The entrance to this recently built block of apartments is just off the main Tourists Street in Qawra, in a relatively quiet area yet still in the middle of all amenities of this popular touristic location. Within walking distance, one finds all necessities and entertainment facilities, including supermarkets, hair saloons, bars, restaurants, variety of shops, a cinema and even a casino. The main bus terminus is located on same road, a mere 2 minutes walk away. In Bugibba/Qawra one finds a number of rocky and even a small sandy beach. The largest sandy beaches in Malta are located in Mellieha, only about 10 mins drive away.

Details about this property for sale in Bugibba at €92,000

• Freehold property being sold fully furnished;
• Apartment is on 3rd (top) floor and is serviced by a lift 24hrs;
• It consists of 2 bedrooms, main bathroom, open-plan kitchen/dining/living area and a balcony;
• The main bedroom is fully air-conditioned and has a shower en-suite too;
• Property is tastefully furnished including a designer dining and coffee table, chairs and a six seater Natuzzi leather corner sofa;
• Equipped with a flat 36″ widescreen television, dvd player and satellite reception;
• Use of the block of apartments’ common areas including the roof;
• A one car garage is available for rent just next to the apartment.

For more details, feel free to contact the owner directly by phone on (+356) 99888400.

Xmas Shopping in Malta

Shopping for Christmas is never an easy task. Here you will find ideas, deals and suggestions for your Xmas shopping presents.

Malta has a lot to offer, although many locals prefer to do their Christmas shopping in UK.

Whether looking to buy gifts for kids, teenagers or adults, you will find a list of brilliant ideas here.

Christmas shopping online has never been more popular than today. Loads of shops in Malta have an internet presence and are regularly showcasing online their latest stocks, shopping deals and bargains. Feel free to browse around and compare their special offers.

For cheap Christmas shopping, I suggest you to check other shops in Europe that offer delivery to Malta too. Another idea will be to visit a cashback website. It’s also recommended not to make any last minute orders since the local postal service might be too busy very close to the Xmas festivities.

Xmas shopping Malta is usually done in Valletta, the capital city of Malta. In December all Christmas shops in the capital stay open more than normal, usually till very late at night, since the streets are packed with locals and foreigners. In Valletta one will find clothes shops, gift shops and complexes selling books, plants, shoes, model toys, electronics, household decorations and all kind of presents.

Sliema is another popular shopping centre, especially with locals. St Julian’s (Bay Street Complex), Mosta (more central), Fgura (south) and Bugibba (north of Malta) are other locations worth a visit. Personally I prefer to do my Xmas Shopping online. Will be posting all deals I find by editing this same post as we get closer to the end of the year.

In the meantime, I encourage you all to share Christmas shopping ideas by commenting here too!

EC English School Malta

EC English Malta is part of an international company, which is dedicated in providing exclusive English courses worldwide.

In Europe one can find EC English Language Schools in Malta, London, Brighton and Cambridge. Outside Europe, EC has presence in USA, precisely in Boston and San Diego, and also a school in Cape Town, South Africa.

At any EC English School, students will be able to study English in a relaxed, enjoyable atmosphere. EC Malta offers a variety of courses ranging from beginners to professional levels.

The language school is located in St Julians, very close to the center of Paceville, renowned for it’s nightlife, and still close to Valletta, the capital city of Malta. During the Summer months Paceville is usually packed with students of all nationalities.

Malta is a very popular destination among students and professionals who want to learn English. EC courses Malta can be booked directly with the school through their internet portal, or using any of their international agents. Their biggest market is the Swiss, followed by the Japanese, Spanish, Korean, Russian, German, French, etc. Besides English courses in Malta, EC also provides a variety of accommodation options to its students.

One of the best ways to Learn English in Malta, is to be accommodated in an English speaking host family. All Maltese people speak English, as a matter of fact both are the official languages of Malta. Other solutions include sharing an apartment or hotel room with students of different nationalities.

