Travelogues: Tuscan Drive

Dec 20

The whole of office was pretty much going on holiday from this day. Dec 7 was the awesome Refreshment party at Nora with Kevin, Dec 14 was the even more awesome Christmas party right inside Weena, Dec 18 was RMLT and Dec 19 was CCLT – with that, pretty much all the year-end commitments were done, and people packed their bags off starting this day.

The timing for the holiday therefore couldn’t be better for me and Geet, and we planned the entire trip in such a way that we start at Geneva where Girish was home alone, and then move all the way down south to Malta where we meet Naan and A.

The flight to Geneva from Amsterdam was to depart at 7:30am, and we took the first train of the day from Rotterdam at 5am to make it well in time to the airport. Girish picked us up at the Geneva airport and took us to his neo-rural house with a big garden within his house compound and a quaint old church right outside.

We spent some time with Divya and Shreyas over steaming Idly’s that Divya made for us, and then dropped them off to the airport and headed towards Ecole de la Faucile where I had made reservations for Ski Classes.

However, Ecole de la Faucile decided to be closed on this day without any prior notice to me. Girish thankfully carried his sled along, and the three of us made use of the snow slopes in the empty resort to play a bit of Calvin and Hobbes sledding.

Girish was also educating us on the colour codes of the slopes; Green for beginners, Blue for the next level, Red for experienced and Black for the adventurous professionals. Useful stuff to know, but unfortunately no instructor around to help us learn to Ski. So we just played around with the sled, and I kept re-trying till I managed to hit the speed that satisfied me, and when I did, ended up injuring my back and just hoped it wasn’t too serious.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCJ3GcpbIxk

On our way back to Geneva, we stopped at the bridge where you get to see the Garden Clock and Fountain. Fountain also seemed to be on a Christmas break, and therefore a quick picture at the Garden Clock was all we could manage. Then had a quick bite at a restaurant called Café Leo and got back home to call it an early night.

Dec 21

I woke up with a cold that added to my sore back, thanks to the full day out in the snow the previous day.

We had plans to Ski at an alternate place Girish had suggested, and I really didn’t want to jeopardize that, so just decided to keep quite about my ailments and go with the plan.

But as luck would have it, Girish got some unplanned office work come his way and had to cancel the Ski trip for himself. He was proposing we take his car and drive to the resort, something I really wanted to avoid given my own problems.

But the trip was just getting started and Skiing was something Geet and I really wanted to do. So I popped some Crocins, slapped myself awake, and drove the Citroen SUV all the way from Geneva to Chamonix, a beautiful French town that oversees Europe’s largest mountain Mont Blanc.

From little Ecole de la Faucile, we were now going to Ski in the largest mountain slope of Europe!

I braved through the cold, both within me and outside, made it to the Ski center called ESF, booked a private tutor for both of us, rented a full Ski gear (save the Salopettes or Ski trousers that Geet had the perspicacity to purchase from the Decathlon in Rotterdam itself), grabbed a quick breakfast of Champion Soup (aka French Onion Soup) and hiked up to the Ski center lugging mine, and for some distance even Geet’s gear, till we met our very able and friendly French Ski instructor Christoff.

From 2:30pm to 4:30pm, Chirstoff spent his valuable time tutoring 2 complete novices on Ski basics, and by the end of it, both Geet and I were really satisfied with being able to come down a bunny slope on our own.

Chamonix is really an incredible resort to Ski, and the whole town was beautifully lit up towards the evening given Christmas celebrations.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EuYirNOe78M

Geet and I had a quick coffee and began our journey back to Geneva, once again braving the cold both inside and out.

Once we got home, I didn’t have the energy to either step out for dinner, or even prepare Racklet at home as Girish was suggesting. All I could do was wrap myself in a blanket while Girish and Geet got around to making Masala Dosas with Divya’s leftover Idly batter from the previous day.

