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Gozo sits across a narrow channel from Malta's northern coast, reachable by a short ferry crossing from Cirkewwa, and the contrast with its larger neighbour is immediate. The island is smaller, quieter, and considerably more rural, with a landscape of limestone terraces, dry-stone walls, and deep valleys that open unexpectedly onto clifftop views above the Mediterranean. It has its own dialect, its own pace, and a sense of self-containment that sets it apart from the busier rhythms of Valletta or St Julian's.

The island's capital, Victoria, known locally as Rabat, sits at the geographical centre and rises to the Citadel, a fortified hilltop town whose origins stretch back through Arab, Norman, and Knights of St John occupation. The Citadel's cathedral, built in the early eighteenth century, contains a celebrated trompe-l'oeil ceiling painted to give the illusion of a dome that was never constructed. From the bastions, the whole island spreads out below: the salt pans at Marsalforn on the northern coast, the deep inlet of Xlendi to the south, and the patchwork of fields in between.