Gozo
Today we decided to head to Gozo, it's a 45 minutes ferry trip away by highspeed catamaran - which holds about 200 people. When we got to the ferry port we discovered that the ferry hasn't run for the last two days because the sea was so rough. They'd decided to start today with the 12.45 ferry so we booked on , we'd only 40 minutes to wait. As seniors it only cost us €6 return which was good, the normal single price is €7.50.
The small boats in the village share the jetty with the ferry and have oars and outboard motors, and can be used as water taxis to visit the the cities on the other side of Grand Harbour.
It was very rough indeed on board, the catamaran bounced all the way to Gozo, there were less than to passengers. I survived by keeping my eyes closed and trying to doze, many, many others made good use of the provided little blue bags though. Colin is a much better sailor than me so was fine. I kept my fingers crossed that the return trip would be smoother - it was mostly!
We took the bus to Victoria, the main city on Gozo and stayed in the old City. We walked up to the Citadel and the 17th Century cathedral which we enjoyed but not so much as the nearby St George's Church in its little square. The clocks there caught my eye. They were put into the spaces which had been left for them when the church was built but they tell Theological Time rather than real time. The designer felt we didn't really use clocks any longer as we had so much tech around us, so he made something different, you can read about them here .
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/clocks-of-st-george-s-basilica
The stained glass is also from St George's along with the mosaic image of the Dormition. The church was full of stunning mosaics, the pieces less than a cm square, the whole church glistened. The windmill is on the road up to Victoria from the ferry port. It's dates back to the Knights period in the 18th century and worked up until 1886.
It was restored relatively recently and is in full working order.
There's an extra again. Sunset from our hotel room was just stunning.
What I think is a Norfolk Island pine, this one on Gozo but there are several around. Hopefully Maurice aka Grumpy old man can confirm for me. (Confirmed, thanks Anna)
A cicada, often heard but not very often seen so I was glad to grab a picture.
We came across the demonstration outside the parliament when we were on our way home this evening. They were calling for Malta to recognise the state of Palestine, to which I've just heard they have agreed to do from the. UN meeting in September.
The statue which reminded me of both Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth is of the founders and designers of Valletta.
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