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Malta: Day 17: Rabat

All roads in Gozo lead to Rabat, also known as Victoria. The Citadel is visible from almost all the Island, rising steeply above the surrounding countryside. The name Victoria was given to the town in 1887 in honour of the famous British Queen's Golden Jubilee. At the same time, the town was raised to the status of a city becoming officially known as Citta' ir-Rabat (Victoria).

With Nada we started the day with finishing our first WhereIGo cartridge. Then we moved to Citadel, where we visited all the museums and in the end of the day we went to see the 10th edition of Bethlehem f’Ghajnsielem.

Previous days of our trip to Malta: Day 16, Day 15, Day 14, Day 13, Day 12, Day 11, Day 10, Day 9, Day 8, Day 7, Day 6, Day 5, Day 4, Day 3, Day 2 and Day 1.

On our way to Giordan Lighthouse

Gozo

Tuši

Giordan Lighthouse is an active lighthouse on the Maltese island of Gozo, located on a hill above the village of Għasri.

View towards Sicily

Hiker on Gozo

 

In the streets of Victoria

 

In the city centre below the Cittadella

 

Fist we visited the Cittadella Visitors Centre, that is housed in two old water reservoirs, built in the 1870s in part of the Cittadella ditch.

View from the top to the North, where our current apartment was.

 

After the Gozo Museum of Archaeology, we visited the Cathedral of the Assumption

 

The cathedral is built in Baroque architecture, and its groundplan has the shape of a Latin cross.

 

Our next stop was the Old Prison, that gives you an opportunity to understand how life in prison was like from the sixteenth century on.

First, it used to host the roudest or most riotus knights, as a place to cool down. Even the most historical knight, Fra' Jean Parisot de Valette (later Grand Master of Malta) was imprisoned there in 1538 for four months after attacking a man.

 

The Old Prison has a lot of interesting things to see such as original graffiti from inmates depicting crosses, ships and the cross of the Knights.

View from the Iċ-Ċittadella

 

The Citadel in Gozo owes its roots to the late medieval era, but the hill has been settled since Neolithic times. For centuries, the Citadel served as a sanctuary from attack by Barbary corsairs and Saracens. At several times during Gozo's history, these raiders took its population into slavery.

 

After the Great Siege of 1565, the Knights set about re-fortifying the Citadel to provide refuge and defence against further attack. Until 1637, the Gozitan population was required by law to spend their nights within the Citadel for their own safety. In later, more peaceful times, this restriction was lifted and people settled below its walls, creating the prosperous town of Rabat.

 

Nada and Tuši

 

After the 2700-Year-Old Phoenician Shipwreck, the Gozo Nature Museum was next.

 

The last museum we visited was the Gran Castello Historic House.

 

Parish Church of Our Lady of Loreto and our mini lunch

 

Bethlehem f'Għajnsielem - live crib

Nada and Tuši

 

This life-size crib, constructed on 20000 square metre of fields on a stretch of land known as Ta' Passi, comes to life during the month of December with about 150 actors taking visitors back in time to Judea of 2000 years ago.

 

Framed

  

Our dinner in Marsalforn

GeoCaches found:
- Wherigo Gozo, Whereigo, GC1XBT3, that received a visit by trackable items "Bryan 2014 Tag", TB6PQA1, "008 Groundspeak Volunteer Geocoin - sponsored by GC-KNECHT", TB20DYH, "Travel Bug Dog Tag", TB6D3XP, "Key chain #2 Happy Face", TB6R4PD, "gran san bernardo", TB84C9J, "De reiziger", TB6R4VV and "FarmtagZ klompendans", TB6BAG2 and where I placed the trackable item "Proving Trail Geocoin", TB2GZV8 and during the game I discovered the trackable item "Captain's Unknown Mission Coin", TB34JW4