Blue Grottos and Blue Holes

On October 25th and 26th, 2017, we packed up some towels and our snorkelling gear and headed off to see some unique geomorphological features and to swim in the Mediterranean Sea. These two, day-trips took us in opposite directions and to the furthest reaches of the Maltese Islands. We purchased a two-day City Tours bus pass, that included a ferry transfer for the trip to Gozo on the second day. We have ridden on these Hop On-Hop Off buses many times before, in places such as Barcelona and London and they not only get you around, you can plug in and listen to the pre-recorded discourse on sights that the buses pass by as you make your way along a given bus route. You can therefore learn from the recorded tour guides or you can just sit on the open top floor of these double-decker buses and take in the sunshine with the sites, sounds and smells of the streets below. Then, you can get off anywhere you want along the route to explore individual sites on foot.

The Gym Clan had two specific sites that we wanted to see and they were at opposite ends of the islands.  The first was the Blue Grotto on the south end of Malta and this trip involved transferring from one bus route to another in Valletta. This was fine because we saw lots of new areas and got a very good feel for the countryside around the capital city but it took us all day. The whole trip is only a few kilometers there and back as the crow flies. If you google walking distances from the Westin Dragonara to the Blue Grotto you should get there in 3 hours and 15 minutes which is about the same as it took us to travel by bus, connecting in Valletta.

I wouldn't recommended walking that far around here though because Malta is not very pedestrian friendly. Where sidewalks exist, they are narrow and crossing the streets is somewhat dicey, to say the least. In addition, in order to drive in Malta, you have get a James Bond Driver's Certificate. Essentially, you race around the urban areas with inches to spare on either side and must be prepared to stop on a dime so you don't flatten a stray cat or a Canadian that thinks he has the right-of-way. Then if you can do this without damaging the car, the driver instructor lets you pass. Even the bus drivers drive this way and they are really good because they have  to watch that they don't clip a second floor balcony as they roar through town.

The Blue Grotto is a series of caves that have been eroded out of the cliffs on the southern shore of the island of Malta. The bus carried us off of the plateau and down a windy road to the little hamlet  of  Wied iz-Zurrieq. The road itself actually sits above the caves and it descends past a series of dive shops and restaurants to a neat little natural harbour. It is in that little cove that you can can board one of the the colorful fishing boats and travel underneath the cliffs and into several of the caves including a large one called the Blue Grotto. The multi-coloured strata of the cliffs and the white sand which covers the sea bottom of the caves gives the water a bright blue tone. It was well worth the 8 euros each to see the caves and to experience the way the fishermen expertly maneuver those boats in and out of those tight caves. After the boat ride we swam in the cove where the water was clear and it was possible to dive down near the bottom.

The second day was even more travel time on a series of buses, with a 1/2-hour ferry ride thrown in for good measure. Our goal on Gozo was the former site of the Azure Window. This landmark collapsed just last March, in stormy waters, after centuries of erosion had undermined the natural land bridge that was so well photographed by visitors over many decades. You can hardly tell that the 30-meter high, natural arch was even there anymore because not only did the land bridge fall but the pedestal holding up the bridge also collapsed into the sea. We walked out to view the former site of the landmark and the Blue Hole that exists between the viewpoint and the what was once the Azure Window. Then we went to the Inland Sea that exists in a low area nearby that sea water flows into from another long cave from the area behind the ridge. The water here was nice to swim in but not as clear as one would have hoped and the beaches were rather rocky and uncomfortable to walk on.

Gozo, in general has a different feel than Malta. It seems less crowded and the villages are situated on the hilltops with farms in the wide valleys that are green and lined with a patchwork of terraced cropland that is lined with retaining walls that hug the contours. The warm honey-colored limestone is everywhere as it divides the various farm plots and all the buildings on the island are also constructed out of it. Riding on the top of the bus you can smell the pungent odor of some of the livestock in the valleys but you can also smell fragrant odors from certain crops that are grown in the rich Gozo soils.

As Gym writes this post we are preparing to exit Malta and the clan is packing up. The GXY Group will be flying with Gym and Mrs. Gym as far as Istanbul tonight.  Then Nicole, George and Chris will be connecting to Frankfurt and from Frankfurt home to Calgary, to return to their careers on Monday. Gym and Mrs. Gym will divert to Athens from Istanbul and will board a cruise ship for another week or so to end up in Rome, Italy. Gym will continue to post blogs from the Ms. Marina until November 7th when the baby boomers must also return to Calgary.

