Il-Kantra Valley
Latitude and longitude: 36.02759860716394, 14.216442933304625
Xlendi is a village situated in the southwest of the island of Gozo. The name is probably derived from the word “xelandion”, a type of Byzantine vessel which may have anchored in the port. It is surrounded by the villages of Munxar, Fontana and Kerċem.
Il-Kantra is a valley on the left of the bay just beside the Tower. The name Kantra derives from Alcantara in Spanish-Sicilian. This is because of the entrance of the valley and the valleys’ form. From the entrance of this valley, it could be seen as a bow.
This valley is home to many types of flora and fauna because not many people go in the valley. The Tower of Xlendi was reached by a bridge built by the Knights of Saint John over the Kantra Valley.
The tower guarding the mouth of the bay was built by the Grandmaster Lascaris in the 1650 exactly on 29 June. This was built so no pirates or Turks could disembark from this bay.
This tower is still erected but being abandoned has great damage on the outer walls of the Tower. The Tower was quite important for the British Army in Malta as it was the only tower in the southwest of the island.
