Mal-Teasers Part II

 Gozo is the second-largest island in Malta, and our second stop on this trip. We took the ferry over to Gozo (car and all) - our stay was at an apartment right by the waterfront with fabulous views of the bay. It was on the top floor of an apartment set right into the cliffs - and I've never been more grateful for two relatively fit companions who helped with lugging the many suitcases up the stairs. 

We set off the next morning to explore the Gozo Coastline - we'd heard so much about it - and it didn't disappoint.  

A beautiful day for a walk along the coast

We could've pretty much stopped anywhere, and the view would have been equally breathtaking. So that's what we did- stopped off for a bit and walked around. Followed by a bit more walking at Ramla bay, or the Red Sands Bay. Yes, Red Sands, but also gravelly mountain tops to get to the red sands, which made for an interesting walk down.

Can you spot child 1 and me ambling along the top?

Here we are, in case you couldn't spot us. 

 I didn't particularly feel inclined to dive into the sea, but they were inviting enough for there to be a whole gaggle of folks milling about in the water.

Speaking of water, the next stop we went to did, in fact, tempt me to dip my feet - this was Wied Il Gasri. 

This little beach can be accessed via steps carved into the cliff, and the water is cool even at the hottest times of the day. We were a bit underprepared for just how cool it could be, but if you're visiting, I'd suggest wearing water shoes (the shingle beach is brutal on bare feet), and carrying a beach towel if you plan to sit on the shore and enjoy the fabulous view. 

Just look at that lovely blue! 

We'd heard that the one place to visit when in Gozo was the Ggantija, or the place of giants.  That's because, according to local folklore, it was built by a giantess carrying a child (goes to show you just how much women can accomplish when men don't interfere!) 

- it's also a World Heritage Site, and the world's second-oldest religious structure. So that's where we headed to, after a quick afternoon siesta. 

The interiors, with the remnants of the apse

While the structure might look like it is in ruins now, the fact that this was built at all is quite amazing, considering it is thought ot be over 5500 years old. We also decided to do the main city of Rabat on foot - primarily the Cittadella, which dominates the Ir-Rabat skyline.

While the area has been occupied since Neolithic times, of course the Brits decided it needed to be renamed Victoria, which the locals have promptly gone ahead and ignored. The town itself is pretty walkable. We explored Cittadella, with sweeping views of the city. 

The fortified area also included the cathedral and St George's Basilica.

The Gozo Cathedral

St George's Basilica

 The city did have an unnaturally high concentration of images and sculptures of St George -- the patron saint of the city since Byzantine times. 

Can you count the number of cats in this picture? 

I do love doorknobs. Deal with it. 

Just a tiny reminder of the British influence (apart from the mushy peas pasties)

St George

St George at it again. 

We ended the evening watching the lights from our balcony as we sipped beers. 

Watching the sun set as we sat on the balcony

The husband and I got up early the next morning to visit the salt pans at sunrise. The Qoilla i Bajda is Gozo's oldest surviving battery and has recently been restored (having been many things, including a discotheque in its past lives).

This was originally part of a chain of fortifications, but there's not much left to see now. What, however, was spectacular was the sunrise out at sea, which you can view from this point. By this time, we were wide awake and knew Child 1 was quite a while away from surfacing from his slumber. So we decided to sneak in a quick visit to Wied il Mellieha before it got too hot, or the tourists descended on the site. 

the Azure window

Steps leading all the way down to the sea

 This beautiful limestone arch is also supposed to be a great dive site, but we took the terrestrial route. Watching the sun light up the limestone cliffs while we sat atop the Azure Window was simply magical.

Fossilised shells on the cliffs

The only thing missing was piping hot coffee... the call of it was like a bloody siren song, and there were no cafes anywhere in the vicinity - this is the only explanation I can come up with as to why we decided to gun the car through the muck on the cliffs - and got well and truly stuck. After aimlessly revving the vehicle for about 10 minutes, and then getting out and glaring at the tyres, trying to shame them into climbing out of the rut for a further 10, we looked around for locals, found a British local walking her dog (even the dog was smart enough to know not to go sniffing around our tyres), who, helpfully gave us the number of the local towing service. 

Look at that - we're finally free!

By the time we got through to the company, and the chappie finally arrived with his towing rig, it was almost noon and all thoughts of coffee had flown out of our heads. We needed something much stronger to soothe the frazzled nerves. 

Our much-needed R&R

It was early evening when we finally recovered enough to decide to move our behinds. We wisely decided to leave the car behind and trek along the Marsalforn coast.

We turned in early as we were headed out the next day. Most times, when I leave a place, I leave with a feeling of wanting to return for a quick visit. Malta left me with a slightly different feeling - not that I didn't want to come back; I really did. But it left me wanting to come back to live here, for good. I can't quite put a finger on what it was, but I know this feeling of belonging isn't easy to find. The Mal-teaser definitely needs a full-length movie. 

