Cartoons and Illustrations by Steve Bonello
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The Red Tower and the lovely road to nowhere

2/11/2014

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The view from the road stretches to Gozo's Ta Cenc cliffs
In the far north of Malta and just off the main road to the Gozo ferry terminal, a minor road runs uphill to meet one of the most ‘colourful’ of the Knight’s fortified towers. St. Agatha’s Tower was built in 1647-8 to guard the short stretch of sea to Gozo, aided by St. Mary’s Tower on Comino. At some point in its life it was given a red coat of paint – no one seems to know exactly when or why – but this has inadvertently lent it its more familiar name – the Red Tower.  The tower is a square, robust one and when in use in centuries gone by it was normally manned by four soldiers, though it could accommodate a garrison of up to fifty in times of trouble. Last used during World War II as a glorified machine gun post, the tower had fallen into a sad state of disrepair by the end of the twentieth century. Luckily the NGO Din l-Art Helwa, the National Trust, took over its massive restoration and finally opened it to the public.

The Red Tower stands on high ground on the Marfa Ridge and probably its biggest draw is the open views from its rooftop. But once inside there is also a wealth of information on the structure itself, its history and its eventual restoration. Other information boards concentrate on the area itself, its topography, fauna and flora. The small tower shop stocks thyme honey from the area.

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St. Agatha's Tower - more familiarly known as the Red Tower
Beyond the Red Tower, the narrow road continues to the edge of the Qammieh peninsula. It’s basically a dead end road but one which is a pleasure to walk and it’s not a longish one either – just over a mile in length. This short stretch of road is one of the most scenic on the island, bordered as it is by a rich garigue flora during the winter and spring months. There is an abundance of thyme and other aromatic herbs and in spring this area is one of the best for orchids, of which Malta has around a dozen species. There are understandably few trees on this windswept plateau but there are small copses of carob and pine in the more sheltered areas.

This road to nowhere opens up some spectacular views on the way. Starting from the Red Tower there are good sweeping views over Ghadira Bay and the nature reserve run by Birdlife Malta which backs the bay. Further on the views become more rugged – to the south there are wide vistas over the cliffs of the Majjistral Park while to the north the scene stretches to Comino and further beyond to Gozo and the magnificent white ‘wall’ of the Ta Cenc cliffs. The road ends somewhat ignominiously at a battered group of low buildings which once formed a radar station. Today most of the buildings are in ruin. 

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The view in spring
The view over the cliffs from this spot – practically Malta’s northern land’s end – is of a massive boulder scree which tumbles to the sea and is the result of the erosion of the seemingly mighty cliffs. Though the road stops here one can make his way along the cliff top to Paradise Bay, which can easily be reached in about a half hour.  Some 400 metres to the north of the ‘road to nowhere’ there is another tiny road which runs parallel to it and can deliver you back to the Red Tower via a different, and equally scenic, route. 

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Land's End

The above article was originally published in the November 2014 newsletter of Chevron UK - Malta travel specialists since 1982. You may subscribe to Chevron's newsletter here
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Comino – Go early and beat the crowds

4/5/2014

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The small island of Comino sandwiched between the larger islands of Malta and Gozo starts getting a steady influx of visitors from June onwards, when the bathing season is in full swing and the locals start to flock there on day trips. Comino’s amenities are limited – there is just one hotel, practically no shops and no cars either. This is quite understandable as its permanent population consists of just three people.

So why go there at all one may ask. Well as far as the Maltese Islands are concerned it is definitely the ultimate get-away-from-it-all destination and a day spent there is like no other. In May its two main beaches, Santa Maria Bay and the Blue Lagoon, are still almost empty of people and can be enjoyed ...erm… as they should be – peacefully!

The Blue Lagoon with its underlying bed of white sands is probably the most enticing stretch of sea in the entire Maltese archipelago – its translucent waters are an invitation to dive in even to the most determined landlubber. Santa Maria Bay is not to be sniffed at either, not least because of its line of tamarisk trees bordering the sea which offers priceless shade. The latter bay can be almost deserted in late spring and the water is crystal clear here as well.

