What it is like
The village you drive through without noticing, because the road from the ferry climbs straight past it towards Victoria. Stop and it is a square, a very large church in an unexpected Lombard-Gothic style, and streets that run down towards the harbour at Mġarr, which is part of the same council. The name means a peaceful spring, and Grand Master Perellos put up an arcade of public washbasins and fresh water spouts over it in 1700.
What is actually here
The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Loreto, begun in 1924, is worth the stop. Its building history is a small catalogue of misfortune: four architects in all, the first of whom resigned and the second of whom died, and a master mason, Toni Vella, who fell from the works and broke his legs twice. The bell tower was blessed in June 1979. The titular statue came from Gallard et Fils of Marseilles and reached Gozo on 14 October 1866, commissioned in thanks for the island escaping the plague that struck Malta the year before.
Pjazza tad-Dehra, the square of the apparition, is where tradition says Our Lady spoke to a shepherd named Anglu Grech.
Fort Chambray
On the headland above the harbour, an 18th century fort intended as the beginning of a new fortified town, Gozo’s Valletta. The town never happened. What exists is the fort, the gate and a private residential complex inside the walls, so there is less to walk around than the scale of the place suggests.
Getting there
Every bus from the ferry passes through, and Victoria is about ten minutes on. Walking up from Mġarr is possible but steep. Xatt l-Aħmar is reached by a rough track off the Mġarr road.
When to come
The festa falls on the last weekend of August. Christmas is the other date that matters, for the live nativity village with actors and animals, which runs for several evenings and draws people from across the island.
Questions about Għajnsielem
Can you visit Fort Chambray?
Only in part. It was begun in the 18th century as a new fortified town, intended as Gozo's answer to Valletta, and that town was never built. The site is now a private residential development, so the walls and the approach are what most visitors actually see.
What is Pjazza tad-Dehra?
The square of the apparition. Tradition holds that Our Lady spoke there to a local shepherd named Anglu Grech. It is also where the village stages its live nativity at Christmas, with actors and animals, which is the best known thing Għajnsielem does.
Where are the Gozo wrecks?
Off Xatt l-Aħmar, below Għajnsielem on the south coast. The MV Karwela and the MV Cominoland were scuttled there in August 2006 and sit within recreational depth, reached from the shore. It is a dive site rather than a swimming beach, and the walk down is rough underfoot.
Is Għajnsielem worth stopping in on the way from the ferry?
For the sanctuary and the square, yes. There is not a great deal else, and most people drive straight through to Victoria in ten minutes. The bell tower, blessed in June 1979, is the first thing you see on the climb up from the harbour.