The Blue Grotto

The Blue Grotto is a justifiably famous attraction in Malta, and happens to be very close to where were are staying as well as near the main climbing areas. Rather than pay for a bumpy boat ride to see it with the normal folk, we chose to get the spectacular ariel view, by climbing the cliff on the opposite side of the bay!

The waters looks so inviting and the sky was blue, but a bitterly cold wind was blowing down the narrow valley, so we were well wrapped up, even though we were in the sun for most of the climb.

 

The route was pretty straight forward and made for a nice journey up to a good view point. The guidebook made no reference to the descent, so we abseiled back down the line rather than risk hiking off into the unknown! I was actually pretty quick to do this.

 

A short hike back up the valley soon saw us back at the car and out of the wind.

We popped back to the flat for a quick brew and a warm up before taking a walk around our local village. There is a huge sink hole here, that opened up one night, way back in 1342. We went to check it out as it's really close - and really big! about 80m deep! This ariel photo shows it best - (our flat is marked with the red cross). It must have been a bit of a shock for the villagers to have woken up to find that half their village had vanished overnight! It looks like a meteorite strike!

 

The town is a quirky little place, with plenty of chapels and ornate buildings, as seems to the norm around these parts.

 

There is also a megalithic temple just down the road too, that has a shelter over it to protect it from further erosion. It seems that people have been on Malta for some time!...

Wied Babu Seaside:
- Lupo Alberto, 4+, 3+, 5+**