Gonzo for Gozo

I made a plan for us to take the ferry to the island of Gozo, which lies just north of Malta itself.  We bought a week's worth of bus fare for a mere 12 euros each and headed on our way to the ferry terminal in the northern part of the island.

When we arrived, we couldn't quite figure out where to buy tickets.  Well it turns out you only have to buy a ticket on the return trip.  Sweet!  So we just hopped on the ferry for a pleasant 20 minutes boat ride until our arrival at Gozo.

On the ferry to Gozo

I booked a hotel for us in the center of Gozo's capital city of Victoria formerly known as Rabat.  The name was changed to Victoria in honor of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee.

We decided to walk around the city which is the home of "Il Kastell" or The Citadel. As we walked through the city's narrow cobblestone streets.  I happened upon a small nook in a building.  Malta has many different kinds of Nativity scenes set up for Christmas.  In this dark nook, I saw a small hand-painted sign that read entrance was free and pictures were ok.  As I investigated further, I saw a gnarled old man sitting in a dark corner of the nook,  as I warily investigated the interior, he turned on a light that revealed a colorful nativity scene that covered two walls from floor to ceiling.  It was made entirely of wax!  I beckoned Thomas to come inside.  The man seemed to speak very little English; as a matter of fact, I wasn't sure if he was able to speak much at all.

I am presuming he created this entire scene himself and he handed Thomas a small wax-figured sheep as a present.  I put a donation in his jar and snapped a few pictures.  After a few minutes, we were ready to continue our way up the hill over to the citadel.  The man pointed us in the right direction, thankfully, because we were heading the wrong way.

The old man's wax nativity scene.  At the bottom right, you can see an angel hovering over a small cave where Jesus, Mary and Joseph are.  I love that he even created a sky.  Click on the photo to enlarge.

The area has been inhabited as far back as  the Neolithic period and was first fortified during the Bronze Age around 1500 BC.  The city then passed hands from the Phoenicians to the Romans where it became a complex Acropolis.  By 1603, the Knights of St. John built massive stone defensive stone walls to protect the village from the Barbary pirates trying to take slaves and the Muslim forces that were fighting against Christendom.  Unfortunately, in 1551, the Citadel succumbed to the invading Turks, and those that had taken refuge within its walls were taken as slaves.  At the citadel stands the Cathedral of Medina that is said to be built on a site where a Roman temple to Juno once stood.

This old building's architecture reminded me of the old buildings along the corniche in Alexandria, Egypt.

The narrow streets of Victoria.  They reminded me of the old parts of Damascus, Syria

Church in the square.

View of the countryside from atop the Citadel.

Narrow streets of the Citadel.

The ramparts and cannons with the Mediterranean in the distance.

More narrow streets of the Citadel.

We planned to stay only two days on Gozo and I thought a Christmas Day bike ride would be a good idea.  We were directed to a small bike shop where a friendly man agreed to meet us Christmas morning to rent us two bikes for the whole day for a mere 5 euros each. 

We got back to the hotel that evening to enjoy a four-course Christmas meal in the hotel's restaurant.  The food of Malta, in my opinion is more Italian influenced than Arabic.  I had a lot of proper ravioli with real ricotta cheese; my favorite.  Oh and lots of pork.  One traditional Maltese meal I did not try is stewed rabbit, but it was offered in almost every restaurant we visited.