Just a couple of hundred metres from the church at the heart of Santa Lucija, the smallest village on Gozo, there’s a pretty row of traditional farmhouses: their stronghold-stone facades are brightened by potted plants and doors and windows painted in bright primary colours, red, blue and sunshine yellow. At the western end of the row, however, the doors, barely
Each year I buy a new ornament for the Christmas tree, and this year I fell for one in House of Gozo, a shop in Independence Square in the heart of Victoria, just down the slope from the Citadel. And, gold-ribboned and glossy as glass, my beautiful new bauble shows a Christmas star of Wonder shining high above the citadel.
Malta and Gozo, known for their photogenic tendencies, are popular places for filming – from Gladiator and Troy to Game of Thrones and a lesser known film, By The Sea (2015), starring Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie which was filmed at the tiny, pretty bay of Mgarr ix-Xini, one of the first places we fell in love with when we
Last week, we took a picnic to Gozo’s Punic Temple, a lesser known beauty spot with a long history. We were welcomed by the quacking of ducks as we parked up at L-Ghadira ta Sarraflu, otherwise known as The Duck Pond. It’s a pretty natural freshwater pond year-round and home to the Painted Frog (Discoglossus pictus), Gozo’s only indigenous amphibian,
Whenever I have an hour to while away in gentle sunshine, I am drawn by the magnificence of the citadel to stroll its heighty barricades and amble through its windy streets. It’s a medieval city in miniature, just 200m in diameter, and yet it has a cathedral and an imposing court building in its main square, and quarters of winding
Yesterday The Significant Other and I sat on our small front balcony in the gentle October sunshine as the sun began to stripe the colours of sunset across the sky. Gazing at the sea due North, we noticed something we never have before: to the right of the scattered cargo ships which seemed to balance precariously on the far horizon,
Stamp duty in Malta and Gozo has been reduced to 1.5% until March 2021 in order to help boost the economy following the impact of COVID-19
Property sales remain “encouraging”, according to real estate agencies, putting paid to prospects of major drops in post-COVID-19 prices and pointing only to “more realistic” corrections so far. It is early days for analysis, they agree, but no significant changes have been noted in prices despite the million-dollar question being asked in view of the economic climate due to the
Government has put forward legislation to license real estate agents, real estate brokers, and property consultants. The proposed legal framework brings about much-needed regulation in the sector, Parliamentary Secretary Chris Agius said. Licences issued under the new act will be valid for five years, with holders then expected to undergo further training to have it renewed. Persons who carry out more than four property transactions
I love Gozo’s citadel: its vast solidity as a hilltop fortress reflects it impressive history of swords and scimitars, and yet, glowing soft yellow amber, with green-carpet views rolling away to the deep blue sea in every direction, it has a beauty and romance that might have been lifted directly from Scheherazade’s Arabian nights: it’s easy to imagine characters from
Say ‘farmhouse’ across Europe, and in the mind’s eye you conjure a picture of a detached foursquare building resting alongside a scattering of barns in the middle of green fields. It would be likely to have windows scattered over two floors, perhaps painted white with colourful shutters flung open in a welcoming green Alpine valley, or equally it might huddle
Taking the ferry to Gozo from the modern metropolis of Malta is like stepping back in time. Instead of tall tower blocks and bustle, the buildings nestle close to the land, an unassuming stripe along the skyline where traces of the old traditions of the archipelago can still be found. During December, in the village of Ghajnsielem, visitors can travel
