Blue Grotto (Malta)

The Blue Grotto ( paints : Taħt il-Ħnejja , English : Blue Grotto ) is a cave in Malta . It is located in the southwest of the island near Żurrieq and can only be reached by sea.

From Wied iż-Żurrieq , a fjord-like bay, which you can get to via Żurrieq, tourist boats first drive along the steep coast for a while when the sea is calm , before entering several caves .

The cave system consists of six halls, of which the Blue Grotto is the largest and most impressive. The locals call it Taħt il-Ħnejja (German: under the arch ) because of the monumental entrance arch . It is about 90 m long, 40 m high and has two entrances. The water is very clear and shimmers sky blue in the sunlight. This is due to the "blue algae" ( cyanobacteria ) that occur here . The orange patches of color that can sometimes be seen are not corals , as the boatmen sometimes claim, but a type of algae .

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  Blue Grotto in southern Malta

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  Water in the Blue Grotto

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  Blue-green algae

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  The Blue Grotto seen from the sea

literature

• Birgit Borowski et al .: Malta, Gozo, Comino . Baedeker Allianz travel guide, Ostfildern 2004, ISBN 3-87504-544-0 .

Web links

Commons : Blue Grotto (Malta)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• http://www.machetanz.de/Malta%20center.html?/Malta_tip_BG.html Description in the style of a travel guide

Coordinates: 35 ° 49 ′ 17 ″  N , 14 ° 27 ′ 24 ″  E