It was a whirlwind, whistle stop tour of Yorkshire and Derbyshire before we headed back to sunny (and extremely hot Gozo). We had really enjoyed some family time and a stunning celebration of the wedding of our lovely friends Marcus and Heather. It was an amazing day in a wonderful location in Driffield – they even managed to hold their wedding ceremony outside which was certainly something we hadn’t been expecting.
Now, I won’t say it all ran smoothly, especially since we had over four hours delay on our flight back from Manchester, which extended to a six hour delay by the time we had waited overnight for our ferry back to Gozo as they don’t run quite so frequently in the early hours of the morning! We had joked with Andrew our driver on the way over about sometimes having to wait overnight for ferries and then it happened to us on the way back ! Clearly we should be more careful what we talk about in future 😉 In the end I was amazed and stunned that we were lucky enough to be on the sunrise ferry and although we were absolutely exhausted nothing could dampen the spirits of seeing the sun rise whilst on the water.
We were absolutely shattered when we got back to our apartment but once again, we were lifted, this time by the discovery of letters inviting us to collect our Maltese residency cards. An exciting day indeed, although we decided that it might be better to wait til we were a little more “with it” so we postponed collecting them until the next day. The government offices in Gozo are in a converted hospital – and had been opened by the late Queen (when she was princess Elizabeth and the duchess of Edinburgh) in 1951 – we found ourselves standing right where she and the Duke of Edinburgh would have stood to unveil 2 commemoration plaques. The process of collecting the cards was extremely easy and there wasn’t even a queue, we were lucky enough to find a parking space right outside too so we felt we had had a very successful mission.
Along with the excitement of being offical residents was the collection of our car, which had been officially registered in our absence. After the hustle and bustle of that morning we were glad to get back to the apartment and rest, and rest and rest. The journey had taken it out of us so it was a couple of days before we ventured out and started snorkelling in the bay by the apartment.
Soon after we arrived back the morning bangs started – and it wasn’t the ever present building works but fireworks ….. and then afternoon fireworks and then evening fireworks. Gozitans love their fireworks and because it is such a small island they can be heard almost everywhere ! This was a bit different – they were really, really loud. It was the festa (village feast) for Kerċem which is the next village over the hill and just a few kilometres away – the first friday we were back we were able to watch a full display from our terrace – a truly amazing experience. It was a treat to be able to see more or less the whole thing without leaving home. The following morning we awoke to more morning fireworks – which continued sporadically throughout the day – and then another display in the evening. This week it is the turn of Victoria the capital city of Gozo to have their feast celebrating St. George – and more very loud bangs to wake up to although this time we can’t actually see the display as it’s behind the hill.
The photos above are mine – but here’s what it would have looked like if I was a professional and standing in just the right spot ….. so for now we say bring on the rest of summer and everything that it offers here in Gozo, snorkelling and swimming, village feasts, plenty of relaxing and probably a whole lot more fireworks.
Next time, all about swimming here in Gozo and perhaps the odd walk or two too …….
The Adventures of Gemini J 