Some hot Masala Dosa’s and one incredible show of Jim Jeffries later, we passed into some deep slumber.

Dec 22

I woke up with a cold that had gotten worse, and a body that now ached at the shoulders and calves to add to the back. Girish was free on this day, and both he and Geet really wanted to go Skiing again. But we had a flight to Milan the next day where our Road Trip was to begin, and I really needed a day to rejuvenate myself for the next phase of the Holiday.

With a lot of difficulty, and going completely against my life purpose of living extremes, I requested the other two to plan something lighter for the day. Girish suggested a drive to the town of Gruyer (famous for the Gruyer Cheese) where there was also a Chocolate factory run by a Nestle Brand called Cailler.

I really wanted to see a Chocolate factory, and given the plan only involved me sitting in a car and at best walking around a bit, I was game to press ahead.

We drove to the Cailler factory and was really impressed to see how Nestle used a historic brand to build its own equity; some fabulous marketing by them.

Girish then drove us to a restaurant called Giger Bar located next to the Giger Museum, and one of the top things to do in this quaint town apart from buy/eat the famous cheese.

The bar was fascinating; entire place was designed by this Swiss artist HR Giger who even won awards for his work in the movie Aliens. He specialized in biomechanical art, and the entire bar reeked of these designs.

We obviously didn’t have the time/energy to visit the Giger Museum, and just a snack and a drink (a green fluid called Alien blood!) and a quick visit to a nearby castle was all we did here before the long drive to Geneva when I passed out in the Citroen shotgun seat. This was the second time I was doing this after passing out in a similar fashion during our drive from Amsterdam to Rotterdam when Girish and family visited us some months back. Not sure if it was his super comfortable seats that even have a massage facility, or the Alien blood that I bottomed, or the cold that I was in denial about, but I slept like a log in this journey.

Once we got home, Girish decided to bring out his Racklet maker with which all 3 of us experimented the preparation of Switzerlands most popular dish (along with Fondu and Rosti, all dishes prepared with potato, bread and copious quantities of cheese). It honestly turned out quite good, and along with some pumpkin soup that Divya had made before she left, I satiated myself for a night of good sleep before the next phase of the journey were to begin.

Dec 23

Woke up early to get to the Geneva Bus Stop for our Milan departing Flixbus at 7:45am. The bus came in late thanks to an alternate bus that needed to be arranged to accommodate the increased passenger load given Christmas weekend, and possibly full Christmas week holiday that many were beginning on this day.

Then there was a delay en route since one of the passengers luggage needed to be rechecked at customs, and finally a third delay at the Chamonix junction as once again there were people traveling here for their holiday weekend/week.

All put together, we finally reached Milan at 3pm instead of the 12pm, and groggily made it to our art hotel Bernino that I had booked just a few days back given its proximity to both the Milan Central Station, as well as the Alamo Car Rental from where we were to pick our Audi A3 the next day.

Thankfully the hotel was good. Felt like a cross between an Ibis and a modern art museum, since the rooms were basic while the corridors and reception were filled with fancy décor.

We quickly settled in and stepped out for some much-needed food, since it was just Italian Chips and Chakodi to munch the entire day. Pizzeria Lina was a recommended restaurant nearby from where I got some hot vegetarian soup, and Geet got the classic Margarita Pizza which immediately made her sick given the cheese overload after a day filled with even worse food.

She completely skipped dinner after this, which was at Eately that Christina took us to, after a walk around Milan that Christina was really kind enough to organize for us. We had a nice time seeing all the tourist spots of Milan (save the Last Supper mural which is the most famous of all tourist spots in this town) in the little time we had here.

