A little sister with a large heart

Gozo lives in Malta’s shadow but has plenty of its own visual and culinary pleasures to delight the discerning traveller, writes Louise Roddon in The Telegraph:

Secluded bays, bracing walks and charming restaurants are what Gozo does best. And it’s all set in a wild terrain that nonsense poet Edward Lear found so magnificent he pronounced it “pomskizillious and gromphiberous”.

This is Malta’s tiny tranquil sister island: an unpretentious outpost that is relatively unscathed by the excesses of tourism. Here, terraced fertile valleys give way to surf-bashed rocky headlands and sheltered creeks. Hill villages dip down to the cactus-strewn central plains, where elaborately conceived rotunda churches and bell towers add a handsome vertical accent.

Most visitors come for a quiet day’s respite from lively Malta but there are treats off the day-trippers’ circuit that deserve longer scrutiny...The east, favoured by locals, boasts several bays that are quite hard to reach, but the effort pays off. Ramla Bay is next to two such gems. San Blas, a shallow inlet with sun umbrellas and a kiosk, is reachable by a bumpy track lined with orange groves. Then, Dahlet Qorrot, where pastel-coloured boat houses line a tiny bay. Mgarr Ix-Xini, a sheltered creek on the south-east, is similarly remote, with a restaurant offering grilled fish for hungry swimmers.

In the west, tourists favour Dwerja’s Azure Window – a huge natural arch in the cliffs. The Blue Hole, a vertical “chimney”, is popular with divers. Opposite, the imposing Fungus Rock takes its name from the Knights of St John. A rare plant was found to have healing properties useful in their hospitals. The knights built Qawra Tower opposite to guard their find...