Things to do in Gozo Malta and car hire

In the local language, Gozo is known as Gliawdex (pro¬nounced 'Owdehsh'). Malta's smaller sister is only l4km (9 miles) long by 7km (4 miles) wide, boasts a population of almost 30,000, and its own distinctive charac¬ter.

Gozo can be reached by taking a boat from Malta and it is also possible to hire a car in Gozo once you reach the island. Gozitans are proud of their island and quite tolerant of Maltese jokes depicting them as country cousins.

They can afford to be: many have made it to the top in business, gov¬ernment and the Church, in Malta and the world beyond. Gozo is greener than Malta, with neat terraces, dry stone walls and big flat topped hills. In every direction, the towers and domes of churches are silhouetted against the sky.

The islanders are great church builders: many of the parish churches are big enough for a city of half a million people, not to mention the dozens of little wayside chapels. A day in Gozo is constantly punctuated by church bells ringing their various messages.

While 20th century traffic has taken over the few main roads, life still goes on much as it did a century ago. For one thing, big agricultural equip¬ment can't be delivered, and wouldn't be much use on the narrow terraces if it could. Gozo lives mainly on farming, with excellent crops of toma¬toes, potatoes, melons, oranges and figs. The fishing fleet puts to sea whenever the weather permits and, despite declining stocks, still manages to bring in a tasty and varied catch. Activity centres around the hub and capital, Victoria, al¬though there is much to see elsewhere. Gozo has not only interesting baroque and other churches, but beautiful here, but it's also simple: you won't find a sophisticated cabana setting.

There are few luxury hotels, but some of the small hotels and restaurants are delightful, and a growing number of farm houses’ are being converted into holiday homes. Gozo does not run to an airstrip, only a helicopter pad.

Comino Malta

However, you can reach the island either by ferry from Sa Maison, near Valletta, or from Cirkewwa, on a private boat or on an excursion from Sliema ¬whichever route you take, the short crossing is a pleasure. You'll pass Comino with its watchtower: the island's one hotel stands above a bay on the other side. The name Comino comes from the herb cumin, which once grew in abundance there.

The uninhabited islet of Cominetto partly shields Com¬ino's idyllic Blue Lagoon a magnet for excursion boats in summer and minutes later you’ve arrived. Mgarr is everything an island harbour should be, alive with bobbing luzzu boats and visiting yachts. The tall steeple on the hill above belongs to a 19th-century church, Our Lady of Lourdes. On the headland is Fort Chambray, built in the mid-18th century by a French knight.

The ups and downs of Gozo's history broadly reflect Malta's. First the builders of prehistoric temples at Ggantija, then the Phoenicians, Romans, Arabs and Normans, Turkish raiders, the Knights of St John and finally the British all have left their mark. By the side of the road between Mgarr and Victoria, Gozo Heritage is a cleverly designed evocation of island history. You are led by sound and lights through a series of rooms, each one a dramatic tableau. (There's an admission charge.) In an adjoining shop you can sometimes has crafts¬people working.

Victoria Gozo Malta

The British renamed Gozo's bustling centre during Queen Victoria's jubilee in 1897, but Gozitans still use its old Arab name, Rabat ('city'). Just 6km (4 miles) from Mgarr, the town has a citadel standing high on a bluff: it's a landmark visible from most parts of the island. The broad main street is Republic Street (Racecourse Street) with the bank and post office. During the Feast of the Assumption on 15 August, nearby Rundle Gardens are the scene of a charming country fair. During the same period (and also on the Feast of St George, on the third Sunday in July) colourful horse and donkey races are run, when everybody turns out to see their friends race in sulkies or ride bareback up Republic Street: it can be hilarious.

It Tokk, the attractive tree-¬shaded square, with its war monument in the middle, is edged with little shops, tunnel¬-shaped bars and a bank. On one side is the 18th-century St James's Church, on the other a rounded building, dat¬ing from 1733, which once housed the Banca Giuratala: today it's an information office and a haven for locals wishing to read their newspapers.

During festival times, the square becomes a riot of colour with various religious statues: 'Judas' pointedly stands just outside the Inland Revenue Office and there are garlands everywhere. But any morning it's full of activity from the open air market. In the eve¬nings it swarms with people again, walking slowly up and down for the passeggiata, or social hour.