What of the determined landlubber who will still resist the call of the sea? Well there is still enough to see to easily fill a day. On Comino’s highest ground stands the Santa Maria Tower – an imposing fortress built by the Knights at a time when Comino was frequently a convenient hideout for corsairs with dubious intents. In more recent times the tower has often featured in films – most notably in The Count of Monte Cristo where it doubled for the notorious fortress-prison of the Château d'If. As a rule of thumb, if the flag is flying from the tower that means it’s also open to visitors.  

Next to the tower is a ramshackle building, originally an army barracks and now largely deserted except for a few rooms which make up the home of the remaining inhabitants. It’s a cool atmospheric place with a couple of delightful leafy lanes…and you might even get a glimpse of one of the three lone islanders – true modern day castaways surviving on what is essentially a bare rock.

Over on the south side of the island there is a small Knights’ Battery and close to Santa Maria Bay there is a lovely chapel still used by the islanders for Sunday mass – with a priest dutifully making the crossing from Gozo every week.

But really the landlubber’s Comino is a place to get lost in for the day and savour its remoteness; the arid landscape punctuated by the low thyme bushes which at this time of year take on their purple hue, the cliff scenery and the open water vistas across the channels separating it from its larger neighbours …and the blissful quiet.

There are daily ferry crossings to Comino from both Cirkewwa in Malta as well as Mgarr Harbour in Gozo.  Although there are no shops on Comino the hotel bar and restaurant are open to non-residents and there are usually a couple of fast food kiosks at the Blue Lagoon.


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Comino's rugged eastern cliffs

The above article was originally published in the May 2014 newsletter of Chevron UK - Malta travel specialists since 1982. You may subscribe to Chevron's newsletter here
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Spring…and the trekking is easy

2/5/2014

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Gozo was recently voted third best Mediterranean island by the independent Trip Advisor site. This should come as no surprise really - the island is conspicuously different from its larger neighbour Malta; greener, much less densely populated and quieter and consequently with a much slower pace all round. One of Gozo’s notable differences is a much less developed coastline and luckily it will probably stay that way too – half of the coast consists of high and very scenic cliffs.

A trek along part of these cliffs at any time of the year is a rewarding experience and much easier than one might think. One such walk starts from the popular resort of Xlendi, simply by following the promenade on the left hand side of the bay. As the promenade comes to an end there is a small bridge which gets you across the mouth of the Wied ta Kantra – a steep sided dry valley bordered by a varied vegetation. From here make your way to the tower at the end of the bay. There are good views of the cliffs further to the north of Xlendi from here.


Past the tower there is a level limestone rock shelf – a popular off-beat bathing area - which soon makes way to higher ground up to the cliffs. By now you will have left civilization a good twenty minutes behind, the silence is delicious and the views are second to none as the high vertical cliffs come into view. The trek is a very easy one to follow and basically winds its way above a couple of steep sided coves for the next forty minutes or so; a beautiful lonely trek with breath-taking views each step of the way...

Past the second inlet a veritable cliff wall comes into view but don’t be disheartened…the trek continues some way inland making for a less steep climb before rejoining the edge.  Once at the top the full sweep of the cliffs (called the Sanap cliffs in this area) can be appreciated. From here the path becomes a well laid out paved one and the views now stretch as far as Comino and the north coast of Malta. At the end of the paved path a narrow road leads back to the tiny village of Munxar from where one can easily get back to Xlendi via the panoramic road set between open fields – and the whole track would have taken you about two hours.


There’s more edge of the cliff walking if you’re so inclined as the cliffside track continues on a more or less level path to the outskirts of the village of Sannat, and past that on to the large Ta Cenc plateau – itself an equally wild and beautiful site. Allow three to four hours for this second option.


The walk is a relatively easy one and can be appreciated at all times of the year but spring brings out the best of this coastal walk as the vegetation is at its vibrant best. In the hot dry summer an early morning or late afternoon start is best. Some drinking water and sun screen are essentials….plus a camera!


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Heaven up here...

The above article was originally published in the May 2014 newsletter of Chevron UK - Malta travel specialists since 1982. You may subscribe to Chevron's newsletter here.
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The sea, a hallowed isle and a summer palace  

5/2/2014

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Winters in Malta are generally mild with very few really cold days. The sun mercifully makes a welcome appearance on most days as well. Such days make for great walking in the countryside away from the bustling, busy towns. The Selmun promontory lying just to the east of the town of Mellieha is one such prime rambling area, offering diverse features and curiosities, and a rich variety of land and seascapes.

