Following the script of our one week trip to Malta, we spent 3 nights on the island of Gozo. The two and a half days we spent there were divided between Gozo and Comino, but in this post I will only talk about what we did on the first of the two islands.

Arriving in Gozo

We took the ferryboat from Malta to Gozo late on Wednesday, June 21st. I talked about the crossing and the arrival at the hotel in this post.

Thursday – 06/22/2023

We had a delicious a la carte breakfast at our hotel and went to see the place that caught my attention the most in my research of Gozo: the Dwejra Inland Sea.

In fact, in the initial itinerary of the trip I had planned this day to go to Comino Island, as I wanted to “kill the main attraction” of the country, the Blue Lagoon, but since the puppy was sick the day before, I asked the hotel to reschedule the trip for Friday morning.

This was the itinerary we did that day:

Dwejra Inland Sea

We drove for half an hour to this attraction and when we arrived at the parking lot, I was disappointed with the view. I was expecting a place with much more water in that natural pool. I thought we could stay on the beach enjoying the sea water without waves, but I found the beach small and rocky and I didn't like it. vibe.

We went on a boat trip through the caves on the other side of the rock wall, in the open sea. From what I saw, I understood that the highlight of the place is really diving, and since we didn't want to do that, I felt like something was missing, you know?

The highlight of the tour was when we crossed the crack in the rock wall. I thought it was impressive. The caves on the open sea side were cool too, but since the sun wasn't shining there at the time, I didn't think they were as impressive as the ones on the other side. Blue Grotto (I told everything here).

Either way, we loved the experience. It's always nice to see beautiful things with puppies!

Lunch and beach at Ramla Beach

We drove for half an hour to Ramla Beach, which was the beach recommended by the receptionist at our hotel. There we chose the restaurant Il-Kcina tar-Ramla for lunch. Food was OK, service was good, view was beautiful. Paddy started to feel cold and we soon saw that he had a fever. Marcelo thought it best to go with him to the hotel and I stayed with my brother and Jujuba on the beach afterwards.

We rented chairs and an umbrella on the beach, but we didn't stay long. I was worried about my son, it was quite windy and when we went into the water, we saw that there was rock underneath, not sand. It's hard to enjoy the beach with flip-flops and not the right shoes.

Swimming pool at the hotel

We went back to the hotel and enjoyed the pool with some good drinks and snacks. What a nice atmosphere! Paddy got better, thank God, and when night fell, we thought we should go to the São João festival in the city of Xewkija. We had seen signs around the island talking about the party and the hotel staff had also told us about it, so off we went to have a look.

Party in Xewkija

We arrived there around 7pm, after getting lost a few times, and we immediately went looking for a place to have dinner. We chose a restaurant right in front of St. John's Baptist Church, which had set up a structure with a bar, chairs and tables outside. We took one of the tables outside, ordered drinks, burgers and pizza and waited for the party to start.

While the party was still waiting, I went to visit the church and found it impressive. It is beautiful on the outside, simple on the inside, but I felt very, very comfortable there. I recommend a visit.

People started arriving, the atmosphere was getting lively, the children started wanting to play and run around… the anxiety was growing. Since it was already close to 9pm, we decided to walk towards the beginning of the procession, where most people were going. We put the children in the stroller and went.

Halfway along the way, we found stalls selling balloons with lights and poppers, and the kids had a great time. We started listening to the music and kept going. We saw people gathered together and I felt like I was at a street carnival in Brazil. What a wonderful party, guys! So many excited, polite people, so many families enjoying themselves, you know? Seriously, I was thrilled! The kids loved it, and so did the adults… lol

We left in disbelief at what we had witnessed. It was a wonderful coincidence that we were on that island, on that day of celebration. Actually, not a day... days... It's good that we were able to at least enjoy a little bit.

We went back to the hotel and the kids slept in the car. What could be more fun? 🙂

Friday – 06/23/2023

We had our a la carte breakfast again and went to get ready for the boat trip we had booked to the island of Comino.

Then my brother had to work and we had to reschedule the trip for the afternoon. I had already read that in the morning Blue Lagoon It was emptier, especially if we managed to get there early from Gozo, so it was quite frustrating knowing that we would only have Friday afternoon to see the place. It's part of it, right... we can't control everything when we travel and that's okay.

