Ferry to Gozo from Malta

We took a ferry from Malta to Gozo (the second largest island in the Malta archipelago). The trip is pretty short (less than half an hour) and not too expensive--they only charge for the return from Gozo back to Malta. The ferry runs pretty regularly and efficiently. Our arrival at the dock was perfectly timed. We drove straight onto the boat. A quick walk up two flights of stairs led us to the cafe and the outside decks for a last view of Malta.

Malta

Out to sea

The ferry goes past the third island of the Malta chain, Comino, which has almost no population and no cars. According to the guide book, there's only one north-south road on the island.

Comino

After a cuppa tea and some chatting, we were soon arriving at the port of Mgarr on Gozo.

First view of Gozo

The town blends in well

The Mediterranean water is amazingly blue.

Awesome waters

On the way back, we weren't so lucky, having to wait half an hour at the dock for the boat to arrive. As the boat docked, the back end of it lifted up to reveal the car decks inside. It was almost like the trunk of a car opening.

Ferry boat or Transformer?

The ride back was uneventful.

Can't get enough blue water!

More from Gozo this week!
 

Ferry to and from Germany

We took the overnight ferry for our trip to Germany to visit the Spiel, a massive board game fair. This ferry went to Rotterdam, The Netherlands (more about that country in future posts!). We took our car and drove to Germany. I wish I had some harrowing stories of driving a British car on the other side of the road but it wasn't that difficult. Plenty of traffic meant it was easy to pick the proper side of the road. I did have to buy some stickers to put on the headlights. Somehow that re-aimed them appropriately for continental driving. The occasional parking garage was a challenge since the "take a ticket" machine was on my passenger side. Luckily I always had a passenger to do the job (including paying for the ticket on the way out!).

The ferry itself seemed pretty standard to us. It had a large play area where J and L could run around without disrupting other passengers.

L by herself in the play area

The same cutout poster from the other boats!

In the early morning, no other kids or parents were there!

We packed dinner and breakfast, so we ate at the coffee shop area across from the play area.

After the boat arrived, we drove for a while and decided to stop for a snack. The exit we took only had one option:

I'm lovin' it...not.

On the way back, we bought food before getting on the boat, which meant we ate Gouda cheese from Gouda. My wife also bought some salami-looking sausage slices at the store. When we opened it we discovered it was this special uncooked beef sausage called Amsterdam Ossenworst. We weren't sure if it was okay to eat with our bread and cheese but we did it anyway. Turns out it was meant to be eaten uncooked.

Our return dinner (you can't really see the meat right above the cheese, sorry)

Getting home was no big deal. I remembered to peel off the headlight stickers and drive on the proper British side of the road. We arrived home safe and sound in time for lunch!

But more on Germany in the next couple of posts...

Lake Windermere Ferry, England

On our way to Beatrix Potter's house in the Lake District (which will be the next post), we were fooled by our GPS into taking a ferry across Lake Windermere. Normally we would avoid toll roads and other expensive delays, but this was a little too far out of the way to do much backtracking. We got in the queue for the ride and dutifully paid our £4.30 for the car to ride across.

L just smiles for the camera

J ready to do something

We didn't have a long wait and could see the ferry coming for us.

Ferry approaching!

We climbed back into our car and then drove on board, where we promptly got out and looked around from the boat.

Car's-eye view

Ferry's-eye view

Other boats

Other ferry (passengers only, by the look of it)

We were across the lake and back on our way quickly, though we will definitely keep an eye on the GPS for future trips, especially if we visit the Lake District again!

If you want to read about a really scary ferry trip, try this xkcd comic.