Starting from the roundabout at the entrance to Mellieha take the road marked Selmun. It’s an open country road with a few houses which make up the hamlet of Selmun strung along one side while the other side is construction-free with open views southwards. 

One soon comes upon Selmun Palace, the main building of note in the area sitting majestically on high ground. Though this fine building, built by the Knights in 1783, gives the impression of a fortified residence in reality its purpose was as a summer residence and glorified hunting lodge.

Take the road to the right of the palace and at the first bend in the road (about 100 meters past the palace) take the trek that suddenly appears to your right. The trek soon starts dipping steeply down the side of Mistra valley towards the bay. It’s a very scenic trek which winds its way between open fields on both sides. On the lower ground to the right is the site where most of the huge blocks for the Valletta breakwater were quarried by the British late in the nineteenth century, but you will be hard pressed to notice anything resembling degradation as the rehabilitation of the area after the quarrying was done is almost miraculous. At the very bottom of the trek a road opens up. Taking a left turn gets you to Mistra Bay in a couple of minutes. Mistra is a small horseshoe shaped inlet, thronged by the locals in summer but blissfully deserted in the winter months. The road circles the shallow inlet and heads towards the head of the bay where a coastal battery dating back to 1761 stands guards. The battery (access is not possible at time of writing) was restored in recent times by its present tenants, an aquaculture company.

From this point the road becomes a stony path which roughly follows the coastline along the cliffs of Rdum il-Bies. The small islet of St.Paul comes into view here. It is still hallowed ground for many, being reputedly the place where the saint was shipwrecked on his way to Rome to stand trial in AD.60. The 10th of February is marked in the local calendar as the presumed date of the shipwreck and is a public holiday. The day also marks the only major festa celebrated in winter – that of the parish of St.Paul Shipwrecked in Valletta.

An annual pilgrimage to the islet still takes place every summer. A statue of the saint, a ruined farmhouse and a few rubble walls are the only signs of human intrusion – the last inhabitants of the islet being a farmer’s family residing in happy seclusion until the early days of the twentieth century.

Past the islet the coastline becomes a gentler limestone shelf with some disused salt pans pockmarked in the smooth rock face. The salt pans continue around this last headland but it’s a dead end that way so the better option is to start trekking uphill along a dirt road running parallel with the clay slope. It’s the only rough track on this walk really – a trek hewn out of the clay throughout various years of abusive offroading in the area – a practice that is now illegal. At the top of the hill and to your left there is a long low wall and you should head that way. The wall is in fact the outer perimeter of Fort Campbell.

Fort Campbell’s real interest lies in the fact that it was the last major fortification to be built by the British in Malta. Built in the late 1930’s, its main function was to challenge enemy vessels approaching Grand Harbour. Its novel design which includes a very low profile and the rustic perimeter wall was primarily dictated by the need to avoid detection from the air. Sadly the wall is the only thing that is well preserved here, otherwise the fort (which one can enter freely) has been the victim of long years of neglect, pillaging and vandalism. The barracks around the fort are sadly in an equally dilapidated state.

Making your way out of this somewhat forlorn site you can follow the road back to Selmun Palace. It’s a gentle one kilometer or so to the palace and an immensely scenic road too as it hugs the edge of Mistra valley to its left and borders various fields and vineyards to its right. Two hours should be ample time to cover this relatively easy walk.


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This article was first published in the February 2014 issue of Il-Bizzilla - the Air Malta inflight magazine
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Photo Blog - Rambling around Bidnija

16/1/2014

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Sunny, warm days in January are priceless really. Having met my deadlines for this week, and having put in three days' work at home it was time for some fresh air, some seemingly aimless wandering; but really this is a great way to recharge the batteries before continuing on some more work, currently a drawing commission and some writing. Needless to say my camera is my ever-present companion on these long walks - in this case a three hour walk exploring lanes and garigue around Bidnija. Hope you enjoy the pics as much as I enjoyed the walking...
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A quiet lane in Bidnija - it's surprising that after more than fifty years of living here I can still find the odd previously undiscovered lane here and there.
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The first brown orchids are out. I simply love the intricate structure of orchids.
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Another previously undiscovered track leads me to some great views over Wied Qannotta.
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View from atop il-Qolla towards Gebel Ghawzara.
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The ideal dream home complete with private chapel in Wied Qannotta.
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A seemingly endless field of artichokes...
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A farmer and his dog on their way to the fields.
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The Slow Road to Dwejra

3/1/2014

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Dwejra Bay and Fungus Rock - the view is simply awesome

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Most visitors to Gozo will probably include a short trip to Dwejra - the site so well known for its unique dramatic seascapes and geological features which include the famous Azure Window, Fungus Rock and the so called Inland Sea. Chances are you will get little of the feel of this unique site on a stop-and-go tour of the island, as the area really cries out for better appreciation. 

