Xlendi

So here we are in Xlendi, on the island of Gozo. It's a million miles away from Valletta, indeed all of Gozo is a million miles away from Malta. Gone is the wall to wall urbanisation and the constant traffic jams, to be replaced by small, discrete and charming villages, separated by discernable countryside and with very little traffic.

Xlendi itself has way exceeded my expectations, even though I've been here before and should have know what to expect. It very much has a "one town island" feel to it, like Symi in the Dodecanese. When night descends you think "this is it, there's nothing beyond here". It's such a friendly place too, full of families (a fair few local) and divers (who replace Symi's yacht crews) made up of many nationalities but (oh how we love it) with very few English.

We hit lucky on arrival day (yesterday). It was the Festa of the town, though as some festas go it was pretty low key - no fireworks, no marching bands. There was however a fun day based in and around - and above! - the water. Event 1 involved a rope that was strung right across the bay from one cliff to the other. Contestants had to shin along it as far as they could, collecting pennants as they went. Whoever got furthest won. The winner, as well as a cup and a bottle of wine, had a fair old rope burn to show for his troubles. He made it right across to the other side.

Event 2 was the slippery pole. A telegraph pole mounted into the wall sticking out across the harbour, a Maltese flag embedded in the end. Contestants had to edge their way down the pole and try to reach the flag. This becomes easier and easier as time goes on (the grease on thepole gets washed off and diluted by water from wet feet) so it eventually becomes a race to get round again before your rival. As the flag gets tantalisingly nearer the contestants resort to desparate dives and lunges to try to grab it as they fall. This explained the 5 paramedics on standby beside the pole.

Other, less exciting, events involved diving for bottles of wine (to a depth of 12 or 15 feet) and racing pedallos around the harbour.

The evening was one long party. We dined outside, right at the water's edge, and retired to bed well before the rest of the revellers. With the super-coolness of our hotel room we were quickly out like lights for our first full night's sleep of the holiday!