Malta - Day 3.

Today I woke at 5am so I must be catching up on my sleep. Through the gap at the top of the curtains I thought I saw a couple of flickers and, as I got up to investigate, I heard the distant rumble of thunder. Stepping out onto the balcony I could hear the patter of raindrops as they hit the surface of the swimming pool and a sudden flash of flight over the hill confirmed that the thunderstorms had arrived over the Island.

I decided to sit and watch the sun rise over Buggiba and settled myself at the back of the balcony protected from the rain by the overhang of the balcony above. Before the glow of sunrise had begun I noticed the tiny lights of little boats as they set off out of the bay on a days fishing. Lightening continued the flash over the hills behind Buggiba but the increasing time between it and the peel of thunder told me the storm was moving away, but it showed no signs of taking the rain with it.

As the sun began it's ascent the town across the bay glowed as if on fire, as if the lightening had struck and set the town alight. 

As I continued to watch the glow dispersed as the sun moved higher until the full effect of daylight showed  a wet rainy day ahead.

Breakfast over, we decided we needed a plan for the day. We could go south towards Valletta, but that way looked dark and cloudy and looked as if he rain was there for the duration. Northward looked more promising as the clouds were broken and there were glimmers of brightness. "Let's head north," says I. "We may get the better weather that way. Let's risk it and head to Gozo."

The ferry port was only 9km away and it wasn't long before we were entering the channels funnelling the vehicles towards the already docked ferry. We followed the car infront, at each turn expecting to be stopped and asked to pay - but we weren't. 

Finally we were deep into the belly of the ship feeling a but like Jonah, and still no one had asked us for any money. As we locked the car prior to heading into the passenger area of the ship the chap in the car behind us called across, "What do we do about paying?" We replied that we were also wondering that very thing ourselves.

20 minutes later we were back in our car and disembarking. As we headed on land the rain hit our windscreen and we realised it was going to be a wet trip.

We followed the traffic with very little plan of where to go. Before we knew it we were in Victoria, where the rain continued and the traffic was one long queue. we decided the last thing we wanted to do was to wander around the town in the rain and so we decided to drive straight through and head for Marsalfona.

After a couple of wrong turns we finally were on the right road and, as nothing on the map takes very long to reach, we were soon driving into Marsalfona, a pretty town on the waters edge with a lovely bay. We looked around for somewhere to stop and noticed a cafe with a parking spot just outside. That would do. It wasn't cold so we dashed under the cover of the cafe and sat gazing out to sea while the rain continued. We got chatting to the people at the table behind us and found that they were on their holiday from Spain, although they were English. A little more conversation and we discovered they lived less than an hour from where we used to live in Spain and where we used to visit if we fancied a curry. small world.

While we chatted we didn't notice that the rain had stopped and so it was a nice surprise when we began our walk back to the car and realised I didn't need my umbrella. I could see that the road around the bay took a steep uphill climb and I thought it would be a good place to take a photo so off we tootled.

And I was right, it did make a nice photo.

As we carried on around the coast we saw signs for Saltpans and, not knowing what it meant we carried on to find this.

It reads: "Sea-salt production has a long history on the Island of Gozo.  The rock-cut saltpans protruding into the sea have their origin from the times of the Romans, who converted the unsorted pans into square constructions and furnished them with an irrigation system. Today, a number of families in Gozo still use the natural way of salt production to produce this commodity. The salt pans are filled with sea water. When the water is evaporated in the bowls, the film of salt is harvested. Salt production takes place between May and September."

We stopped to have a look and take the obligatory tourist photo.

After that, we carried on along the coast and were suddenly driving up a really steep road, the car struggling even in 1st gear, until we reached the top and found ourselves in a pretty but small hilltop village with very narrow streets. We had a little drive around and nothing was open and no-one was around, so we assumed it was lunchtime and left t make our way back through the Island towards the ferry. On our return journey we discovered the answer to the riddle of not paying, they allow you into Gozo for free, you pay to get out. It was a most bizarre amount too, for a car, driver and passenger it came to 20.35 Euros - why not just 20?

We were soon leaving the harbour over looked by 2 large churches, Malta & Gozo have a lot of churches, and before long we were back on Malta. On the way to the ferry that morning I had noticed signs to the Red Tower and out to vista point so, as the sun was now shining I decided we would have a drive to see what the Red Tower was and here it is.

It's a fort built in the mid 1600's and is in remarkably good condition. See here for more information. http://www.mellieha.com/places_interest/fortifications/red_tower.htm

After wandering around the fort for a while and taking a few more photos 

we headed back to our hotel to get ready for our night out and a curry.