Fungus Rock

Fungus Rock is a 60m limestone stack that guards the entrance to a circular lagoon in Dwejra Bay. It earned its name from a plant the Knights of Malta prized so highly for its supposed medicinal properties that they scraped the rock's walls smooth to prevent climbing and punished unauthorized access with three years rowing in ship galleys. The rock is now a protected nature reserve, so you can't set foot on it, but you don't need to. The sheer scale of the rock stack against the open Mediterranean and the surrounding cliffs gives you plenty to work with from shore. You can shoot it from multiple vantage points around the bay with the rocky coastline providing strong foreground in every direction. Long exposures work really well here, smoothing the sea around the base of the rock and emphasizing the mass of the limestone against the sky. Since this is Gozo's west coast, sunset is the main event, and during certain times of year the sun lines up through an opening in the rock. That's a narrow seasonal window though, so check the sun's position before counting on it. The walk from the car park is over rough, uneven rock, so watch your footing, especially if you're heading out for late night astrophotograpy. (Dwejra, Island of Gozo, Malta)