Part of Xerri's (pronounced sherry's) Grotto, Gozo.
Xerri's Grotto was discovered underneath an unassuming terraced house in Xaghra (shara), on the Island of Gozo, back in the 1920's.
The grandfather of the present houseowner was digging a well near to the back of the house when a hole suddenly opened up, revealing a quite spectacular cave complex.
Bring good Gozotans, the family immediately set about creating a spiral staircase and a tourist ticket office.
When I first visited in 1973, my older brother, who had been doing the hippie bit there for several summers by then, told me about the old lady who showed the tourists around.
Apparently, she could not speak english and had simply learnt the spiel of the tour by heart.
My brother said that if anyone interrupted her, she would start all over again from the beginning and not move on in the tour until she had reached the part of her speech which corresponded with the stalactite or mite that she was pointing to. He suggested a trial interruption when she got to the bit when she said that a particular stalactite looked like 'streaky bacon'.
So we waited until she said "anna dis one eeza brown an white, jussa like strikky bycon" and I asked how long it would take for that size of stalactite to grow.
We waited......she thought hard.....
"The cyve wassa discover-ed when my granda fazzer dug a well in....
I know it was cruel, but I was a teenager, and it was very funny at the time......
I would imagine that it's her grandkids who do the tours nowadays. I wonder if strikky bycon is still mentioned?
The front of their little house....
