On Christmas morning, we met up with the friendly man who went out of his way on Christmas Day to rent us some bikes. He suggested a nice scenic route for us, gave us a map, and we headed off around 10am, promising to be back by 5pm; it would be dark by then anyway.
It was a sunny, warm, beautiful day for riding bikes. And since it was Christmas, there was virtually no traffic. First, we headed east to Xagħra in hopes of seeing The Ggantija Temples. They were closed for Christmas though. No problem, we decided to try back in the morning.
From there, we headed north to Masalforn Bay. We biked past a Scottish guy in his full-on kilt walking along with a friend, along with many families headed to Christmas Day mass.
 |
| Riding bikes around the crystal waters of Masalform Bay on a beautiful Christmas Day. |
|
 |
| Colorful benches around the bay. |
All along the bay were salt pans. Sea water accumulates naturally in the pans and is left to dry. When the salt crystals form after the heat of the summer months evaporates the water, the salt is harvested. The Order of the Knights of Saint John held a monopoly of the salt production on the island, and those who harvested salt without permission faced a heavy penalty.
 |
| Salt pans |
 |
| Thomas and I taking a short break from our bike riding tour for a self-portrait at one of the salt pan areas. |
 |
| Lots of cool antique cars floating around Malta. |
 |
| Many different salt pan shapes below us. |
 |
| Taking a short break on our bike ride. |
We continued riding west along the coast, and then headed south through a beautiful, fertile valley.
 |
| Beautiful valley with small farms. |
Lastly, we made it over to the west coast to Dwerja Bay to see the what is called the Azure Window. A scene from Clash of the Titans (1981) was filmed here. In April 2012, a large chunk broke off of the "window" and fell in to the sea. It is said that the arch may be completely gone within a few years and so the name will be changed to the Azure Pinnacle. There are warning signs about not climbing to the top of the window, but people were climbing up there anyway. Not me, no thanks.
 |
| Here is a scene of the Azure Window as seen in Clash of the Titans (1981). Notice how much narrower the opening was of the window compared to my pictures. |
 |
| Trying desperately to get this shot with my 12 second timer, but just couldn't get there on time! |
 |
| We finally moved closer and changed our position to get a decent shot of us. |
 |
| Thomas climbing around trying to get a good shot. |
 |
| And me attempting to follow. |
On the other side of the Azure Window, is something called "Fungus Rock". It was named so because the Knights of St. John apparently discovered what is known as the Malta Fungus, growing on the rock's flat top. The plant is actually a rare tuber and not a fungus and has a repulsive smell. Doctors believed it had medicinal properties. The Knights so prized it that they often gave gifts of Malta Fungus to noblemen and visitors to the island. It kind of looks like a fuzzy piece of poo on a stick. No wonder it smells bad.
 |
| Fungus rock to the right. I was way too tired to walk over to it. |
|
|
 |
| The "fungus" of Fungus Rock |
 |
| Small look-out tower on the shore. |
 |
| Cute lizard. |
By now, we had been cycling around for about 5 hours and my butt was killing me! Ugh. I am so ridiculously out of shape.
We hung out here for about 1/2 hour and then I had to walk the bike back up the huge hill we rode down to the coast. I was tired and my butt hurt too much to try pedaling. Now it was a race to make it back to Victoria before dark. We had no safety gear or lights or anything. Finally, we made it back 1/2 hour early. What a great Christmas!
