Finding Xlendi: In Search of the Beach

Although we have a lovely private pool at our villa, we are still in search of a beach on Gozo. I had read that Xlendi had a nice beach, so we planned to walk down to it the other day. We google mapped it, took photos of the map with Steve's phone and headed out.

Let's just say that the roads are not easy to determine here. The signs are on buildings, not street corners... and it seems random where you might see them.

Suffice it to say, we did not make it to Xlendi that first time. We met a couple of ladies stopping for a rest (it was a hot day!) on a fence. They said they had just come from Xlendi, but neglected to tell us we had already missed the turn. Assuming we were going the right way, we just carried on 😀

We could see water, and knew that Xlendi must be way down... but we didn't come across anything that looked like a road to get down there!

Then we heard the peacocks. My initial thought was that there were more peacocks than just the ones in our town. Steve figured it out right away... we had looped back around to our own town! We had been walking for a while, and it was quite hot, so we opted to walk into Victoria for some food, rather than wandering aimlessly to find Xlendi!

A few days later we decided to give it another whirl. We don't have cell service on the phone, but set up the mapping device on the phone on the wifi before we left. Sometimes it will keep going even after you lose wifi service.

Unfortunately, we lost the signal before we got to the turn-off we missed the last time. We were pretty sure we found the right road though, and headed down on a road with no name, that looked like a VERY steep driveway! There was also a little stone at the top of the road with an arrow pointing the way we went last time (the wrong way!), so felt better about missing the turn the first time 😉

The first house we saw on the road had a beautiful flowering bush, and gorgeous stone garage. So we stopped for a photo.

We continued on down the steep road, admiring the view, and then we saw a busier road at the bottom! Success!

Well we thought we we at the bottom, but not quite yet...

We continued along the busy road, which had a space at the side, like a sidewalk... so I didn't feel worried about all the cars travelling at Mach 10 around the curves. We came around a corner, and saw the ocean and a little village way up ahead. At last, the elusive Xlendi was in sight.

As we were walking, we came across a sign that was telling information about a cave you could see in a rock wall. The called it the "Cavity of Jesus Christ". It was probably originally a rock-cut tomb, but as you walk along it looks like it is opening and closing due to the formations inside the cave... hence the name. I'm not sure why we didn't take a photo... probably because it just looked like a little hole in a rock 🤷

When we finally made it down another large hill to Xlendi we saw that it was a little resort town full of apartments, hotels and restaurants. We headed straight down to the water to see the beach... and here it is...

Yes, that is the WHOLE beach. Not what I was hoping for. The bay however is beautiful, and you can walk all the way around and up and about.

We had already walked 3.5+ km and I was ready to eat! Some of the restaurants were quite expensive by Malta standards, but we did eventually find one right on the water with reasonable prices. Steve and I enjoyed a lovely afternoon in the sunshine eating and drinking, and admiring the view.

This little dog decided he was going to guard our table for us. One lady came and asked me if he was friendly... I don't know! He's not mine! He seemed friendly enough 😀The guy at the next table told an elaborate story about it being his dog named Johnny. Then they laughed and laughed after the ladies left. It was not his dog 🤣

After an enjoyable meal and a look around Xlendi (it doesn't take long.. it's pretty small!) we headed back on our walk back home. I had originally thought we might take a taxi back (it would only be about 5 Euros), but decided to brave the uphill climb (was that the wine talking?).

We just wanted to show a picture of this stone wall. They are everywhere in Malta, and the interesting thing is that they don't use mortar (except for sometimes on the top). They painstakingly choose each stone so that it fits, and builds a sturdy wall. This allows water to run between the stones.

I can't even imagine how long it took them to build these walls!

The trip back up the hill wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Don't get me wrong it was a long and sometimes steep trip up... but I got to rest as Steve stopped to take photos 😀

Also wanted to show this photo because it shows what houses look like when you buy them. You often just buy the shell and then pay to do the inside finishing yourselves.  You could be required to do everything from kitchens, bathrooms, walls, electrical and plumbing!

Here is a photo from the top, that shows the road we missed the first time. You can see why we thought it might be a driveway 😀

That little stone by my foot has an arrow pointing us in the wrong direction!

And finally we were almost back home. We saw this funny sign which was put up special for today... not sure why!

We liked the little town of Xlendi... but not for it's beach. We'll have to find another place to go to the beach!