About Gozo
Gozo, which in Maltese is called Ghawdex (pronounced: Awdesh), is a derivation of other older names such as Gaulos. It has an area of 67 square kms, is 14 kms long and 7 kms wide. With a coastline of 43 km, it is the second largest island of the Maltese Archipelago that, together with the smaller isle of Comino and the main island of Malta form the Republic of Malta. Gozo is popularly called The Island of Calypso, that is a nickname originating from the Greek mythological location of Ogygia referred to in Homer's Odyssey. In this epic poem, the fabled island was controlled by the nymph Calypso, who had detained the Greek hero Odysseus for seven long years as prisoner of love.
The Maltese Islands are situated in the centre of the Mediterranean - 93 km south of Italy and 290 km north of North Africa. Gozo lies about 5 km in the North West of Malta and the distance between Cirkewwa in Malta and Mgarr Harbour in Gozo, involves a 25 minute ferry crossing. It therefore enjoys warm summers and mild winters and this makes it the ideal holiday destination at any time of the year.
The official coat-of-arms of Gozo is a field divided horizontally: the upper two thirds silver; the lower one third made up of six parallel wavy horizontal bands alternately silver and black, the top one silver, the bottom one black. Upon the upper part, three slightly pointed hills in black, the centre hill higher and in front of the other two hills. Above the shield is a mural coronet with five eschaugettes and a sally-port in gold. Simultaneously with this emblem, Gozo earned its popular nickname the Island of the Three Hills probably derived from the hilly view when observed from mainland Malta. Throughout the years Gozo has been vastly influenced by the cultures and history of a series of dominators including the Phoenicians, Romans, Arabs, Normans, Spanish, the Knights of St. John, the French and the British, who all left their mark on the cultural and the folkloristic heritage of the population.
This together with other information can be found at www.gozo.gov.mt
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