More Festa, Ggantija Temples and Dinner and Drinks at the Harbour

What have we been up to the last few days you ask? Well the title says it all.

The Feast of St. George continues with decorations, statues being carried through the streets, parades, bands, fireworks and general revelry (not to mention all the church parts!) 

Here are a few more photos and videos to show you how it looks:

We were able to watch the fireworks from the rooftop of our apartment on Friday night. There is a sign on the hill that says "Viva San Gorg" and the fireworks are set off from that hill. Steve took a video so you could enjoy them with us 😁 We joked that at one point there was so much smoke from the fireworks that you couldn't see the actual fireworks!

We decided to make a visit to the Ggantija temples located in Xaghra. I learned a lot of things from this visit (which I'm sure I've learned before and promptly forgot) so I'm documenting it here, for you... and for me!

Ggantija is a megalithic temple complex (megalith means giant stones). It is a 5500 year old stone temple complex purported to have been built by giants!

Steve took this excellent video which includes part of the commentary about the temples if you would like more information:

To some it may just look like a giant pile of rocks, but it is a glimpse into history 5500 years ago! I found it quite fascinating to imagine who might have built them, how they built it and what their life was like.

Here we are imagining...

Included in your ticket to Ggantija Temples is a ticket to visit Ta Kola Windmill which is just 200 metres up the road. I also found this quite interesting. This windmill is around 200 years old and played an important role in village life. When the winds were favourable, the locals brought their grains to the miller so they could be ground into flour. One of the information signs in the building also said that there was a communal village oven for bread to be baked in. Each family would imprint their family logo into their bread so they would know whose bread was whose! It really makes you think about how advanced our technology has become in 200 years... and how much easier things are for us now. Is it just me who never really thought about how these things happened historically? I'm always amazed to find out how the little details of day to day life played out.

Here is a photo of me in front of the windmill so you can get an idea of the size... enormous!

Here is a little video from inside to show you how it looks:

After this we were excruciatingly hot... yep it's hot out there! So we walked to the town square for a refreshing drink in the shade. Xaghra has a beautiful town square with the village basilica prominently located.

Side note: There are about 18 villages in Gozo (I can't get an exact number... it varies depending on who you ask or what you read). Each with its own square and at least one parish Catholic Church. Often the churches are located in the main square.

Our friends Suzy and Michael joined us and we headed down to the harbour for drinks and a delicious dinner. Mgarr harbour in Gozo (where the ferry arrives) is a vibrant place and excellent for people (and landscape) watching!

Here we are enjoying drinks before dinner at a bar overlooking the harbour:

And then dinner in a beautifully located restaurant!

It's hard to tell from the photo... but it is just a little street lined with restaurants facing the harbour. It was indeed a beautiful evening!

Also look at Steve's giant shrimp cocktail!