Days 63-64
Spring Break Part 3
Though this happened on Wednesday, I'm including it in this section's post since it took place on Gozo. Just when you thought my day couldn't get any better...
On the bus heading to my hotel, what do you know but our bus is stopped and basically shut down. In front of us is one of the many Passion Week (aka Holy Week) processions. Just like back in middle school how we did live action Way of the Cross, these kinds of processions are taking place all over Malta (and Gozo) all week, and we just happened to roll into the middle of one. (It was the 6th station for those curious. Mary Magdalen had just wiped Jesus' face.)
Now, I know that I left Rome of all places for Holy Week and Easter, but apparently, I chose a good substitute. Religion - of the Catholic variety mainly - has dominated the island ever since 60 AD when St. Paul accidentally ship-wrecked here and converted all the populace from paganism to Christianity. And they've never looked back. I've received pamphlet on pamphlet of events of every kind taking place in every city from Palm Sunday to Easter.
Anyway, this third stop of my break takes place on Malta's second-largest island, Gozo. Gozo has long been associated with Ogygia, Calypso's island in Homer's Odyssey, aka the place that Odysseus sat on a beach crying for seven years while a beautiful nymph tried to seduce him (and he held out until the last night. Right.) The island itself is certainly beautiful enough for me to believe Calypso made her home there, and there is a certain wildness to the air that corroborates it.
I booked what I thought was a hotel in Xlendi (pronounced Shlendi), but turned out to be a fully stocked two bedroom apartment with a breathtaking view of the bay below and the hills across. I spent most of Thursday morning sitting on the balcony reading and writing (and finally caught up on some of my posts here) while I waited to my friend Mora to join me from the main island. Once she got there, we had lunch at one of the many restaurants on the bays boardwalk, then headed off to see the Ġgantija temples. They were huge and impressive. That was the only activity on the books for Thursday though, and when a cloud cover started to roll in in the afternoon, I wasn't interested in finding another. A delicious dinner at an outdoor waterside Italian restaurant finished off the day.
Friday came along and I convinced Mora that she absolutely must see Comino and the Blue Lagoon, so we headed straight for the harbor and were in those turquoise waters by 11 am. (Told you I'd be back.) I was able to get over my fear of jellyfish and once again swam to the opposite side of the lagoon (though I looked much funnier this time as I used my sandals as hand flippers (1) to protect from accidentally brushing a jelly and (2) because I wanted to hike around that small island this time.) After swimming and sunbathing for a few hours we went back to Gozo and caught a bus to Dwerja and Gozo's iconic Azure Window. While the window was cool, perhaps even more interesting were the giant sand-dollars (sand-euros? if their that old are they sand-drachmas?), that were embedded in the stone. Beyond the sand-dollar graveyard their were these giant pools cut out of the rock that looked like they'd be a refreshing place to dip in in the summer months - that is until we noticed a man taking a wizz in one and the idea suddenly became extremely unappealing. Another waterside dinner at a different restaurant rounded off this glorious day. Tomorrow we're heading back to Malta, but I doubt I'll like anything as much as my time here.
Addiju,
J
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