To Gozo

St John the Baptist Church

We hit the road running this morning by 7:45am, just to be reminded by the bus schedules that it's Saturday. Again we walk half way to Bugibba before a bus comes. Pretty quiet at 8:00 on a Saturday:)

A gesture drawing bumping along on the bus with my new Pentel brush pen....

 

Good news is that we don't have to get off in Bugibba terminal but go straight through to Cirkewwa on the north end of Malta where we will catch the ferry to Gozo. The majority of passengers are foot traffic. Can't say I even saw a car trying to get on. €9 or about $13 return for a 25 minute crossing. Not our smartest move to come over here on a Saturday that is also a republic holiday. We are surrounded by a bus tour from London plus the local people out doing their Christmas shopping. One more bus ride on the Gozo side and we get off at Saint John, the Baptist Church about half way to the main city of Victoria. We spent an hour learning the history of the church from a priest? Along with another couple from Germany. The church official spoke both English and German so we heard the everything twice.

The next bus into Victoria is not for 30 minutes so we start to walk as it is all down hill. It sounds easy but the roads are narrow, the sidewalks even narrower. After about a kilometre we decide to wait for the next bus as the road is starting to climb and we want to save our energy for exploring Victoria and its walled city.

Bob has memories of his time here 25 years ago but unfortunately there is massive construction in the main plaza and the Citadel area which is what we have come to see. As the citadel is the highest place on Gozo we know we are going up hill. Unfortunately you can't even sit in an outside Cafe due to the sound of machinery working right in front of you. We did find d a quiet spot for a sit down and a local beer as the work seemed to stop in the early afternoon, maybe due to the half day holiday?

 

 

 

 

We make the climb to see as much as we can of the walled city and the view from the top. The city provided a sanctuary for the Gozitans from the invading Turks in the 16th century. The citizens would come into the walled city at night for protection in case of attack. But, to no avail, as in the late 1500's the Turks succeeded in their siege and took all the Gozitans as slaves. Apparently it took decades for the people of Gozo to reestablish their families once later generations were able to return to the island.

I am intrigued by the language which is primarily based on Arabic with Italian, French and English thrown in. Today's words I have noticed are exit...hrug, entrance, dhul....I'm trying to figure out how their alphabet works....like a Q at the beginning is silent, two Z's in a row are an S sound.

Here a pedestrian crossing is called a zebra crossing. Some Zebra crossings have humps, lol, as in a speed bump.

We have found a wonderful butcher shop in our neighbourhood so "jumped" off the bus on Mosta Road and picked up dinner. Then it is about six/eight blocks to home. We are done for the day. Bob is carrying about 10 pounds of meat and cheese plus a bottle of Gozitan Limoncella. I think we are home for a couple of days. Time for laundry, a little fix up trim on my new haircut, showers and catch our breathe after three days in a row exploring.

 

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