Gozo, Malta

Gozo is Malta's quieter, greener, more contemplative sister island — a place where the pace of life remains distinctly Mediterranean and the landscape preserves a rural character that the main island of Malta, with its increasing urbanisation, has largely surrendered. Separated from Malta by the six-kilometre Gozo Channel, this 67-square-kilometre island of 37,000 residents has been inhabited for over 7,000 years, and the Ggantija Temples — massive megalithic structures dating to 3,600 BCE, predating the Egyptian pyramids by over a millennium — stand as testament to the extraordinary sophistication of Gozo's Neolithic inhabitants. Homer is said to have modelled Calypso's island in the Odyssey on Gozo, and whether or not the attribution is historically defensible, the island's beauty certainly merits the mythological association.

The Citadella, Gozo's fortified capital perched on a hill in the centre of the island, is the architectural and cultural heart of the island. Enclosed by defensive walls built by the Knights of St. John, the Citadella contains the Cathedral of the Assumption — whose painted ceiling creates the trompe l'oeil illusion of a dome that was never actually built, the funds having run out — as well as the Governor's Palace, the old prison, and narrow streets of golden limestone buildings. From the ramparts, the view encompasses virtually the entire island: the terraced hillsides planted with vines and capers, the salt pans of Xwejni, the red sand beach of Ramla Bay, and the blue Mediterranean stretching to the horizon in every direction.

Gozitan cuisine is a celebration of the island's agricultural heritage. Ftira, a sourdough flatbread baked in wood-fired ovens and topped with tomatoes, capers, olives, and the local sun-dried cheese gbejniet, is Gozo's signature food — the island's answer to pizza, but with a lineage that predates Italian influence by centuries. Rabbit stew (stuffat tal-fenek), Malta's national dish, reaches its finest expression in Gozo's village restaurants, where the meat is slow-braised in wine and garlic until it falls from the bone. Gozo's capers, harvested from plants that grow wild on the Citadella's walls and dried in the summer sun, are among the finest in the Mediterranean — their pungent, briny flavour an essential component of the island's cooking.

The coastline of Gozo provides some of the finest swimming and diving in the Mediterranean. Dwejra Bay, on the western coast, is famous for the Inland Sea — a lagoon connected to the open Mediterranean through a natural tunnel in the cliff that fishing boats navigate daily — and the Blue Hole, a natural rock pool that is one of the most celebrated dive sites in Europe, its underwater chimney descending through the limestone into azure depths. Ramla Bay, the island's largest beach, offers a wide sweep of distinctive red-orange sand backed by the remnants of a Roman villa. Mgarr ix-Xini, a secluded fjord-like inlet on the southern coast, provides sheltered swimming in deep, clear water between dramatic limestone cliffs.

Gozo is visited by Windstar Cruises on Mediterranean itineraries, with ships anchoring at Mgarr Harbour. The most pleasant visiting season runs from April through November, with the shoulder months of May and October offering warm swimming temperatures, smaller crowds, and the golden Mediterranean light that makes Gozo's limestone architecture glow with an almost supernatural warmth.