Gozo, Malta

I didn't realize in our planning that Malta was more like an archipelago of three islands-Malta, Gozo and Comino.  Malta is the largest and most developed, Gozo is more laid back and peaceful, and Comino is the smallest of them all with only one tiny hotel inhabiting the entire island.  We spent 3 days in Gozo and there were enough beaches and activities to keep us busy while still offering plenty of peace and quiet.

We stayed at a wonderful true "bed and breakfast".  It has been a while since someone has made us a delicious homemade breakfast everyday of travel, and our stay was topnotch at Ta' MatMura farmhouse.  Mark and Jackie were the perfect hosts; they know all the great swim spots (they love to scuba dive), and always had suggestions on places to eat!  I really loved that there was a pool for us to swim in, because after long days at the beach, nothing felt more relaxing than taking a dip in fresh water!

The highlight of our time in Gozo was enjoying the beautiful natural scenery through a full day of kayaking with Gozo Adventures, our tour guide Ted and he was very entertaining.

We took off from Hondoq Bay and paddled across the water to Comino Island where we explored the Blue Lagoon.  We did the tour during the week, when the crowds of Maltese were not crammed like penguins along the shoreline, and we got to enjoy the beautiful views with minimal people.

We climbed up a little mountian for some seriously gorgeous scenery

We had an amazing time, and while it looks like I am doing most of the paddling here, it's just an illusion. 

A beautiful place to stop for lunch-turkey sandwiches and fruit:)

We spent lots of time exploring tunnels, kayaking through sea arches and gasping at the beautiful scenery. Who knew sea kayaking could be so gorgeous?!?

After a really fun day in the sun we took a swim in Hondoq with our tour group, not a bad place to swim!

One of the highlights of Gozo, that makes it so famous is the Azure window.  Yes...we were planning on seeing it...before it plummeted into the sea.  We still went to its resting place, enjoyed more swimming, and a beautiful sunset. Jordan was excited because this is where they filmed some of the Game of Thrones scenes:

Jordan got a good swim in the blue hole and was also stung by a jellyfish in the face.  I guess you win some, you lose some, sorry Jord.

The lighting was so beautiful as the sun came down

 R.I.P. Azure Window

 ...but were still happy to be here!

...and I am still pregnant...

We cleaned up pretty good for our last nights dinner and went to Xlendi Bay for dining on the waterfront

We ate at The Boat House and enjoyed lots of things.  For starters: 

Portabello mushroom with blue cheese and prawns// Grilled calamari 

Main dishes:

Seafood Pasta// Lobster Ravioli 

I should make a shout out to the Granola Ice Cream bar in Xlendi, we each had two GENEROUS scoops for dessert, and it was some good ice cream. On our last day before heading home we checked out the salt pans along our drive to swim.

We took a swim in Wied Il-Ghasri, which was beautiful, but really rocky...

...so we went to one last destination: Ramla Bay.  We would recommend it for relaxing in the sand, swimming in the bay.

We really enjoyed Gozo, it was very laid back, relaxing and gorgeous.  We spent a perfect amount of time exploring and although we were not ready to leave this beautiful place, it holds lots of fond memories for us.  We hope one day to come back for some Rest and Relaxation.