Gozo by its very nature demands a slower way to do things and an alternate way to visit Dwejra is actually to walk there from the island's capital Victoria. It's a relatively easy five kilometer trek and it is a rewarding alternative. It can be done in two hours - but make that three for stops, diversions and gawping in general! 


The way out of Victoria is easy enough - just follow the signposts to Kercem which lies just ten minutes walking away. Kercem itself is a miniscule village with one quiet main street winding its way in and out of the village again. There are a few ancient stone balconies of note on some old houses but little else of much interest apart from the quaintness of it all. 


Once out of the village follow the signposts to Ghadira ta San Raflu. It's a quiet road bordered by fields and soon enough it follows close to the cliffs - giving breathtaking views across the water. In thirty minutes or so you should arrive at the Ghadira itself - a small pond which attracts waterfowl and other fauna. Until recently the pond supported a thriving population of the local endemic painted frog Discoglossus pictus but insensitive individuals have introduced the alien Bedriaga frog which has all but taken over the Ghadira. Nonetheless being here during the frogs' mating season is quite an experience - their mating calls are incredibly loud and create an impressive ruckus in this otherwise silent place. 

The road divides into two at the pond - take the narrow trek on the left. The trek, initially smoothly cemented over, soon becomes a dust road and eventually just a narrow cycle path skirting the cliffs. The views here are breathtaking - with the small tower at the head of Xlendi Bay looking somewhat lonely amid the wide vista of cliffs. The path eventually leads to an open space with a small rock- hewn chamber and a couple of wells dug in front of it. This is in fact an ancient Punic sanctuary (picture right) about which very little is known. Not much remains of course but the site is certainly one of Gozo's most atmospheric, perched as it is on an impressively high cliff and commanding the best views towards Dwejra and the Fungus Rock. Take time out to gawp. 


Retrace your steps from the site and go uphill for a minute or two until you can see the path towards Dwejra - there are various well trodden paths in fact. The observant rambler will note a proliferation of curious greyish-leaved plants occurring from this point onwards. This is none other than the Maltese Everlasting (Helichrysum melitense) an extremely rare endemic plant confined to just this small corner of Gozo and nowhere else worldwide. It produces yellow flowers between April and late May. 


Soon one arrives at the curved Dwejra Bay with the Fungus Rock standing majestically at its entrance. Again the views here are impressive. Fungus Rock itself is a protected site - being the only known place where the so called Malta Fungus- a strange mushroom-like plant - grows. In the past it was believed to have potent medicinal powers and the Knights of St.John provided round the clock guard to deter locals from collecting this supposed elixir. Past the curve of the bay, head for the Dwejra Tower and you are practically in Dwejra now. Take time to enjoy this great site having tasted its splendor unfolding little by little. 

There is an hourly bus back to Victoria from Dwejra if, quite understandably, you find the hilly road back a bit daunting. 


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On the way to the Punic shrine...the view towards Xlendi

The above article was originally published in the January 2014 newsletter of Chevron UK - Malta travel specialists since 1982. You may subscribe to Chevron's newsletter here.
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Beyond the Azure Window – Getting lost in Gozo

2/12/2013

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Nearly every visitor to Gozo makes the obligatory whistle-stop tour to Dwejra and its photogenic Azure window.  This is quite understandable – Dwejra is a World Heritage site with its unique fossil studded rock formations, the Fungus Rock and the steep sided Dwejra Bay sheltering behind it, plus the so called Inland Sea – a popular shingle beach permanently protected from rough sea by the sheer cliff wall virtually cutting it off from the deep blue Mediterranean beyond. Dwejra is also the most popular dive site in the Maltese Islands and considered by most as a world class site.