Stay tuned!

Pics from October25, 2017:

Nicole dozing and George gazing on the gates of Valletta from
the double-decker bus

we changed buses at the cruise ship dock below the ramparts

everyone in Malta has a yacht

winter crops

Wied iz-Zurrieq

George and Chris on the jetty where we swam

out on the water below the village

inside a cave

the Blue Grotto

the cliffside openings

our boatman expertly maneuvered in and out of all these caves

the sandy floor of the caves

happy siblings

Pics from October 26, 2017: 

On the ferry to Gozo we passed the small island of Camino
which is inhabited by three permanent residents

arriving at the ferry terminal in Gozo

the cave that brings seawater to the inland sea

trekking to the former site of the Azure Window

stopping for a plate of pasta with a mostly happy GXY Group

this is where the Azure Window was

This is the coolest church in Gozo. The Basilica of the
Blessed Virgin of Ta Pinu. Unfortunately we had no time to look inside.

a Roman Aqueduct on Gozo

Mrs. Gym demonstrating how close we were to people's living rooms

a working windmill on Gozo

fragrant Gozo farmland

sun setting over Gozo as we near the ferry terminal

Viva Valletta

Yesterday, we visited Valletta, the capital city of Malta. Grand Master de Valette, of the order of Saint John, laid the corner stone of the city in 1566, after beating back the Ottomans in the Great Siege of 1565. Pope Pius V was quite thrilled with the results of the battle, so he agreed to help build a new fortified city for Mr. Valette, sending cash and his best military architect, Francesco Laperelli ("Frank"). Frank laid out the city in an orderly fashion, a square grid that wouldn't confuse future tourists like the Gym Clan. It is also my understanding that Frank may have helped design downtown Calgary.

We rented a minivan to take us from the hotel to the Maltese Experience in Valletta. The Maltese Experience was Gym's idea. It is a 45-minute historical film about the history of Malta. Not everyone was into this forced activity but sometimes the patriarch has to exert his control over the various elements of the clan, for the clan's own good. Gym found the film quite interesting and very concise for that large amount of information. Did you know that that Malta has been conquered by numerous different cultures including the Phoenicians, Persians, Carthaginians, Romans, Vandals, Goths, Edmontonians, Byzantines, Arabs, Fatimids, Newfies, Normans, Swabians, Angevins, Aragonians, Knights of Saint John, French and British. Noteworthy though, the Maltese held out during WWII and survived the onslaught of the Germans and Italians so that the Allies could get some lunch on their way to Egypt.

Unfortunately, Valletta was bombed quite intensely by the Italians and the Germans. It was quite a mess for many years after the war. In fact, they just got it tidied up when they heard we were planning our trip.

Upon emerging from the Maltese Experience we decided that we would try to find Christopher some lunch. He is constantly just about to starve. Gym had heard that the Beer Cave might be a good place for the mid-day meal. We trekked across town to find the establishment which is under The Castile Hotel. Unfortunately, the Beer Cave doesn't open until 1800 hrs. :( . So, with Chris barely able to walk, we wandered up to Republic Street and turned back the way we'd come and down that street about a block where there was a little hole-in-the wall place called Charles Grech, named after a British naval guy that retired there. We ordered two charcuterie platters and some vegan stuff for Nicole. Slowly, Chris returned to full vitality, helped along with some Heineken beer.

After lunch, we wanted to see the Cathedral, St. John's Co-Cathedral to be precise, so we wandered down Republic Street and right by the massive landmark, overshooting it by three blocks. Soon though, Gym sensed the mistake and we backtracked to finally find the massive church. We forked over 16 Euros each to enter and discovered that we only had 35 minutes to see everything. We did a speed tour of the place. It was pretty amazing but we definitely needed more time.

We then made our way back to the Valletta Experience to find a means of transport back to the Westin. There were no minivans in sight. There was however, a willing taxi driver who said we could all pile into his smallish vehicle for the ride back to St. Julian's, on the condition that one of us would duck if the police were spotted.  I guess 4 people was his maximum capacity. We agreed to his terms and when we got in he asked us what part of the U.S. we were from? When we said we were Canadian, he smiled, held out his hand and told us he was born and raised in Winnipeg! The cabbie had "retired" on Malta and as long as he had a current Canuck passport he could still rely on CPP and OAS checks every month. He thanked god for previous Liberal governments.

