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!