No significant changes in the price of property
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 […]
Saints, bands, flowers and fairy-lights
It was village Festa week here last week – and we had a truly wonderful time. Festas are a big deal in Malta and Gozo, a celebration of the village’s patron saint with events and processions over a weekend or more. Our village Gharb really goes to town with a seven-day celebration of the visitation […]
Atop Ta Għammar
I am often asked by friends visiting Gozo for top tips for special places to go, secret spots that leap less often from the pages of a tourist guide. This morning, I strode to one of my favourites and I’m happy to share it. There’s a ring of amazing mosaics that glimmer with gold and […]
Dahlet Qorrot – a secret spot
Ask me today for my top five places on the island and I can’t guarantee I’ll give you the same five as I would have done yesterday or might tomorrow. What I can be sure of, though, is that the lesser-known Dahlet Qorrot, a particularly beautiful bay on the North Eastern edge of the island […]
Gozo’s new Jedi
As a tourist to Gozo in the early days, baked mid-brown with a dash of lobster, I was surprised to see the warm woollen jumpers amongst the traditional lace hanging from stalls in the market place. They seemed an unlikely purchase for the summer stroller or sun-worshipper. I was bemused and amused in equal measure. […]
The Chef is not my wife
Well, what d’ya know? For nearly three years The Significant Other and I have enjoyed the Gharb Rangers Bar’s hospitality, whether that’s on the upstairs terrace with fresh fish whilst gazing across open countryside to the Ta Pinu Basilica or winter-wrapped over a delicious pizza in a damp wet February (only 60 miles from Italy, pizzas […]
Phoenician drinking habits
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 […]
The Busman’s Holiday
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 […]
The wonders of the weather
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 […]
Budget 2019 and Property
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 […]
Keeping an eye on Gozo
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 […]
Gozo’s pomskizillious Citadel
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 […]
Open Water Certification
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 […]
Reflecting upon Science in the Citadel
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 […]
Valletta: a Mediterranean fortress bathed in winter sun
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 […]
Gozo’s story book beach
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 […]
New Helicopter Service
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 […]
Property prices increase
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 […]