MALTA DIARY: Ghosts, ogres, myths and legends
ALBERT FENECH e/mail – Facebook: Apps, computers, tablets, social media and instant news are today’s modern influences. Not so long ago it was vastly...
Malta Diary Farewell old friend
ALBERT FENECH e/mail – Facebook: Malta’s older generations went into solemn mourning with the announcement of the death of the Duke of Edinburgh,...
Malta Diary Childhood recollections of a sombre occasion – and then one of celebration
ALBERT FENECH e/mail – Facebook: There are some things etched in childhood memory that one never forgets. When King George VI (Albert, Frederick,...
Malta Diary Food glorious food – a taste of Malta and the Mediterranean
ALBERT FENECH e/mail – Facebook: My early culinary experiences began 70 years ago when as a four-year-old boy, on Sunday mornings, I would sit...
MALTA DIARY: Urine, umbilical cords, chicken heads and necks – popular natural cures in the past – pretty distasteful!
ALBERT FENECH e/mail – Facebook: As we have seen in recent days, today’s medications very much depend on what the World Health Organiation decrees, backed...
Malta Diary Beautiful and priceless – Malta and its Gobelin Tapestries
ALBERT FENECH e/mail – Facebook: Some five years ago a leading economic consultant pronounced that if all else fails in the Maltese economy...
Malta Diary Water, water everywhere – but must have precious drops to drink
ALBERT FENECH e/mail – Facebook: Wheat for bread and as a basic foodstuff, olives for precious oil for consumption and as a source of fuel to provide...
Malta Diary How we the Maltese and Gozitans fill our empty stomachs when we are hungry
ALBERT FENECH e/mail – Facebook: What satisfies the Maltese and Gozitan palates and fills their stomachs? Forget the nouveau French Cuisine, a few coloured...
Malta Diary Should prostitution be legalised in the Maltese Islands – controversy rages
ALBERT FENECH e/mail – Facebook: … and when you think you have heard them all, something else crops up that leaves you totally speechless...
Malta Diary Was Malta ever a part of Sicily? Scientists and geologists say definitely not
ALBERT FENECH e/mail – Facebook: History has it that before the start of World War II when Benito Mussolini had Italy in his grip,...
Malta Diary How green are our valleys in Malta and Gozo?
ALBERT FENECH e/mail – Facebook: Malta and Gozo are criss-crossed with valleys and ditches but unfortunately, rainwater quickly drains away and deposits eroded and...
Malta Diary Waste not, want not – Of bread and bread puddings – Maltese style
ALBERT FENECH e/mail – Facebook: It was this site’s Supremo, Lyn Funnell, who set my mind thinking some years back when she sent...
Malta Diary The Dwejra Azure Window is gone but there are other natural attractions around Malta and Gozo
ALBERT FENECH e/mail – Facebook: Dwejra is a fascinating little spot in the north west of Gozo, just north of the little village of...
Malta Diary Ggantija Neolithic Temples – built by a giantess who devoured broad beans and honey?
ALBERT FENECH e/mail – Facebook: I have heard some strange stories in my life – but this has to be one of the strangest!...
MALTA DIARY: In the darkness of night, the mists of time – mysterious old wives’ tales that people swallowed
ALBERT FENECH e/mail – Facebook: Some well-known fairy tales dated pre-history and were subsequently and diligently handed down from one generation to another...
Malta Diary A lengthy Jewish legacy going back 3,500 years
ALBERT FENECH e/mail – Facebook: There is a Maltese language expression that states “Rabti u Zebbugi jaghmlu Lhudi” which means “if you cross a...
Malta Diary A pictorial panorama of the Maltese Islands over the last 200 years
ALBERT FENECH e/mail – Facebook: My four grandparents died 50, 40 and 30 years ago. I often muse that if they were resurrected today...
Malta Diary Searching for the soul – “the ultimate layer underneath the skin” Ray Piscopo’s paintings of haunting qualities
ALBERT FENECH e/mail – Facebook: Professor Oliver Friggieri, a Maltese poet, novelist, literary critic and philosopher who relentlessly promoted the Maltese Language, sadly passed away recently on...
Malta Diary The island of Comino – small but with a history during various eras Last week it had a population of three but sadly now down to two
ALBERT FENECH e/mail – Facebook: The Maltese Archipelago, probably one of the smallest in the world, consists of five islands, Malta, Gozo, Comino, Filfla and St Paul’s...
Malta Diary Good urban planning – or a subterfuge for spirits, humanoids and secret sects? Maybe it was just plain commonsense?
ALBERT FENECH e/mail – Facebook: The island of Malta is riddled with underground tunnels and the two islands of Malta and Gozo abound with caves,...
Malta Diary A history of plagues and epidemics over many decades – restrictions are endemic in the DNA of the people of the Maltese Islands
ALBERT FENECH e/mail – Facebook: Yep, Christmas is coming and we should be hearing the tinkling of bells and the rustling of holly and ivy –...