Few people give the area the time it deserves and fewer still wander beyond the rock- hewn window. But if you have the time it is well worth it. You’ll need plenty of that, four hours by my reckoning if you want to reach the next town walking mostly gentle gradients; but it’s an awesome, remote trek across a part of Gozo which is uncharacteristically arid and immensely uplifting to the senses.

Leave the car park and walk up to and beyond the chapel overlooking the Inland Sea. The chapel itself is quite unremarkable so a miss is quite in order.  The top of the cliffs give one a beautiful view of the inland sea with its boathouses and cafes. Cross over to the opposite cliffside (the one overlooking the sea) and basically you can now follow the coastline. The observant rambler will probably notice a profusion of grey-leaved plants. This is the Maltese Everlasting, (Helichrysum melitense) a very rare endemic plant found only in this corner of Gozo and nowhere else worldwide. Needless to say this is a legally protected species and should not in any way be damaged. The plant produces a golden yellow flower head between April and June.

There are two quarries immediately after you leave Dwejra but once past these there are hardly any man-made intrusions except for the odd hunting hide – some tottering precariously on the cliff’s edge. The coast follows a wide curve allowing you to view the Azure window from a completely new angle. This stretch is an important bird area – it is estimated that it supports some 500 pairs of Cory’s Shearwaters and between 30 and 50 pairs of Yelkouan Shearwaters. The Yelkouan is endemic to the Mediterranean basin and is a globally threatened species with an estimated population of between 15 and 30 thousand pairs worldwide – Malta has about 1,500 pairs.

In an hour or so you should reach San Dimitri point – the Maltese Islands’ most westerly point.  From here the walking is in an easterly direction and one soon comes across Wied ir-Raheb – a deep cleft in the cliffs that falls dramatically to the sea below. Walk a little way inland to go round this elevated river valley to follow the coast again on the valley’s eastern side. The cliffs here are high and mighty coralline ones but soon give way to a gentler, smoother cream colored limestone plateau. Look out for a particularly quaint rock formation – a mushroom shaped one created by a cap of the harder coralline stone over a stump of the more easily eroded globigerina limestone.  

The next river valley you will come across is Wied il-Mielah. There is a natural arch where this valley meets the sea…not as well known and certainly not as celebrated as the Dwejra one but equally dramatic nonetheless. Steps lead down to sea level for a better view.

Beyond Wied il-Mielah the limestone plateau continues for another kilometer or so until the cliffs are broken again by the beautiful Wied il-Ghasri, a fjord-like drowned river valley with its own miniscule pebble beach wedged between the high cliffs.  Rock-cut stairs lead to the beach and the detour is well worth it as this is one of Gozo’s seriously beautiful spots.

Moving on from Wied il-Ghasri the limestone plateau continues and the gradient is gently downhill. This part of the coast has the largest stretch of salt pens in the islands, still worked and harvested by hand to this day. There is a cute hole-in-the-wall salt shop if you want to buy some of the stuff.  You will soon reach Xwejni Bay – another popular summer bathing spot, with a curious conical clay form at its eastern end. 

Between Xwejni and the next bay (Qbajjar) is a newly restored Knights’ redoubt.

Beyond Qbajjar Bay there is a lovely north facing promenade and once past that you are now in Marsalforn proper. Marsalforn is Gozo’s most important resort town, pretty crowded in summer but blissfully quiet in the winter months.  You will be lucky to find a couple of bars open on the front, as after this longish route you will definitely cherish a good local beer and perhaps a hobza biz-zejt to go with it…

Both start and end points of this walk are served with hourly bus services from Victoria so having your own car is not an issue, the bus is in fact the better alternative since this is not a circular route.


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This article was first published in the December 2013 edition of Il-Bizzilla - the Air Malta inflight magazine
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Walking the Line

1/11/2013

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When Britain took control of Malta in 1800 the island was already an impressively defended place.  From the earliest times Bronze Age settlers had chosen easily defended hilltops in which to settle and enhanced them with strong defensive walls; the Romans constructed a large defended town in the island’s center and built curious round towers in the countryside, the Arabs fortified a smaller Mdina.

