Day 2

Marsaxlokk village, Golden bay, Paradise bay, Blue Lagoon in Comino and Gozo
This was going to be a crazy hectic day, so we started at 8 am (slept around 2 am the previous night), and headed straight to the fishing village of Marsaxlokk. It was a Sunday, and they have special fish market on Sundays, and we wanted to see the locals in action before it got all busy with the hustle and bustle. And then drive around few bays of Malta, and take a boat to Comino. We wanted to spend couple of hours swimming in the Blue lagoon, and then take a ferry to the island of Gozo.

The 1st thing to notice in Marsaxlokk is this lovely cathedral in the main square. Some shops were still not open when we got there around 8:20 am.

Just right across the cathedral square are the markets, on either side. Once you walk across the markets (behind them), you come to the bay, with panaromic views of the village and the colorful boats called 'Luzzu'

The quaint fishing village in the south-east of Malta. The traditional and colourful fishing boats, known as the luzzu, painted in bright shades of blue, red, yellow and green, can be seen all over the waters surrounding Marsaxlokk, colouring the scene with their bright colours.

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On our way to the Golden bay, we decided to drive past the highway we saw from the tea garden restaurant in Mdina (the previous day) to get a view of the fortified city from a distance. So, we drove around the city on the highways for a while and then re-routed to our destination

This is how one of the sections of the highway around Mdina looked like, where we stopped for a picture of Mdina

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Finally we reached to our destination. I would recommend putting Għajn Tuffieħa Tower as the destination on your maps, coz from the spot of the Tower, one can see 3 bays: Gnejna (farthest), Għajn Tuffieħa (closest) and Golden bay (other side)

This is the Għajn Tuffieħa bay from top

Here's the Għajn Tuffieħa Tower

The pictures follow the panaromic order from left to right. This is the transition happening from Għajn Tuffieħa bay to the Golden bay

And here's the Golden bay

Another short detour we had was on our way to the Paradise bay. This is the 'Popeye village'. This was a Film Set of the 1980 Musical Production 'Popeye' which is now a theme park and a major tourist attraction in Malta. You have to pay to get into the park, but just to click some pictures, walk beside the entrance and you can see the entire bay and the village. :)

Paradise bay: final stop before heading to the island of Comino and Blue Lagoon. If you have more days, you now have plenty of options to choose from to spend more beach time in Malta. :) (One more bay we drove past was Mellieha Bay, which looked beautiful too and it was more accessible - close to the main road - and had plenty of boats - semi marina type)

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To head to Comino island (blue lagoon) we have to take a boat (not ferry), and this is how the spot looks like. Its at the Cirkewwa Ferry Terminal, but as google maps clearly shows, the 'boats' to Comino are available before the ferry terminal. So, just park somewhere or get off the bus, and ask around to find out where the boats are. I saw two ferries points, one close to the car park and other close to the ferry terminal. (Do check the timings of boat and ferries online if you are pressed on time. The boats usually leave every hour)

Its a 15 minute super bumpy and fun boat ride from Malta to Comino. That's the Malta Ferry Terminal in the picture from where ferries to Gozo leave.

Almost there - check out the awesome shades of blue! Literally a 'blue' lagoon...

Panaromic view of Blue Lagoon. This place is super busy, and if you want to have a nice spot and sun bathe, come early! Else, just find a spot to leave your stuff (seemed like a safe place - I left my gopro and cell phone in a tiny cave I found, but there were other people around), and just jump into the water. Don't waste any time away from the blueness! :)

Don't forget to get a waterproof casing for your camera or cell phone, its totally worth it! The underwater pictures are super clear!

Every angle (from the water, above water, beside water) gave gorgeous colors to the sea. We seriously din wanna leave this place, but after spending 2 hours we were quite pleased to take a boat back, and quickly get a ferry to the island of Gozo

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View from the ferry arriving at the Gozo Ferry Terminal (30 min ride) in Mgarr. Gozo is a 14 km long, 7.5 km wide island in the Maltese archipelago. So, even though we got there around 5:30 pm, we had plenty of time to see what we intended to, and make it to the famous Azure Window for sunset (7:30 pm)

First stop was Ramla bay. If you have a day for Gozo, relaxing in this red sand bay is highly recommended. Smooth waves, soft sand... everything seemed to have slowed down around here.

Ramla bay in the island of Gozo

Next stop was to the Citadella of Gozo, which is in the capital city, Victoria. This is a mini Mdina. Similar narrow alleys, and architecture. And this Citadella is a perfect spot to get 360 degree view of the entire island of Gozo.

Here's the cathedral surrounded by the fortification. Its like a small little old town around here.

As you can see - the streets inside the Citadella - mini Mdina

I walked on the fortified walls and reached this elevated platform, which not only gave me a top view of the Citadella, but 360 degree panaromic view to the island of Gozo!

A zoomed in picture of one of the churches I could see from the Citadella

Next stop - Azure window for sunset. We made it! Still had plenty time to walk around here. The paths are very sharp here, so have to be careful. The place where you see people swimming in the picture is called the Blue hole, its 60 m deep and a famous divesite. Other points of interest like Inland sea and Fungus rock are just around the same area to the right and left of the Azure window respectively.

After checking out several spots, the cliff right above the Blue hole gives the best view of sunset with the Azure window as the front drop.

There are few more bays (Dwerja) and temples (Ġgantija Temples) which we skipped as we had seen similar and better ones in Malta already. Finally we headed to Xlendi bay for dinner at a place called Ta' Karolina, where we sat by the water to this view. Maltese food portions are quite generous by the way. And we enjoyed the more relaxed and rural vibe of Gozo for the rest of the evening. The last ferry leaves at 23:15, but he happily missed that one and took the next at 01:15 back to Malta.

Go to - Day 3

Go back to - day 1