2 February 2008             

Post #20: The Blue Grotto   (see related Web Album)

On Saturday, we decided to take a trip to the Blue Grotto.  The rental car company had given us another little Peugeot 307 diesel four-door (in lieu of no micro-van), so we were in two cars and all could strap in and ride comfortably. 

The drive to the Blue Grotto got interesting quickly.  Dave placed his confidence in DeDe's orienteering gift, and allowed her to lead, which wouldn't have been a problem, except that he also said that he needed to stop for diesel right away as the rental people had delivered a car on empty with the fuel light on.  (Contrast that with the American practice of full tank on receipt and full tank on return).  DeDe was to find a “trustworthy-looking” service station. 

Shortly after jumping on the “highway” (which is unfamiliar to us, primarily because, instead of exits, they have roundabouts, which can get extremely confusing, and the map has highway numbers, but neither DeDe nor Dave have seen an actual highway numeral sign anywhere as of yet!) they found themselves turning off in a little town called Birkekara.  They were promptly circling around in a maze of narrow streets, seeking some sign of a business area where a gas station might be found. 

DeDe was able to hear her dear husband's immediate concern regarding her choice of route through the walkie-talkie, and Shirley, as DeDe's co-pilot, kindly would translate to Dave the replies from the lead driver.  Just moments after DeDe's “Sorry” was passed on as a “Mea culpa!  Mea culpa!”  DeDe said, “I feel a gas station coming on!”  And sure enough, around the next bend was a full-service pit-stop right where two streets came together in a V.  Hurray!  This, after only a small amount of wandering, no real loss on the day; the friendly service station attendants directed us back to the main highway – after commiserating upon the bizarre empty-tank practices of Malta.

As you come up over a hill just before the entrance to the Blue Grotto, you find a viewpoint parking area.  DeDe pulled in there, jumped out, took a couple quick shots of the view, and jumped back in to the car.  Then the convoy continued on into the dead-end road where one can purchase a ticket to take a boat and see the grottos along the shoreline.  A very quaint bit of a village is to be found where the road ends.

What is a “grotto” you ask?  Great question!  A grotto is a cave-like structure, either naturally or artificially formed.  In this case, it is naturally formed out of the rocky cliffs at the shores of the Mediterranean.  The colorful coral at the bottom create the blue hue for which this grotto is named.  There is another noted “blue grotto” in Italy, as well.  There is, of course more information on the Maltese blue grotto on the web. 

Prior to purchasing our tickets for the boat, we sat on a stone balcony area that overlooks the water, and had a snack of apples, crackers, lemonade, and the like.  Then we walked down a steep hill toward the ticket booth, and for 35 euros (just over $50), we were given passage onto one of the tiny boats.  DeDe had Bobby in the front-pack, Dave carried Nathan, who wasn't too comfortable with the tippy boat, and he knows he's supposed to always have his “water jacket” on for boating.  This breach of conduct by his parents did not help his confidence. 

We were positioned in the boat, which had three benches, plus a place at the back for the driver, and one other tourist, an older man, had the pleasure of joining our group.  We started out of the channel, when the driver turned us around and headed back to the dock.  Two other tourists, a young couple, were added to the boat, maxing us out at fourteen.  Guess they like to get their money's worth out of each tank of gas!

The waves rocked the boat severely enough to make all of our tummies twirl a bit at first.  Nathan didn't care for it much, but he muffled his squeals by squeezing tightly to his daddy and nuzzling his face in his father's neck.  The cliff walls on the shoreline look even taller from below!  The people standing on the crest of sheer edges looked rather small from our vantage point in the rocking vessel. 

The driver, with a pretty serious accent, cried out, “Okay, ladies and gentlemen, this is the Cat's Cave, the Cat's Cave!  See the pink coloring along the wall.  Yes, Cat's Cave.”  We have yet to read more about the pink stone, as we could not understand what the man was saying, and if he was very knowledgeable, he didn't let on that he was.  Further on we went completely in to the Blue Grotto.  Check out the entrance to the sea-cave scene in the newest “Count of Monte Cristo” movie and you’ll go in there too.  Seriously. That’s where it was filmed.

After our hike back up to the cars, we drove to Pretty Bay, to share that beach area with Bill and Shirley, and we'd hoped to dine at the Bite Size Cafe again.  However, when we arrived, the cafe was closed until 6:00, so we let the kids play at the playground, and we shared the tiny seashells with Bill and Shirley.  We also found that little boat that was beached had gotten buried even deeper in the sand.  See photos of Birzebbuga and compare with that of the shots at the end of the Blue Grotto album. 

We decided to just drive home while it was still daylight, and eat leftovers, as we needed to get to bed early.  DeDe and her parents, along with baby Bobby had to be up on Sunday morning by 5 to get to the catamaran for Sicily by 6 AM.   Dave needed a good night's rest, so he could manage all the children with endurance while we were away for the long day. 

Look forward to the next post, where we will share our cruise and bus tour of Sicily and Mt. Etna!

Send us an email about this post!  dgibbs at uwsp dot edu  or  dedegibbs at gmail dot com