I had the Baked Cod at Milan which Denilo had recommended as the ideal Christmas Eve dinner, since fish is lighter on the stomach which needs to accommodate all the meat on the day of Christmas. I took his advice and completely enjoyed the Cod which was really flavorful albeit a bit overdone at Milan’s Eately.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7THxtVb0HI

Dec 24

Quick but scrumptious breakfast at Bernino’s restaurant preceded our car hire procedure at Alamo. The A3 was unfortunately an older model with a hatchback design and devoid of basic features like USB jack and navigation system. The car was in excellent condition though, and driving at 100kmph+ received no complaints from Geet who otherwise begins to crib the moment I cross 80kmph on the other cars I’ve hired before this. Seems like premium cars are the only way to ensure both of us have a stress-free drive on European highways!

I spent a bit of time at the rental checking the car out entirely and loading it with our bags, while Geet visited a nearby supermarket to pick some snacks and water for the journey.

A little past noon, we started our journey from Milan to Parma. En route Geet contacted the 4 restaurants I had shortlisted for lunch, and since none of them were open on this day, had to do some research herself and make a reservation at a restaurant called Perlarge.

Thankfully this restaurant was directly opposite the car park that I routed our navigation towards, and more importantly, turned out to be a complete Parma feast as our first Tuscan meal.

We were served complimentary Champagne on entry, something the restaurant in known for, since Perlage itself means bubbles. Then we had fresh bread with Olive oil and salt, along with a sparkling wine called Lambrusco that was a house favourite. After this came the food; Parma Ham and Goat Cheese for Antipasti, Ravioli for Primi that Geet had, Parma Ham with Torta Fritto and Apple sauce for Secondi that I had, and that was it! We were too stuffed to try any of the Mains, and were just astounded how people here can eat Primi, Secondi and Mains altogether while we were filled with just one Primi and one Secondi between both of us.

After the meal we went for a walk around town, which was quite interesting as the streets were really colouful, and something we expected to see only in our next destination Cinque Terre. The lack of people also offered some unadulterated photo shots, but Geet was getting a bit anxious with us being the only people walking around and wanted to get back on the road soon.

We completed a very quick tour of Parma during which we even found an open Medical Store that turned out to be the best thing for me on the trip, because I have been surviving on Crocins all this while with no complete recovery from the illness.

The medicines that I bought from this little Parma store turned out to be much better for me, clearing indicating that for European illness one needs European medicines.

Resuming our car journey, we traversed so many tunnels en route Parma to La Spezia, that I almost began to enjoy this drive more than I did the German autobahns.

Claudia, our host at La Spezia was a friendly old lady who was waiting outside the house to welcome and show us around her cozy little house. After unloading our luggage and parking the car, taking Claudia’s advice on places being shut the next day for Christmas, I visited the nearby Carrefour, which despite being a 24hr store, was downing its shutters post mid night given Christmas the next day.

I grabbed some food for us to eat, along with an Oral B electronic brush that Geet wanted to purchase since a while that I thought could make a good Christmas gift since I hadn’t got anything else for her to gift the next day, rushed home just as Geet was beginning to panic staying alone in a strange home, prepared some Ravioli from Carrefour that I picked and called it a Christmas eve night.

Dec 25

Christmas Day! Woke up and prepared coffee like I do every other day, but this time served it to Geet along with a nicely wrapped Christmas gift, which was the Brush inside some wrapping paper as well I found on the way back home the previous day.

Geet gave me a gift as well, which were my favourite peanuts that she managed to find at the supermarket at Milan when I was readying the car. Seemed like our gifts could only be managed from supermarkets given our complete lack of time. But at least we managed to buy things we know each other liked, and Geet was supremely impressed with her new Brush. So much so that she wanted to order one for all our family members as Christmas/New Year gifts.

The day was thereafter spent visiting the 5 villages of Cinque Terre. We needed to purchase a full day train ticket to do this, since the only other modes of transport between the villages; boat and trek were closed being off season.

We took the train tickets therefore, and began our exploration with the village of Coniglia. This village was at an elevation, and required a bus to take us further from the train stop, and since the bus was half hour away, decided to take the next train and go to the furthermost village Monterosso that online forums seemed to suggest was the prettiest of all.

