On the wall of the basilica at Ta' Pinu there are crutches. Not one pair: many, hung beside photographs, letters, small silver legs and arms, children's clothes. Each was left by someone who believed they had been helped here, and came back to say so.
Provenance: Walked
I went to Gozo, and I went to Ta' Pinu. I also went to the other place on the road north that people from my part of the world know by a Turkish name: Temel Reis köyü, Popeye's village, the film set at Anchor Bay. One is a shrine and one is a theme park. They sit on the same route, and both are about what people leave behind.
Standing among the crutches, my hotelier's mind went looking for a practical explanation. Malta's Knights Hospitaller ran one of Europe's great hospitals, with its own pharmacy, and my first thought was of medicine made from island plants, given with care, and remembered as a miracle. The dates do not allow it. The Knights left Malta in 1798. The healings at Ta' Pinu are recorded from 1883 onward. So I leave the crutches where they are, as testimony from people who walked out lighter than they came in. What happened to each of them is theirs to name.
What the numbers say
- Ta' Pinu: a chapel first recorded in the 16th century, a basilica since 1932. In 1575 a papal visitor, Pietro Dusina, ordered the run-down chapel demolished; tradition says the first workman broke his arm, and the chapel was spared. On 22 June 1883 Karmni Grima, a farm worker from Għarb, reported hearing a woman's voice inside it. Pilgrimages followed from 1887, the foundation stone of the present church was laid in 1920, and it became a minor basilica on 10 August 1932.
- The ex-voto rooms. The word comes from the Latin ex voto suscepto, "from the vow made". The offerings at Ta' Pinu include paintings, letters, photographs and modelled body parts. One of the earliest votive paintings dates from May 1886.
- Gozo carries more than half of Malta's visitors. Visits to Gozo and Comino, day trips included, totalled 2,305,968 in 2025, or 57.3% of all tourists to the islands.
- The ferry fare rises sharply in 2027. From 1 January 2027, an adult non-resident ticket on the Gozo Channel ferry goes from €4.65 to €11; a child's from €1.15 to €7. Comino gets a new €5 visitor contribution.
- Popeye Village: built in 1979, still standing. The set for Robert Altman's Popeye (1980), with Robin Williams in the title role, took seven months to build at Anchor Bay near Mellieħa. A breakwater of 60 to 75 metres was added to protect it from the sea. It is on the main island of Malta, close to the Ċirkewwa ferry for Gozo, and runs today as a paid attraction.
- Troy came here too. In 2003 the production of Troy built its city at Fort Ricasoli and shot scenes around Mellieħa, Golden Bay, Ċirkewwa and Dwejra on Gozo.
How hospitality is organised
The road from the north of Malta to the west of Gozo crosses three kinds of hospitality.
- The set. Popeye Village is staged hospitality: a fictional fishing town, kept as it was built, with ticketed entry. It is honest about what it is. Nobody pretends Sweethaven was ever real.
- The crossing. The ferry from Ċirkewwa is the hinge of the day. Most visitors treat Gozo as an excursion: across in the morning, back by evening. The island organises itself around that wave.
- The shrine. Ta' Pinu stands alone in open fields outside Għarb. It is a place of prayer first and a visitor site second, and it is run by people for whom the ex-votos are not exhibits but thanks. That is the most traditional hospitality on the route: a door open to anyone who arrives in need.
The set is built for the visitor. The shrine was built by people who came back to give thanks. A guest should know which one they are walking into.
The Honest Detail
- Popeye Village is on Malta, not Gozo. It sits on Malta's windy north-west coast at Anchor Bay. Pair it with the Gozo ferry from nearby Ċirkewwa rather than looking for it on Gozo.
- Gozo's most famous arch is gone. The Azure Window at Dwejra collapsed into the sea in March 2017. Older guides and screen-saver photographs still show it.
- A day trip shows you the wave, not the island. With more than two million visits a year, the excursion hours are busy. Stay at least one night on Gozo.
- Budget the crossing. From 2027 a couple's return on the ferry costs €22 instead of €9.30.
- Ta' Pinu is a working shrine. Visit outside Mass times, dress for a church, and treat the ex-voto rooms as what they are: other people's gratitude.
Who may not enjoy it: travellers who want Gozo in four hours, anyone uneasy in a place of fervent devotion, and visitors expecting the Azure Window.
Restorative Friction Index
Score 1 is low friction, 5 is high. These are editorial scores for two nights on Gozo, with Anchor Bay on the way.
- Transfer load: 3. A drive to the north of Malta, a ferry, then the roads of Gozo. Easier with a car or driver.
- Schedule density: 2. One stop on the way out, one shrine, and time on the island.
- Decision burden: 2. Ferry times and Mass times are most of it.
- Physical demand: 2. Short walks; the Stations of the Cross on the hill near Ta' Pinu are optional and steep.
- Social intensity: 4 at Anchor Bay and on the ferry in summer, 1 at Ta' Pinu on a weekday morning.
One named voice
Come, come. Karmni Grima's account of the voice she heard at the chapel of Ta' Pinu, 22 June 1883 (as recorded in the sanctuary's history)
Two words, and a basilica grew from them. I am a hotelier, not a theologian. What I can read is the room: a wall of crutches is the most honest guest book I have ever seen. Each object is a review written by someone who had nothing to sell.
If a guest asked me about Gozo, my advice would be short. Stop at Popeye Village on the way to the ferry. Cross early. Stay the night. Go to Ta' Pinu on a weekday morning, stand in the ex-voto rooms for longer than feels comfortable, and leave whatever you believe at the door.
Valletta, Read Honestly: the library, the cathedral and the rooms below
Etna, the Year the Ash Reached Malta: the journey that began on this island
Ahmet Can Yeşildağ is the founder of Orophile Journeys and editor of Orophile Edit. His work connects a career in hospitality with considered travel advice.
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Orophile Edit is published alongside Orophile Journeys. No property or operator named here has paid for mention.