The Northern corner of Malta

We had driven up to this corner of Malta last night – but it was after dark when we had landed at the airport so we didn’t see what the area looked like when we got here. In the morning it looks pretty good – there it is helped by the fact it is a beautiful sunny day.

We have stayed the night at a hotel right next to the ferry to Gozo so we can see the ferry coming in and out of the harbor in the morning. We had originally planned go on the ferry for a daytrip to Gozo – but decided there was enough to do on the main island for our long weekend.

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After watching the ferry we drive out from the hotel along some small roads around a little peninsula in the far North West corner of the island. There isn’t many people living up here and the landscape is pretty dramatic with some cliffs going down to the water both on this peninsula and across the water.

We drive up a small road which should lead to a tower. First we get down to a little cove with some houses. The area looks pretty dead – I got a feeling most of the houses are owned by foreigners who use them as a holiday home a few weeks of the year. Maybe they do rent them out during the summer – but this time of the year nobody seems to live in this small village. We see the tower on the top of the cliff and try to drive up there. But the road is closed so we can’t drive up. The walk up to the top doesn’t seem too hard – but it doesn’t seem all that interesting to walk up for the view so we decide if we can’t do lazy sightseeing at the tower we will give it up all together.

We give up on the tower and drive to the end of the peninsula – it only takes a couple of minutes driving slowly – the island of Malta is fairly small and the peninsula is even smaller though a bit too big for walking. Here at the end is a little parking lot in front of a small church which has been put up by somebody who was saved from a small shipwreck and put the small shrine here to show their gratitude. From the end of the island there is a great view across the water to the cliff of the rest of the island.

We leave the church and drive back across the peninsula till we get to a big red tower. The red tower is on the top of a hill – there supposedly is public access to this building – just not for the moment. So we can’t get inside the building and only walk up the stair to the entrance to the tower. From up here there are great views of the surrounding area and even with the tower closed you can still get up here and enjoy the view. Down below in front of the tower you get the views of the nearby smaller islands of Gozo and Comino.

We want to drive to the end of the peninsula on the other side. But there is some sort of truck blocking the road. It seems like it is doing some sort of work and doesn’t appear to be moving anytime soon. So we give up on seeing the end of the peninsula and just leave the area.