The Island of Gozo

After a few days on Malta we took a ferry to the island of Gozo.  This is a second largest island in the country of Malta, but quite a bit smaller than the also-small island of Malta.  There are few people here and it feels much more rural than busy Sliema and Valletta.

The public transportation on Gozo has been great.   We wondered how long it would take to get to our B&B since we had to take 3 buses and 1 ferry.  But after the hour-long ride from Sliema to the ferry it all went very quickly.  Our bus arrived a few minutes before the next ferry so we made that after a quick run through the terminal.  The ride across was very pretty, passing the island of Comino and the famous Blue Lagoon.  In port we walked off the ferry and right onto the 301 bus to Victoria and from that walked right onto the 312 to Gharb.  So we arrived a few hours early,

Our B&B is in a traditional stone farmhouse, our room being at the front in the oldest part - dating back 400 years.  The kitchen / main room has massive stone arches, overlooking a great breakfast spread put out by our hosts.  Out back is a pool - a nice place to relax and read a book.

Peggy found a winery a few hundred feet from our B&B and we went there for a tasting.  It sits on the bluff with views out over a valley below with the Mediterranean beyond that.  The winemaker, Anthony, showed us the vineyards before the tasting.  The vineyard had been in his family for around 100 years and then in 1919 phylloxera (an aphid that eats the roots of the vines) destroyed vineyards across Europe.  This wiped out the vineyard here.  Anthony's great-uncle went the America and worked for Ford building Model A cars until he had saved enough money to return and get the vineyard going again.  When he passed away, Anthony's father closed the vineyard, but Anthony reopened it about 10 years ago.

The sun and heat are so intense on Gozo that grapes are harvested in July and early August.  As in Minnesota, the grapes suffer here too, just in a very different way.

The wines and the views went well together, and Anthony, with a scientific background, explained the chemistry behind the aromas and tastes.  This was a real treat.

We had booked a kayak trip, but the fall winds are picking up and it was too windy to be out on the water.  Instead we walked along the northwest shore of Gozo, following a map drawn by our B&B owner Claudia.

After passing through farm fields...

...the walk went past the lunar-like landscape of the coast ...

...past a natural window in the rock -- notice the climbers out there on it...

...past a brave fisherman...

... and past the salt pans

In the summer, salt pans fill with sea water and the salt is harvested after the water has evaporated  Some of these are from Roman times, others are merely hundreds of years old.   Many are carved out of the rock surface, with channels for moving water into the pans.

This got us to Marsalforn where we caught the bus back to our B&B in Gharb.

Dinner was at the Azure Window restaurant which overlooks the Blue Hole. This looks like a small lake up against a cliff, but the cave provides passage to the sea for those willing to swim underwater to get there.

The next morning we enjoyed another expansive breakfast at the B&B before heading back to Malta for one night before flying back to Sicily.

~ Eric & Peggy