It's a nice sunny morning in Xemxija
A Boat Trip to Gozo/Għawdex, Malta - 27th October 2026
We decide to go for one of the pre-arranged tours that the hotel seems to be promoting, which in our case is the one featuring a boat trip to Gozo, known in Maltese as Għawdex, and Comino. It also includes all the connecting buses and so on, which ends up making for a fairly seemless trip which wasn't too expensive either. As a bonus, the boat we're on for the leg from Buġibba to Gozo isn't the standard modern sightseeing boat as seen in the brochure, but is a somewhat older wooden schooner - currently not rigged for sails but which looked like it could have been once - which is much more interesting. After a few hours on Gozo, which we spend mostly looking around the old Citadel, the boat picks us up for a short trip to the Blue Lagoon on nearby Comino. This looks idyllic in the tour leaflets but turns out to be a fairly hideous over-crowded zoo of cocktail bars pumping out drinks in hulled-out pineapples along with techno from PA speakers. The next day, Isobel fancies a few hours on a beach so we get the bus up to nearby Mellieħa. Nosher and Harry leave her to it and climb up to a nature reserve where we simply hang out under a tree for a while, before continuing up for a look at the red tower we saw from a distance. It turns out that this is indeed known as The Red Tower, or otherwise St. Agatha's Tower, and was one of many buildings and fortifications built by the Order of St. John, or the Knights Hospitaller, in the mid 1600s.
previous album: The Xemxija Heritage Trail, San Pawl il-Baħar, Malta - 26th October 2026
We wait for the charter tour coach
Patchwork fields outside Xemxija
Some dude works alone in a field
A boy fishes off the pier at Buġibba
Our boat manoeuvers for a rear-end landing
On the high seas of the Mediterranean
Hanging around at the bow of the boat
It-Torri ta' Santa Marija on Comino
The very blue Mġarr Harbour
The cruise boat arrives at Mġarr
An open-top bus takes us to Ar-Rabat
There's a Mini graveyard near Mġarr
The bus stops for a photo frenzy
A massive pile of rubble
A traditional windmill
The two tour buses dump us outside Victoria
An Ir-Rabat side street
An old building on Triq Taħt Putirjal
It-Telgħa tal-Belt on the way to the Citadel
Harry walks up the hill, carrying an ice cream
The streets of Victoria
Saint Mary's Cathedral
A view of Ir-Rabat from the Citadel
Isobel and Harry look out from the Citadel
Another church building within the Citadel walls
People on the steps of the cathedral square
A red dress in an alley
A very pitted block of limestone
Old walls in the citadel
Statues of a pope
Old graffiti on a stone wall
There's a set of giant bells
A corridor leads away through the citadel walls
Harry and Isobel on some stone steps
An imposing tower
Fruit and vegetables for sale
Saint George's Square
Harry walks past a clothing stall
Isobel turns around to wait
Wrought ironwork with 'smap' in it
A Roman dude in a wall
We stop for a drink at the Chapeau Bistro
A classic Mark 1 Vauxhall Nova
A view from behind Mġarr Harbour
Harry and Isobel back on the boat
Another Supreme Cruises tour boat
Getting off on Comino is a little bit precarious
Near the Blue Lagoon on Comino
The Blue Lagoon is a bit of a zoo
Only a few people are actually swimming
A rock arch near our cruise boat
Waves crash on the rocks of Comino
Harry and Isobel return to the boat
A snorkeller and a dog swim around
Isobel goes for a float around
The boat heads back to Malta
The sun goes down over the Mediterranean Sea
Sunset at the stern of the boat
Comino's limestone in the evening sunlight
Ra heads off to battle Apophis once more
A 'one for the 'Gram' frenzy as the sun sets
The cliffs of Comino
Nice evening colours over the sea
We pass by Xemxija Bay on the way back to Buġibba
It's a bit of a challenge getting off the gangway
Once more we take the stairs down to breakfast
A view out of the corridor window
A small farmhouse of some sort
Nosher and Harry sit under a bush for a while
Bright pink flowers and some dereliction
Harry looks out at the view
Derelict unfinished apartment blocks
Cracked breezeblocks
Graffiti on a derelict building
St. Agatha's Tower, built by the Order of St. John
Flags in the Red Tower
Harry looks out from the tower roof
One of many ferries from Gozo
The flag of the Knights of Malta over the tower
Some sort of shanty town
We get a visit from a pigeon
A very funky LED lightbulb in the café
Harry waits for dinner in the Xemxija Bay Café
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It's a nice sunny morning in Xemxija
It's a nice sunny morning in Xemxija
We wait for the charter tour coach
Patchwork fields outside Xemxija
Some dude works alone in a field
A boy fishes off the pier at Buġibba
Our boat manoeuvers for a rear-end landing
On the high seas of the Mediterranean
Hanging around at the bow of the boat
It-Torri ta' Santa Marija on Comino
The very blue Mġarr Harbour
The cruise boat arrives at Mġarr
An open-top bus takes us to Ar-Rabat
There's a Mini graveyard near Mġarr
The bus stops for a photo frenzy
A massive pile of rubble
A traditional windmill
The two tour buses dump us outside Victoria
An Ir-Rabat side street
An old building on Triq Taħt Putirjal
It-Telgħa tal-Belt on the way to the Citadel
Harry walks up the hill, carrying an ice cream
The streets of Victoria
Saint Mary's Cathedral
A view of Ir-Rabat from the Citadel
Isobel and Harry look out from the Citadel
Another church building within the Citadel walls
People on the steps of the cathedral square
A red dress in an alley
A very pitted block of limestone
Old walls in the citadel
Statues of a pope
Old graffiti on a stone wall
There's a set of giant bells
A corridor leads away through the citadel walls
Harry and Isobel on some stone steps
An imposing tower
Fruit and vegetables for sale
Saint George's Square
Harry walks past a clothing stall
Isobel turns around to wait
Wrought ironwork with 'smap' in it
A Roman dude in a wall
We stop for a drink at the Chapeau Bistro
A classic Mark 1 Vauxhall Nova
A view from behind Mġarr Harbour
Harry and Isobel back on the boat
Another Supreme Cruises tour boat
Getting off on Comino is a little bit precarious
Near the Blue Lagoon on Comino
The Blue Lagoon is a bit of a zoo
Only a few people are actually swimming
A rock arch near our cruise boat
Waves crash on the rocks of Comino
Harry and Isobel return to the boat
A snorkeller and a dog swim around
Isobel goes for a float around
The boat heads back to Malta
The sun goes down over the Mediterranean Sea
Sunset at the stern of the boat
Comino's limestone in the evening sunlight
Ra heads off to battle Apophis once more
A 'one for the 'Gram' frenzy as the sun sets
The cliffs of Comino
Nice evening colours over the sea
We pass by Xemxija Bay on the way back to Buġibba
It's a bit of a challenge getting off the gangway
Once more we take the stairs down to breakfast
A view out of the corridor window
A small farmhouse of some sort
Nosher and Harry sit under a bush for a while
Bright pink flowers and some dereliction
Harry looks out at the view
Derelict unfinished apartment blocks
Cracked breezeblocks
Graffiti on a derelict building
St. Agatha's Tower, built by the Order of St. John
Flags in the Red Tower
Harry looks out from the tower roof
One of many ferries from Gozo
The flag of the Knights of Malta over the tower
Some sort of shanty town
We get a visit from a pigeon
A very funky LED lightbulb in the café
Harry waits for dinner in the Xemxija Bay Café