We were unsure whether we would spend the morning exploring the island’s capital, Victoria, or whether we would go to another “house in heaven” with the children, and we ended up choosing the latter option.

This was the itinerary for the day:

Basilica of Ta' Pinu

This basilica was built in the 1920s and is impressive due to its size in an area that has almost nothing. We parked the car in a parking lot right in front and crossed the road to see it. We waited for a mass to end and then we went. The inside is not that elaborate, but it was worth the visit. If you want to know more, it has an interesting story. on this site.

Lunch in Hondoq Bay

Since our boat trip left from Hondoq Bay and the receptionist had said it was a very interesting place with a delicious restaurant, we decided to have lunch and hang out there.

We managed to park the car very close to the beach, in what seemed to be the last available space, and if we weren't so hungry, we would have stayed on the beach. What a nice and peaceful place, what blue water...

We went to the restaurant recommended by the girl, Hondoq Bay Cafe, and we ordered the shrimp dish which she said was the best on the island. Oh my, how delicious!!

We were lucky enough to get a table quickly and ordered about 4 dishes of this very well-seasoned shrimp. My brother joined us later and we enjoyed the environment full of plants, which helped to break up the aridity of the island.

When our time came, we went on the long-awaited trip to Comino Island. I'll dedicate a post just for it, okay?

Dining in Xaghra

We returned from the tour to the hotel, got ready and went out for dinner. My brother chose a restaurant called Al Sale, which has good reviews for seafood, and we called to make a reservation. We loved the menu, the view, the atmosphere, the history, the food that arrived on time, but we were unlucky that two dishes took a looooong time and we were almost the last to leave, with two children falling asleep. Anyway... I think it's worth recommending with that caveat, of course.

We returned to the hotel very late, but happy with the day.

Saturday – 06/24/2023

Our last day in Gozo, Malta… day to return to Portugal.

We had our last a la carte breakfast at our boutique hotel, packed our bags and cars, did the checkout and we set off to see our last attraction on the island.

Temples of GGantija

We drove for about 10 minutes to the main archaeological site in Gozo, the Temples of GGantija, which are considered World Heritage.

This is the oldest human-built structure in the world and is believed to have been built between 3600 and 3200 BC. !!!

These are two temples in the shape of large women that could represent fertility. Some of the megaliths that make up this construction weigh more than 50 tons, which makes us believe that the Neolithic builders used very advanced construction techniques.

Although its condition seems more deteriorated than its sister temples in Malta (Hagar Qim and Tarxien), it is incredible that the base of the temple has remained standing to this day. Like other temples in Malta, animal bones have been found in Ggantija, which indicates that the place was used for religious rituals that included animal sacrifices. Archaeological studies have also been able to detail that the use of fire inside the temple was quite common.

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We bought the tickets and went to explore the place on our own. It was so hot that we couldn't enjoy it at our leisure, but I found the exhibition of objects found and the building itself very interesting. I think it's worth exploring these places around the country at your leisure, and preferably renting an audio guide to understand the details. Who knows, maybe one day we'll go back without the kids asking to be held all the time... lol.

Ferry to Malta

We drove to catch the ferryboat to the island of Malta, as both our flight to Portugal and my brother's flight to Italy were in the afternoon.

It was a sad journey, a bad farewell as always, but we will always have these fond memories of another trip together!

Lunch in Mdina

My husband asked us to stop in Mdina for a quick lunch and luckily I had read about a good place that sold the country's typical delicacies, the pastizzis and qassatats.

We parked the car in the same parking lot outside the wall, entered the Is-Serkin – Crystal Palace Bar and we ordered a few of each. We crossed the street, sat on a bench in the garden in front and enjoyed the view of the Mdina wall. They were both very tasty, but very greasy…lol.

Airport

We filled up the car at a gas station near the airport, returned the car to the rental company, popped a balloon that Patrick wanted to take on the plane but the Ryanair employee confirmed that we couldn't take it (it was a drama) and off we went on the longest 3h30 daytime flight of our lives... Holy activity magazine with cheap toys!!! 🙂

Malta will be missed, for sure!!!