It's been almost a month since I last left you in Malta so what was a one day stopover for me turned into a much longer wait for you. My apologies. I've been working constantly for my one man art show in April. As of this date I only have 6 more paintings to do to have a full show of 26 pieces. Check out my photo albums on facebook and you can see some of the work in progress.
But it's still inexcusable that I attempt to interest you in my blogspot and then don't keep it up.
That said, at the end of the day in Malta I took my $50 budget and began to look for souvenirs of this fabulous town. Having at least googled Malta for it's history I found that one of the most obvious things that came from Malta was the Maltese Cross.
From Jane's perspective, there are tons of "things" that one can get on a vacation to Europe. Clothes, jewelry, purses, shoes, abound but with the devalued dollar at the time we took the cruise, I figured I could get most all of this "stuff" at home, and for less cost. What I really wanted to take home from my trip were items that I could only get in the lands I was visiting.
Thus my souvenirs of Malta became a fabulous sterling silver Maltese Cross for myself and two more masculine Maltese Cross key chains for my sons. Total cost was no more than my budget and I not only have a great souvenir but each piece packed easily for the return trip home. Remember all that luggage that I was trying not to take - well, if you start purchasing glass vases, big boxed items and such for souvenirs then you might even have to purchase extra suitcases for the trip home.
One of my recommendations is that if you really have to have a larger item see if they will ship it home for you or find out if the store has a website and you can order from home when you return from your trip. That would save your trip budget and give you time to re-think the glamour and expense of the item once all the bills from the trip come in.
Once back on board the ship, we slept til "happy hour", used some of our shipboard credit for per dinner drinks, and went to the Toscana (the Italian themed restaurant on board) for a fabulous meal with our fellow travelers.
