A bit of bling!

We got the local bus to Victoria/Rabat, the capital of Gozo. First stop was the jaw-dropping bling of this 17th century basilica, dedicated to St George with a very dark painting of him by Mattia Preti. This parish church is referred to as "the golden church" of Gozo. It is entirely covered with marble and gold stucco. We had an iced coffee in a cafe in the square opposite to recover then walked steeply up the hill to the citadel. It afforded great views to almost every corner of the island. Having gone on the hop-on Hop-off bus a couple of days ago, we were familiar with some of the places we could see, albeit in the distance. The museum had some interesting pieces from Neolithic times to the Roman era but the information was difficult to read.

The town had some pretty balconies and very full of traffic narrow streets - lots of buses pick up tour groups from the Malta ferry. We got the bus back and stopped by the harbour to have a beer. (It was 28 degrees and a bit hot - that’s our excuse anyway. )

We then relaxed by the pool and I had a swim before we tottered down the hill to the harbour where we had dinner. The place last night wasn’t great and cost the same as our delicious meal from the Napier man at Country Terrace - we’ll go there again tomorrow.

Ella ‘s parents have got her a phone - an old Nokia that just does calls and texts, because she’s becoming independent and arranging her social life. She texted to tell me she’d got a medal. The girls’ football team she’s in at school was second in under 11 s in all of Newcastle. Unfortunately their goalie couldn’t play in the final as she is diabetic and became unwell so they were down to 10 girls. Poor Ella had to step up in goal and they lost 2-1. Her mum is hoping she’ll prefer football to rugby as it is less dangerous.

My eldest daughter Victoria died 15 years ago today and we visited a place called Victoria today.