Author: Merro

Gozo is small and quiet but with some jewel-like bays and a beach so beautiful that Odysseus spent seven years with Calypso here.  The Big O sat on Ir-Ramla il Hamra, the golden red sand beach and missed his sweet Penelope while being held hostage by the nymph Calypso in a nearby cave.  Luckily, Penelope was the original Pretty Woman, so he eventually made it home.

As far as the beauty of Ramla Bay, you could be mistaken for thinking that you are in Palm Beach in NSW. The sand is a similar golden red and the water equally bright blue.

Sailing to Dwejra Bay, we passed Xliendi Beach where we had lunch and walked the headland the day before.  Dwejra is a collapsed cave, leaving a circular bay with two entrances/exits partially protected  by a rock in the middle of the opening.  Idyllic for a swim and lunch, we went early so we could make it back to Valetta before evening.

We were lucky to see the Azure Window at Dwejra.  It is falling down bit by bit.  It frames the view of the azure sea from land and the land from sea.  There is a small market at Dwejra Bay and maybe a cantina, but its natural beauty sees every one visit by boat, bus or car.

Malta and Gozo have a splendid bus system, beautifully air-conditioned and nice drivers. The island is small and you can take the bus and then walk. If it gets too warm, just take the round the city bus.

We met a wonderful bus driver, who has an Australian wife.  We were going down a narrow street, when we saw a wedding party leave for the church.  The whole procession was being videoed, the street was too narrow for us to pass, so we waited and admired the wedding.  We also admired the patient bus driver who didn’t want to rush the bride.

If anyone tried to see the blog earlier today, the site was down because someone was trying to hack us. Funny since we probably have a readership of about 20 friends and family.  We think its sorted out now. The other wonderful news is that someone let us know there is a good gelato shop in Sliema, we shall investigate.

Ciao Ciao for now.

There are three inhabited islands in the country of Malta, Malta, Gozo and Comino. We have been touring around all three.

Mdina was the first capital of Malta, a walled fortress in the middle of the island, built by intrepid Phoenician sailors about 600 BC.  If you stand in the Citadel in Victoria on Gozo, a smaller island to the west of the island Malta, you see several hill top villages.  This is what I think looking at the 7 Hills of Rome would have looked like in the Middle Ages. A church and houses on each hilltop, surrounded by walls, to keep the enemy out.

The importance of keeping the enemy out was made apparent by the sign on the church of St Agatha in Mdina, to the effect: When the Saracens were attacking, the people of Mdina could see their boats come into the harbour, so Mdina shut its gates.  A woman had a dream; she was visited in the dream by St Agatha, who said that every man in the village should hold up St Agatha’ s statute or picture around the bastion.  The Saracens could see there were so many men to fight, it would be a difficult battle.  They left Mdina and went back to their boats.  The note went on to say, the Saracens went over to Gozo and took the entire population of the island away as slaves. (The people of Gozo may not have had a direct line to St Agatha.)

Both hill top fortresses are still robust and stark in their beauty. They inform us that life was not easy and safety has always been an important factor in life.

Gozo is very quiet compared to Malta, with lovely beaches and its historic hilltop towns.

Comino is the small island between the two. Good marinas but the anchorages are very joggly.  We stopped at Comino for a swim, first going to the Blue Grotto which literally overflowing with boats, several ferries with boom boxes and joy riding speed boats zooming past to add to the wash.  We went to the next small bay next door and had lunch and a swim.

Today we will go and explore more in Gozo, have a swim and climb to see citadels.  The one thing we have missed is gelato, it seems unnatural to climb all those stairs without it. They do have ice cream in Malta, but it’s just not the same.

We left the beautiful ornate Baroque Catatania and motored down to another Baroque but creamy white Siracusa.

Stunning limestone buildings, white against the azure blue skies and classical in their architecture. The 1693 earthquake meant the city was rebuilt with many beautiful Sicilian Baroque buildings.

Siracusa has a definite Greek inheritance, they were here early and excavation of two Doric Apollo’s Temple and Pallas Athena temple has been converted years ago into the Catholic Duomo.

There is a natural spring of fresh water called the Font of Arethusa. The darling nymph was turned into a spring to save her from the river god Alpheus. They end up mingled together in Ortygia, on the beautiful island in Siracusa. If fact, last night we could see fresh water bubbling into the harbour.

Having missed Vivid Sydney, we were very pleased that the Festa presented us with an opportunity for Vivid Ortygia.  The 5th Century BC Temple of Athena, with many of its Doric columns intact, has been transformed into the Duomo today,  The theatrical edifice was awash in lights and there was dancing and music playing under the pastel washed columns.

There were children out and enjoying the music and dancing, wanting nothing more than to join in with the dancing.

Around the corner young artists were busy creating art of their own.

It was a pleasant motor from Riposto to Catania on Monday morning. Even as we were leaving Riposto, there were more fireworks (Are they trying to move pigeons or seagulls??) and the Church bells were also wishing us farewell.

One reason we are on our way to Catania is due to a rumour there is a Nespresso outlet for coffee capsules.  We stocked up in Rome but felt we could do with a few more, so a Nespresso shopping spree is on the cards.

We are in the Porto Vecchio and we are right across from huge ferries and ships, in a small club marina.  We can look across and see the Duomo and walk into town. This is an exciting activity, as stopping for pedestrians in a cross walk, seems to be optional.

Many buildings are old, baroque in fact and are quite beautiful.  The streets are fairly dirty and littering isn’t a concern for many people here. There seems to be a fine layer of black volcanic ash on much of the city.

Perhaps it adds to an air of fatalism that seems prevalent here, to keep something to clean and shiny is pointless because Etna is going to blow up as soon as I clean it, meh.  Catania has been buried under lava seventeen times in recorded history” says Wikipedia. So perhaps there is a reason for their fatalism. They also use lava rock to rebuild the city.

Wikipedia says:
“The symbol of the city is u Liotru, or the Fontana dell’Elefante, assembled in 1736 by Giovanni Battista Vaccarini. It portrays an ancient lavic stone elephant and is topped by an Egyptian obelisk from Syene. Legend has it that Vaccarini’s original elephant was neuter, which the men of Catania took as an insult to their virility. To appease them, Vaccarini appropriately appended elephantine testicles to the original statue.”

Vaccarini also designed the Badia of St Agatha, a small and most beautiful church across the street from the Duomo. According to our guide,there are 600 churches in Catania and 11 dedicated to St Agatha.  We went to the Badia twice and in the evening there was a wedding going on, with candles reflecting warm light onto the chandelier. It is a small magnificent jewel and I think Vaccarini should be better known as an architect.

Villa Bellini is a lovely green garden in the city and fountains abound in the piazzas . The piazzas were built as a meeting place during earthquakes. Weather permitting tomorrow, we will go to Siracusa.