Pyxis - Mgarr, Gozo (Victoria & The Temples of Ggantija)

Mgarr, Gozo (Victoria & The Temples of Ggantija)

Pyxis

Karen & Richard

Wed 20 May 2009 22:58

Wednesday 20^th May – Mgarr, Gozo (Victoria & The Temples of Ggantija)

36:01.556N 14:17.925E

Today we were up early after having caught up on some much needed sleep.

After breakfast, Richard went of the marina office to check in and discovered that we were not as early as we thought – for some reason we had thought that Malta was on the same time as Tunisia but it is actually the same as Italy so we lost an hour straight away.

Nevertheless, we trotted around to the nearby ferry terminal to look for a bus into Victoria, the capital in the centre of the island. The bus leaves when a ferry arrives and one bus was not big enough for the number of foot passengers arriving from Malta, and so, having not rushed, we were left, along with five or six ferry passengers, with no bus for an hour. We weren’t too bothered being based here as it meant we could go for a wander around Mgarr but it didn’t seem very friendly for the people arriving on the ferry.

There were still a number of taxis at the ferry terminal offering trips to Victoria and sightseeing tours around the island. Some of the drivers were actually quite aggressive in their touting for business – ‘No thanks’ was not the right answer as far as they were concerned. They were offering trips for €5 to Victoria (€0.47 on the bus and only a 10 minute ride) so we wandered off for a walk around Mgarr.

We wandered into the local supermarket on the hill – it was a bit like letting two children loose in a candy shop as we spotted some old favourites we hadn’t seen for some time.

Having assured ourselves we wouldn’t starve here, we carried on walking up the hill to the next bus stop, arriving there just in time for the next bus. Walking up the road didn’t stop us being chased by a few taxis though – one even parked his taxi on a corner and came running after us to offer a sightseeing trip.

Fortunately when the bus arrived there was space on board, and once on the bus we met up with our fellow taxi resistance fighters from the ferry terminal and we were soon all in Victoria.

Once in Victoria, we headed straight for tourist information and the guy was brilliant. He mentioned the other place on the island I had earmarked for a visit and suggested, as a bus was leaving in the next 5 minutes, that we go and see the megalithic temples at Xaghra, and then come back to see Victoria as admission to the temples closed at 4pm. So we went back to the bus station and were soon off to Xaghra.

The megalithic temples of Ggantija (meaning giantess) are the world’s oldest free-standing structures, according to the literature, and date from around 3600 - 3000BC. They were built by the community of farmers and herders occupying Gozo. They were then adopted during the Bronze Age as a cremation cemetery. Whilst mostly free-standing, there is a bit of scaffold-assisted-standing these days; but we were very pleased to see they haven’t simply slapped on some cement to hold them together.

After we had seen the temples we had a short walk into the village of Xaghra, which has an impressive church in its main square, before catching the bus back to Victoria.

Back in Victoria it was time for some sustenance and so we picked up some pastries from a nearby bakery and then found a shaded bench from which to watch the world go by. I enjoyed some of the traditional fare, pastizzi, flaky pastry snacks filled with either ricotta cheese or mushy peas – I had one of each and can thoroughly recommend them. Victoria was quite busy with groups of tourists marching past, each with their identifying stickers for their tour.

We then went to the Citadel, which houses the cathedral, and had a great afternoon walking around the ancient walls taking in the fabulous views across the island. One of the amazing things here are the huge churches which characterise each of the villages on the skyline.

From there we walked back into town to the impressively decorated Basilica of San Gorg, and then wandered back to the bus station through the back streets and caught another bus back to Mgarr.

Gozo is a bus anoraks dream – Richard was amazed, even not being a bus anorak (he claims), at the wide variety of wonderful old buses doing the rounds here – Leyland, Bedford, Hino (names courtesy of Richard, the non-anorak). The one out to Xaghra didn’t even have a door – just a warning to wait until the bus stopped before getting off.

Back at Mgarr, we picked up a few items at the supermarket and then returned to Pyxis to finally shower and relax after walking around all day. This evening there were three horses at the pontoon nearby – one berthed in the water, one in the water swimming on a long halter, and one ashore waiting to go swimming. They are trotting ponies and are bought down here to relax in the evening – they look very well cared for. The one waiting to go into the water was a beautiful colt with glossy coat and muscular frame, and a justifiably very proud owner.