An Unbelieveable View Through The Azure Window on Gozo Island
MALTA – 93 nations and counting!
Day 2 – a cheeky snap at the famous Azure Window on Gozo island after an icy dip in the blue hole! What a whopper of a day!!
Stunning coastline and fossil studded cliffs, crystal blue waters, timeless fishing villages, ancient fortresses and temples dating back to over 3,600 BC, predating the Pyramids and Stonehenge.
Awoke in St Paul’s Bay with views across the Mediterranean and drove to the northern tip of the island of Malta to take the 30 minute ferry to the beautiful little sister island of Gozo.
The Azure Window
The Azure Window is a limestone natural arch on the Maltese island of Gozo. It is situated near Dwejra Bay on the Inland Sea.
Drove the stunning little villages that dot the sleepy island of Gozo to the azure window and snapped this cheeky shot, swam in the blue hole whilst numerous tour buses took pictures of us and scuba divers surfaced, hiked around the clifftop for even better views of the azure window (one of the top tourist spots in Malta) and the inland sea then met some awesome local old fishermen who told us all about the famous “fungus rock” which we could see off the coast – the legend goes that the rock was closely guarded many centuries ago by the knights of Malta for the prized fungus that grew upon it and had miraculous healing properties.
However, the alternate explanation provided to us by the old sea faring locals about the rock is that the fungus that supposedly had “medicinal” traits actually is an extremely potent hallucinogenic mushroom that the Knights throughly enjoyed and hence prohibited others from going to pick the mushrooms that they reserved for their own personal enjoyment.
After sun baking and a healthy dose of nudity we took off. Drove to a famous pizzeria and bakery called “Maxokk Bakery” (a hole in the wall with a huge oven and two amazing old ladies who are excellent pizza chefs) for a brilliant lunch of pizza and the famous Maltese dish of Ftira (essentially a pizza with sliced potato on top) excellent local fare.
Drove further inland to the ancient 3600 BC megalithic temple complex of Ġgantija (older than the pyramids of ancient Egypt and Stonehenge in England) one of the oldest freestanding man made structures on earth!Amazing feeling to be walking among the ruins and reading up on theories as to who possibly built them and for what purpose they were used.
Headed to Gozo’s capital city of Victoria (Rabat in Maltese) to climb and learn about the huge and marvellous citadella that can be seen from almost anywhere on Gozo island – at one point in the 16th century the entire population of the island hid within the citadel during a fierce battle with the ottomans. Well
worth a visit if you’re in Malta!
Headed to the picturesque fishing village of Xlendi to watch the sunset in the tiny bay framed by cliffs! Staying in the city of Marsalforn on Gozo this evening.
Tomorrow off to explore the third island of Comino and more of Malta! Malta (93). — at Azure Window.