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 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: 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 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...
Malta Diary What is happening under the seawater surface – now possible to be virtually present to make my dreams come true
ALBERT FENECH e/mail – Facebook: The sea has always been my magnet from very, very early days. We lived ten minutes walking distance...
Malta Diary The feast of Illuminations ‘L-Imnarja’ – but this time in a lesser light …
ALBERT FENECH e/mail – Facebook: The 29th of June, date of the feast commemorating Saints Peter and Paul, has been a major event in...
Malta Diary Mob Rule trickles into Malta too – once more idiots come to the fore
ALBERT FENECH e/mail – Facebook: I normally refrain from presenting political situations on this site which is after all dedicated to Travel and Leisure. However,...
Malta Diary Blue seas, blue skies – but will we enjoy them with tranquillity once more? Here comes summer!
ALBERT FENECH e/mail – Facebook: I was then a youngster and the world was my oyster. Cares and worries were little except what was next...
Malta Diary. One of my Adventures in the Mediterranean – not what you know but who you know
ALBERT FENECH e/mail – Facebook: My Blog: Take one large melting pot, bung in equal volumes of Latin, Greek and Semitic blood...
Malta Diary Once upon a time, olive oil was more precious than gold …Roman armies relied on it
ALBERT FENECH e/mail – Facebook: My Blog: They used to say that armies marched on their stomachs. However, Roman armies marched on olive oil. Without it...
MALTA DIARY: Elaborate and extensive catacombs in Malta and a Punic tomb recently discovered probably dating back to 500 BC
ALBERT FENECH e/mail – Facebook: My Blog: The Carthaginians ruled Malta before they were ousted by the Romans in about 250 BC...
Malta Diary: Yesteryear’s “protective clothing” – from prying male eyes! Now back to square one for different reasons?
ALBERT FENECH e/mail – Facebook: My Blog: The explosion for the need of anti-viral protective clothing has probably achieved in solidifying the concept...
Malta Diary Hubble bubble, toil and trouble – medicinal folklore in the Maltese Islands – were they genuine remedies or fantasies?
ALBERT FENECH e/mail – Facebook: My Blog: Cast your minds back to the days when a person could go through a whole life...
Malta Diary The anecdotes of my world travels – looking back with a smile
ALBERT FENECH e/mail – Facebook: My Blog: What can I write about this week – beautiful skies, sands and the azure blue sea that are a...
Malta Diary An enchanting timeline of history and beauty – the ten most beautiful places in the Maltese Islands – and why
ALBERT FENECH e/mail – Facebook: My Blog: We are now approaching the month of May. Under normal circumstances the Maltese Islands would be teeming with...
MALTA DIARY: Were the stones magically or divinely transported – or is it just Old Wives’ Tales?
ALBERT FENECH e/mail – Facebook: My Blog: With time hanging heavy on my hands, I browsed through some well-known fairy and folklore tales...
Malta Diary Longing to return to as we were – or are we better off as we are – but MINUS corona scourge?
ALBERT FENECH e/mail – Facebook: My Blog: Let me take you back a year ago to a Friday, not a particular Friday but...
Malta Diary In the mists of time did the Maltese Islands have an importance far exceeding their miniscule size?
It is an indisputable fact that in terms of size, being one of the world’s smallest countries, on a per square metre (or mile) comparison, the volume of historical...
Malta Diary. Is this The Apocalypse or have we been through it all before?
Typhoid, Yellow Fever, Cholera, Black Plague – the Maltese Islands have suffered all these before … and survived This is a bad, sad, sorrowful and morose time...
MALTA DIARY: The tiny island of Filfla – magical and mystical
The Maltese archipelago consists of five separate islands, Malta the main island and vastly over-populated, Gozo the sister island suitably populated, Comino virtually uninhabited and the two uninhabited minor...
Malta Diary As we were – lost and gone forever – memories of Malta in my childhood
ALBERT FENECH e/mail – Facebook: My Blog: Take a good look at the above picture – a picture that tells not...
Malta Diary “We may not die of the coronavirus but may well die of all the anxiety caused by reports about it”
ALBERT FENECH e/mail – Facebook: My Blog: It has been a week of wholesale panic, mixing together a weekend of Carnival, Ash...
Malta Diary Entering the Lenten period – a time for sackcloth and ashes? It used to be – but no longer … memories of the past
ALBERT FENECH e/mail – Facebook: My Blog: Today is Ash Wednesday. Carnival activities of boisterous merriment came to an abrupt end at midnight...
Malta Diary Ruts hewn in stone surfaces part of the National Heritage of the Maltese Islands Used for planting grape vines and olive trees since prehistoric times
ALBERT FENECH e/mail – Facebook: My Blog: Malta and Gozo have a Superintendance for National Heritage, a Government entity that at surface...
Malta Diary Maltese blood in the US Washington White House? Could well be! Maltese diaspora rootin’ ‘n tootin’ for Pete Buttigieg
ALBERT FENECH e/mail – Facebook: My Blog: Most of the world has now heard of Pete Buttigieg, the Democrat striving to win...
Malta Diary Carnival – time to let your hair down or is it just an excuse for wanton revelry? To be correct or incorrect – that is the question nowadays
ALBERT FENECH e/mail – Facebook: My Blog: In a couple of weeks’ time Malta and Gozo will be celebrating their Carnival weekend –...
Malta Diary The British Royal Navy and its impact on the Maltese Language HMS DEE and HMS DON still part of today’s Maltese tongue after almost 145 years
ALBERT FENECH e/mail – Facebook: My Blog: The French Mediterranean Fleet on its way to the Battle of the Nile toward the...
Malta Diary Malta and Gozo – islands packed with ancient treasures
ALBERT FENECH e/mail – Facebook: My Blog: Malta and Gozo comprise one of the smallest island groups in the world. However,...
Malta Diary If the sun shines too much outside, block it out – but deploy floor and wall tiles to bring the colour in!
ALBERT FENECH e/mail – Facebook: My Blog: Artistic craftsmanship has been slowly but surely dwindling and disappearing throughout the Maltese Islands, previously...