| As everything in the apartment is electric this impacted our morning coffee ritual, Paul didn't bring Jo's first mug to her in bed while she went through her morning stretches to mitigate against vertigo caused by neck strain. Morning into late afternoon was predicted to be dry so Jo plotted out a long and much needed walk after two mostly sedentary days. It is amazing how quickly we were outside the city, into the much more sane lanes with few cars racing by. The plant life had responded to their evening soaking, the green was practically radiant in the fields of the broad valley surrounded by hills and steppes that are crammed with limestone buildings reached by steep, sometimes switchbacked roads. We saw some fields with plants we couldn't identify, taking photos for future referencing. Up another very steep road we reached the Ta' Ġurdan Lighthouse near the village of Ghasri. We were a bit disappointed to see and hear that we weren't alone, a group of eight young adults were sitting at a nice overlook playing pop music on a device. It was good to see them enjoying the early afternoon but their music wasn't as interesting as the birdsong. We didn't linger long as we had started late, the loop was long, and we had a dinner date with the partners of Arthall (going to a restaurant and, indeed, getting together with another couple for dinner is a relatively rare event for us). Back down the hill we passed an extended family with auntie (or grandma?), two mothers, children, and two young men, all dressed up taking an after-Church stroll. We retraced our steps, past several dog-walkers (it must have been the usual Sunday afternoon time to take the pooch out), back to Ghasri before turning off towards our next destination. We had noted earlier that the unleashed dogs we had encountered along the way were rather tolerant of strangers, never did we feel the aggressive defense of territory that oftentimes feels a bit of a threat when walking the countryside in the U.S. We also saw a few serious runners and bikers logging the kilometers. The Ta’ Pinu sanctuary is impressive enough with its contemporary statues and curved mosaic walls in the large courtyard in front of the church but it across the street where the real attraction lies. Up Ta’ Għammar hill is a steep pathway are positioned 14 larger than life, white Carrara marble statues, providing an effort-filled pilgrimage for the ritual of the Stations of the Cross. This leads to a large amphitheater in the round with a stone altar placed in the center. We sat at the top and enjoyed our simple lunch. From that vantage one can see the Sea in all directions, making the smallness of the island clearly evident. Back down the hill we started down an even steeper path to the adjacent narrow, terraced and thoroughly planted verdant valley. We stopped after descending to the first terrace as the stone steps going to lower levels looked a bit precarious. We had seen a man pushing a wheelbarrow up the path, the labor involved in farming these difficult to access fields seem rather incredible. We looped past the Ta'Dbiegi Crafts Village that we has visited on a previous hike, hoping to view the Neolithic Caves At Ghajn Abdul, further on. We didn't see the caves but enjoyed some spectacular views. The dirt/gravel roads were |
Nearing Victoria ir-Rabat we noted preparations for some sort of event: police standing around readied for traffic and crowd control, members of a band in uniform, flags atop buildings as the churches peeled their bells.
The pizza we had for dinner wasn't memorable and our server neglected us, but we thoroughly enjoyed our time with Arthall director Marta Obiols Fornell and her partner Tomas Hed, a painter whose work we admire (we purchased a beautiful linoleum print of his to bring home the day before).