Ġgantija
On the Xagħra plateau there are two temple structures inside a single boundary wall, built in the Late Neolithic. Heritage Malta gives a range of roughly 3800 to 2000 BC for the complex, with the construction usually placed early in it.
The number that matters is the comparison: this was standing before the pyramids at Giza and before Stonehenge. It is among the oldest free-standing built structures anywhere.
The name means “of the giantess”, from the tradition that a giantess built it while carrying a child, and the stones make that story feel less unreasonable than it should. Some of the blocks in the outer wall are enormous.
Entry is through an interpretation centre with finds and audiovisual material, and a path out to the temples themselves. An hour covers it comfortably.
The same ticket covers Ta’ Kola windmill a short walk away, built in 1725, with the miller’s living quarters preserved. It is small and it is worth the twenty minutes.
What is not on show
Close to Ġgantija is the Xagħra Stone Circle, an underground burial complex of the same period, excavated in the late twentieth century. It produced a great deal of what is now known about the people who built the temples.
It is not open to the public and the finds are in museums. It is worth knowing about anyway, because it corrects the impression the temples give: what survived above ground is the fraction that was built in stone big enough not to be carted away.
The Ċittadella, and 1551
The fortified citadel above Victoria is the oldest continuously occupied site on the island and was, for most of Gozo’s history, the island itself: in periods of danger the whole population was expected to shelter inside it.
In 1551 that failed. An Ottoman force took the citadel and carried off almost the entire population into slavery. The figure usually given is around five thousand people. Gozo was effectively emptied, and repopulated afterwards from Malta and Sicily.
The Knights refortified it in the decades that followed, and for a long period Gozitans were still legally required to spend the night within its walls.
What is there now: a free bastion walk around the top with a view over most of Gozo, the cathedral, and several small museums inside the walls on separate or combined tickets. The bastion walk is the thing. Go in the last hour of light.
The nineteenth century on the skyline
Ta’ Ġordan lighthouse, above Għasri, was built in 1853 on the highest hill in that part of the island, and the walk up to it is one of the better short walks on Gozo for the view rather than the building.
The salt pans at Qbajjar and Xwejni are older than they look and are still worked by hand by a small number of families, which makes them one of the few places on the island where a historic industry is a current one rather than a display.
And 2017
The Azure Window at Dwejra collapsed into the sea during a storm in March 2017. There is nothing above water.
It is included here because it is still the single most common reason people drive to Dwejra, and because the honest answer is that the headland remains worth the trip for Fungus Rock, the Inland Sea and the diving, but not for the arch, which is gone.
Elsewhere on the island
- Practical Getting to Gozo, and getting around once you are there The car ferry, the fast ferry from Valletta, the buses that all go through Victoria, and whether you actually need a car. Including the fare quirk that catches everyone once.
- Countryside The Gozo countryside: terraces, walls and valley walks A plateau cut by valleys, held up by dry stone walls somebody still maintains. Where to walk, when not to, and what you are actually looking at.
- Crafts & artists Crafts and makers on Gozo Lace, filigree, blown glass and pottery, the crafts village at Ta’ Dbieġi, and how to tell what was made on the island from what was flown in to be sold here.
Questions
How old is Ġgantija?
Late Neolithic. Heritage Malta dates the two structures to roughly 3800 to 2000 BC, with the building usually placed in the earlier part of that range, which makes them older than the Egyptian pyramids and older than Stonehenge. They are part of the Megalithic Temples of Malta inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List, and they sit on the Xagħra plateau. Entry is through an interpretation centre and an hour is about right.
What happened to Gozo in 1551?
An Ottoman force took the Ċittadella and carried off most of the island's population into slavery. The figure usually given is around five thousand people, effectively emptying Gozo. The island was repopulated afterwards from Malta and Sicily, which is why the Gozitan surname map looks the way it does. The Knights refortified the citadel in the decades that followed, and for a long period Gozitans were required to spend the night inside its walls.
Is the Ċittadella worth visiting?
Yes, and it is the one historic site on the island you can walk into for nothing. The bastion walk round the top is free and open, and the view from it covers most of Gozo, which is the quickest way to understand the shape of the island. Several museums sit inside the walls and are ticketed separately or on a combined ticket. Go late in the afternoon when the stone turns colour and the coach parties have gone.
Can you still see the Azure Window?
No. It collapsed into the sea in a storm in March 2017 and there is nothing above water. The rubble is now a dive site, and the Blue Hole and the chimney beside it, which were always the better dive, are unaffected. The headland at Dwejra is still worth the drive for Fungus Rock and the Inland Sea.
What is the Xagħra Stone Circle?
A Neolithic underground burial complex near Ġgantija, excavated in the late twentieth century, which produced a great deal of what is known about the people who built the temples. It is not open to the public, and the finds are in museums rather than on site. Worth knowing about precisely because you cannot visit it: the temples are the part that survived above ground, not the whole of the story.
Was Calypso’s Cave on Gozo?
Gozo has been identified with Homer's Ogygia since antiquity, and the cave above Ramla carries the name. The viewpoint over the red sand is excellent and the identification is a tradition rather than a finding. Access to the cave itself has been restricted for safety for some years, so check before you make a special trip for it.