Contact EC Malta and check out their best prices or leave a comment here and we will try to assist you. If you want to practice your English online, you are invited to join our free chat rooms.

Explaining in more details how this system works:

• Let’s say, Shop A is a popular online shop that delivers items worldwide, even to Malta;
• Shop A makes a deal with a webmaster and gives % commission for any sale originating from his site;
• User stumbles upon the webmaster’s site and after seeing Shop A’s advert clicks on it;
• User goes to Shop A main website and purchases an item that will be delivered to Malta;
• The webmaster gets % commission from Shop A for forwarding him a client who bought a product;
• Webmaster shares the commission with the user, by giving him/her cashback!

In few words, you will be able to buy things cheaper by first visiting a cashback Malta website, than by going on a popular shopping portal directly.

Hope I managed to explain you how this system works. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask in the comments section below. Will be updating this post shortly with a couple of the best websites I found that offer cashback for Maltese too.

Many of the Malta buses are old and quite a treat to ride in. However, they are incredibly cheap! Preparing small change in advance is highly recommended.

All the towns & villages can be reached by bus, and there are frequent connections from practically all holiday resorts to Valletta.

Bus services in Gozo are less efficient. They operate from the bus station, Main Gate Street, Victoria. However some routes have infrequent timings and cater for the needs of local people rather than tourists. Current timetables are displayed at the bus station (where there is a dispatcher’s office), but they list many bewildering variations, with services reduced during Winter, then altered in Summer (when workers finish early). Moreover, on some routes, the last bus from Victoria terminates at its destination and does not complete the normal circuit back to the bus station.

The no 25 bus, which runs from Victoria to Mgarr Harbour in conjunction with the Malta-Gozo ferry, can be recommended. It departs from Mgarr soon after the arrival of each ferry and sets off from Victoria 30 minutes before sailing time.

This casino, which is located within a partially re-constructed historical palace of the locality, started to operate in Malta as from the 1st of August 2001.

The management and all employees are highly trained and professional, ensuring all clients benefit from a unique gaming experience in a most enjoyable atmosphere.

At the Casino di Venezia Malta, customers can avail themselves to the following different games:

• Black Jack
• Chemin de Fer
• Fair Roulette
• French Roulette
• Poker
• Punto y Banco
• Slot Machines
• Trente et Quarante

Besides gaming, at this superb palace one will find also find the Venezia Restaurant, serving exquisite food on a daily basis (except Mondays) from 7:30pm onwards.

Clients of the Casino di Venezia can avail themselves to special arranged travel packages, being labeled as Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum. The exclusive Platinum offer which is available against a deposit of Euro 10,000, will include flights, accommodation in a deluxe 5 star hotel (including breakfast) for 2 or 3 nights, transport, as well as food and drinks at the Casino. Contact us for more details, early bookings are highly recommended.

It is a busy shopping center with more character than the sprawling resorts to its east. The steep main street, lined with grocery shops, small bars and restaurants, caters for local residents as well as holidaymakers.

Besides hosting the largest sandy beach in Malta, Mellieha has a range of self-catering accommodation, including luxury villas (one area with sea views is known as The Millionaire’s Valley).

Popeye Village, (or Sweethaven) at Anchor Bay was built as the set for Robert Altman’s 1980 film, Popeye. The uninspiring ramshackle village by the sea consists of 17 houses, all made of wood imported from Canada and the Netherlands. Amenities include a souvenir shop, snack bar, beach facilities, a small fun park and a film about the making of Popeye. Boat trips are available during the summer at no additional charge.

This deluxe accommodation comprises of 294 luxury rooms. All of these units have a terrace or balcony overlooking the Yacht Marina or the beautiful Mediterranean Sea.

The Oceana restaurant is the main restaurant for guests residing at the Hilton Malta. Within the premises, overlooking the Yacht Marina, one also finds the Blue Elephant restaurant (specializing in Thai cuisine). The hotel also hosts the Bottega del Vino and the Merkanti Beach Club.

