Mġarr, Gozo

Where it sits. Mġarr is Gozo's front door: a natural inlet on the island's southeast corner, sheltered from the prevailing northwesterly wind by the rising ground behind it, and facing across roughly five kilometres of channel towards Comino and the northern tip of Malta. It lies within the boundaries of Għajnsielem, about six kilometres by road from Victoria. The name is the Maltese word for a place of passage or crossing, which is exactly what it has always been. Everything that reaches Gozo by sea — vehicles, freight, tourists, the island's fuel — comes through this one harbour.

The amphitheatre of the harbour. The setting is the most theatrical arrival in the Maltese islands. The inlet is a narrow bowl, and the land rises steeply on all sides in terraces of pale limestone, so that the village appears stacked. Two buildings crown it. On the western headland stands Fort Chambray, begun in 1749 by the Norman knight Jacques François de Chambray as the nucleus of a fortified town intended to replace the Cittadella; the town never got built, but the bastions still frame the harbour mouth. Directly above the quay, the neo-Gothic chapel of Our Lady of Lourdes clings to the cliff on a rock ledge, built in 1888, rebuilt in the 1920s after the ground beneath it moved, and lit at night so that it hangs over the water like a lantern.

What you actually see today. The working quay handles the roll-on roll-off ferries at one end and a marina of yachts and fishing boats at the other, with brightly painted luzzu hulls — the traditional Maltese fishing boat with the Eye of Osiris painted on the bow — moored among them. A row of restaurants and bars runs along the waterfront, most of them specialising in fish landed a few metres away. The breakwater built in the 2000s extended shelter into the outer harbour and made winter crossings far more reliable than they were within living memory. Behind the quay, a steep road switchbacks up towards Għajnsielem; a stepped path cuts the corner for walkers.

The other Mġarr, and what was filmed there. Two kilometres west along the coast, and confusingly similar in name, is Mġarr ix-Xini — the harbour of the galley — a narrow steep-sided creek where the Order of St John once hid its galleys from raiders. A coastal watchtower of 1661 guards the entrance. The creek has a small shingle beach at its head, water deep and clear enough to make it a favoured snorkelling site, and a single-track road down through the valley. In 2014 it served as the location for By the Sea, written and directed by Angelina Jolie and starring Jolie and Brad Pitt, for which a hotel façade and terrace were constructed at the head of the creek and dismantled afterwards. Local objections to the temporary closure of the beach during filming were themselves a minor national story.

Practical mechanics of the crossing. Gozo Channel operates the vehicle ferry between Ċirkewwa on Malta and Mġarr, a passage of about 25 minutes, running roughly every 45 minutes through the day and less frequently overnight, with additional sailings in summer. The quirk worth knowing is that fares are collected only on departure from Gozo — passengers and vehicles board free at Ċirkewwa and pay at Mġarr on the way back, which means an unplanned day trip is straightforward. A fast passenger catamaran links Valletta with the same quay in about 45 minutes, useful for foot passengers based in the Grand Harbour area. Buses to Victoria and the villages leave from the terminal forecourt and are timed to the arrivals.

Getting there and timing. In July and August the vehicle queue at Ċirkewwa can run to two or three sailings on Friday evenings and Sunday afternoons, when Maltese families move to and from their Gozo houses; travelling midweek or midday avoids most of it. Northwesterly winter gales occasionally suspend sailings for a day, and the fast ferry is more weather-sensitive than the car ferry. The harbour is at its best in the last hour of daylight, when the low sun catches Fort Chambray's western wall and the Lourdes chapel above the quay. The waterfront itself is flat and fully accessible; everything above it involves a serious gradient.