Small island, big heart

Beneath Gozo’s diminutive Mediterranean charm, Dominic Bates discovers an island bursting with history, culture and ambition…

At the start of a dusty country lane leading  out of the village, I squint at the unpromising  sun-scorched scene in front of me. Weeds  breaking through cracks in the pavement, cacti  tumbling over a ramshackle stone wall, and a  half-demolished outbuilding in the field opposite.  And then my guide encourages me to look a little closer. The weeds turn out to be caper plants whose plucked and pickled buds are a local delicacy, the cacti are actually prickly pear, harvested to make the fiery pink liqueur, bajtra, and that ruined building  is in fact the remains of a 17th-century farmhouse, that’s slowly and painstakingly being restored. It’s the first of countless occasions on my walking tour of Gozo that I’m truly astounded by the depth of history, culture and natural abundance of this tiny semi-arid island. It’s just 14km/9 miles long and 7km/4½ miles across, and a short ferry-ride from Malta. Yet there are monuments here that are older than the pyramids, more than 20 churches to discover among the islands’ many villages (one, in Xewkija, has a dome larger than St Paul’s Cathedral), and the locally-produced food and wine is of the finest quality. All of this means that any walk on Gozo, no matter how short, is literally packed with interest – provided you know what you’re looking at!

Bays and knights
With my prejudice chastened and my senses heightened, my guide leads me on down the lane into a green, patchwork valley of tiny stone-walled smallholdings, where the fragrances of hand-grown herbs waft up on the coastal breeze. Figs, olives, pomegranates, almonds and lemons the size of grapefruit hang from branches that occasionally spill over the boundary walls and out onto the highway, where they’re fair game for passing ramblers. The figs are succulently sweet.  Making way for the odd miniature tractor (we see few cars), our route zigzags down past crumbling limestone cliffs to the hidden cove of San Felip Bay below. Crystal-clear waters lap against a small  wharf of tiny fisherman’s huts, and I sit on a rock  to admire the view beside two leathery, old Gozitans  with fishing rods cast into the deep blue sea. On the boulder-strewn cliff tops above the bay, a watch tower looks out north over the Med. Built in 1661, it was first armed by the famous Knights of Malta who’d been given the islands of Malta and Gozo by the King of Sicily in 1530, hoping to rid himself of their constant political meddling. Having been subject to invasion throughout its history – passing between the Arabs, Spanish, Sicilians, Turks and French – Gozo’s coastline is today dotted with fortifications. The islands were finally granted independence from Britain in 1964 and their tumultuous past has left a cultural legacy that is unique in its mixture of European and Arabic, particularly in the Maltese language and food. Both will seem exotic and yet instantly familiar to the British visitor – plenty of English words are in common parlance and local dishes are served with the best roast potatoes I’ve tasted outside of my mum’s kitchen.

We finish our walk a few kilometres later in the pristine central plaza of Qala, drinking rich Italian coffee beside the village’s impressive baroque church. I watch a local farmer sell vegetables, fresh from the valley we’d visited, out of the back of his van close by.  Our journey followed a section of the Dahlet Qorrot walk, one of four circular routes promoted by Gozo’s tourist authority – all of which fit comfortably into a week’s holiday. The Ramla walk follows fertile valleys  from Nadur to the spectacular orange-red sands at  Ramla Bay; and the Saltpan walk begins in Gozo’s  capital, Victoria, and visits the traditional coastal salt  pans at Reqqa Point. But it’s the 12km/7½-mile Ta’ Gurdan walk that is the jewel in Gozo’s walking crown.

Chapels and temples
Starting beside the grand edifice of another baroque church, this time in the quaint village square of Gharb, we wind our way through narrow streets of stone-balconied villas, all bearing the ornately inscribed names of Christian saints or far-away countries. Like most islanders, the Maltese are prolific emigrants. Within minutes, we break out into open, level fields, dotted evenly with golden cylinders of bound hay. It’s a surprising and complete contrast to the chequered valleys on the previous walk. On our  way, we pass a pretty, solitary chapel and an ancient stone cistern at the base of a boundary wall. The  odd basking lizard is startled by our approach and scuttles away into the colourful wild verges of marigolds, poppies, dandelions and orchids. Then  for the first time on my walks in Gozo, we strike off road and cross a grassy headland trail to a collection of stones by a cliff-edge, overlooking the uninterrupted azure of the Med. They’re not yet officially recognized, but my guide suspects they’re probably the remains of a Megalithic monument, arranged in worship of the sun. And with good reason, since Gozo is awash  with mind-bogglingly ancient archaeology.  On a hill at the heart of the island are the Ggantija Temples, which – together with Malta’s Megalithic Temples – are the oldest freestanding structures in  the world and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Little  is known about their purpose or the people who  built them, but their size suggests a thriving Megalithic community once lived all over the island. We head steeply down from the headland to alight upon an extraordinary limestone platform below. Scooped out by eroding winds and rain, the prehistoric remains of hundreds of fossilised shells, crabs, mangrove roots and urchins are exposed on the  stone’s smooth surface. We follow the platform  along the dizzying cliff-range, passing the occasional makeshift hide of illegal bird trappers, who snare songbirds migrating overhead from Africa. It’s a tradition engrained in Maltese culture that’s proving difficult to eradicate, despite the local authorities’  EU-backed efforts to outlaw it since 2008.

