“An attack of indigestion? Why, I was perfectly well when I went on the stage!” — Jane Farrar as Mme. Biancarolli in The Phantom of the Opera (1943)
1) Let’s just say I was indisposed throughout the morning, but I couldn’t, wouldn’t let that keep me in my room all day. So I set off shortly after noon on the bus to Ta’ Pinu, the Church of Miracles.
2) It’s practically in the middle of nowhere, but on Gozo, that can’t really be more than 30 minutes away. Surrounded by sun-baked valleys , its entrance is flanked by curved walls decorated with mosaics telling the story of Christ.
3) Surrounded by sun-baked valleys, and nothing else. I was thinking there might be a town center or something, with restaurants. But nope, it’s the church, its parking lot, a mountain path with stations of the cross, and a couple refreshment trucks.
4) I saw the sign about proper dress before I went in, and worried momentarily that my shorts were not long enough since my knees were completely visible. I pulled them down a bit, but I didn’t need to worry. The only dress code enforcement most of these churches do something about is the bare shoulders of women, and there’s usually a stack of paper shawls, and even paper skirts, for them.
4a) As it happens, they didn’t have some mean nun at the door measuring hemlines . . . just a few signs observing that the whole place was on CCTV cameras.
5) Inside the church I saw only four people sitting in a pew at first, probably a family group. Beautiful, spare (especially compared to many churches I’ve seen on this trip), very quiet, and quite light given that there weren’t that many windows. Mosaic was the preferred means of artistic expression, that and limestone carving.
6) I sat in the back on the left and prayed for the preservation of Democracy, which may indeed take a miracle, and left an offering in the collection box. I was very glad I was there.
7) If you visit: Restrooms simply do not exist at Ta’ Pinu, no matter how much you walk into every corner of the church inside and out. Save time by appealing to the nice person at the gift shop in the back of the church who will admit you through a Staff Only door; the unisex multi-stalled restroom is behind what looks like a sacristy. Check first to be sure there’s toilet paper, no matter how urgent the moment, or you might wish you’d brought an extra COVID mask.
8) I really didn’t feel like more sightseeing, so I returned to Marsalforn (I keep wanting to say Dorsalfin!) and passed an enjoyable two hours looking over the bay at a bistro called Otter’s, writing in my journal and sipping at a couple Aperol spritzes.
8a) I do most of my personal writing as morning pages now, as part of the Artist’s Way, but I didn’t start that until February, 2020, just before pandemic quarantine. I am close to finishing this journal now, and it turns out I started it in September, 2019, just after I returned from my big post-MIT trip to England. How time flies . . . .
9) This was really my day! Tomorrow is my last full day on Gozo, and then I move into Valletta for the final leg of this incredible journey.
