmost town of the Kingdom of Israel, and formerly as the main town of the Tribe of Dan.

Of the three sources of the Jordan River, the Dan River is the largest and most important. It is fed by the snow and rain which fall on Mount Hermon, the tallest mountain in Israel.

River Dan

Laish ruins

Prehistoric albino grashopper

Yardenit

Yardenit is a popular Baptism site. Here, the water flows into the Jordan river, eventually flowing into the Dead Sea located more than 100KM to the south. This site is believed by some traditions to be the actual site where Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist.

Many Christian pilgrims stop at this site and perform baptism ceremonies, normally in small groups and accompanied by the group’s pastor.

The “Community Wall” welcomes the visitors at the entrance to Yardenit.
It describes the Baptism of Jesus Christ with the text taken from the new Testament in both ancient and modern languages.
This one i liked the most:

Mark 1,9-11 in Hawaiian

Holy ducks - they constantly get baptized by the holy waters of the river Jordan

Tiberias

Tiberias is a town on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee, Lower Galilee, Israel. It was named in honour of the emperor Tiberius.

Tiberias was built at about AD 20 by Herod Antipas, the son of Herod the Great on the site of the destroyed village of Rakkat, and it became the capital of his realm in Galilee.

Famed as a city in the region where Jesus preached, as the capital of Herod Antipas, the seat of the Sanhedrin (jewish supreme court), and the place where the Jerusalem Talmud was written, is so rich in antiquities that archaeologists in Israel call it “the city of treasures.”

Tiberias port

The ruins

The tree worth hugging!
This is one of the weirdest trees i have ever seen - it’s covered with spikes.

On the way back, we passed Megiddo - according to some interpretations of the Christian Bible, this place will be the venue for Armageddon (that derives from the name’s place in hebrew) or the final battle between the forces of light led by Jesus Christ and the forces of darkness led by Satan or the Anti-Christ after the End of Days

Also, that’s where the poor dude from The Omen got his head cut off .

If someone actually had the patience/had nothing better to do and read the whole post to the end- you can find more pix on my Flickr