Eco Island dream
Gozo currently has big plans to become, what they’ve branded, an ‘Eco Island’. The island has always sold itself as Malta’s quieter, more rural neighbour, offering many opportunities for outdoor activities (Gozo’s scuba diving sites are world-renowned).  But now it wants to push the eco-tourism agenda even further, aiming ultimately to make Gozo carbon neutral  by 2020. It’s not just about encouraging more tourists, insists Anthony Zammit, who spearheads the initiative at the Ministry for  Gozo. It’s also about increasing educational and employment opportunities for the young local  people who are currently leaving the island in their droves. “We want our economic guidelines to  become the same as our environmental ones,”  he says. “If we go the same way as Malta,  with its mass tourism developments, we will kill  the goose that laid the golden egg.” The Maltese government has pledged €80 million  to various environmental projects, including better protection and marketing of Gozo’s delicate,  coastal karst ecology – known as garigue – and  an afforestation programme that recently attracted the high-profile backing of HSBC. Gozo’s four promoted walking trails are another of these  projects, which has funded the creation of  new waymarks and guidebooks.

Judging by the decrepit state or total absence of waymarks I see along the Ta’ Gurdan walk, I presume it’s still a work in progress. But fortunately I have my guide to direct me along our inland return leg to  Gharb, which takes us up a verdant valley road along  a watercourse, past centuries-old farmhouses to a  tiny square devoted entirely to Gozo’s oldest basilica.  Rows of pink and white flowering oleanders flank our path as we make our way to a pretty hamlet at  the foot of Ta’ Gurdan hill. From here, the finish at Gharb is tantalizingly close, but there’s an arduous  and sweaty return-trip up to the hill’s 161m/528ft summit, where a landmark Victorian lighthouse of  the same name dominates the surroundings.  Whatever breath I had left is taken entirely by  the magnificent views that envelop me at  the top. A 360° panorama encompasses the whole island: all its craggy shores, fertile valleys and green rolling hills, each one crowned with  a neat ridge-top village and  a perfect-domed church.  My guide, like me, remains silent this time. Some views don’t need explaining, they  just speak for themselves.

You could win a fantastic 5-night/6-day Ramblers Worldwide Holiday to Gozo for two, staying half-board at the 4-star Calypso Hotel in Marsalforn. The prize includes return flights, transfers, and walks guided by an experienced leader. For your chance to win, simply answer the following question: What is the name of the oldest free-standing structure in the world found on Gozo? For terms and conditions, and for your chance to win, go to www.walkmag.co.uk/competitions by 30 November 2010.

Time/Distance: Gozo’s four promoted walking routes – Dahlet Qorrot, Ta’ Gurdan, Saltpan, and Ramla – range from 9 to 12km/6 to 8 miles, and take no more than five hours each, over mostly gentle terrain. It’s worth starting in the cool of the early morning during the summer months, to acclimatise gently to the heat.
Travel to: Air Malta (✆ 0845 070 1909, www.airmalta.com) flies from the UK to Malta Luqa airport, from £99 return. Allow one hour to get across Malta to Cirkewwa Harbour for the half-hour ferry to Gozo, costing €4.65 one-way for a foot passenger.
Travel around: Gozo’s grey-and-red buses serve most villages from Victoria’s central bus station. Fares are less than half-a-euro.
Further info: ✆ 020 8877 6990, www.islandofgozo.org; www.visitmalta.com/gozo.
Package tours: Ramblers Worldwide Holidays (✆ 01707 331133, www.ramblersholidays.co.uk) offer an 11-day guided walking holiday to Malta and Gozo, starting from £699 per person half-board, including flights, transfers and a dedicated tour leader.

Images: Mario Galea