Woke up on Thursday around 08:30 and went for my customary shower and breakfast on the balcony. Repeating yesterday's enjoyable morning, we headed back up to the Sky Lounge Pool. Moz opted to stay in bed for an extra hour, meanwhile me & Tez kicked the day off with a pint of Cisk at 09:30 😂 after reuniting with Moz, we went and caught the bus up to Mellieħa at midday to have a proper breakfast at Debbie's Café. I went with the breakfast ftira with Cumberland sausage and bacon. Moz had Nutella pancakes that he described as "cloying" and he ended up swapping the final quarter of them with me 😅 when we left, there were a lot of coin piles left as payment 🫣
We caught the bus to Valetta which was a lengthy trip, but we arrived at Triton Fountain approximately 2pm. Stace wanted to see the famous painting of "The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist" by Caravaggio which was hosted in St. John's Co-Cathedral. We headed over past a red telephone box and post-box and got inside the Cathedral at 14:25. The interior was opulent and decadent as fuck. Every where that wasn't adorned with gaudy golden soffits housed paintings, murals, or sculptures. It was truly staggering to see in person. The actual Caravaggio painting was housed in the Oratory and was very moving to witness whilst listening to the audio commentary explaining the story behind it. After exploring the remainder of the Cathedral, we headed back into the streets of Valetta at roughly 3pm.
This next part was a miscommunication which soured the mood for the next few hours (and also reared it's head later when drunk). The Saluting Battery was firing at 16:00 and that was our only opportunity to witness it whilst in Valetta. Moz also wanted to visit the Lascaris War Rooms, which closed at 16:30. This put us in a bit of a predicament for time management. It was my understanding that we were going to haul ass to visit Lascaris War Rooms, and then head up to the Saluting Battery for 4pm. Moz seemed to have the same opinion, to which he began marching ahead setting the pace. I followed shortly behind, but when I glanced back, Tez & Stace were trailing and then Stace was beckoning to us with hand gestures. I got Moz's attention and he showed me his phone with the directions to Lascaris War Rooms under the impression that Stace was saying we were going the wrong way. Moz continued walking ahead, I followed. I looked back and the other pair were gone.
It later turned out they'd gone to get ice cream to eat on the way to Lascaris War Rooms which admittedly frustrated me since we were already on a tight schedule. To further confuse matters, Moz and I purchased our entry tickets for Lascaris War Rooms from the Saluting Battery Museum, then headed down, running into Tez and Stace on the way. They had no tickets and we didn't even know if they would be able to buy them at the actual museum when we got there. I was admittedly beyond caring at this point figuring if they'd cared about going in that much, they wouldn't have prioritised going for an ice cream instead. By the time we got into Lascaris War Rooms it was already 15:40 leaving just 20-minutes to sprint around the museum (really good value for money when I'd just spent €14 to get in!) and get up to the Saluting Battery before it fired. After doing a hurried lap of Lascaris War Rooms trying to actually take in some of what was on display, I arrived back at reception at 15:52 to be told Moz, Tez, and Stace had already left. Upon leaving, I almost headed the wrong way and lost the group, but luckily spotted Moz loitering at the end of the tunnel. From there I pretty much ran up to Upper Barrakka Gardens by myself to see the Saluting Battery fire, only just making it in time. Moz later told me he'd also just managed to see it.
A message popped up in the WhatsApp group saying "just by the Malta Time Gun Museum entrance" which I thought was referring to everyone since it was back the way I'd come (and I'd literally ran ahead leaving everyone behind). I headed back out of Upper Barrakka Gardens to discover just Moz waiting there. Then Tez rang saying he was still in Upper Barrakka Gardens; after a tense conversation, Tez and Stace rejoined us outside the museum entrance. Moz wanted to head over to The Queen Victoria City Pub, but it was agreed we'd head back into the Upper Barrakka Gardens instead and have a drink and relax after all the rushing around. We stayed in there until 17:30 drinking Craft Ales from a brand called Huskie which was really pleasant; Moz even had a little chat with the bloke running the stand and offered his professional critique. It was here we decided to ditch the plan to visit Fort St Elmo and agreed to just head down to the Chocolate District next. On the way out of the Upper Barrakka Gardens there was a smoothie cart which piqued Tez and Stace's interest. No word of a lie, it took over 10-minutes for them to get served and I was again getting frustrated with all the standing around melting in the sun. I think that became starkly apparent therein; me and Moz hated standing around about the same amount as Tez and Stace hated feeling rushed! 😂
The Chocolate District was decent despite the staff running the place being pretty damn miserable. I opted for an 'Ivory and Ebony' first which was a mix of dark and white chocolate drink. Then I followed it up with a Spiced Rum Chocolate. The latter reminded me of the liquor chocolates you eat at Christmas. Had a chat with Moz outside about communicating his plans to the rest of the group, and pointed out that if necessary, he could always go visit his list of pubs alone. It seemed the friction in the group was all stemming from the hurrying around. We wandered down to the Victoria Gate to take a few photos, then headed over to Wild Honey for some craft beers, arriving at 7pm. Whilst sitting outside on the steep bank drinking my 7% Nekopstoot Cherry and enjoying some Superbon Pimento Crisps, I got Stace some more aloe vera from a nearby plant to soothe her sunburn, and we sat listening to Harvey Price yelling incoherent babble at every passerby from a nearby upstairs window 🥴
After leaving Wild Honey, we had a walk up through Republic Square past the statue of Queen Victoria, then got seated outside City Crown for food and drinks. Had a pint of Stretta and a Captain Jack Sparrow cocktail which I really enjoyed. Then I had a drunken rant about the earlier events of the day which nobody enjoyed 🤦🏼♂️ it was almost 10pm by the time me, Tez and Moz ordered burger and chips (which was served from the nearby Burgers.Ink) settling for the Hells Kitchen Burger myself. I recall keep tapping the waitstaff on the wrong shoulder and making him laugh whenever I went inside 😂 after we left City Crown around half-10, we had a wander to the nearby 67 Kapitali whilst I apologised for losing my shit and spoiling the mood. The fun really begun at Kapitali, as the lass serving us fucked up and ended up giving both me and Moz 2x 6.7% beers each for the price of one! Bonus! 🍻🍻
At almost midnight we were in Amorino Valetta ordering posh ice-creams that looked like a flower 😂 we tried to get into The Queen Victoria City Pub for a swift pint, but they'd stopped serving. I went in for a piss and it looked a really decent venue - proper English style pub. Shame they were closing up. Then we all headed back to Triton Fountain to catch the bus to Paceville, the nightlife district of Malta. I was pretty distracted by my phone at this point, and also pretty hammered. I vaguely recall being sat outside The Beer Garden having a pint, but it's all pretty hazy in truth. We got the bus back to Luna and arrived back at almost 3am. The last thing I recall before I slumped into my bed was seeing Moz casually sat with his headphones in drinking a bottle of San Miguel on the sofa 😂🍺
