Ciao!
I need to start with dinner from last night, as we had a nice bottle of white wine and large pieces of cake at Fontenella in Mdina when last I wrote. Sometime around 8 pm we decided that we needed something further, so headed downstairs to the hotel’s restaurant. Really a lovely room, and we ordered wine (for R) and sparkling water (for me) and a pizza funghi (mushrooms) for me, and a pizza with pepperoni and cheese for Robert. The pizzas were delivered in just minutes, as they were obviously cooked the old-fashioned way – in a wood burning oven. Wow! So very, very thin, but excellent! I wasn’t able to finish mine, but enjoyed it very much. In thinking about it at breakfast this morning, R wished he could have taken a pizza up with us to enjoy this morning rather than traditional breakfast foods! Back upstairs afterwards, and I pretty much went straight to bed.
Up this morning about 6:30 am and showered and down for breakfast just on 8 am. As Point de Vue is not a large place, there was really no room for a breakfast buffet. Instead, we had a menu from which to choose. I ordered bacon (which is really like Canadian bacon) and some lovely fluffy scrambled eggs and toast. R ordered a BLT – and it was about at this point he started regretting the loss of his pizza, but I’m sure most places don’t have their pizza ovens built up to temperature until the evening, which is why so few places will serve pizza at lunchtime.
Back upstairs to finish parking the suitcases, and out the door about 9-ish. Today, our goal was to get to Gozo, which is Malta’s “second island” as it were. (There is a third island, Comino, which we won’t be visiting, as it is basically a swimming and diving place.) It took about half an hour to drive to Cirkewwa, to pick up the ferry. It’s an interesting system. You only pay for the return trip! However, we got directed into a line where we were to wait until it was our turn to board the ferry.
There are actually two ferries that go back and forth 24 hours a day, and the actual trip takes about 25 minutes. We did not make the first ferry, but it wasn’t a very long wait before we were driving onto a ferry boat and parking inside. Everybody gets out of their vehicles and goes upstairs for the ride, then heads back as the ferry starts to dock. Except in our case, of course!
First of all, I’m not sure that I mentioned this, but not only do the Maltese drive on the “English” side of the road, but their wall plug system is also British – and of course while we do have English plug adapters at home, it never occurred to either of us that we would need to have them on this trip! We were able to borrow adapters at the Hilton and Point de Vue, but we really wanted to get a couple of our own. R got the brilliant idea to try the little store on the boat, and voila, we were in business! Way to go, Robert! [The only complication is that we have US plugs that go into our European adapters that then go into our English adapters. Sound crazy? Well, it is! – R]
So … back to the ferry. The boat moved really quickly and before we knew it, we were arriving on Gozo and heading to our car. Now … of course, from what I could see, the only car that wasn’t occupied was the car in front of us … naturally. As our lane was ready to go, they lowered the ramp to let us get to the departure deck. At this point, the car ahead of us moved forward very quickly … making me feel that I had unfairly judged the people I couldn’t see in the car in front. Then, the occupants of the car two in front of ours got out of their car in rather a huff … and started taking photos! A minute or two later, two people – the actual occupants of the car in front of us – finally showed up – turns out they had failed to set their parking brake and, when the ramp lowered to let us out, their car had rolled forward and hit the car in front of them! Fortunately, we were able to pull out around them and exit the boat – and for all we know, they may be discussing the incident still!
Drove onto Gozo and to Victorioso/Victoria/Rabat – three names for the same place, Gozo’s capital. We were able to find a very small parking spot a block or two from our hotel, so we unloaded the luggage and then went to find the Duke Boutique Hotel. Lovely place, on the 4thand 5thfloors of a small shopping center! Who knew?! Very, very slow elevator, but it eventually got us to reception. As it was somewhere around 12:15-ish, our room wasn’t yet ready, but we were able to leave our bags and then headed back to the car to move it to our parking place in the shopping center’s parking garage. UGH!!! We are parked at floor -4 and to say the route is narrow is an understatement. One other little point is that there is a traffic light which indicates whether you may proceed or you need to wait for a car coming toward you – and there is NO place to go if that happens! And the parking bays are extremely tight. Back upstairs eventually, and we ordered glasses of white wine and a large bottle of sparkling water while we read our books until our room was ready.