Monterosso was indeed pretty, studded with those colourful buildings that we have seen in all those viral social media photos of this place. But on offer was also a large beachfront with some floating rocks a la Krabi. One of the rocks called Spiaggio is even a popular photo spot, and I decided to climb to the top and get the best panoramic shot I could, while filming myself through the little trek to make a cool video while I was at it.

We then moved to the next village Vernazza, which was even more picturesque than Monterosso, where Geet and I sat listening and watching the waves hit the rocks. We found a Pizzeria that was open here, and excitedly walked in since it was the only restaurant we saw open all day, but unfortunately, they were only serving coffee and no food.

We continued our village hop with Riomaggiore next, though Manarola was next in the line of villages, since Geet felt Riomaggiore would be prettier than Manarola. This turned out to be a good call, as Riomaggiore was indeed scenic, especially at the time of sunset that we were at this spot, and more importantly because Manarola offered something that took us both by complete surprise, and consummated the Christmas experience for us.

We spent the most time at Riomaggiore, and then went back to Manarola where we had a short climb up to the church which was the primary viewing spot of this village, from where we could see on the mountain across, the largest Nativity scene in the world!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtIFJVEK-P4

These were lit up figurines of all the characters that make up the Nativity scene, that looked incredibly impressive at this dark hour when the sun had completely disappeared over the horizon. It was therefore incredible timing and totally instinctive planning from Geet.

After the long and tiring day of covering all the 5 Cinque Terre villages, we headed back to our La Spezia house where we made some more of the Ravioli that we had the previous day as part of the assortment from Carrefour, and called it a delightfully different Christmas day experience.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fkeUmrE498&t=18s

Dec 26

We resumed our Tuscan road trip to Bologna this time, once again traversing all those beautiful mountain tunnels that we passed on the way from Parma to La Spezia, and reached Bologna just in time for lunch.

Just in time because Bologna as a town has exactly those tiny streets one sees in movies showcasing Tuscany, which made it incredibly difficult to find a parking spot. The one we finally found was far from the restaurant we made reservations, but turned out to be a blessing in disguise as we ran into another restaurant nearby called Buca Manzoni that offered some incredible surprises.

Firstly, their Tortelini with cheese and herbs, was really tasty, and so was the Tuscan favourite Tortelini al Brodo that was another of the dishes Denilo had recommended.

Tortelini al Brodo and Tagtietelle al Ragu were supposed to be two popular dishes in this region, and I think I had the best Tortelini al Brodo here, though I really have no benchmark to compare this.

Finally, we had the Tiramisu, for which we do have sufficient benchmark, and absolutely no other Tiramisu can come even remotely close to this one! It was just the tastiest, melt-in-your-mouth Tiramisu that we’ve ever had.

Lunch followed a quick walk exploring the town of Bologna where the statue of Neptune was quite a sight to watch with water flowing out from all the pores of the women and animals, expect the pores from Neptune that probably matter. Quite a showcase of mythological prowess.

We continued further till we reached our hotel in Florence that was on top of this hill from where you overlook the old city of Florence. The last bit of the journey once again took us through small winding roads and Geet and I were beginning to wonder if we booked the right place.

This hotel we booked just a few hours before, on our journey towards Florence, since the Airbnb that I had originally booked in Florence didn’t give us a confirmation this very morning, forcing us to look for last minute hotels.

All our anxiety immediately vanished once we reached the hotel, since it offered everything we really needed from our stay in Florence. A place that offered car parking (very few hotels/bnbs of Florence offer this), a place that had unlimited free shuttle service to the main points of Florence town that you could reach in just 10 minutes from the hotel, and most importantly, a delightful and comfortable little room for us to spend the next two nights in Florence.

Post a quick break in this hotel, I dragged Geet into Florence town despite her contretemps to stay indoors and get some rest after the full day of travel.

I was unfortunately bursting with energy thanks to the Italian medicines from Parma, an ironically relaxing car drive, and probably the excitement about being in this city filled with ancient Roman history.