And then of course the Knights of St. John came here in 1530 – still licking their wounds from a resounding defeat which resulted in the forced abandonment of their previous island home in Rhodes. Immediately after the very testing Great Siege of 1565 they set about throwing up defences everywhere…massively walled cities complete with dry moats, coastal forts, watch towers and entrenchments. These assured that the dreaded Ottomans would never mount another serious attack to take over the islands. The defences were indeed impregnable: so much so that when the Knights meekly surrendered the Islands to Napoleon some two hundred and fifty years later - and the islanders in turn rebelled against the latter conquerors - the French managed to hold on inside Valletta’s thick walls for more than a year, and then it was only the total blockade of the city by the British that ultimately forced the French capitulation.  
The British continued in the steps of all previous occupiers. They built a series of low profile, inconspicuous coastal forts more adapted to the warfare technology of the time. And after being here for nearly a century they were still jittery about the north coast’s vulnerability to invading forces and so they came up with an altogether fantastic and pretentious project...
The concept of the Victoria Lines was a great defensive wall practically dividing the island between the more populated and well defended south, and the sparsely inhabited and less crucial (to British interests) north. The wall was planned to follow a natural geographical barrier which cuts across the island, running roughly from Madliena in the east through to Kuncizzjoni at its western end – a total of approximately twelve kilometers.  Construction started in the early 1870’s and the works were only completed in 1897 – the year of Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee. 

At each end of the wall – Pembroke and Kuncizzjoni – barracks were constructed, and the wall itself includes massive forts in strategic places; Fort Madliena, Fort Mosta and Fort Bingemma – each one guarding vulnerable locations – the first the eastern end of the wall where the terrain is flat, while the latter two guard areas where the natural cliff barrier is breached by an easily accessible valley. 

The project took so long to build that by 1900, a mere three years after completion, steady advances in warfare technology revealed that the Victoria Lines were of dubious defensive value and by 1907 the whole defensive system was practically abandoned. 

It is not easy to walk the line in its completeness. There are parts where time has taken its toll and it is difficult to trace out the wall. In other places modern roads and construction have wiped out or made the wall traces all but easy on the eye. 

One notable exception is the stretch of the wall from Bingemma to Falka Gap  - the part known as the Dwejra Lines. Here one can get a good feel of the wall and its clever meandering along steep cliffsides.  Setting off from near the small chapel at Bingemma, you can start with a small diversion to the valley bed beneath –across which rises Malta’s largest rock-cut complex of tombs – a collection of more than 30 hypogea honeycombing the hillside. Opinion varies whether this site is of Phoenician or Roman origin but at any rate it’s worth exploring this ancient burial ground. 

Backtrack up to the chapel, and a little way uphill and to your left (near a sizeable info board) there is a small path that will take you across the massive wall that crosses the valley.  Once across, turn right and follow the line along some of its steeper edges – there are impressive views over the countryside below for the two kilometers or so of this part of the wall with the picturesque village of Mgarr with its oval dome featuring prominently over the surroundings. You can take time to explore bits and pieces of the wall itself; the ditch, gun emplacements and ancillary structures run along the length of the wall.  

Once at the Falka end of the Dwejra lines, make your way back along the country road that runs more or less parallel and at some distance to the wall, and which takes you back to Bingemma. This road overlooks the Qlejgha Valley, more popularly known as Chadwick Lakes, so named after the engineer who constructed the massive water catchments in this important and flood prone valley. It is a quiet country road with beautiful vistas over to Mtarfa ridge and Mdina beyond, dotted with typical farmhouses and the odd country villa.  The whole walk is less than five kilometers long and the gradients and terrain are mostly easy. Come any time during the week to enjoy the silence and solitude but be warned that all of this area is a favourite playground for the locals on any Sunday in the cooler months – which is not too bad an idea if you want to mingle… or just smell the barbecued sausages!

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This article was first published in the November 2013 edition of Il-Bizzilla - 
 the Air Malta inflight magazine
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Streets and Churches of Western Gozo

1/10/2013

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Everyone and his dog will tell you that Gozo is a different place from Malta; the place is definitely greener, the pace is slower, the traffic negligible… and laid back appears to be the operating system of the place.

While a stroll through some villages in Malta may entail a constant watch for oncoming traffic squeezing through impossibly narrow streets, there is little or none of it on Gozo  - and more so in the cooler months when the slow pace of life gets even more lethargic with fewer tourists around. At times you will walk through a place and get the feel it is completely deserted except for the fact that most houses appear well kept and a dog will bark or a cock crow somewhere to shatter the illusion.

