Days Go By...

Here we are again.  Days pass so quickly, either with just relaxing after doing the chores, or taking in a bus ride to a new 'mall' (the size of our Wal-Mart) or travelling 3 hours by bus and then taking a 25 minute ferry ride to the sister island of Gozo which we did recently with our friends Leli and Kitty.  They were such troupers to join us on this crazy journey.  They have a car, but I thought it would be a unique adventure for all of us. And it was.  Leli's brother lives in our hometown.  Three hours you say, on Malta!  Well, very few major roads are straight.  An 8 km. trip takes 30 minutes with all the bendy roads, add 07:30 rush hour traffic and you can understand the length of time it takes to get to where you are heading.

We spent the day of the Hop on, Hop off tourist bus that took us to several places on Gozo.  I should tell you, Gozo is much quieter, and more rural in feel although there are several large towns and villages.  The coast is extraordinary, one spot is called Dwejra (dway rah) Bay.  Here we see a natural rock formation.  It forms a natural arch extending high and far into the sea.  The caves and the silver water below is outstanding showing orange, turquoise and violet coral.  Looking into the water is like looking through clear glass.  Outstanding.  From the water, the cliff raises many meters up toward the sky.




Mike in the stocks at the Citadel, Gozo

We visited an fortified area called Cittadella, I believe used by the Knights of Malta and the British (what hasn't?) down through the years.  More of the history of Malta and these and other important historical sites can be found on the Heritage Malta (www.heritagemalta.org) website.

By the time we toured the countryside, made a couple of stops, had a lunch by the seaside, and then travelled back, our day was a 11.5 hour day.  Foot washing is a nightly ritual and then we collapse into our beds!  It was a great day.