We hit this restaurant called La Buchetta for dinner that was rated #2 on Tripadvisor and just a few steps away from the shuttle stop at Florence town that turned out to be another incredible gastronomic experience for the both of us.

I had the Fiorentine Steak, again a dish Denilo recommended to have in Tuscany, and this one was served rare with Onion and Mushroom sauce, where the juices of the steak would just mix with the sauce to offer some of the most incredible flavours my mouth has experienced, especially when it comes to steaks. Apparently, this is because of the type of meat being used here, which are non-pregnant females, that are supposed to offer the best flavours especially with the way it is cooked here.

There was also a TV screen on which there seemed to be a cooking show going on, and it was only towards to conclusion of our meal that I realized that the cooking show was indeed a live feed of the kitchen inside where you get to see how your meal is being plated! How cool was that!

Geet really enjoyed her vegetarian lasagna as well here, which we both relished with more Chianti wine, and finally had the Ciambelle al Vino for dessert that was offered complimentary since we didn’t order any other dessert, which were Almond biscuits in strong red wine that was truly a fascinating combination.

The waiter who served this also educated us on a bit of Italian dining etiquette, where he spoke of the concept of Scarpette, which means to scoop out the remnant sauces of our dish with the bread on the table. Both of us were honestly too stuffed to do that, although the bread on the table was equally delicious being super fresh, but glad to learn more about Italian dining while we were simply going about stuffing ourselves.

Dec 27

Another day of waking up early, but instead of a drive, it was to walk to the start location of the Florence free walking tour. We made it just in time where a friendly old Italian man in the best of English that escaped him, enthralled us with all the delights of Florence.

We saw the Basilica San Miniato and the ground in front of it where Fiorentine soccer originated where 4 local teams still participate and end up in a brawl typical of Fiorentine soccer where rules are minimal and therefore most times players completely forget about the ball and just end up beating each other up.

We saw the Basilica de Santa Croce from where the tour began and the Medici family built hospital right in front of it, the palace by the rival Strozzi family with the first ever Gucci store in front of it, the Piazza della Signoria from where you can see the incredible statues of Neptune, David, Hercules and some other works made of single stone marbles and bronze, and finally the grand finale, the Piazza del Duomo where you have the Baptistry, the Cathedral and the Watch Tower next to each other.

Once the walking tour concluded, Geet and I thought of entering the Duomo Cathedral, but noticed the long snaking queue outside and decided to hit a restaurant for lunch instead.

We chose another Tripadvisor recommended restaurant called Parione, which once again turned out a true delight as I tried out the Pici here, another Tuscan specialty, and another recommendation by Denilo. Geet had the Lobster Spaghetti since I wanted her to take a break from the pure vegetarian she’s been having all this while, and we ate all of this with of course more Chianti wine, which we finally concluded with the cheesecake that this place is famous for. None of the dishes disappointed once again, and after completely filling ourselves up, ambled to the hotel to get some much-needed afternoon nap that we haven’t really had so far on this trip.

After waking up, we forced ourselves out of the room to grab some dinner, and here came the first food disappointment of the trip. We went to a restaurant called La Foggia that is known to offer splendid views as it is right opposite the Piazza Michelangelo which itself overlooks the town of Florence across the river Arno. Geet smartly skipped eating as she was still stuffed from lunch. I ordered the Taglietelle al Ragu which was the last of the Tuscan dishes I was left to try from Denilo’s list, and this was served with Tabasco sauce (which I am sure Italian chefs would throw up just hearing about) with meat and pasta that somehow just didn’t seem fresh.

I couldn’t even finish the food since it even began to even smell a bit as it got cold. Well, not every meal could be perfect I suppose, and the two of us just made the most of the evening by checking out the Piazza Michelangelo which was one of the only main attractions that was missed out in the walking tour earlier, and made it back in sufficient time to rest for the last and most important part of the Tuscan drive, the winding route of SR222.

