Gozo, Gozo, Gone

Tuesday, October 09, 2018
Munich, Bavaria, Germany
Gozo, Gozo, Gone
Saturday we got up and caught a bus to Cirkewwa on the northern tip of Malta, to catch a ferry to Gozo (or Gawdex in Maltese), the smaller island to the north, that is also part of the Republic of Malta.  Then another bus from the port at Mgarr to the town of Victoria (or Rabat), the capital of Gozo, situated in the centre of the island. We wandered around the Citadel, the old walled city, and a bit of the town and then were going to head for Dwejra, on the northwest coast, but a bus driver told us the road was out and we could only get there by walking a total of an hour and a half down going, and back up returning, on a very steep road.
We really didn't have time for an extra 1 1/2 hours, since we were also planning on stopping at the "Blue Lagoon" on the island of Comino on our way home, so we headed back to Mgarr and ate some very bad pizza for lunch at a restaurant at the harbour and went to catch our small boat to Comino.  Just as we were getting on the boat, I realized that I had left my leather "Kiwi" hat on the chair at the restaurant.  No time to go back and get it, so I was really bummed--that hat had been with me through a lot of adventures over the last 6 years.
  Anyway, we got to the Blue Lagoon and I don't really know how to descibe the scene.  "Zoo" is too mild a word.  My first reaction was "$#!+show".  Hordes of people crammed together on the rocks and in the water and boats, big and small, unloading more all the time.  We went for a bit of a walk away from the crowds for a while and then bit the bullet and squeezed our way into the water at the tiny strip of sand and float around for a while.  Then dried out on the rocks for a bit and we were ready to go.  Caught one of the little boats over to the mainland and the bus back to our apartment.  Dinner that night back across the street at Trattoria del Nonno was a huge "1/2 order" of ribs each.  Delicious but enormous.
Sunday, we were going to head to a beach, Golden Bay, across the island but at the last minute decided, since the driver had told us the road would be open the next day, to chance it and head for Dwejra and we were very happy that we did.  Dwejra is the location of some spectacular cliffs and rock formations and the "inland sea" a large shallow lagoon connected to the ocean by a tunnel through the cliffs.  After a quick lunch, we took a short boat tour from the lagoon out through the tunnel to view the cliffs and go into several of the caves that are scattered along the coast.  Most are quite colourful because of the red coral that grows just beneath the waterline.  Dwejra was also the home of the Azure Window, a spectacular rock arch over the ocean that provided a great view when framing the cliffs in the distance behind it.  Unfortunately, the arch collapsed in March of last year.  But Dwejra is still amazing without it.  It is also a mecca for scuba divers because of the nearby "Blue Hole" and other sites.  After roaming over the rocks for a while, we plunked ourselves down by the inland sea, went for a swim and just sat and enjoyed the sun for a while. 
 It was quite late in the afternoon by the time we decided to leave and, with the 3 buses (some of which took a while to come) and the ferry, it was very dark when we got home.   We headed straight down to the kiosk by the water and just had some spinach and cheese pie for dinner.  Oh, but the best thing was that I had time to stop into the restaurant in Mgarr, at the ferry, and I got my hat back!
Monday, up really early to catch our 5:30 shuttle to the airport to head for Munich.  We decided to include Munich in our trip because "we were going to have to change planes there anyway".  The flight was a little late, but otherwise no problem, and we landed at MUC and took the S-Bahn basically right to the door of our AirBnB rental, at Rosenheimerplatz.  We then went out to explore the immediate neighbourhood a bit and find some lunch.  We ended up having hamburgers at a place around the corner called "Beef Crew".  I know, not very German but we hadn't had a burger since we left home.  We did a bit more exploring and then home for some rest.  For dinner, we went to a place that we had seen nearby, and that a friend had recommended, called Wirtshaus in der AU.  Now remember, this is a Monday night and the first day AFTER Oktoberfest ended.  The place was packed.  They managed to squeeze us in--large tables are shared among several parties.  The food was great.  We ordered schnitzel with potato salad and dumplings with saurkraut and shared everything and it was wonderful.  We slept very well afterwards.

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