We’re in room 507, which has a lovely balcony overlooking the old English public garden. Lots of room, and a nice couch (very comfortable, as I feel asleep on it!) and coffee table. We also have Eurosport 1 and 2, and are able to watch the Giro d’Italia [a bicycle race in Italy, for those not up on sports. – R] as it makes its way across Sicily.
After settling in, we decided that it was definitely time for lunch – as it was getting on for 2 pm. We found one of the restaurants, Mo’s, that had been recommended by the hotel, just down the street a couple of blocks. R ordered their penne with pesto and chicken (one of my favorites!) and I had their cheeseburger with French fries. (Sometimes, you just gotta have a burger!) The fries were delicious – they had parmesan cheese and garlic on them – YUM! Everything disappeared in record time, as we were really hungry, and then we headed back to the hotel to get our tour book and Heritage Malta Pass.
Walked up the hill to the Citadella (Citadel) and headed to their small Archaeological Museum. We had read that most of the best artifacts were in the museum at Ggantija, but as we were able to use the Heritage Malta Passes, figured we might as well! View was lovely from the top of the Citadel, and there were a few interesting things in the museum. Several small carved “fat ladies.”
Strolled back to the hotel and stopped for some bottled water to take upstairs. Naps for all, for sure!
Our plan for tomorrow is to get up and out fairly early, to be at Ggantija
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| R's pizza |
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| My mushroom pizza |
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| In line to board the ferry in background |
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| In the lounge on deck |
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| Leaving Malta for Gozo |
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| Looking back at Malta |
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| Looking at Gozo and the second ferry |
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| Gozo in the distance |
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| More Gozo |
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| Church on the horizon |
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| HUGE church from the horizon! |
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| Citadel from hotel reception area |
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| A little wine, a little water ... |
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| My lunch at Mo's -- burger and fries! |
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| R's chicken and pesto on penne |
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| Our room! |
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| Cathedral in the Citadel |
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| More fat ladies! |
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| View from the ramparts of the Citadel |
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| View in the other direction! Lovely day! |
So – more tomorrow!
m
xxx
Footnotes:
Features of the ancient history of Malta that strike us as interesting.
First, there is no evidence (as yet, anyhow) that Neanderthals ever reached these islands, even though Sicily is only about 60 miles away and can be seen on clear days (although that does not mean Malta can be seen from Sicily; Malta doesn’t have a 10,000 ft mountain). Apparently, this was beyond Neanderthal’s seafaring ability.
It wasn’t until about 7,000 years ago that the first humans arrived here and brought with them Neolithic technology and agricultural skills. That is not to say they were not hunters as well; they hunted the local dwarf elephants, dwarf hippos and other species to extinction. These were the builders of the temples we have been visiting. The similarity of their pottery to the styles in Sicily shows their place of origin. Then, if the books are to be believed, they simply disappeared by 2,500 BC leaving the islands devoid of people, which we think is really astounding.
Decades later, a new wave of people – with bronze-age technology – moved to Malta. They are the folk who built the dolmans and menhirs that dot the island.
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I was asked a question about the geology of the island: Are the buildings made of sandstone, and because of the monotony of the stone, had it been painted in Neolithic times? The answer to that is that the island is not composed of sandstone; it is composed of limestone (hence the caves) of two types, Globigerina and Coralline, one being softer and more easily carved than the others. And yes, the golden color of both limestones is natural and it does get a bit monotonous – but even more so than that, it becomes a bit tricky, as you need to watch where you walk, as curbs and steps are all the same color!
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