Dec 28

Another early start since this was our last leg of the Tuscan road trip, and I wanted to visit as many of the little villages en route Florence to Siena along the scenic route of SR222.

We started the journey with a visit to Montefiorolle, a small town near Greve that was simply a circular fort with houses both in and around it. You could simply walk in either direction from the car park and end up right back there as you do a complete circle around the fort. And all around you see some of the most neatly designed small hamlets.

From Montefiorolle we drove to Panzano which was a tiny town where all the stores and restaurants were closed save one truck in the circle that was selling fruits and vegetables for probably the inhabitants of the town. We pressed on towards Castellino from Panzano, and this place was even more deserted. Not even a grocery truck visible. The weather also started to get bad, so we just quickly moved on to the next town Radda. With once again the same result of

deserted town, we decided to now just head to Siena and grab some lunch.

Geet researched en route and came up with Antica Salumeria which was once again just what the doctor ordered. We found ample space for the car to park, which would have again been a challenge as Siena is as small a town as Bologna. We found sufficient options to eat since the concept of this restaurant is more of a grocery store that also serves a few authentic Tuscan dishes, and between the two of us had Capsicum stuffed with Tuna and Olives (so delicious I ordered a second round in spite of being completely filled), Ham stuffed in Zuchini, Ribollita (a classic mashed Tuscan dish with veggies and bread), and the tastiest Chianti we had in the journey so far (this again was so good, that we purchased a bottle to take for Naan and Aanchal in Malta).

After a sumptuous lunch and an espresso for desert so I can stay awake for the rest of the drive, we moved on to the final city in our Italian road trip; the capital city of Rome.

Now the whole entry to Rome was just something completely unlike the rest of the journey. Suddenly we moved from wide empty sepia coloured roads, to vehicle and streetlight filled roads of Rome where we had to follow Google Maps with razor precision as a left would follow 2 seconds after a right bend. I made 2 errors in following directions, and we reached our location of Trastavere in Rome much later than expected.

But once we got into our Airbnb, the mood completely shifted. From a tiresome journey and a need to step out for food, we just decided to stay indoors and relax, since Rita our host here ensured the place was perfectly conducive to do nothing but exactly this.

The house had a fireplace which was something I really love, and it had a duplex with indoor stairs that is something Geet really likes. So it had something for both of us, and to top it, Rita placed a bottle of wine for us in the kitchen, along with a fridge full of food.

Both of us first got down to washing our clothes given we had completely run out of them in the trip so far, and then settled in with a lit fireplace and the wine and food from the house.

We were having such an enjoyable time that I forgot the bacon on the stove and ended up turning the smoke alarm on. Turning it off sobered us up a bit, but didn’t reduce the momentum much as we continued to enjoy the stay till we passed out reminiscing the awesome Tuscan adventure so far.

Dec 29

We stepped out to walk around Rome given our flight was only at 5pm, and walked all the way to the Spanish Steps and Trevi fountain. For lunch we hit a restaurant recommended by Nicky called Archimede that was tucked away in a small street behind the Pantheon where I had the most delicious Spaghetti Carbonara while Geet had another Veg Ravioli.

We wrapped lunch with sufficient time and decided to just take a slow drive to the airport and arrive with enough time to spare. This turned out to be a wise decision as our first major gaffe of the journey was about to unfold, one that nearly jeopardized the grand final of the holiday; New Years at Malta which was to follow from here.

As I was driving to the Ciampino airport, Geet kept searching for the car rental parking spot and just couldn’t find it on Google maps. Once I entered the airport, I was also surprised to not spot any boards for car rental parking. It was then that I checked the Rental Cars app to find out that the place to return the car was the other airport Fiumicino of Rome.

