A bird's eye viewA bird's eye viewPortuguese / French / Spanish / German / Italian
Getting a bird's-eye view of Gozo was until recently a privilege reserved to our avian friends and to a few aviators who flew military helicompters and light aircraft. We common mortals could at best walk up to the Citadel or climb to the summit of Ta' Dbiegi hill, the island's highest point, and gaze around with our eyes while imagining what it would look like from the sky.
No longer, on June 27, 1990, Malta Air Charter - a subsidiary of Air Malta - initiated a regular helicopter service from Malta International Airtport to Gozo and vice-versa together with several panoramic tours. At present Malta Air Charter operates these services with three large-capacity, twin-engine helicopters with an attractively spacious cabin that can acommodate up to 26 passengers.
As the helicopter rises slowly from the Gozo Heliport one immediately gets a taste of things to come. A gorgeous wilderness covered with garigue stretches up to the precipices of a deep valley terminating in the mini-fjord of Mgarr ix-Xini, with a watchtower guarding its entrance.
Taking a southeasterly route, the flight soon traverses the six-kilometre expanse of blue Mediterranean that separates Gozo from Malta and gives you the opportunity to enjoy an unparelleled view of the towering cliffs of Malta's southwest coast. In about 12 minutes the helicopter lands at the airport.
Seeing Malta and Gozo from above means more than a simple short aerial tour from Kalafrana, Malta's southeasternmost tip, to Kap San Dimitri, Gozo's northernmost point. As the thousands who have already done so can attest, the tour offers an excellent view of the villages and the valleys, of the churches and the countryside on this small expanse of land.
The flight from the airport first overflies Marsa, with its multitude of sporting facilities, and heads towards Valletta. THe perfect grid layout of the streets, the palaces and the fortifications jutting out between Grand Harbour and Marsamxett Harbour vividly illustrate why it has been referred to as a city built by gentlemen for gentlemen.
After further views of the inner harbour area with its Drydocks and Three Cities, the fight turns towards Malta's low-lying northern and northwestern coast with the tourist resorts of Sliema, St Julian's, Bugibba and Mellieha.
The sheer beauty of the crystal-clear waters of Bejn il-Kmiemen, the stretch of blue sea between the two small mid-channel islands of Comino and Cominotto, immediately becons to your camera's viewfinder as the flight heads towards Gozo. About half of hte 40-minutes sightseeing flight is dedicated to a thorough tour of that island.
The entry above Gozo is from the direction of Mgarr Harbour, tiny but bustling with activity, then towards the island's largest villages of Nadur and Xaghra, both of them built on two of the many hills that dot the island. The difference between the islands soon becomse obvious as teh greener Gozitan countryside, watered by natural springs, is markedly less barren and less unspoilt than Malta's.
One's attention is immediately caught by Ta' Kola Windmill in Xaghra, which with its huge arms would certainly be very inviting to a latter-day Don Quixoter. But forget quickly about Quixotic quests, for in a few seconds' time you fly above the Guinness record-holder for the oldest free standing structure in the world: the twin Ggantija Temples whose construction began around 5,600 years ago.
Just acroos a green valley from the temples there is In-Nuffara Hill, seemingly rising from the Gozo horse racetrack. The site was a prehistoric, naturally-fortified settlement, and it is from the sky that one appreciates why the choice was made.
The flight turns seaward above the beckoning golden sand of Ir-Ramla Bay, where one can admire the natural beauty of the island's coastline before the onslaught of development in hte last 50years. Such uncontrolled development is soon glaringly visible in Marsalforn, Gozo's main fishing village and the most popular summer resort.
One can also see the statue of Christ the Saviour crowning the small rocky hill of Il-Merzuq close to Marsalforn. THence along the coast with tthe hundreds of saltpans dating from the Roman times, the village of Zebbug perched on a hilltop and up to Gurdan lighthouse that has guided navigation for 150 years.
Across the fertile fields lies the flat-topped hill of Ta' Ghammar, dotted with 14 statues representing The Way of the Cross, and at the foot fo the hill the holy sanctuary of Ta' Pinu, the island's national shrine.
A few more moments and you are above one of the most fantastic places in Gozo: Dwejra Bay with its entrance partly blocked by the rock of Hagret il-General, once very famous for a medicinal herb, and Il- Qawra or the Inland Sea, an inland depression filled by the sea that rushes through a narrow fissure in the cliffs, through which tiny boats can take you to some of the most spectacular deep dives in the Mediterranean.
The treat of the trip soon comes into close view: the crown of Gozo, the ancient Citadel that still stands sentinel over the island as it has done for at least the last 3,500 years.
The present massive defensive fortifications rising above the town of Rabat, that grew as a suburb to the citadel, were raised by the Knights of St John early in the 17th century to protect the community from the ever-present threat of invasion by the Muslim forces fighting Christendom and from the foraging corsairs in their search for slaves.
The crown is surmounted with an impressive jewel of an 18th century baroque cathedral with its splendid bell tower topping the whole citadel.
The cathedral and the many churches that rise one after another from built-up areas and from the ountryside are evidence of the steady strength of hte religious belief of the community. This is most tangible as the mammoth Xewkija rotunda comes into view - the dome rises 75 metres above the ground level. Its total weight is calculated to be around 45,000 tonnes.
The flight then passes over Ta' Cenc plateau - one of the most unspoilt areas of Gozo and probably the largest area of the garigue left in the Maltese Islands. The term garigue refers to uncultivated land of a calcareous soil overgrown with low scrub, typicla of the Mediterranean coastland.
The flight then turns southeast towards Malta with the backdrop of Ta' Cenc plateau that rises perpendicularly some 150 metres from the sea.
The tour follows the western coast ofer the golden beaches of Ghajn Tuffieha and Gnejna before reaching the dramatic cliffs of Dingli and, a minute later, the magnificent medieval city of Mdina with its palatial houses, baroque cathedral, and open-air cafes. Close by on the outskirts of Rabat lies Verdala Palace just above Il-Buskett - an expanse with a large variety of trees.
The tour comes to a fitting coclusion over Malta's (not Capri's) Blue Grotto and the megalithic temples of Hagar Qim and Mnajdra.