Gozo walking 1: to the saltpans

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Street in Victoria
Prickly pear and nasturtiums
Little lizard

10th April 2026

Our first walk in Gozo was a circular route straight from our hotel to the saltpans on the north coast. Winding through the backstreets of Victoria and continuing along country lanes we were already getting a flavour of how our week would be with wildflowers everywhere and lots of little lizards darting about. I was surprised at the ubiquity of prickly pear cacti which I always associate with the Americas, but I read later that they have been introduced to southern Europe, as here, and also Australia, the Middle East and parts of Africa.

The next settlement we came to was Ghasri, again typical of what we would see again and again – a small village with an enormous church.

We took a few minutes to walk round inside. Consecrated in 1916, Corpus Christi became a parish church in 1921 by authorisation of Pope Benedict XV. This was another surprise to me – how relatively recent some of these churches are. This was by no means the most opulent, but they all made me wonder how else the church could have spent its money to benefit its parishioners.

After leaving Ghasri the next sight we came to was the cross, Tad-Dejma, which marked a meeting point for a mercenary force which protected the area on the late middle ages. You can just see the Ta’ Gordan lighthouse in the background. Not far from this we saw Gozo’s oldest basilica (built 1739 and extended in 1754) which is dedicated to the Patronage of the Virgin Mary.

Beyond the church we were still walking on a country road alongside terraced farmland, but soon we struck off onto a flower lined path to the sea, emerging above a beautifully clear cove. From there, the first of the old saltpans was a short step away. Carved into the limestone shelf over millennia, some of these are natural, but most are not. There are still some locals harvesting and selling sea salt, and I’m guessing that is the purpose of the little doors in the gallery below. I also liked the No BBQ sign carved into the rock. We weren’t looking for a barbeque, but were pleased to find two beach cafes in Xwejni Bay, one of which we selected for lunch which came with a beautiful view.

After lunch we continued along the coast before heading inland and uphill to return to Victoria, passing Tas-Salvatur Hill with its statue of Christ the Redeemer. Apparently this is the third statue – the first (1904) was not resistant to weather and was replaced in the 1960s. That one was destroyed by a thunderstorm, so they are taking no chances with the current one which is made of reinforced concrete.

Another surprising plant to find (to me) was agave, again native to the Americas.

Finally, we arrived back in Victoria, passing the Capuchin Friary before returning to our hotel.

After a rest we went out again to eat in Maldonaldo Bistro, named after a 17th century Governor of Gozo, another amazing find to which we would return later in the week.

This was the only walk we did without using public transport. The next day we figured out the bus system!

Linked to Jo’s Monday Walk.

Gozo, Malta , , ,

57 Comments »

  1. I’m with Heyjude in having missed some of your walks. But as I realised, I deliberately missed the rest of Gozo until I had time to walk through them.
    Funny about prickly pear and agave; to me they are Mediterranean, simply because I first saw them in Majorca in the late fifties!

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  2. Visiting from Jo’s Walks. I visited Gozo for the day from Malta a couple of years ago, but we missed the saltpans, so I was interested to see your photos. We figured out the hop on hop off bus and really explored the island. My favourite stop was at Dwejra Bay.

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  4. Somehow I forgot to come back to this post. I often glance at them on my phone, but prefer to read properly and comment on the computer, but I wasn’t on the computer much last week – too hot in my upstairs room. Anyway, back to the post. Gorgeous sky! We had some like that last week, but grey today (and cooler, thank goodness). I looked at the walk on the map, it seems like quite a long circular route, but I couldn’t really make out how you did it. You have whetted my appetite about revisiting Malta and Gozo. If only I could get there by train.

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  5. Pingback: The small pleasures of the week.

  9. I do enjoy a circular route, much better than returning the same way you went. And yes, prickly pear was introduced here as cattle feed. It’s long been listed as a pest and there are ongoing programs to eradicate it.

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  13. I have just been off to research saltpans. What a gorgeous walk but it does look hot. I think I would have walked into that gorgeous ocean! What a great location for lunch and a stellar walk.

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  16. A lovely walk through the landscape noting the flowers, the salt pans and the different churches. The churches all seem relatively recent …I wonder if they replaced older ones! Love the blue sky and the beach!

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  18. What a lovely walk – I especially like the path between the wild flowers 🙂 Plus the salt pans themselves look really interesting and the view from your lunchtime café is gorgeous!

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  19. Looks like a great walk from beginning to end, based on the variety of scenery and sights. And the weather looks gorgeous. I can guess that Gozo and this story takes place in Malta (and I did see it in a tag at the bottom of the blog) based on your previous posts, but a new reader to your blog might wonder where Gozo is located. 🙂

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  20. Looks a great island. That’s always a sign of dry hot conditions. Only seen prickly pears in two places. Corsica and Australia. In both it was over 90 degrees in summer. Bob. BSS.

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  22. This is a bit like coals to Newcastle with a Maltese flavour, Anabel! I can see salt pans from our roof and there’s no shortage of prickly pear and oxalis. I’m fairly sure I’d love Gozo. Not so easy from here but maybe next year. Many thanks for the taster xx

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  23. A good walk Anabel although it looks like it was a warm one. I like the pelican symbol in the church floor and Xwejni Bay looks lovely – that clear sea looks so inviting.

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