Had saved this day for a trip to Gozo, a neighbouring island. Got the bus across the island again and just missed the ferry. Fortunately they left every 45 minutes so didn't have too long to wait for the next one.

As soon as we walked off the ferry we got mobbed by taxi drivers offering to take us to the capital Victoria for a fiver. The fact that the bus that was sitting there waiting only costs 25p each didn't seem to dampen their enthusiasm and they just lied about the quality of the bus service instead. "The bus takes an hour". Ok, mate, whatever - the whole island is only 14 km across and Victoria is only about 5 or 6 km from the ferry port. Hardly took a rocket scientist to detect more than the merest whiff of bovine faeces.

Finally one of them came up with a new approach. Offered to take us on a tour if the island. Decided to go for it as it would make it a damn sight easier to get to some of the outlying sights. The taxi driver, Gregory, was a wealth of Gozitan information. Did you know that Gozo exports 29,000 litres of milk to Malta every day?

Again Gregory was quite happy to wait while we got out and wandered around places. First stop was to visit the Ggantija temples from 3600B.C. Then we headed up to the northern coast to vist the Calypso cave, assumed to be the cave mentioned in Homer's Odyssey.

Descended the rather treacherous steps and got shown around the cave by a rather strange man by the name of George who seemed to make an unofficial living by dishing out candles and pointing at bits of the cave with his walking stick while trying to convince you that certain bits of rock look like things. Strange but amusing all the same.

From there it was on to Marsalforn Bay for an ice cream before being dropped off in Victoria. Took a walk up to the citadel. Bought a ticket which got us entrance to all the museums in the citadel, Went round the old prisons, the archaeology and folklore museums and walked round the city walls before succumbing to the heat and going back down to the city for a drink before getting the bus back to the harbour. The bus took less than ten minutes so my earlier suspicions were confirmed.

Got the ferry back and jumped on the bus back to St Julian's. It was while we were on the bus that we saw one of the best examples of Maltese driving. As the bus approached a roundabout, the car behind decided to try and overtake regardless of the car exiting the roundabout and another car pulling out of a side road. Ended with a big screech of brakes, a nice set of skid marks and all 3 cars bonnet to bonnet but somehow no contact was made.

Decided to go for an authentic Maltese meal so we walked round to St Julian's Bay. Managed to get the last free table at a roof terrace restaurant. The missus went for bragioli which is sort of stuffed beef mince. I opted for Coniglio Alla Maltese - which is (animal lovers look away now) rabbit in a red wine sauce. Had a chocolate orange mousse for pud. Pricier than the other meals we'd had but well worth it.