New Year Break in Gozo

The visit to Bethlehem f'Ghajnsielem around the New Year period is well worth undertaking as well as visits to the many churches that are passed on the various walks all of which have extraordinary nativity scenes which are interesting to view even if one is not religious. There was also a particularly good exhibition of artisan built nativity scenes at The Old Hospital in Victoria.  The room at the Grand Hotel was excellent and on the warmer days we sat watching the many comings and goings in the harbour.

It was really eye-opening travelling to Gozo and Malta as the places were not at all as I had imagined.

On Gozo, other than the capital Victoria, the little towns and villages on Gozo were very quiet and there was a noticeable number of unfinished buildings, some with building work going on. The walks were varied and very enjoyable and reflected many of the different fascinating geological and historical aspects of life on this island and how inhabitants were managing going forward. The cliffs were dramatic and quite scary and needed to be taken seriously! When following the walking routes there were not many places to buy food/drinks so one had to be mindful of this when setting off and take some sustenance or hope that any of the venues mentioned in the notes were open. On the route to Xlendi cliffs, when we passed through Sannat feeling rather hungry and thirsty, we ventured hopefully into Hotel Ta'Cenc, a 5 star restaurant; luckily their cafe/bar was open for passers by and we enjoyed very generous portions of "light lunch" snacks, observed by many tame cats who were hoping to share our meals! During the walks we did observe quite keenly the small amount of land available for farming (animals are kept indoors) and felt the struggle with nature due to the minimal natural fresh water supply, so the majority of water used is desalinated sea water. The New Year's Eve meal and dancing were well organised and a lot of fun. The Grand Hotel Gozo was very comfortable and had a good atmosphere. I enjoyed the salt water indoor swimming pool. The outdoor pool was closed for the winter but looked inviting. There was a great view over the harbour from the bedrooms but it was a bit noisy from the constant traffic going to and from the ferry port and the noise from the ferries which ran, I believe, all through the night.

The bus travel pass was excellent and we used it frequently on Gozo and Malta; there were many bus routes but, on occasions, they only came every hour - although we were lucky and usually only waited less than 20 minutes.

Malta in contrast to Gozo was much more developed and busy, although there were still unfinished buildings. In places there was a lot of traffic and locals did tell us pollution levels could be quite high. Again there was a lot of interesting scenery and more cliff top walks but also many museums and churches, the fascinating old cities of Valletta and Mdina, to mention just a few of the places to visit, including the extensive war time history and shelters. Surprisingly, eating in Naxaar in the evenings was quite difficult as many of the restaurants were closed, as was also the case in Mgarr, Gozo, where we ended up eating in the hotel on 2 nights (including the New Year's Eve meal). Food prices were much the same as London.

Owing to the time of year we did not see a lot of birds or wild flowers (other than small yellow flowers whose name I do not know), except many prickly pears which grew in abundance and were used as hedges and field boundaries! We went onto the beach (but not into the sea) several times in Gozo but only passed it in the car on Malta, so this was another part of Malta's attractions we did not get to experience.

Overall I felt that our 2 days in Malta only enabled us to scratch the surface of what was available to be seen; easily a week could be spent there. Our time On Gozo was good, although again there was more to do than we had time for.

INNTRAVEL NOTE: We tailored this trip to arrange a couple of nights on Malta for these customers following their New Year break on Gozo

Although the weather was unusually cold and breezy, it was an enjoyable break and the hotel was well positioned and provided good facilities. The local bus service was very good and enabled access to all parts of Gozo. We thoroughly enjoyed the walks, which were not too challenging and the array of restaurants close to the hotel enabled us to have a number of good options for dinner. It is a shame that we did not have a little more time to fully explore Gozo.

Gozo is a great island for relatively easy but enjoyable walking.   The hotel commanded wonderful views across the harbour to the island of Comino and Malta itself.  Being the Christmas season, there was a re-enactment of Bethlehem just up the road, which was definitely worth a visit (and worth adding to the Inntravel notes). We did three walks.  Walk 1 was along the coastal path to Xlendi with wonderful views.  Walk 2 was mainly on roads to the west of Victoria and I would recommend doing it on a non-working day due to the number of lorries serving the quarries.  Walk 5 was direct from the hotel and the most interesting walk as it provided a great contrast between a small bay on the north coast and one on the south.  However, it was a bit challenging in places due to coastal path erosion and I would not recommend doing the walk if it is wet. Public transport was easy to use and, as well as the travel pass in the pack, the hotel provided up with a simple timetable for our use.

Walk 1 was a nice walk with good views and one we'd recommend. One section had a barred entrance with a private property sign towards the end of the walk. We ignored it and we couldn't see how you could have continued without going through the gate. Luckily we weren't challenged though someone was working in the field. Walk 2 was mostly on roads near quarries, which were very dusty and many very fast lorries going to and fro from the quarries. I didn't think the pleasant parts of this walk outweighed the unpleasant parts. Walk 3 [Walk 5 in Inntravel holiday notes] very interesting walk, though the end part along the cliffs was rather dangerous and I think you should add to the notes that this section should not be attempted when it's been raining as the end part would be very treacherous as there are sheer drops and a path less than a metre in width that isn't level.

An excellent short break, very smooth transfer, comfortable accommodation, a choice of food other than the restaurant, lots of walking opportunities, a small enough island to explore, a bonus of lovely weather (maybe we were just lucky but it was super). All in all I would thoroughly recommend it.

Great walking.

The advice from the taxi driver was to catch the buses at the ferry rather than near the hotel as they were crowded, this was true and it was no hardship to walk the 5 minutes down to the ferry. The bus passes and service were great for getting about the island and we even used them on our last day to get back to the airport. We were taken over to Malta early because of the bad weather, dropped our bags at the airport and then the taxi driver took us into Valetta so we could do a little sightseeing rather than spending hours at the airport. The New Year's Eve buffet was excellent, quite a surprise to find the hotel had a such a large ballroom hidden beneath it. We had a lovely seafood meal at the Porto Vecchio restaurant, I would definitely recommend it.