{"id":1792,"date":"2020-11-13T16:44:59","date_gmt":"2020-11-13T16:44:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wenomadwehappy.com\/?p=1792"},"modified":"2020-11-13T20:14:41","modified_gmt":"2020-11-13T20:14:41","slug":"time-is-flying-by","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wenomadwehappy.com\/index.php\/2020\/11\/13\/time-is-flying-by\/","title":{"rendered":"Time is Flying By"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It’s hard to believe that our time on Gozo is already half over. And our plans have been COVIDed. We are no longer going to Berlin to see the Brother. We had so hoped that the numbers would stay down, but they didn’t, so now we’re on the alternate plan. We will stay in Valletta for those last two weeks before beginning the trek back to the US. Not that it is a punishment to get to spend more time wandering the alleys and back streets of Valletta. The few tourists that were here are pretty much gone now so staying away from others is pretty doable. On Gozo it’s a way of life! Clusters of villages with terraced fields between them. It’s so pretty!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This is what it is like all over the island<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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And another part of the island<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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This makes the island look sort of big – except we are on the coast looking all the way across it! I think the widest point is nine miles.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We finally got to the Basilica at Ta’Pinu! Beautiful, beautiful place. There’s been a chapel at this site since a long time ago. In 1575 an official from the Vatican was touring the churches of the island to determine the condition of them. The little chapel was deemed to be too rundown and was ordered demolished. The first worker to try to demolish the chapel broke his arm on the first swing of his hammer. It was felt that this was a sign that the chapel should stay so all workers refused to demolish it! It was eventually refurbished. In 1883 a local lady was walking by the chapel and heard a voice call to her to come in. A man heard the voice call to him as well. Over the next few years several miracles were attributed to site as well. In 1922 construction on a large new church began and was finished ten years later. Both Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI have visited the Basilica. It is a stunning and peaceful place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Blessed Virgin of Ta’ Pinu<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Incredible stone carvings throughout the church<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Corner of the altar looking up in to the dome<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Stations of the Cross in the courtyard of the Basilica<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Looking into the old chapel which sits behind the main altar<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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This hill is across the street from the Basilica. There are stations of the cross lining the path.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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One of the stations (Simon helps Jesus carry the cross)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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It was quite the hike up!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Representing the tomb where Jesus was laid<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The final station representing the resurrection<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Looking down on Ta’ Pinu from the hilltop<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Looking up at the hill from the parking lot<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

So glad we went there! After Ta’ Pinu we drove over to the area where the Azure Window once stood. This was a very popular natural arch that stood for centuries…and came crashing down in a storm in 2017. I won’t embarrass the Brother by using the photo of him from 2005 standing in front of it (that was some big hair he had!). We weren’t really on the right part of the cliff to get a good photo of where it was, but we did get some beautiful cliff photos!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Stunning place<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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As we were walking along the cliffs I looked down and realized that the path was covered in fossilized shells!!!!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I had heard that there are a few amazing spots to watch the sunset. One of them was at the cliff side of the Inland Sea. It had been somewhat overcast earlier in the day, but we were fortunate enough to have a fairly clear sky. first we wandered down the hill to the Inland Sea. This is a naturally occurring cove with a cave\/tunnel running out into the ocean.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It’s not very big, but it is a fabulous place for swimming and a natural location to moor your small boat. The cave in the photo leads out into the sea.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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completely bizarre rocks!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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A gorgeous sunset it was!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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A memorable place<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We had dinner at a restaurant that was right in this area. After dinner we walked back to the car and took some time to just look at the sky. It was pitch black with almost zero light pollution – the stars were incredible! Unfortunately the phones could not capture the image of the stars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you recall we visited the megalithic temples at Tarxien on Malta several weeks ago (wow). There’s another temple complex here on Gozo that the archeologists think might have been even larger! The name sounds cool in Maltese – Ggantija – which means giant\ud83d\ude01.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Even the sign was cool!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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There was a museum\/interpretive center too. These are cow toe bones carved with faces!!!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Kilroy was here from 1861. These carving are all over the stones.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Exterior walls<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Raised footpaths to protect the site<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Some areas are unstable so have these supports around them<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Altar area. The black is from fires thousands of years ago!!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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More altars<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Considering how small this island is there is an incredible amount to see and do here. If you find yourself in this corner of the Mediterranean, don’t neglect Gozo. It is worth it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s hard to believe that our time on Gozo is already half over. And our plans have been COVIDed. We are no longer going to Berlin to see the Brother. We had so hoped that the numbers would stay down, but they didn’t, so now we’re on the alternate plan. We will stay in Valletta … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Time is Flying By”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1792","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wenomadwehappy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1792"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wenomadwehappy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wenomadwehappy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wenomadwehappy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wenomadwehappy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1792"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/wenomadwehappy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1792\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1828,"href":"https:\/\/wenomadwehappy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1792\/revisions\/1828"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wenomadwehappy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1792"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wenomadwehappy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1792"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wenomadwehappy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1792"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}