That night we went for dinner to a little seafood place, it was located on the waterfront in St. Julian's. Mrs. Gym wasn't fond of the shrimp dish she ordered, so Gym asked the waiter to have the dish boxed up and we fed all of the stray cats that were encountered on the trek back to the hotel. Some cats loved the shrimp, others agreed with Mrs. Gym.

The crew in the tunnel underneath the ramparts on the way to the
Malta Experience Theatre

Making our way across Valletta with a starving child

WW2 damage?

Two things to contemplate, a common Euro source of protein and
a new way to spell vegetables 

A shrine for the recently murdered journalist that was writing
about corruption in the Maltese government.

The alter inside St. John's Co-cathedral

A large crucifix painted by Caravaggio
 (Gym's pick as most interesting Baroque painter - google him)

looking from the back of the cathedral

This guy loved Mrs. Gym's leftovers

Maltese Moores

It is Sunday, October 22 and the Gym-Clan has settled into the Westin Dragonara in St. Julian's. Yesterday, we also  made one loop around the island. We have discovered some interesting things about Malta. Some of our early observations are as follows

1. There is a preponderance of well-fed stray cats on the island and unlike in many poorer countries where you see feral cats, these ones are approachable. This is very much to the delight of Nicole. Almost every place you go there is a healthy looking tabby or a nice calico feline friend and they look like they have just come off the couch. The relative tameness of these felines is due to the fact that there is a group or groups of cat lovers on the island that care for them and feed them. On Friday, we were sitting down at lunch when a small car pulled up and a 30-something woman got out and popped open the hatchback. Inside was a bucket of cat food. The lady grabbed a bowl out of the back and went across the street where earlier in the day we had seen a feral cat enter a construction site. She left the bowl at the entrance to the site and brought back an empty bowl. When she closed the hatchback we noticed the licence plate read "CAT 909". The Maltese care about these animals. We hope to go to a place called Cat Park later on in the trip. It is here that dozens of these cats congregate at night, for food and shelter.

wild cats, don't look so wild

Nicole making friends with a native

2. The sea is 25C still in the Mediterranean. During mid-August Shuswap Lake may get up to 25ish but only for a couple of days. This is late October and the sea around here is warmer than the hotel pool. In August the sea temperature here is 27C.

the three musketeers before a dip in the Med

3. Malta is one big movie set. We went on a tour yesterday called the Game of Thrones Tour. The tour guide, a fellow by the name of Malcolm Ellul, took us around the island to show us the locations of many of the scenes from the first season of GoT and much, much more about Malta.  In the process of seeing GoT locations, Macolm revealed how many of the scenes were shot, how the shadow and lighting were controlled and what they did to cancel out unwanted sounds from a bustling city. He also showed us where numerous other movie scenes were shot, gave us a private walking tour of the ancient walled capital of Mdina, led us through St. Dominic's Church in Rabat which is the site of two Catholic miracles and took us to a restaurant for lunch that had an outstanding view of most of the island. As far as GoT locations go, here is a few pics:

Malcolm is standing close to where Khal Drogo fell off his horse,
where poor Mr. Drogo was burned in the pyre, where the dragons were born and where we saw a naked Daenarys Targaryen.

Malcolm is standing in the courtyard in front of Petyr Baelish's brothel. This was also
the location for the scene in which there was a battle between Ned Stark and Jaime Lannister
which ended in a soldier thrusting a spear into Ned's leg from behind. In the scene, Malcolm's character,
also a soldier, was killed in the corner of the courtyard.

In this courtyard which Chris is checking out, Cersei Lannister uttered the words,
"when you play the game of thrones you either win or you die." 

This is part of the gardens in King's Landings where several scenes were shot

This is the Castle in King's Landing and inside the gate was the courtyard
of the castle. The stairs are also featured in the movie "Helen of Troy". 

This is the main gate to King's Landing and the actual gate to Mdina.
Many scenes have been shot here. 

Here are some of the other sites of Malta that we were able to take in on the tour.