If you are staying in Gozo for any length of time (lucky you) a village crawl is a pleasant way to familiarize oneself with the place and an ideal spot to set off is the hilltop village of Zebbug.


Zebbug actually sits across two adjoining hillocks bridged by a narrow ridge. There is not much in the way of built environment to lure you here actually, but the views from practically every street corner are nothing short of stunning – collectively providing a 360 degree vista of the island. The simple parish church dominates the airy central square. The church’s main point of interest is the extensive use of a limestone form of onyx quarried from a nearby hill. This decorative stone was utilized extensively in local church decorations but here in Zebbug they really went overboard…altar, columns, confessional boxes and baptismal font are all carved from this rather pretty pinkish stone.

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Picture perfect- the tiny village of Ghasri viewed from Zebbug
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You can move to the next village, Ghasri, via the broad main road; but a more interesting way is to make your way down the steep Triq il-Kanun (ask for it if you can’t find it) which winds its way through terraced fields and ends besides a small chapel sitting next to the watercourse of Wied il-Ghasri. Make your way upstream via the road and another ten minutes will get you to Ghasri village proper. Ghasri is even smaller than Zebbug and similarly quiet. You will probably come across instances of keys kept in front door locks – a sure sign of the lack of any serious crime in these parts. This probably also explains why the Police station here (and in most of the other villages) is invariably closed!

Take the winding Triq il-Fanal to the right of the Ghasri parish church – an open road with good views of the Ghammar hill on the left and the Gordan lighthouse perched on the next hill. You will walk past the tiny hamlet of Ghammar – the smallest settlement in Gozo consisting of just one street and a few alleys; even its tiny chapel is well hidden in a side lane.

Past tiny Ghammar the lovely Ta Pinu National Shrine comes into view, sited majestically in the open countryside. Built in the 1920’s in the Romanesque style, this is probably the loveliest church erected in the twentieth century in the Maltese Islands – not least because of the richness of design in the sculpted decorations inside, with innumerable variations of abstract carving and no single motif repeated anywhere. This is also a place of great devotion and a magnet for pilgrims all year round - take time to look at the huge (if somewhat bizarre) collection of votive offerings inside the church; witness to an Island’s deep rooted faith. The greatest day in the history of the church was probably 26th May 1990 – when the late Pope John Paul II – the first Pontiff to visit Malta, let alone Gozo - celebrated Holy Mass in the piazza and all of Gozo flocked here to greet him.

If you are feeling energetic you might want to trudge up the Way of the Cross which starts across the road in front of the church…it’s a steep climb to the top of Ghammar hill with statues depicting scenes from the Passion of Christ dotted along the way. Needless to say there’s a breathtaking panorama from the top.

Leaving Ta Pinu, retrace your steps by a couple of hundred feet and take the road which will lead you to the next village – Gharb. It’s another country road which passes over the valley below via a newly restored stone bridge and affords splendid views of Ta Pinu church’s eastern end and belfry.

Gharb is the remotest village in Gozo and one of the oldest as well. Look out for a number of ancient stone balconies on buildings – rare almost everywhere else but quite common here. There is a lovely parish church with a curious concave façade dating from 1699 gracing the village’s main square. A privately owned folklore museum housed in an eighteenth century house also graces the square. Its twenty eight rooms give a comprehensive view of trades and crafts formerly practiced in the Islands, with an extensive collection of related tools and implements.


This article was first published in the October 2013 edition of Il-Bizzilla - the Air Malta inflight magazine
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Photo Blog - Early Morning Light

5/9/2013

1 Comment

 
I love long country walks but the summer puts me almost totally in aestivation mode as far as this activity is concerned. But on the rare days when I get up early it's off on a bus up to Rabat or Dingli and then making my way home on foot through the dry summer landscape. Granted - the dry drab Maltese landscape can be somewhat dull in the summer but the early morning still has its magic as these pictures testify.
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Wied il-Qlejgha (aka Chadwick Lakes) captured in a selective color mode. 
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Lone farmhouse in Wied il-Qlejgha with rising mists
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Dwejra Lines - early morning mist over the valley below. 
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Dwejra Lines road 
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Lonesome pine - Dwejra Lines
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Verdala Palace floating in the mist
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Magical misty tour...
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Girgenti valley looking crisp and lush after the first rainfall
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And it's off to work for this early rising farmer...
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