The magic of Calypso still exists at Ramla Bay
The ESN trip to Gozo ended with an hour at Ramla Bay. A sandy beach in Gozo, Ramla Bay is also the site of Calypso’s Cave. In mythology, Calypso seduced a reluctant Odysseus and kept him on her island for several years before Hermes convinced Calypso to let Odysseus go back to his wife in Ithaca.
While that may be the real story, I confused Calypso with Circe and came up with the idea that she turned men into pigs. Not the first time in the week that I had confused two mythical characters (Scylla and Charybdis were the subject of a conversation about building a playground. I wanted Charybdis to be the merry-go-round, but I said Scylla.) The transformational magic became a theme to the hike to Calypso’s Cave.
While the wizard lizard Calypso may not exist in any place other than my and my hiking friend’s mind, there is something magical about seeking the cave of a mythical being and using a GPS to do so. Of course, as so often happens, the death arrow led us to an untenable situation. After hiking through a stand of clustered bamboo, we ended up at the beginning of a 150 foot rock climb.
We backtracked a short way to a path that took us to what appeared to be Roman ruins. With no one around to tell us different and only an electric cable and an antenna to offer any proof otherwise, we made sure to visit the parts that were in disrepair.
We arrived at the top of the not-a-real pathway and found the buildings that guarded the entrance to the cave were shut tight and the secret of the geocache would remain concealed to us for the time being.
Other Gozo stories:
Bella Vista Farmhouses
Dwejra bay: Azure Window, Fungus Rock, Inland Sea
Basilica of Ta' Pinu and Cittadella
Gelato at Xlendi
While that may be the real story, I confused Calypso with Circe and came up with the idea that she turned men into pigs. Not the first time in the week that I had confused two mythical characters (Scylla and Charybdis were the subject of a conversation about building a playground. I wanted Charybdis to be the merry-go-round, but I said Scylla.) The transformational magic became a theme to the hike to Calypso’s Cave.
While the wizard lizard Calypso may not exist in any place other than my and my hiking friend’s mind, there is something magical about seeking the cave of a mythical being and using a GPS to do so. Of course, as so often happens, the death arrow led us to an untenable situation. After hiking through a stand of clustered bamboo, we ended up at the beginning of a 150 foot rock climb.
We backtracked a short way to a path that took us to what appeared to be Roman ruins. With no one around to tell us different and only an electric cable and an antenna to offer any proof otherwise, we made sure to visit the parts that were in disrepair.
We arrived at the top of the not-a-real pathway and found the buildings that guarded the entrance to the cave were shut tight and the secret of the geocache would remain concealed to us for the time being.
Other Gozo stories:
Bella Vista Farmhouses
Dwejra bay: Azure Window, Fungus Rock, Inland Sea
Basilica of Ta' Pinu and Cittadella
Gelato at Xlendi