The Hilton hotel has three outdoor swimming pools, an indoor pool and also offers sports facilities such as tennis and squash courts and even a fully equipped leisure and fitness centre.

High standards of cuisine were introduced to Malta by the Knights. Food came high on the list of priorities for this supposedly monastic and frugal order. To serve their tastes, chefs were shipped in from abroad, wine flowed in from France and ice was imported from the snowy peak of Mount Etna, on the island of Sicily.

Foreign influences still play a major role in Maltese cuisine. The island’s close proximity to Italy has inevitably determined its favourite dish of pasta; the British left their mark in the form of roast beef, apple pie and fish and chips.

The real local dishes, however, have the unmistakable stamp of the Mediterranean. Essential ingredients are the local herbs and vegetables, such as sun-ripened tomatoes, green peppers, marrows, aubergines and artichokes. Made into bulky Maltese soups, and eaten with the local crusty bread, these make a more than adequate meal.

Fish is abundant and comes steamed, braised or grilled. choose from sea bream, swordfish, grouper, tuna, pilot fish, amberjack, prawns, lobsters – and many more. Autumn brings the lampuka, a fish that breeds near the Nile Delta and swarms around the Maltese coast in September and October. The somewhat enigmatic taste has been compared to cod, mackerel and whitebait! It is perhaps best tasted in the form of lampuka pie, cooked with tomatoes, onions, parsley, peas and cauliflower, then encased in crispy pastry.

Among Malta’s few regional meat dishes is bragioli, similar to beef olives, made with thin slices of beef wrapped round a minced meat, egg and bacon stuffing. Done well it is delicious.

A favourite and long-established Maltese dish is rabbit. This is served in a variety of forms, which you can taste by going out for a traditional fenkate (or ‘rabbit evening’). This stars with spaghetti in rabbit sauce, followed by a fried rabbit or rabbit stew (complete with liver and kidneys); the meal ends with nuts and figs. Ideally you should experience this in a basic country bar full of villagers and wash it down with lots of local wine. The village of Mgarr on Malta is the place to try it.

The majority of Malta’s restaurants serve Italian food and range from basic pasta houses to 4-star restaurants. In addition there are pubs and cafés serving typical British fare, a smattering of ethnic restaurants (particularly in St Julian’s), a small handful of top-notch French restaurants and a multitude of fast-food outlets. Simple local villages bars, often a stone’s throw from the village church, can produce some surprisingly wholesome meals at rock-bottom prices.

Cheese

Gbejna sheep’s milk cheese, served either fresh, half-dried or peppered. A speciality of Gozo, this comes in small rounds and is excellent with the local bread and tomatoes.

Bread

Maltese bread (hobz) is very crusty on the outside and soft inside. According to a national newspaper survey the average daily consumption is a kilo of bread per person! If you taste the real thing, made by traditional methods (as still used in Qormi) you will probably understand why.

Drink

The general rule of thumb is to avoid the very cheapest local wines. Move up a couple of price brackets (which will still work out far cheaper than choosing an imported Italian brand) and you may be pleasantly surprised. The two largest local wine producers are Marsovin and Emmanuel Delicata. Well worth trying are the Marsovin Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot Noir (reds) and their Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio and the slightly sweeter Sauvignon Blanc (whites). Delicata also produces Cabernet Sauvignon and some excellent Chardonnay and Trebbiano. Maltese restaurants also offer competitively priced European and New World wines. Be very wary of the strong Gozitian wines – 14° is not uncommon though the alcoholic content is rarely shown on the bottle. Many restaurant owners make their own wine or have it made especially for them. It is certainly worth trying, though you may end up (like some of the locals) adding 7-Up to disguise the taste! Farson’s Blue label and Hopleaf beers, made from British hops and drunk for years by British servicemen, are excellent.

5000-4000 BC
Neolithic period: Skorba Temples built.

4000-3000 BC
Temple Period: Age of Tarxien and Ggantija temples and Hal Saflieni Hypogeum.

