Gozo

On Malta, I stayed with Jessica, her brother Ben who is 20, her parents, whom I had met separately on previous occasions, and their friends, Susan and John. We spent Friday lounging by the pool. At night we went to Sannat to see the Santa Margarita festival. We ate dinner at a pizza place on the main street and then got ice cream. We didn’t stay long enough to see the midnight procession or fireworks (there weren’t actually that many). The town was decorated with banners and lights. Statues of Santa Margarita, with pliers, a book, and other objects, were displayed around the square.

On Saturday we went into Victoria, the biggest city on the island. Jess, her mom, brother and I climbed up a hill to the citadel. We went to the cathedral which had a tromp l’oeil dome. It was flat, but painted to look like a dome when the viewer stands in the nave of the church. From other angles, it looks really strange. From the citadel walls we could see almost the entire island. Afterwards, we walked through a market, went to the grocery store and then came back to the villa for the afternoon. We ate risotto and barbeque for dinner.

Sunday morning we drove down to Xlendi (pronounced Shlendie), a small town built on a cove. There was almost no beach down there, so we grabbed some tables at a café. Jess and her parents stayed at the tables while Susan, John, Ben and I rented a paddleboat with a slide. We paddled around the cove, Ben and I taking turns sliding into the salty water below. It was strange to slide into salt water because I had always associated pool slides with chlorinated water. I had to remember to keep my mouth shut as I slid down. The water here seems to have a higher salt content than the water off of Cape Cod (aka what I’m used to). Even after I had dried, I noticed that my hair had tons of salt in it.

Monday we went to see the temples at Ggantija. They’re actually the world’s oldest free-standing structures, built between 3800 and 2500 BC. We couldn’t really see much because there was some scaffolding up. The view from the air would actually have been much better (I saw it on a postcard). After the temple, we went to Calypso’s Cave, where we checked out a nice viewpoint rather than climbing around the hill and into the cave below us. Then we had lunch at Xlendi where the restaurant had gluten-free pasta and pizzas!!!! I had a pasta dish with fruitti di mare (mixed shellfish), which was delicious. They even served me brusceta on gluten-free toast instead of normal bread. It was the first time a restaurant was well-stocked and educated in this manner. I was impressed for such a small island.

After lunch we had to take turns getting back to the house because the car can’t make it up the hill with everyone in it. I stayed behind with Jess’s dad and John because I wanted to climb up the cliff which runs along the side of the cove at Xlendi. It actually goes up and then down and around into a cavern in the rock. From the top I had great views of the cove/bay and inside the cavern there were nice views as well.

Tuesday we took a boat around the island. From the boat we could see different rock formations, and the cliffs which surround the island. We took the boat into some inlets and a few caves to see what the water had done to the rocks (and coral) over time. We could also see fish and jelly fish. The boat stopped at a few places so people could get off, or jump from the top deck, and swim. I stayed on board because I didn’t feel like being wet. I’m really glad we got to see the island from the water because it is really pretty. The towns aren’t that nice because they’re a bit run-down and they’re island towns. For lunch we stopped in a blue lagoon on Comino, a small island between Gozo and Malta. There were tons of tourists there, and we didn’t stay long because we couldn’t swim (too many jelly fish).