We immediately reassessed the situation and decided to drop Geet off at Ciampino with the luggage while I rushed to Fiumicino to drop off the car. I drove as fast as the car would allow since it starts to beep every time I cross 120kmph. So, I drove at 118kmph precisely for the whole journey switching lanes effectively to maintain that speed limit, and reached Fiumicino in immaculate time to drop the car off and run across to find a cab to take me back.

Now here was the tricky part. The journey back hit rush hour office traffic. Our flight was at 5:50pm with boarding to close at 5:20pm and Google showed arrival as 5:10pm. It was extremely tight. My driver was a class Italian speedster who drove fast and used some short cuts to get me to Ciampino at 5pm itself.

Geet was holding on to luggage check in since I was carrying the bottle of Chianti from Siena that we purchased for Naan and Aanchal in my bag. The check in was to close at 5:10pm and I kept telling Geet on my journey back to just go ahead and check in as I wouldn’t make it with enough time to spare. Unfortunately, I did make it with enough time, but Geet checked the luggage in just as I reached the airport, at exactly 5pm.

All in all, we lost the precious bottle of wine as I couldn’t take it along in hand luggage. I paid a whole lot more as cab fare from Fiumicino to Ciampino while the entire car rental was planned in such a way that I could drop it off at the airport from where we were flying out. And worse among all, nearly missed the flight that was already quite expensive and may have been prohibitive for us to fly later in case we missed this one.

Somehow things fell in place and soon we were in our fabulously glamorous Corinthia Hotel at Malta where we narrated the story to Naan and Aanchal over a second bottle of Chianti that we picked from Ciampino before flying out.

We then headed to a South Asian restaurant called Budhaman within the property of the hotel itself for a non-Italian dinner for a change, where I had the Pecking Duck, Geet the Tandoori Chicken, Naan the Smoked Fish and Aanchal the Thai Prawn. Somehow none of us appreciated any of the dishes all that much, and the waitress at the end said its because we probably know this kind of food a little too well. Guess she was right, and pointed to the fact that we should be trying more of the local cuisine than food from South Asia where we come from.

Dec 30

We decided to do a tour of Malta town over breakfast, and en route the bus stop, accosted by a friendly Maltese tour operator who sold us the Hop On Hop Off instead of the regular bus to Hagar Qim, our first stop for the day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6iq1g6ERo8

We took up the offer, and rode on top of the tourist bus through a long winding route that took 2 hours instead of the 1 hour the regular bus would have taken. It was a good journey though as we got to see many other sights of Malta, learning about them from earphones that were provided to us. We got to know some interesting trivia, like Malta has the longest conference table under one roof in all of Europe, and has housed many important events including the peace pact between Gorbachev and Churchil at the end of the Cold War. After many more of such trivia, albeit lesser important ones, we reached Hagar Qim, one of the most visited tourist spots of this island.

Hagar Qim is a megalithic temple built in 3500BC and is the oldest man-made structure on the planet, older than the pyramids or the Stonehenge. It has somehow survived all this while thanks to its location off a remote part of an island which by itself is remote in the middle off the Mediterranean Sea.

The entire presentation was quite impressive, with a 4D movie and a museum revealing the elements of the temple before the actual visit to the temple itself. And then seeing the temple and imagining how it must have stood this ground such a long time back is quite a surreal feeling.

If you put it in context, it was only about 60,000 years ago that Homo Sapiens began moving out from Africa to colonize the world by getting on top of the food chain as hunter-gatherers. And only about 10,000 years ago when we moved from hunter-gatherers to farmers. And then 5,000 years ago, this temple was built with strange religious and astronomical significance. Being so close to an object of such significance to our evolution was quite an overwhelming feeling.

We got back to our rooms post this visit as it was much longer than we expected, and a little bit of rest later, decided to hit an Italian restaurant called Da Marino.

Now this was a huge disappointment. It could be because Geet and I were spoilt with incredible Italian food over the last few days, or that the timing for dinner was completely off since we started eating only at 10pm given the long day out, or the food by itself just wasn’t too great.

