Even if Malta is considered as an island of paradise, Gozo appears to be even errr paradiser. All who knew about our trip to Malta, were immediately asking if we were planning to visit Gozo at any point. Which was explicit enough to realise that visiting Gozo was an unavoidable destination of our holidays.

Gozo is the second island of the country, and despite Malta being not enormous itself, Gozo still managed to have its particular dialect and is claiming to be much different from the main island. I must confess though that the only difference I can point out is that Gozo is even emptier than Malta and the public transport is even less frequent. The nature is as beautiful as on Malta and the people are as friendly. Even though, frankly speaking, we didn’t meet many of them.

I do recommend you to spend at least two days in Gozo, it really has a lot to offer considering its size, but if you are tight on time, here is our itinerary for a day in Gozo.

With Gozo Channel Company – 35 minutes on a ferry from Cirkewwa for 10€ in both ways. There are also different cruises and excursion companies that can bring you to Gozo directly from Valletta, or make a stop in Comino too, but we chose a simple ferry, which, thankfully, operates till late.

Then, of course, there starts a battle with buses, which are not only a rare guest in this area, but almost all of them pass by Victoria – the capital of Gozo. In order to avoid this unnecessary detour, we combined hitchhiking (worked perfect even though the traffic was not too frequent either) and simple walking.

Victoria is a beautiful town, but it is isn’t much different from other towns of Malta. We were lucky to see it without hordes of tourists, but we didn’t see many locals either.

The name Dwejra won’t tell much, but it’s the most recognisable place of the whole country. Well. It used to be. The Azure Window, which was an icon of Malta and Gozo collapsed in March 2017 after a particularly strong storm. A sad Before/After.

Fortunately, it’s not everything, as the natural reserve of Dwejra includes also the Island sea – accessible by boat, and, like with the Blue Grotto, don’t hesitate a second if you should take it or not. The “sea lake” inside the cave is not only impressive, but the colour of the sea is on the edge of impossible. By the way, the boat tour on Gozo is twice as cheap (4€ only!) as the same tour in Maltese Blue Grotto.

The beauty you will find there.

We had a great hitchhiking drive near the famous Basilica Ta’ Pinu and up to Zebbug, then a pleasant walk to the Xwejni Bay. The weather was not very encouraging, but the view and the sea were fantastic in their gloominess. Even if my main goal was to see the Salt Pans, I must admit they look more interesting on the photos. As it often happens.

Zebbug

A fast snack in Marsalforn and another 4 kilometers walk to Ramla Bay – our final destination before getting back to Mgarr and to San Giljan. I won’t exaggerate by saying that the Ramla Bay beach was the highlight of the entire day – so peaceful it was with the sand of unearthly orange-pinkish colour. Yet again, I expected much from the famous Calypso Cave, yes, the very cave from the “The Odyssey” by Homer. At least it’s suspected to be the one. However, it was inaccessible at that moment, but this way we discovered the beach Ramla l-Ħamra.

Marsalforn

Tired, exhausted, covered with salt, hair messy with the wind, sweaty – isn’t this an indicator of a successful trip? Because I think it is.