Gozo (1/10)

Today we were off to Gozo, the second largest island of the Maltese group. This required a bus trip to Cirkewwa, on the north-western end of the island, then a ferry trip across to Gozo. Although we headed off just after eight, we didn't reach Gozo until after 12.00 noon. (To be fair, we probably didn't find the easiest way to do it.) The trip from Valletta took almost an hour and a half because we had to wend our way through the peak hour traffic. You do wonder why people opt to drive, because the bus service seems quite good. Thank goodness we got seats. I feel sorry for the locals, because once we were away from Valletta, the bus became so crowded that people had to be left to wait for the next bus. I think probably three-quarters of the people on the bus were off to Gozo.

The harbour on Gozo

The trip took us two-thirds the length of Malta, and we can understand why they have to import most of their produce. Some of the valleys looked good alluvial agricultural land, but the land on the hillsides must be hard work. Not much of Malta is really productive land. There are also lots of apartment blocks being built, and you begin to wonder if Malta will just become one huge town in time. We also past by several resort towns on the coast. At Cirkewwa, we were dropped off at the boat terminal. The ferry trip cost €4.50 which seemed very reasonable. We didn't have long to wait and the trip across to Gozo was only about 25 minutes on a very calm sea. We passed the island of Comino which lies between Malta and Gozo. Its population has varied from nil to sparse and no wonder. It is flat, almost treeless, and rocky. Back in the 1400's the Maltese petitioned the Aragonese king to build a fort there as a deterrent to the corsairs (pirates) who made it their base, but this didn't happen for another 200 years. I could only feel sorry for anyone who was garrisoned here.

Part of the citadel is in ruins

We caught the bus into Victoria, the principle town on Gozo, and immediately headed for the Citadel. The city's origins can be traced back to the Middle Ages. The walls date from the 16th to the 18th century, and many of the buildings within these walls are in ruins. We visited several museums though. Firstly was the Folklore Museum which is situated in what were originally three medieval houses which have been combined into one. Not only were there artefacts in the museum recording the life of the farmer on Gozo, but it it was preserving the structures of the houses in the old citadel, few of which now survive. 

Display on lace making in the museum

The Gozo Museum of Archeology is also within the citadel in a 17th century townhouse. The building served as a town hall for the Knights and then had many other roles before it became the first public museum in 1960. It houses a number of artefacts from the megalithic temples found on Gozo, as well as pieces from its other periods of occupation. It was small, but very well set up.
We went up onto the walls for a view across the island and could understand why the citadel is where it is, on the highest point . This led us to what had been the Armoury and the powder room. Leading from the powder room was a passage which took us into two of the three granaries which had been dug out by the Arabs, and then converted into water cisterns by the British to give the citizens a more reliable water supply. These were impressive structures, and built into the structure citadel as they were, they were very secure. At present there is a lot of restoration work being carried out on and within the city walls, so we were unable to walk all the way around. Our route took us back past the cathedral, and out into the town.

Niches in the larger of the two temples

We caught a bus which took us out to the Ggantija megalithic temples built by an unknown people around 3600BC, ie seriously older than Stonehenge. There are two side by side but not connected. The larger and older of the two consists of five apses (think clover leaf). The walls are up to eight metres high, and the temple measures 23 metres wide. The smaller one has only four apses. They were discovered in 1826, and fortunately became famous and were included on the Grand Tour. This meant that there were many illustrations of the temples made from that time which allows us to see them as they were. They have deteriorated massively since their discovery, and the etchings and plasterwork that was evident back then has all but disappeared. Many of the stones have been robbed away, and even archeological work carried out in the 1930's by eminent archaeologists is lacking in detail, so much of it has been lost. The only way to save what is left is to enclose it in a building. At the moment some of the walls are being supported by scaffolding because of the deterioration due to the weather extremes, but they need further protection from the elements. There has been a lot of money spent on a very good interpretive centre, but it won't be of much use if the place falls down.

Ta' Pinu Sanctuary from the bus

We caught the bus back into town and caught another one to take us to Ta' Pinu Sanctuary, a relatively new Catholic Church. Apart from seeing the church which was built as a result of some children having a vision, we wanted to check out Mike's grandmother's thanks for looking after him (he had both fallen down stairs and knocked himself out, and also had floated out to see one day while at the beach – both when he was very small). As it turned out, we decided not to stop as it would be almost an hour before we could catch the next bus back into Victoria and it was getting late so we just made the round trip. 

View from the Citadel looking north
Very brown and villages very close together

While we were waiting for the bus down to the ferry, we realised that we should have gone into the cathedral up in the citadel because it has an amazing trompe l'oeil painted on the ceiling. Looking at the cathedral from outside it appears to be missing a dome. There seems to be a platform for one, but it isn't there. Inside on the ceiling is painted what appears to be a columnated dome reaching up to a lantern at its peak. The picture of it looks very impressive, but unfortunately we didn't see it. We went back to have a look, but there was a service on which we were not going to walk in on so it was back to the terminus to catch the bus down to the ferry. We had a half hour wait, and just as the bus arrived so did a hoard of beach goers, so it was going to be a crowded ride. The bus was early, but there was a change of drivers, and while we were waiting for the new driver, another bus arrived which relieved the situation somewhat. They seem to be fairly flexible with their time tabling. Twice we have seen a bus pull in at a terminal with its destination up in lights, only to have someone come along and change it. It seems to happen if there has been a bit of a gap between buses on a particular route, they do this to clear the build-up of passengers. It seems to work.
We didn't have long to wait for the ferry, but there was a wait for the bus at the other side. Allan got a seat, but Jill stood for a bit until a young man offered her his seat. Allan's ankle is still playing up, so the last thing he needed to do was spend an hour strap-hanging in a bus. The young Maltese are very polite. We have seen both girls and guys give up their seats for older people or mothers with children. It is great to see. The bus ride back to Valletta was quicker than the trip out as we were outside rush hour. We had thought that we would eat in Valletta before heading home, but it was pretty late already, so we headed back to Sliema where we knew that at 9.30pm we could still happily sit down and order a meal.