We ended up wasting quite a bit of the food, Geet’s Funghi Risotto going almost entirely untouched, and crashed out with a rather unpleasant start to the much looked forward to finale at Malta.

Dec 31

Today we decided to simply rest and make use of the property facilities. This turned out a much better plan, as the swim in the indoor pool, the basking under the afternoon sun, and the incredibly effective sauna was just perfect for the relaxation all of us really craved for.

For lunch, we decided to not experiment too much and visit the best Indian restaurant on the island called Saffrom that indeed turned out brilliant. The prawn was fresh and the biryani flavourful. They even served Gulab Jamuns and Kulfi for desert. Nothing satisfies an Indian as much as good Indian food irrespective of which foreign country they are in.

The food was so filling that we stepped out at night to club and didn’t feel like eating the entire time we were out.

Aanchal found a nice club for us to enter, which was serendipitously playing Camilo’s Havana that we were already listening to all day, and then danced through the evening with the Salsa steps that Naan taught us, while he himself was enthralling the entire audience at the club.

Towards mid night, there was a Deja vu of sorts for me, as the celebrations reminded me of the last time I probably partied with so many foreigners around at New Years. This was 2005 when I took some of my German colleagues from Bosch to Goa along with Jeethu and her North-Eastern friends, who by themselves can sometimes appear as foreign as anybody else to us South Indians. It was a large group there, and towards mid night, the Germans religiously pulled out sparklers and lit them to ring in New Years. There was a bunch of old couples at this club that did the exact same thing with the Sparklers.

13 years later, a similar act among a foreign crowd.

Jan 1

We repeated the exact same itinerary of the previous day. Just cannot go wrong with some good relaxation in the pool and sauna.

In the afternoon though, instead of stepping out for lunch and catching some afternoon siesta like the previous day, decided to make use of Geet’s skills and undergo the Purpose workshop for ourselves.

This was quite cathartic, with all of us sharing our life stories and trying to arrive at our lives purpose.

We went on for quite a while and had to forcefully come to a halt since I had made reservations at a fancy restaurant called Blue Elephant at the Hilton to ring in New Years.

The original plan was to sit under the moonlight since it was a full moon this night, however, Blue Elephant had closed out their outdoor section in this off season and could only offer us a seat indoors.

It wasn’t too bad indoors since the ambience was just incredible. The whole place was made to look like a little Thai village, and even the temperature was so tropical that Naan and I had to get rid of our jumpers on the table.

I ordered the Rabbit stir fry since this is a very popular meat in Malta. However, the preparation was just too mediocre ruining my expectations of the meat. Naan ordered the famous Lamb Massaman from here that managed to make up for it while Geet ordered the standard Thai Prawn green curry.

Some photos of the beautiful restaurant and overall Hilton property later, we were back in our rooms to call the last night of our lovely long sojourn.

Jan 2

Aanchal had booked a “learning to massage” session for the day that we aptly cancelled as the sleep seemed more important before Geet and I checked out at 10am to make it for our long flight that was to depart at noon from Malta and make it to Amsterdam only by 9pm given the flight duration and stopover times at Manchester.

We spent the journey time working on our blogs and vlogs, that aptly go on to our Heblogsshevlogs YouTube, Instagram and Blogger channels.

All in all, it was pretty much the first Christmas-New Year break where I travelled around rather than spending it at home with family, and that too for nearly 2 full weeks which by itself is one of those rare long vacations I’ve been on (the only previous ones being Europe in 2012 and New Zealand in 2015).

It was something I always wanted to do though; see how Christmas is celebrated across Europe, cover the Sepia Tuscan drive after the Turquoise New Zealand and Cyan Scotland drives (if I’ve got my colours right) and finally manage to learn to Ski!

All in all, an eventful, fun and adventurous holiday to wind down 2017 and kick start 2018.

Travelogues

Wednesday, January 3, 2018

Tuscan Drive

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