Malta, Comino & Gozo 3

We don't often get a photo of Serenity in full sail so I have included this one that Chris took from Skylark 2.

 We anchored in Marsaxlokk, in Pretty Bay. On one side was a very nice little seaside town and on the other side of us was this huge container port. It was actually very interesting watching them come and go, load and unload. They handle 3 million containers a year here.

Hypogeum

 

Thanks to David and Lindsay's advice we booked to go to the Hypogeum on Malta several weeks beforehand. Because of carbon dioxide levels, they only allow 80 people a day to go in so we were lucky to get tickets. It is a subterranean structure dating back to 3300BC. It was originally a sanctuary but then became a necropolis in prehistoric times and the remains of more than 7,000 individuals have been found here. It is the only known underground prehistoric temple in the world.

Tarxien Temples

 

 The Tarxien Temples date back to 3150BC. This shows the skirt and legs of one of the statues.

 Our first onboard BBQ!! Thank you to Chris and Desi - it will be well used!

 Anchored in St Julian's Bay on the east coast of Malta. The tall blue tower is the Hilton Hotel - quite a landmark as you approach Malta.

 Lovely to have John come and join us and of course he had to sample the amazing ice creams!

Fort Rinella

 

 The 100 ton gun at Fort Rinella outside Valletta. 

Built in Woolwich, it was shipped to Malta and sat in the dockyard before 100 men spent 3 months manhandling it to its current position. Each shell weighed one ton, was accurate to eight miles and could pierce 21 inches of armour plating. A shell cost as much as the wages for 2600 men for a day and so practice firing was restricted to once every 3 months. The gun was in active service for 20 years but was never fired in anger.

 Dave in costume having a go at firing a Martini Henry rifle.

Two of the rescued polo ponies that the fort uses in their reenactments. Ganga, above, also featured in the film Gladiator and Benny, right, was in Troy.

 Skipper and First Mate relaxing on board.

 

 Sunset over Mgarr on Gozo taken from Blue Lagoon on Comino.

Beautiful Blue Lagoon - as you can see the other tourists think so too! But a lovely spot when they all left in the evening.

A very relaxed dog, but they just don't make deck chairs big enough!

 We walked up to the look out tower on Comino island, looking back over our anchorage to Mgarr on Gozo in the distance.

Gozo

 A lovely "Licata" meet up for breakfast on Serenity in Mgarr marina. We met  Lynn and John on Tumbleweed as we arrived and then Lindsay and David arrived on Rosa Di Venti early the next morning. The following day Guy and Ginny on Kisti 2 came in from Sicily.

Ggantija Temples, Xaghra 3600BC

The Ggantija Temples are two prehistoric temples on Gozo, the second-largest island in Malta. One of them is the oldest stone structure in the world, predating Stonehenge and the Great Pyramids by hundreds of years. Round in shape and containing statues of full-figured goddesses, the Ggantija temples were dedicated to the Great Earth Mother and probably included an oracle. The site was a place of pilgrimage for the ancient inhabitants of Malta.

 The entrance to one of the temples

 Tiny figures found at the site, carved out of cows' toe bones

Examples of the many figurines found here.

While we were on Gozo it was great to meet up with Susie and Fred who moved out here about two years ago from Sturry, Canterbury.

 Skylark 2 anchored in St Maria's bay, Comino before our overnight sail back to Sicily.

 I just had to include these photos of the 6 dolphins that came and swam with the boat as we approached Sicily in the early morning.

Dolphins just having fun!

They played in our bow wave for quite a while - always very special when we see them!

 

Malta, Comino & Gozo 2

Chris' son, Simon came to stay and, as the forecast wasn't great, we booked the boats into Msida marina just outside Valletta and took the opportunity to do some sight seeing around Malta.

 The Grand Master's Palace in Valletta which now houses an amazing collection of armoury.

There are 5,721 pieces and it is the oldest collection in the world housed in its original building.

 The outside of the Grand Master's Palace

Detail of the painting on the wooden panels inside.

 A wonderful example of the typical balconies around the buildings.

 Grand Harbour in Valletta

 Coffee stop and time to sample Maltese pies for which they are famous and we were entertained by the barrel organ. Note the red telephone box and postbox!

 The hospital of the Knights of St John - from where St John's Ambulance service originated. The knights were also hospitaliers.

 The upstairs ward which had 247 beds for well to do men - no women were allowed to go to the hospital. The arches down the length of the ward were small alcoves which housed a toilet behind a curtain- one per bed.

 Many of the stairways we saw around the city had very shallow steps. This was so that the knights could use them when they were wearing armour - your can't bend your knees very far! Also the suits of armour were terrifically heavy - just the helmet could weigh 10kgs.

The downstairs ward, again only for men, where the poorer people were treated. Here they also had a toilet alcove per bed but there were three people to each bed! There are metal rings along wall because at one time the police used this space as stables for their horses.

 View across to Valletta

Open top bus tour around the south of the island.

Malta is actually smaller than the Isle of Wight although the population here is 400,000 compared to 120,000 on the Isle of Wight.

Marsaxlokk

 We stopped off for lunch at Marsaxlokk and also to check out the anchorage for future reference. A lovely traditional fishing port with many brightly painted boats. Apparently the colour painted around the top indicates where the boat is from. Local boats had yellow stripes.

 

View across the bay.

Detail showing the lucky Egyptian eye which all of the boats here had on their bows.

 Desi "stealing" a fish from the statue on the waterfront.

 Back to Valletta for the most amazing ice creams. Each one is handmade adding one petal at a time - you can have as many different flavours in the one cone as you like. This was my favourite - blood orange and ginger.

Limestone Heritage

As with all tourist attractions on Malta, this was a very well presented museum showing the history of limestone on the island.

 How the blocks were originally cut.

  

A lovely stone to carve

 An example of the old wells that they cut in the stone.

Simon makes friends with a donkey who was VERY keen to have his photo taken!

Malta, Comino and Gozo

We left Licata at the beginning of May - Dave and I on Serenity and  Chris and Desi on Skylark 2, heading for Malta.

 Having left Licata marina at 3.00am we watched the sunrise over Mount Etna behind us.

 Desi relaxing at the yacht club - our first stop on Malta looking across to Valletta. Thank you to Laura and Bernie for the introduction to the yacht club.

 Skylark and Serenity back to back in Msida marina just outside Valletta.

 We happened to arrive in Valletta on the one day this convent was open for the first time in 400 years!

King George's letter to the people of Malta, now inscribed in stone on the wall of the Grand Master's Palace in the centre of Valletta.

A green festival was taking place in the city and in the central square they had created this display using 80,000 pot plants

A view across the island from the walls of Mdina. We really liked Malta for it's history and architecture but as you can see there is very little green countryside or farming.

 

We went off to Mdina in the centre of the island because they were advertising an international food fair. However, when we arrived there were just a few closed down stalls. Apparently it had rained the night before so the whole thing had been cancelled. Not very British! Mdina was a beautiful town though and we had a lovely walk around.

 St Paul's Cathedral

As is the norm here, fairly plain exterior but......

 .....exquisitely decorated interior

 

The floor of the cathedral was made up of tombs like this housing 400 knights, each one a different design depicted in stone.

 

The main gateway into Mdina