The Church of Our Lady of Victory, Xaghra, Gozo, Malta.
Gozo which in Maltese is called G awdex 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 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 In comparison with mainland Malta one finds a more varied geology and larger relief contrasts with typical flat topped hills Over 27000 people inhabit the island and this amounts to one twelfth of the overall population of Malta When compared to the overall area of the Maltese Islands Gozo covers approximately one third of that area This means that the island of Gozo is not overpopulated and therefore greener a
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Photo credit: © BonkersAboutTravel / Alamy / Afripics
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