Gozo

Before our recent trip I have to admit that I wasn’t aware that Malta was an archipelago with at least three inhabited islands. Malta, Gozo and Comino are all connected by ferries. The main ferry port is in Cirkewwa at the northern tip of the main island although you can also leave from Valletta as well. The trip to Gozo is free; you only pay to return. You can make the 25 minute trip as a foot passenger, or take your car across. We opted to bring our own transportation. Amy has traveled by ferry with her Mini Cooper to maritime Canada, but this was my first time taking a car onto a boat.

After the ferry docked at Mgarr we made our way directly to Ggantija which I blogged about earlier.

Next we drove to Victoria, parked and visited the Citadel, a small, fortified portion of the city. Parking in Victoria was …. interesting. Amy first attempted an underground parking garage. After winding our way into the bowels of the earth on a one lane ramp where the traffic flow was dictated by traffic lights, we decided it wasn’t such a good place to be and escaped to find a lucky space at the main bus terminal.

The Citadel is home to four more sites under Heritage Malta control and I used the last of my 48 hour Malta Pass to visit the Old Prison. It would seem that Gozo was the place where prisoners from Malta were sent to do their time. Knights who were awaiting trial were allowed to roam free on the island, those who had been found guilty of offenses such as dueling were housed in a six cell prison. Given that this was 3-400 years ago, the conditions were actually quite good. They had ample rations and were checked out weekly by a doctor, daily if they were actually found to be ill. Prisoners often were sentenced to hard labor and it was prisoners who excavated much of the ruins at Ggantija.

Part of the Citadel has been allowed to go to ruin.

Other parts are being extensively worked on.

Once time had run out on our Malta Passes, we made our way to Marsalforn for a lovely and relaxing lunch at a tiny restaurant by the sea. We had our pick of half a dozen nearly empty places and chose one at random which turned out to be excellent. The owner pointed us on our way to Calypso’s Cave which, alas, had been badly water damaged and was no longer open to the public. We opted not to stop in to visit any of the dozens of churches we passed. It is jokingly said that while Malta is 98% Catholic, Gozo is 200%. There certainly were enough churches to easily hold double the population of the island, but I don't think that is what they were referring to.