| Product: |
The Blue Grotto |
| Date: |
01/05/02 (259 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Stunning views
Disadvantages: No shelter from the sun
Located south of the town of Zurrieq in the southeastern area of Malta you come across a little narrow inlet called Wied iz Zurrieq and it is from here that you are able to take a boat trip around the spectacular Blue Grotto.
The Blue Grotto is a natural rock formation that has been carved out of the limestone cliff by the relentless pounding of the sea, there are a number of natural caves forming sea windows and only reachable by boat and the area takes its name from the main cave – the Blue Grotto – the sea is quite deep within the cave.
There are a number of buildings at Wied iz Zurrieq; there’s a small restaurant serving Maltese cuisine, snacks, hot and cold drinks, a shop selling souvenirs, a jewellery shop and some fishermen’s homes, as well as a fairly large car park and a bus stop opposite the car park.
To get to the small jetty where you take a boat to the Blue Grotto from the car park follow the footpath down hill towards the sea, this hill gets quite steep as you go down.
When I went to the Blue Grotto I didn’t really know what to expect, I walked down the hill and came to a hut selling tickets for the boat trips, the trip costs the equivalent of about £1.50, when I bought my ticket I could not see the type of boat I would be travelling in. I followed the path down to the small jetty and was a little worried when I eventually caught sight of my transport, they were small brightly coloured boats with an outboard motor carrying about eight passengers each, the Maltese call them Dghajes and they are perfectly seaworthy, I’m not a good sailor and I was beginning to wish I hadn’t bought a ticket.
Well I got into the boat with my wife (who loves the sea and nothing was going to put her off the trip) and I sat clinging to the edge of the boat wishing the trip was over. We set off across the Mediterranean towards the Blue Grotto.
The boats take tourists to a number of
caves carved into the cliff face and the ‘captain’ points out interesting things along the cliff face and out to sea on your way to the Grotto, high in the cliff face there is a rock formation remarkably like the rear leg of a horse that the sea has pounded out over the years and just off the coast you can see the small island of Filfla, the island is uninhabited except for a unique species of lizards that live there. When Malta was a British colony Filfla was used for target practice by the Armed Forces, however Filfla is now a protected island under Maltese law.
The caves are a spectacular sight, one of the caves has a sandy bottom and the water is so clear it appears transparent and you can see the rich golden sand at the bottom, the boat stops in this cave for a little while and you have the opportunity to swim inside the cave – only one boat enters this cave at a time.
The actual Blue Grotto is a magnificent sight, as you enter you notice the rock around the water level starts to change colour from white to pale blue, to turquoise, to a deep indigo where the cave wall meets the sea.
All of the caves are beautiful inside and each offers something different to photograph from the tremendous colours to the rich white bubbly froth. As you travel from cave to cave you pass under arches carved from the rock and every now and again you come across a little sea window in the rock. We visited the Blue Grotto during the morning; at this time of day the light reflects the coral and limestone walls into the water giving it pink, orange and mauve tints.
The scenery around this area of Malta is truly breathtaking from both the boats on the trip to the Blue Grotto and from the cliff tops, the cliffs rise out of the deep blue Mediterranean Sea and the froth of the waves as they hit the rock is spectacular, the ground in this area is very rocky and only hardy shrubs survive and there is not much cover from the elements. The
boat trip lasts about forty-minutes and even though initially I was a little worried and I’m not a good sailor this is one experience not to be missed.
To get to the Blue Grotto by bus take the number thirty-nine from Valletta and by road head for Zurrieq and then follow the signs for Wied iz-Zurrieq and the Blue Grotto.
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