St Georges Street Gozo

At market times, you'll see a lavish display of fish, fruit and vegetables, and hear lively banter between shoppers and sellers. The old town behind It Tokk is charmingly picturesque, with narrow alleys, sim¬ple old houses, and women making lace in their doorways. In St George’s Street almost every house has a plaque of the saint slaying the dragon.

On its eponymous square, St George's Church is a fine example of baroque architec¬ture, elaborately gilded and decorated. The painting by Mattia Preti over the choir altar shows St George with his foot victoriously poised on the dragon's head, his white char¬ger by his side. The July festi¬val is quite a bash, and there is a good deal of rivalry between St George's Church and the cathedral, whose festival is the Assumption, on 15 August.

The cathedral stands with¬in the citadel. Behind the aus¬tere stone facade, guarded by two bronze cannons, is a sur¬prisingly elaborate interior. Built by Lorenzo Gafa be¬tween 1697 and 1711, it has a convincing trompe l'oeil dome painted by Antonio Manuele; the real dome was never fin¬ished for lack of funds. On the left as you enter is a modern statue of the Virgin in pale blue and white, her eyes and hands raised heavenward, posed on an ornate and heavy silver pedestal. It is carried all around town during the Festi¬val of the Assumption. The Cathedral Museum at the back houses collections of church ornaments, sacred vestments and paintings.

To the south of the Cathe¬dral stands the Bondi Palace, containing the Gozo Museum of Archeology built around an inner courtyard. Among the exhibits are Punic jewellery, amphorae Gars) from Roman shipwrecks, the 12thcentury tombstone of an Arab girl, Majnuna, with a touching in¬scription, and shards and relics from various eras, especially prehistoric phases. Steep steps lead 'up to the Cathedral within the citadel at Victoria on Gozo.
A model of Ggantija as well as a large phallic symbol from one of Ggantija's temples will provide a good introduc¬tion to the temples you can see at Xaghra.

The Folklore Museum Gozo Malta

Up a little street on theother side of the cathedral, you'll come to the Folklore Museum where some tradi¬tional implements and cos¬tumes are displayed in three restored old houses. Further up this alley, and also by practi¬cally every other path, there are steps leading to the ram parts of the citadel. In the 15-¬minute walk around them you will be presented with marvel¬lous views all over Gozo, with flat topped houses edging the meandering roads and a church on nearly every hilltop. The ramparts were strengthened after the brutal Turkish incur¬sion and kidnappings of 1551.

After failing in an assault against the knights in Malta, Dragut, the North African pi¬rate attacked Gozo, carrying off almost the whole population of 6,000 islanders to slavery. Gozo was invaded many times by the Turks in the 16th century and gradually the stone dwellings of the citadel were abandoned. Though the rubble where goats graze looks as deserted as Ggantija, there are plans for its restoration.

Ggantija Temples Gozo Malta

To reach Gozo's most important prehistoric site, take the road to Xaghra. Just south of town, inside a fenced enclo¬sure, you'll find the most im¬posing temple group in the Maltese islands. Ggantija was excavated at various times between 1827-¬1953. Like most prehistoric temples in Malta, the two here face south east: the older and larger is on the left as you approach them. It dates back to 3600-3300, during the period sometimes called the Copper Age (precursor to the Bronze Age), though there was no copper on Malta or Gozo then.

Typical of this type of temple, the facade is slightly con¬cave. The entry is flanked by two orthostats (upright stones), a big slab, and a concave stone where worshippers may have washed their feet. The left part of the facade is made of immense coralline limestone slabs which rise to a height of about 6m (20ft).The inside walls and decoration are of the softer glo¬bigerina limestone. Five lobe-¬shaped apses contain a number of interesting features, includ¬ing libation holes, an oracle hole and stones carved with swirling patterns. One stone block once supported the huge phallic symbol which now resides in the Gozo National Museum.

The three rear apses were probably re¬stricted to priests and the end apse has impressively high walls, which curve inward to make a semi dome. The altar, with holes perhaps used for draining animal blood, has blocks with pitted decoration, typical of the period. The smaller and later tem¬ple is less interesting.

Here the rear apse and altar are a mere niche. A walk round the whole site shows the skill of early builders. Some of the huge blocks of limestone measure 5.5m (18ft) long and weigh up to 50 tonnes. You can only marvel at the technical feat performed by a suppos¬edly knowing no mathematics, in raising these structures.