August 1st, 2007, 3 Comments »
We just returned from our brief overnight trip to Comino and our stay at the Comino Hotel. The hotel is a bit old-school and tired–think the hotel from Dirty Dancing, except it’s 1970 and nobody’s done any upgrades since the big dance number. Still, it’s totally adequate for a couple of nights.
Interestingly, the guests seemed to be 80% German. I’m not sure why this was, because that’s certainly not true of the tourists I see on Gozo–the majority of them seem to be British. Happily, the hotel only seemed about half-full, so there were no ugly incidents involving sun loungers.
This morning we got up at 7:30am and walked over to Comino’s famed Blue Lagoon. We had the place entirely to ourselves for about an hour, until a few Maltese folks came by to set up a brigade of sun loungers and umbrellas. It was quite remarkable to be in this beautiful spot alone. The water is as clear and crystal blue as it looks in the photo.
But that’s been the trick on Malta. Get somewhere before 10:00am, and the place is empty. This has proved true at other famous locales like the Azure Window, as well as cultural and historical sites. After 10:00 AM, though, the tour buses and boats start rolling up.
We didn’t stay, but during the rest of the day the Blue Lagoon gets assaulted by tourists–these two photos give you a sense of just how many people and boats turn up.
I’m a travel snob. I like to explore when (and sometimes where) people aren’t. It’s nice to know I can still do that if I’m willing to get up a little early.
3 Comments »
July 30th, 2007, 2 Comments »
Tomorrow morning, we’re heading off to stay overnight on Comino, the tiny island between Gozo and Malta that’s home to the Blue Lagoon. It’s also home to a zillion day-trippers, which is why we’re going and staying overnight. That way we can enjoy it in relatively quiet conditions in the evening and early morning.
Things will therefore be mighty quiet around here for the next 48 hours. If you’re bored, feel free to check out the ten links in the my link blog in the side bar (in fact, there’s way more than 10 links in the actual RSS feed).
2 Comments »
June 5th, 2007, 3 Comments »
Julie and her Mom made a day trip to Comino, the third island in the archipelago of Maltese islands. Nestled between the two bigger islands and named for the cumin that once grew there, it has all of four full time residents, one resort, and one of the most picturesque lagoons in the world.
Because of the Blue Lagoon, the place gets inundated with hordes of day-tripping tourists. The trick is to stay at the resort, so that you can enjoy the lagoon in relative peace and quiet in the early morning and late afternoon. We plan to give that a try over the summer. Julie took a few photos of the extraordinarily aquamarine water around Comino (click for the complete set):
As I mentioned, we’re on a working holiday in Budapest and Vienna this week, balancing work with some sight seeing and shopping. Yes, I’ve acquired a new MacBook, and the Hungarian keyboard is frickin’ awesome. We’ve taken some photos, ad I think this is my (somewhat manipulated) favourite (again, click for the whole set):
On a related note, how’s this for a strange flavour of chocolate bar? Nonetheless, it was tasty.
3 Comments »
