"Capital of Gozo............." a Victoria Travel Page by leics

.......and all roads on Gozo lead to it, so we were told. It's real name is Rabat, but it was called Victoria in 1887 in honour of said queen's Golden Jubilee.

The fortified part of the town is smaller than Mdina, obviously, but I thought it was more atmospheric. this may have been due to its size, or the lack of visitors (though there were plenty) or its more 'abandoned' feel. A large-ish area was excavated fairly recently (there's a display in the museum) and is now covered again with vegetation. although one can still walk up to the ramparts through the tiny 'streets'; gives a good impression of how Medieval Rabat might have been.

Walking round the ramparts produces some excellent views of the island, and of the rest of the city. We didn't have time to go into most of the museums, although a brief wander through a display of Gozitan crafts was interesting.

I did discover a Roman olive-pipper (didn't know they existed; I woder if it was really an olive-press?) tucked away in a corner, and a large stone with a Roman inscription built into one of the walls' entrance arches (photos in tips). So that was good; the Romans had an important presence on both Gozo and Malta and it was nice to see some evidence of their time remaining.

We only walked down to the main part of modern Rabat for a coffee; lots of traffic in the main square, I'm afraid, and very narrow pavements. But a wander round the backstreets led to a much quieter space, with cheaper coffee (albeit Nescafe, which seems very popular in Malta generally) and fresher air.