2500-700 BC
Bronze and Iron Age. Period of fortified villages and ‘cart tracks’.

700-550 BC
Phoenicians colonize the islands.

550-218 BC
Period of Carthaginian rule.

218 BC
Romans annexe Malta in their strategy to win the Second Punic War.

AD 60
St Paul is shipwrecked on Malta and brings Christianity.

5th century
Roman power diminishes; Vandal raids.

6th century
Byzantine empire gains control.

870
The Arabs conquer Malta.

1090
Roger the Norman, ruler of Sicily and parts of southern Italy, takes Malta from the Arabs.

1194
Malta (with Sicily) becomes part of the German Hohenstaufen empire.

1266
Charles of Anjou takes over the kingdom of Sicily, of which Malta is part.

1282
Riots against French rule in Sicily. King Pedro I of Aragon defeats Charles of Anjou; Sicily and Malta come under the kingdom of Aragon.

Mid 15th century
Emergence of a università, or local governing body, under Aragonese tutelage.

1429
Malta sacked by Muslims.

Early 16th century
Having declined economically and culturally, Malta is now little more than a rock with a population of about 20,000.

1530
Emperor Charles V of Spain grants the Maltese islands to the knights of the Order of St John of Jerusalem. The Knights occupy the islands making Birgù (modern Vittoriosa) their Headquarters.

1565
The Great Siege of Malta.

1566
The city of Valletta is founded.

1571
The Maltese capital is formally moved from Birgù to Valetta. A Christian fleet, assisted by the Knights, inflicts defeat on the Ottomans at Lepanto.

1676
Plague causes 8,569 deaths.

1693
Earthquake wrecks most of Mdina.

1735
Sicilian ports are closed to Maltese ships after Grand Master Vilhena resists Charles VIII’s attempt to influence Maltese affairs.

Late 18th century
The Order becomes demilitarized and corrupted by wealth.

1792
The French National Assembly confiscates the Order’s lands in France.

1798
Napoleon takes Malta and plunders the islands. The Order of St John is ordered to leave the island. The Maltese rise up against the French; helped by the British, they besiege the main French garrison.

1800
The French capitulate and the British occupy the island.

1802
The Treaty of Amiens stipulates that Malta should be returned to the Knights, but a powerful group of Maltese declares allegiance to Britain.

1813
Sir Thomas Maitland is appointed as the first British Governor of Malta. Extensive constitutional and administrative reforms are made.

1814
The Treaty of Paris formally recognizes Malta as a British Crown Colony.

1848
The British Admiralty’s first dry dock opens on Malta.

1853-56
During the Crimean War, Malta acts as a supply station for British forces.

1869
The opening of the Suez Canal makes Malta an important port on the British route to India.

1914-18
World War I. Malta becomes ‘the Nurse of the Mediterranean’, providing 25,000 beds for the wounded.

1921
Malta is granted self-government ‘in matters of local concern’.

1940
Italy enters World War II.

1942
The Second Great Siege. Over 6,000 tonnes of bombs are dropped on Malta in April alone. On 15 April the George Cross is awarded to the Maltese people for their bravery during the air raids. In August and September, the German and Italian air forces suffer heavy losses over Malta and in October they concede defeat. The UK government announces a grant of GBP 30 million for the reconstruction of the island.

1962
The State of Malta formally comes into being with Dr Borg Olivier as its first Prime Minister.

1964
Malta is granted full independence within the British Commonwealth, though British forces remain.

1974
Malta is declared a republic.

1979
British forces finally leave Malta.

1989
Presidents Bush and Gorbachev meet on a ship moored off Malta for the so-called ‘Seasick Summit’.

1990
Malta applies for full membership of the European Community.

1996
Nationalists ousted by the Labour party.

1998
Nationalist victory puts the island back on course to join the European Union.

2003
Nationalist victory definitely confirms Malta joining the European Union in 2004.