Malta, Gozo & Comino 2003
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								In between Gozo and Malta is another island called Comino, which is barely a couple of square kilometres in area. We spent perhaps the happiest day of our holiday on Comino. The whole island is a designated nature reserve and the only buildings on it are the almost deserted holiday complex at Santa Marija Bay, the stylishly dated 1960s  Comino Hotel and the ancient Fort that dominates the island. Most tourists come here for the Blue Lagoon - a stretch of shallow azure blue water popular with bathers, but if you leave that side of the island and venture to the other side you can find some deserted bays and beaches (sandy beaches are a rareity in Malta). The best way to get to Comino, is to forget the organised tours to the Blue Lagoon, and get the Comino ferry from the same place you get  the Gozo ferry. If you leave moderately early, you beat the crowds. When we arrived at the Blue Lagoon, there are fairly sizable paths that take you all over the island (no traffic is allowed on Comino). We found plenty of interesting plants and lizards, as well as the little centuries old chapel of Santa Marija, before we collapsed in the shallows of Santa Marija bay for peace and quiet and to have toes nibbled by small fish. Comino used to be home of a Jewish scholar hermit, who had once proposed a new religion encompassing all faiths to the then Pope. The Pope was furious and died of an apopleptic fit, later the same day, so the scholar fled Rome as his execution pyre was being built. He lived the rest of his life in hiding, ekeing out a solitary existance on Comino. After a drink at the Comino Hotel, we ambled back to catch the ferry at the Blue Lagoon, to find hundreds of holiday makers crammed into the bay, cavorting in the shallows with their squealy kids.