We were due to leave at 7:45 am to catch a ferry on the north side of Malta and we are on the south side. I set my fitbit to wake me at 5:50 but it kept wanting to be at 4:50. When I finally moved it to 5, I didn't realize I also bumped the PM button.....fortunately, I woke normally at 6:45, which didn't give me as much time as I hoped for. I was grateful that I had picked out my wardrobe and packed my daypack last night or I might not have had time for any breakfast at all.
Traffic north was worse than usual and we missed our 8:30 ferry by about 5 minutes, but there was another at 9, so we were still good. There was rain in the day's forecast, so some adjustments were made to keep us indoors more. As it turned out, we only got sprinkled on once briefly but enjoyed the reconfigured schedule.
Gozo is described as being like Malta 30 years ago. It seems to be more agrarian and greener too. It's main claim to fame is its neolithic temples
that date to before the Egyptian pyramids. We were able to visit one of them today, called Ggantija. Afterwards, we visited "Calypso Cave" and a bakery with a typical roll with a slice of cheese. They also had an impressive selection of desserts, which I managed to only photograph and not eat.
After the temple, our bus driver had to drop us off so he could make a school bus run, so we just under an hour to shop in the center of Victoria, the capitol of the island. I walked up to see the Citadel and still managed to pick up some souvenirs. The bus took us to lunch and then to a salt producer, smaller than the other producers we have visited. Then it was back to the ferry for the trip home.
 |
| This fragment was found in 1954. Its bird decorations show how nature inspired the Neolithic inhabitants. |
 |
| These stylized figures were found in a temple presumably wrapped together in material that didn't survive for 6000 years. |
 |
| This depiction of 2 women is typical of the carvings of people. They all have wide hips and pleated skirts, and most are missing their heads, |
 |
| These 2 heads were found completely separate from other figures. There is no conjecture about why they were not kept intact. |
 | ||
| These are the 2 temple that exist side by side. The theory about the extra room on the left one is that it was for VIPs like priests. Conservation is currently being done on that one, so we were only able to enter the 1st section. |
 | |
| One myth about how the temples were built was that a giantess carried the stones while nursing her baby and eating broad beans. In truth, archeologists think they used large round rocks to roll the slabs into place. How they were raised was not presented. |
 |
| The slab on the other side of the entrance also has a hole, presumbly enabling some sort of a gate. |
 | |
| These are presumed to be the rocks used to move the stones. |
The items below are the colorful and some very tempting looking sweets.
The next two pictures are from the Calypso Cave viewpoint, which only looks out on Ramla Bay (the sand is reddish due to ocher coloring in the near by soil). Nice view. The sign says the viewing platform is NEAR Calypso Cave, which I suspect is the area in the second photo. According to Homer, the nymph Calypso lived here and is where she hosted Ulysses for 7 years before he continued his journey home. The cave is a series of caves and goes down to the sea.
 |
| A shop in Victoria with interesting art. |
 |
| The entry side of the Citadel |
 |
| View from the parking lot in the back |
 |
| A area popular with divers next to the salt pans |
 |
| These individual pans extend quite a way and are managed by a single man. |
 |
| The sandstone around the entry to the salt shop and storage area looks kind of like a hardened dune. |
 |
| The salt man in his shop. |
No comments:
Post a Comment