Malta Diary Which country has the largest concentration of windmills in the world?
“Granite jaws that look down on fields of grain and devour them!” ALBERT FENECH e/mail – Facebook: In his poem ‘The Windmill’, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote: “Behold! a giant am I!...
Malta Diary Venice in Malta? A Grand Canal Scheme that went awry – and left its unpleasant aftermath
ALBERT FENECH e/mail – Facebook: How shattering when a grand scheme based on noble aims goes askew and leaves a bitter aftermath that continued to...
Malta Diary Touches of sanity in today’s eyesore concrete jungle -archaeological sites and buildings now Scheduled and cannot be destroyed or altered in any way
ALBERT FENECH e/mail – Facebook: I have written it before and repeat, if my great grandparents and grandparents were to be resurrected today and placed anywhere in...
Malta Diary Memories of boyhood fishing days – another pleasure lost to today’s young generation?
ALBERT FENECH e/mail – Facebook: The sea is never far away in Malta and Gozo and is very much part of the DNA of its...
Malta Diary Intricate, precious and a labour of love – but very sadly dying out The art and skill of hand-woven Malta and Gozo cotton lace
ALBERT FENECH e/mail – Facebook: In Maltese, the word “bizilla” primarily means an intricate handmade lace weave in a significant pattern. However, the word...
Malta Diary Valletta’s St John’s Co-Cathedral – one of the most renowned and beautiful in the world
Baroque art and history at its best ALBERT FENECH e/mail: salina46af@gmail,com Facebook: There were two aspects to the Knight Hospitaliers of the Order of St John of Jerusalem;...
Malta Diary When Malta turned RED – not politically but in bricks, stone and mortar!
Sadly most of these buildings are no longer with us ALBERT FENECH e/mail: salina46af@gmail,com Facebook: Perhaps not many people are aware of the effect of different colours...
Malta Diary The Royal Naval Bighi Hospital – one of the best in Europe during its era Now an interactive Esplora science and technology museum and a major attraction
ALBERT FENECH e/mail: salina46af@gmail,com Facebook: Villa Bighi is one of the most iconic buildings on the inner rim of the majestic Valletta Grand Harbour. The central original villa...
Malta Diary Street Games our children used to play – healthy, communicative, innocent outdoor activity
Today its sickly solarity indoor laptops, ipads and play stations featuring rubbish ALBERT FENECH e/mail: salina46af@gmail,com Facebook: Unless you lived on a major thoroughfare, a main road or...
Malta Diary Notorious characters – fascinating stories – some little-known aspects of shady Maltese characters
ALBERT FENECH e/mail – Facebook: Every country has its share of notorious characters, Malta no less. I will relate the stories of some of...
MALTA DIARY: TripAdvisor awards high certificate to four Malta military sites – added to a number of previous recognition awards
ALBERT FENECH e/mail – Facebook: Last year a number of major sites in Malta and Gozo all received a Certificate of Excellence from TripAdvisor...
MALTA DIARY: Magnificent building, magnificent views of the Grand Harbour – and now with an added attraction
ALBERT FENECH e/mail – Facebook: Malta’s picturesque Grand Harbour in the capital city Valletta is a magnificent natural port. It is rated to be...
MALTA DIARY: You can take the Maltese out of fireworks – but you can’t take fireworks out of the Maltese!
Gloom and low morale offset by colour and spectacle ALBERT FENECH e/mail – Facebook: August was planned as a bonanza month when in...
Malta Diary. Evidence of Phoenician animal sacrifices found at Tas-Silġ They date back to 1,500 BC
ALBERT FENECH e/mail – Facebook: As happens time and time again, excavation works on a site had to be stopped after the discovery of...
Malta Diary 22 THE LAMPUKI SEASON LOOMS – not a quality fish but ever popular and easy to cook
ALBERT FENECH e/mail – Facebook: When the month of August looms, this is a signal for Malta and Gozo’s fishing community to gear up for...
Malta Diary; Speak, see and hear no evil – but how superstitious are we really – is it inculcated in the Mediterranean character?ta Diary;
ALBERT FENECH e/mail – Facebook: My younger brother Edward was aged about four at the time. Unlike me, with my dark hair and...
Malta Diary: What links “Calypso” to Jacques Cousteau … to Malta and Gozo?
ALBERT FENECH e/mail – Facebook: As a young boy many were the days I spent in front of our television, huddled in an armchair, enveloped...
Malta Diary A pictorial panorama of the Maltese Islands over the last 200 years
ALBERT FENECH e/mail – Facebook: My four grandparents died 50, 40 and 30 years ago. I often muse that if they were resurrected today and...
Malta Diary Malta and Gozo – a sea of treasures … the Coral Islands
ALBERT FENECH e/mail – Facebook: From an early age I was a habitual bookworm, reading everything that was readable. Road signs, displayed adverts, street...