It’s a speck of an island, hardly visible on a map of the Med, yet Gozo’s history runs deep: just over a decade ago divers discovered the remains of a Phoenician wreck dating back to 700BC. Beyond a popular bay on the south of the island, this is the oldest known wreck in the central Mediterranean and promised whispered secrets
Definition of ‘a busman’s holiday’: a form of recreation in which one does something very similar to what one does for a living. One of my favourite ways to spend time in Gozo is aimless wandering through the back streets of Victoria, through the jumble of resplendent houses, from rickety-ramshackle to richly-renovated, that jostle for space along narrow streets. The
Gozo is a wonderland: whilst Lewis Carroll’s Alice wouldn’t recognise its terrain she surely would feel at home here. It may be a small and gentle Mediterranean island, but on this three-dimensional chequerboard of green and golden-browns, the roads take you in directions you’d never expect as secret ravines and valleys divert your route according to the whims of rock
Extension of stamp duty reductions for property purchases in Gozo and UCA (Urban Conservation Areas) The reduction in stamp duty, from 5% to 2%, introduced in previous years in respect of property acquired in Gozo and also property acquired in Urban Conservation Areas is being extended for another year, provided Contracts of Acquisition complete by end of 2019. Extension of
Tucked away on the side of St George’s Basilica in Gozo’s Victoria I have just discovered a museum I must have walked past a hundred times before and never noticed and I feel apologetic that I haven’t been shouting about it from the rooftops. I confess I first ventured into the Heart of Gozo/Il-Ħaġar Museum this week, encouraged in by
A couple of weeks ago we caught up with some good friends over a Cisk in Xerri’s*, watching the evening roll in over the sea to Comino, the twinkling lights of Malta beyond. One of these friends grew up on the island and is an absolute repository of Gozo stories – captured within book covers, he’d be a best-seller covering everything
The Mediterranean island of Gozo crams a huge amount of geological interest into its pocket-sized landmass from the smooth space-age rock formation on Marsalforn’s western side, best viewed across ix-Xwejni bay and the age-old salt pans on the coast road, to the large limestone arch, fifteen men tall, that juts out into the sea less than a mile from our
Last weekend The Significant Other and I went to the ‘Science in the Citadel’ event in Gozo’s Victoria. In this stunning setting, both inside and alongside the honeyed-gold medieval bastions which went some way to keeping a challenging breeze at bay, a multitude of stands offered scientific interest and inspiration to both those who were visiting specifically and unsuspecting tourists
Less than thirty miles from Gharb as the crow flies (though if you don’t have wings you’ll need to take a ferry) stands the age-old city of Valletta, a fusion of European, Arabic and North African influences: palm trees against golden stone, flat roofs and its signature enclosed wooden balconies hanging in bright colours above your head every way you
When The Boys were small, we had a children’s book (The Runaway Dinner by Allan Ahlberg) in which, unobtrusively in the backdrop of one of the early pages, a Spider-Man costume hung on the washing line between the everyday socks and vests and common-or-garden T-shirts. It made me smile every time I read the story as I too would look out of
A new helicopter service between Malta and Gozo allows people to reach every point on the two islands in just 10 minutes. Operated by HeliFly Limited, the idea of launching the service came from Italian lawyer Elio Blasio who has been living in Malta together with his family for over a year. Before becoming a lawyer, Dr Blasio was flight
Property recovers to pre-crisis highs Prices up 4.7% in 2016 Property prices in 2016 grew by 4.7% compared to the previous year, recovering to the pre-crisis peak, according to a report issued today by the Central Bank of Malta. However, the CBM said there was no cause for alarm about affordabilityas the ratio between the median house price and households’