View of most of Malta from the deck of the restaurant where we ate lunch.

The cathedral in Mdina. The streets in front of this church were the settings for numerous movie scenes.

Our Lady of the Grotto in St. Dominic's Church,  Rabat.
If you look closely you can see where the Madonna wept  tears of blood.

Malcolm Ellul was a great guide, he was very knowledgeable about season one of GoT because he played a number of bit parts in it and helped setting background for many other scenes. He also knew the locations of many other movie scenes that were shot in Malta over the years (Malcolm played a bit part in The Gladiator, he was one of the soldiers that surrounded Russell Crowe in a scene in the Colosseum that was also shot in Malta). And because Malcolm is a local he was able to enthusiastically sell the island to his guests.

It was calm, 25C and sunny today, the day after the tour. Nicole who has been working on a tan, has a pinkish hue developing. Linda is getting some relaxation time in between the tennis games. The three boys have all purchased new masks and snorkels. We have tried local Italian, Thai, Russian and Japanese cuisine. We are all getting in around 10,000 steps per day. But most importantly, the Maltese aren't tired of us yet. So we will stay a few more days.

 :)

Stay tuned!

Frankfurters in Frankfurt

Flughafen Frankfurt am Main is the busiest airport in Germany and the fourth busiest in Europe. It covers 2000 hectares of land and is the primary hub for Lufthansa, our Star Alliance host for the transition from Calgary to Malta. It was at the airport in Frankfurt where the Gym Clan would gather prior to the assault on Malta. Gym and Mrs. Gym, with son Chris, flew directly from Calgary to Frankfurt and just to keep the Germans on their toes, Nicole and George would make a brief stop at Heathrow in London, before joining up with the rest of the Gym family in Frankfurt.

Nicole, George, Chris and Mrs. Gym in Frankfurt

Sadly, Gym was the only one to try the best wurst at the Frankfurt Airport. The Star Alliance lounge featured an endless supply of boiled frankfurters in the steam table and a nice rendition of good, old fashioned german potato salad, kept cool in an ice bath. The bar featured Beck's beer but it was my understanding that the GXY Group (the millennial generation) had "given 'er" on the transatlantic flight and were a little hungover by the time they reached German soil. Gym would have no ill effects from the wieners.

After flying over the Atlantic on a couple of wonderful, wide-bodied Air Canada aircraft and enjoying that always wonderful service, Lufthansa was an orderly and gracious host but frankly, was the lessor airline of the two. Now in defense of Lufthansa, you probably can't land a big Boeing on Malta, so we had to take a much smaller plane in there and this being more of a domestic flight, we didn't get the same 4-star treatment as one would expect on a long-haul passage. 

All needling aside, Lufthansa briskly winged us south out of Germany. We crossed the coastline above Nice, France and skirted the west coast of Italy, before crossing Sicily. Just beyond the southern coast of Sicily we started our descent and then we were expertly dropped neatly into Malta where the Gym Clan spilled out onto the tarmac, at precisely 2310 hours, the scheduled arrival time. With a curt Auf Wiedersehen to the German flight attendants, we had successfully completed the assault on this tiny island nation. 

There was no requirement to pass through customs because we were already in the Eurozone and before we knew it we were through the baggage claim hall and waiting for the hotel shuttle. Our invasion which had gone smoothly until this point, was stalled by a less-than-organized transportation outfit that had us waiting for a driver for 40 minutes. Eventually though, we loaded up and zipped across the island to the town of St. Julian's, where we checked into the Westin Dragonara, our base camp for the next week or so. Everyone is safely installed into one of two beautiful rooms and Gym and Mrs Gym took the Tower suite, that has a great view of the pool, the beach and the Mediterranean Sea.

Chris reconnoitring the pool at the Westin

the front Entrance to the hotel

Nicole and George at breakfast

Mrs. Gym and her favourite son, Chris in the lobby

It is the morning after the landing and breakfast was wonderful. Linda, Chris and George have gone to play tennis and Nicole is by the pool tanning while I sit here writing the after action report. I am happy to say that the landing was successful and we had no casualties.

Later today, we are going to explore the surrounding neighbourhood and see if we can get into the vibe here in Malta. The temperature is 24C and oddly, it feels the way one would expect....very Mediterranean. I like the climate, it is perfect.

Stay tuned!