July 23 - Gozo

 July 23 - Gozo

An early….ish start today as we try and miss some of the steaming heat of the day for our visit to the Megalithic Ggantija Temples.  


These monuments, encompassing two temples and apparently used for some kind of fertility ceremony, have been classified as the oldest structure in the world and date back to 3600 B.C.  The site itself has been laid out well to ensure decent viewing, but it also houses an impressive archeological museum containing exhibits found in and around the temples. 

When thinking about the age of these, and other similar monuments, and how they’ve managed to survive all these years, it’s pretty mind blowing.  However, I must admit that I’m much more impressed when seeing something like a medieval cathedral and thinking about the planning, design, and workmanship that’s gone into making it  ‘real’. 

Our second visit of the day was to the Basilica of St George’s, our ‘local’ church.   ‘Local’ because our B&B backs on to the back of the building itself, this 17th century Baroque church is just magnificent.  Full of marble and gold stucco inside, and with walls and ceilings covered in paintings and richly ornamented decoration, this church is stunning. No wonder it’s known as the ‘Golden Church of Gozo’. 

An interesting observation from around the ‘St George’s’ neighbourhood is to see lots of old houses with tiles and plaques depicting St George himself ‘running through’ the dragon. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 



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