Mal-teasers - Part 1

 This trip had been planned for ages… yet it caught us rather unprepared to leave — you see, the plan was to travel with bag, baggage and child 2 to meet child 1 (well, he’s not a child anymore, but not-quite-a-child-anymore-1 doesn’t seem to have the same ring to it). But child 2 threw a spanner in the works by announcing that football trials were on, so we needed to scramble to make arrangements for her stay - our tickets weren’t refundable or flexible. Before you start gasping at our sheer negligence as parents, child 2 had local guardians, and an army of support staff who almost made child 2 wish we didn't have to return anytime soon. 

But we finally did set off, and our first port of call was Fiumicino. 

Nice enough town, if only we got the hang of their public transport

"See bridge that opens? Must wait until you see it open." Ancient family saying

We had a few hours before our next flight, so we took a small stroll along Fiumicino village to stretch our legs. Lovely little port-side village to start the holiday off on the right note. Also gave us enough time to check in on the abandoned child back home. 

Nothing to see here. Just some pictures we sent on the family group so child 2 feels like she's on this trip with us. 

We reached Valletta late in the evening and spoke to child 1, who had already checked in. Valletta from one end to the other can’t be more than 30 minutes by car, and so we assumed we would be reunited with child 1 in the next few minutes, once we had our luggage and rented car. Ah, if only things were as simple. Apparently, both our hotel name and street name were common enough to have more than one address, and as luck would have it, we arrived at the wrong one - the one with no parking, a steep climb, and a street party happening. So there I was, dropped off at the noisy street corner while the spouse drove off to look for parking. It was only after I asked child 1 to come and help me with the luggage, and he insisted that our place wasn’t slap-bang in the middle of a raging street party, that we realised we were standing at 2 totally different addresses. Took another 30 minutes for the husband to come back with the car, and another 30 for us to find the right street, but we arrived, finally, in our lovely, cosy Airbnb. 

The next day, we decided to set off to explore Malta. The country has 3 large islands- Malta, Gozo and Comino. We had planned to head to Gozo in the latter half of the trip, so we skipped the day tours to the island. 

If this feels vaguely familiar, think GoT. King's Landing. Season 1

First stop, the historic city of Mdina. Apart from it being a city that carries so much history - it looked as though we had the whole city to ourselves - we came in around breakfast time, and it really lived up to the ‘silent city’ name. Also, I’m not sure what it is, but the doors have some of the most beautiful doorknobs I’ve seen. 

see? Prety doorknobs. 

Fair bit of British Influence, and it's not just in the language. They even drive on the 'right' side of the road, unlike the rest of mainland Europe.

Cosy little sitout. They're scattered around the city, inviting you to slow down. 

St Paul's, Mdina, designed by Lorenzo Gafa

'Silent city'. We hit the streets before the crowds arrived. I'm glad we did. 

Lovely little street sign.

The next stop - Dingli Cliffs, which afforded fantastic views of the city and out to the sea. 

 From there we headed out on a short boat ride to check out the Blue Grotto.

Short boat ride, but packed a punch

 The water looked tempting enough to dive into. But of course, we were instructed to rein in all such urges while they shepherded us safely back to the shore. 

Didn't think to take videos, where you could've heard the boatman asking us to cease and desist. 

We stopped at a few scenic Wadis before making our way back to Valletta city. 

The trek that demanded the sacrifice of a shoe not equipped for the terrain. 

We then headed out to Valletta - as I mentioned, it's a tiny city, but boy does it pack a punch. Every street, every corner is picturesque - from Republic Street, to the 33 steps to the city gates designed by Renzo Piano, to St Elmo’s Fort. We did catch the tail end of the cannon firing, but what really has us was the view of the city from the edges of the Fort. 

It was a bit rainy, so we took shelter in this lovely museum and gallery 

The city gates of Valetta

The Valetta skyline and port

The saluting battery

While roaming all over Valletta was great - it was something we could cover in half a day, so we decided to do a few easy walks around the island. We started off small, from St. Peter's Pool to X Robb I-Ghagin. 

You can see why we got sidetracked while trekking

more of the coastline we walked across

Easy enough to start, but once we started, we sort of just... drifted along the coast. Why, you ask? Well, partly because it was just so beautiful, we let our eyes lead the way. And partly because we couldn't get ourselves to pronounce the destination, so we basically just failed miserably at asking for instructions. We also decided to walk the Ghajn Tuffeiha bay the next morning- but not before we stopped at a local Decathlon to replenish my walking shoes, a pair of which I'd sacrificed to the cliffs of X Robb the previous day. Small sacrifice to make, and lesson learnt on choosing the right shoes for trips. 

The boys at Ghajn

The two sides of Ghajn Tuffeiha

The various colours of the island

In the afternoon we drove to the top of Anchor Bay to look at 'Popeye Village'. Yup, that's right. Popeye Village. It started with the film set for Popeye being built in the 1980s and has remained ever since. It has now become a major tourist attraction with all things Popeye and lots of fun activities to boot (we skipped this part - none of us are particularly huge Popeye fans). 

The Popeye village

complete with cafes and sunbeds

But fun, on the whole. That evening we set out on the ferry to Gozo Island. Gozo deserved a few days of stay, and not just a day's trip. Gozo will thus deserve another post.