Time flies. When we arrived in Malta we thought we would never get used to the heat, now, it’s in the mid 60s (19 c) and we look like locals – coats, slippers, long pants! I used to think mid 60s was just about right. Wow. The Pacific Northwest blood I guess. But it’s going to be freaking cold when we get home in a few weeks🥶
Last Friday we had it in our head that we wanted to hike up to the cave above Ramla Beach. We had seen it when we were at the bay a couple of weeks ago and thought it looked challenging, but doable. Then, I started really thinking about it and the last 30 feet (9 meters) seemed kinda iffy. It’s not like we were going to use rope or anything to get up there! So, we packed a backpack with snacks and water and set off across the island. Twenty minutes later we were there (such a small island!).
We walked about half the way across the sand, looking at that hillside, questioning what we were doing. Finally the Husband googlizes the cave…and…there’s a road that goes up there. Right. Back to the car we went. We drove up the hill, found a nice place to park, thinking it would still be a bit of a walk to the cave and this way we still felt like we were getting some exercise. The property owner was nice enough to clearly mark the path to the cave. My guess is that he got tired of people wandering around his land. A small entrance to the cave had been dug out from the back. As we have come to anticipate with ourselves we forgot to take a photo of the cave entry from the backside. Sigh. But it was pretty cool!
On the way back we stopped at the Xewkija (do not ask me how to pronounce it!!!) Rotunda Church, or Church of St. John the Baptist. This church claims to have the third highest dome in the world. Once again, small town – massive church. I love Malta (and Gozo!). They just go all in when constructing something. The church was constructed around the old church (built late 1600s) and a lot of the best bits about the old church were saved and are displayed in a museum adjacent to the domed church. There is also an elevator (!) up to the outside of the dome – this was definitely a don’t miss!
So…as I was writing this and organizing the photos I made a startling revelation…we took zero pictures of the inside of the new church. Wow. Fail. It was really pretty too!!
One more stop that day…and this is one of those really unique things. For millennia people (usually women) have done the washing in rivers or in springs (if, of course, there were rivers on Gozo. Which there aren’t). They generally had some incredibly clever set up and some of those structures and places have existed for a seriously long time. On Gozo there were five areas with large springs. Three of those were right near us. Of the five, only two are still in existence. The one close to our house was considered the largest and most important. A wash house was constructed there in 1373. The present washhouse dates back to 1685.
On Saturday we finally went to Victoria to explore! For being the main city it doesn’t take long to see most of it. We focused our attention on the oldest part (duh, this is me we’re talking about). There was a lot of reconstruction work going on so we did skip exterior photos. Not so scenic right now. In fact, the St. George Basilica sits where the original church was built – in the 4th century. And that church was built on the site of a Roman temple of Juno. It’s been a religious site for a really long time. The present church dates 1672.
We managed to keep the scaffolding out of these photos, which was a challenge as about one third of the interior was covered in it. The entire exterior was not visible!
After a lovely breakfast in the square outside the church we headed to the Citadella – finally! The Citadella, or Citadel, sits upon the highest point in the middle of Gozo and has been a fortified area since Phoenician times. During the early Medieval period a castle was constructed on the plateau. There were many, many raids on Gozo and the population was ordered to retreat to the fortifications every night for safety. This worked well until 1551 when 10,000 Ottoman soldiers attacked the Citadella, taking nearly every Gozo citizen into slavery. This sucked. After the attack the Knights of St John had the fortifications rebuilt and improved. People moved from Malta to help repopulate the island. The Cathedral of Gozo actually sits within the walls.
The Citadella was home to much of the population for a long time. Most of this area has since collapsed, but one area was preserved and is an amazing representation of a medieval home. It was so cool!!
Sunday was a beautiful day that just called for a walk. We went down to Xlendi Bay with the intent of seeing the salt pans. I, of course, was in my trusty flip flops. We did not walk out to the salt pans…
Salt pans? For all the Americanos – you know when you go to Costco and buy their Mediterranean sea salt? That might have come from Malta (although there are salt pans all over). They are large, rocky indentations on the hillside that are covered during the highest tides. Then the water is allowed to dehydrate, leaving the salt behind. And the Mediterranean Sea is VERY salty! I know I never thought about how the salt was harvested.
