Last, but definitely not the least - we spent the rest of the maltese trip in Gozo, the smaller of two main islands of the country. It is really small, even for maltese standards as it occupies merely 67 kilometers of land with 13 kilometers of length and 7 kilometers of width. We drove across the entire island a few times just to reach a particular restaurant, or cafe. But even despite its ridiculously tiny dimentions it is very abundant in mindblowing landscapes, dramatic cliffs, vast beaches and picturesque villages. It is much more spacious than the main island, and has a vibe of slow, rural life.
Ghajnsielem
This is most likely the first destination you will reach after arriving to Gozo, because this is where the Ferry terminal is, at Mgarr harbour. Ferries seem to be the only mean of transport between the two islands that we know of (apart from renting a personal helicopter or something). So, even with a rented car on the main island it was easy to reach, though we had to make sure that the car rental place allowed people to move freely between two islands, some rentals do not allow this.
The crossing was very pleasant, departing every 30 minutes. Driving onto the ferry was very well organised and after the car was parked we could chill on deck for about an hour.
Ghajnsielem itself was very nice too. The name means literally "a peaceful spring" and it did seem pretty peaceful, indeed. It had two main parts - Mgarr harbour with the facilities surrounding the marina, and uphill a central plaza with its parish church. Around - a couple of shops, a bakery, a restaurant. We found a wholesome airbnb room in this vicinity, so we had an opportunity to know this vicinity quite thoroughly.
Actually, just by trying to find a shortcut between the church and Mgarr, we discovered... a deserted nativity village. In August. In Malta. It was a very interesting experience, I presume that this sort of events is more profound and believable than our more northern/western way of celebrating nativity with snow and christmas trees (only because there is snow in december in our part of the world).
Anyway, the village was filled with wooden sturctures, stalls, traditional workshops, animal pens. Of course there was not a single soul in the premises, I learned all that just from the signs that were left after the previous event.
Anyway, the village was filled with wooden sturctures, stalls, traditional workshops, animal pens. Of course there was not a single soul in the premises, I learned all that just from the signs that were left after the previous event.
We headed downhill, to Mgarr looking for someplace to have lunch. Many venues were closed, possibly because of the pandemic, but we managed to find a nice sicilian place.
Next, with a little help from a brochure that our hosts provided, we headed to the closest beach to swim and rent a canoe. It turned out to be a very narrow bay, but very enjoyable.
For the sunset we chose to drive to the western coast of Gozo, where the famous rock formation called The Azure Window once stood by the sea. Unfortunately, a few years back it collapsed naturally into the sea, and now we can only admire its remains.
But anyhow, travelling west for the evening always has a high chance of a wonderful sunset over the sea, and this time yet again - we were not dissapointed. All was seen from tall cliffs acompanied by enormous waves.
Victoria
The following day we spent wandering around Victoria, the capital city of Gozo. Among the locals it is also known as Rabat which is the old maltese word for the town centre. Victoria is an inland city, relatively big for Malta as it has nearly 7,000 inhabitants, with all of the most interesting cultural and historical monuments of the isle - like the Cittadela.
British influences are very, VERY strong there again, in the little details such as the form of terraced houses with colourful doors and the visuals of the streets. Nevertheless, it was a great pleasure to wander around Victoria's streets while sipping iced coffee.
Citadella, or as we would call it - the citadel, was the centre of all activities on the island since the Bronze Age. Every of the nations occupying Malta participated in the development this massive formation, including the phoenicians, the romans, the Ottomans, the Knights of St. John's.
It was highly multifunctional, and it still is up to this day. Within the citadel there's the Cathedral of the Assumption, Gozo Museum of Archaeology, Natural History Museum, The Old Prison. All is carved in yellowish sandstone.
Not to mention, that even while due to Covid-19 most of the attractions listed above were closed, still the most interesting thing about the citadel was the view. You could actually see the sea from more than one side, because of how high the citadel was located.
I can hardly remember where it was, but for dinner we drove to some restaurant with a fantastic sunset view over Comino.
Our last day we devoted to Comino - a small island inbetween Malta and Gozo.
This is a very beachy-touristy destination and for a fair reason, it offers numerous fantastic beach spots with clear, azure waters. All of the beaches were rocky, though.
After arriving to Comino I had very mixed feelings, with party music bursting from the loudspeakers, people cramped around one small beach and compressed around one small bay. But this was only around the boat terminal, after walking away for a a few minutes we basically found a private beach in a semi-circular rock formation and nobody disturbed us.
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