DISCOVER GOZO

Saltpans in Xwejni

Today we are going to steer you away again from Gozo’s fabulous green countryside, and back to one of the abundant aquatic scenarios of Malta’s sister island. I admit I’ve always been a little more in favour of waterscapes than, say, of mountainous terrain, and I’ll never cease to be amazed how diverse the views of the seaside are here in Gozo. Overlooked by Il-Qolla l-Bajda (white hill), the surroundings of Xwejni Bay are made up of a curious mixture of natural and man-made phenomenons, with a serene, yet almost surreal quality to them.

Xwejni Bay is easily accessed from two different directions; you can pass along the coastal road (St Mary’s Street) through Marsalforn and Qbajjar, or choose to descend the road that snakes down from Zebbug and leads right to the bay. If you are lucky and visibility is very good, this road is also a great vantage point to catch a glimpse of Sicily, which is about 90 km away!

Right between the neighbouring bays of Xwejni and Qbajjar, stands the Qolla l-Bajda Battery, one of the numerous watchtowers dotting the coastline of the Maltese islands. It was built between 1715 and 1716, and in the early 1980s housed an extremely popular discotheque, The Rook. For me this will always be a special place: my wedding reception took place there, which was quite an extravagant venue in those days!

Xwejni Bay and its saltpans are one of those places I’m often drawn back to when I get the photo itch, because it is just so different from other landscapes that involve sea views. Serving as the landmark of the inlet, Il-Qolla l-Bajda probably graces the holiday photos of thousands of people. Nevertheless, I never get tired of having yet another go at it…

The saltpans, by the way, are still in use to this day for the collection of sea salt. The easy part of the procedure is having them flooded by the sea in rough weather, and then sizzled dry by the sun. The residual salt crystals are then harvested in rather back-breaking manual labour, carried out in the heat of summer.

I would like to share with you this wonderful documentary, which I found while looking up information about the harvest of sea salt in Xwejni. It was produced by a team of university students and shows just how hard the work involved actually is. Please do keep this in mind when visiting the area, and respect the signs asking you not to step inside the saltpans!

Exclusively for our blog readers & facebook fans

1. Win a 2-nights’ stay at the Kempinski Hotel San Lawrenz

While writing the posts for our blog, we have been wondering what you might particularly like about Gozo. In order to find out, we have come up with our latest competition. There is one snag: it is open only to facebook fans of the Kempinski Hotel San Lawrenz. What, you aren’t a fan yet? Then you are cordially invited to join us here (it’s completely pain-free!).

All you have to do to enter the competition, is tell us what you like about Gozo, in up to 500 words. Here are some ideas to get you started:

• why do you come to Gozo?
• which is your favourite place in Gozo?
• which season do you prefer for a visit to Gozo, and why?
• what do you do during your stay in Gozo?
• if you have not been to Gozo yet but are planning a visit, what are your expectations?

So get the keyboard going, and submit your post not later than 10th February 2010 to competition1@discover-gozo.com (this e-mail address will cease to be valid on 11th February 2010). Please include your name and surname, e-mail address and telephone number.

The best entries will be published on Discover Gozo, and the prize, a 2-nights’ stay for 2 persons at the Kempinski Hotel San Lawrenz including breakfast, will be raffled among the finalists, which are made up of all published entries. If you have a nice photo to accompany your text, we’ll be happy to publish that too, but it will not affect your chances to be accepted for publication.

The prize draw will be take place on 18th February 2010, and a video of the draw will be published on our facebook page. The Kempinski Hotel San Lawrenz reserves the right to decide which entries and/or photographs are published, and to edit posts for clarity and/or length. Participants who submit photographs declare that they own the copyright of the submitted material. Photographs that are chosen for publication will be resized to a width of 550 px and published in low resolution.

2. Free Download

The destination blog of the Kempinski Hotel San Lawrenz is only 3 months old, but already has gathered a nice little crowd of readers from near and far. As a little thank-you in return, we have put the photos of our latest post into a slide-show, which is available for download. If you like it, please let us know. We might build up a collection of Gozo landscapes on a regular basis, for you to enjoy.

Download Gozo in January (4.09 MB)

Green winter in Gozo

German poet Heinrich Heine once said about summer in Germany that it was “a winter painted green.” (Unser Sommer ist ein grün angestrichener Winter). And those words come to my mind when I want to describe winter in Gozo, because you could almost say it’s summer painted green. We at the Kempinski Hotel San Lawrenz would like to show you that Gozo is by no means a summer-sun-sea destination only. Are you ready for a break from the snow and cold that has been battering much of Europe? Then you could do much worse than trying a little get-away to Gozo, which readily offers you a sweet taste of spring. Next month the Kempinski Hotel San Lawrenz will reopen its doors; you could be among the first to enjoy the all-new spa!

Except for the first one which I took last December, all the photos in this post show Gozo in January. The first six are from a walk to Dahlet Qorrot (Nadur) in 2004:

The these show Marsalforn valley and were taken… yesterday! No matter which way you choose to go, practically all of the island is painted green.  As you can see, although we do get our (necessary!) share of rain in winter, the sun does treat us generously indeed.

(By the way, most of the pictures of Ta’ Gurdan Lighthouse (see previous post) are also January shots! )

Ta’ Gurdan Lighthouse in Ghasri

First of all, a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year to all of you – and sincere apologies to our readers for letting you wait so long for another post. The time of Christmas and New Year’s brings with it downtime due to vacation. Oh yes, we do go on holidays too! Now we’re almost back to normal though – except for the fact that the hotel is closed at the moment, as our spa is getting a most fabulous face-lift! If you like, you may follow the works’ progress by visiting this page on our website, or watching the short videos we upload from time to time on the facebook page of the Kempinski Hotel San Lawrenz.

Today I’d like to take you for a little walk… One of the cheapest, simplest and at the same time most contenting pleasures on Gozo is exploring its countryside, which is still abundant.

One moderate walk of less than a couple of kilometres from the Kempinski Hotel San Lawrenz leads to the neighbouring village of Ghasri. By population the smallest village of Gozo, it is overlooked by the only lighthouse of the island: Ta’ Gurdan, which was inaugurated in 1853. I found conflicting information about the height of the hill – could be 180 or 161 m above sea level – but that doesn’t really matter too much. Fact is, the beam of the lighthouse can be seen up to 50 kilometres away, and the landmark itself from many locations around the western part of Gozo.

Although I am not exactly what you’d call a seasoned hiker – the walk up the hill tends to leave me slightly breathless – I have been up there quite a few times already.

Unless you choose a sunny Sunday afternoon for your visit – a time when you’ll probably encounter lively groups of locals on your way – the peace and quiet are as rewarding as the wonderful views, which you find yourself enjoying even before reaching the summit!

And once you reach the top and discover the 360 degree panorama of the island, you’ll surely agree with me that it was well worth the effort!

If you are more interested in the technical aspects of the lighthouse, some information can be found on the website of the Ministry for Gozo.