So what is this Notte Gozitana? For one whole weekend it offers lots of cultural action and festivities – supposedly around the clock. The city of Victoria will come to live with a jam-packed programme that has something interesting for virtually everyone on the island. Guided walks are organised and there is plenty of live music entertainment, from rock over progressive to traditional. Various artistic exhibitions compete with historic reenactments, and you’ll likely encounter people in period costumes strolling through the streets. Shops are allowed to stay open till all hours, although it must be said that not all are actually taking this opportunity. There’s food and drink, of course. And masses of people…

It is impossible for me to tell you the whole programme; but it is available for download here, if you haven’t already got hold of a printed version that circulates everywhere.

I’ll be there for sure, who knows, maybe we’ll even meet? If you spot me, come and say hello!

One brief detour from the subject of Notte Gozitana, before I get ready to go out: this morning the facebook fanbase of Kempinski Hotel San Lawrenz has grown to 2,000! Thank you! By the way, don’t forget that our facebook friends are entitled to 10% discount on our room rates!

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Ok, so Renzo is my friend too, but I assure you he doesn’t eat Sheba – abhors it even. So any of that stuff stashed away in your bags… leave it for me, ok?

We really are best of friends, Renzo and I,  as Sabine so beautifully documented:

So as long as you stick to your priorities who gets cuddles and food at any given time, we all will be going along just fine!

To be honest, we’re even working together, can you imagine? We just got our own desk at the Kempinski Hotel San Lawrenz, from where we are busy answering your queries and questions about the hotel and Gozo.

Why don’t you give us a try?

So what do y’all think?

Well, this week I’m finally making good on my promise to tell you a little about Gozo’s history. In fact, I think you’re going to be surprised!

“The year is 50 BC, and all of Gaul or Armorica is divided into three parts. No, four — for one small village of indomitable Gauls still holds out against the Roman invaders.” Thus begins the story, not of Gozo, but of Asterix. Throughout the fifty years of the popular cartoons’ existence the little village has given the Romans a real hard time.

In my younger days I was a big fan of Asterix and Obelix. Perhaps that’s why I’m always reminded of those brave Gauls’ stories when I think of Napoleon’s defeat by the Gozitans…

These happenings date back 212 years. The mighty General Napoleon Bonaparte was planning on becoming mightier yet: conquering Egypt was on his agenda, as was the plan to vanquish India and the British Empire’s colonies in the Far East. The prospect of pocketing Malta on his way – ever so conveniently located and boasting of fortresses and natural harbours – probably tickled him pink.

At that point in time the Knights of Saint John had ruled the Maltese islands for 267 years. However, undermined by a few disloyal knights and Maltese, who had shrewdly crossed over to Napoleon’s side, it took just one lousy week for them to unceremoniously hand over Malta to the French troupes. Even Napoleon, who stayed in Malta only for 6 days, was taken aback by the ease of it! The island of Gozo submitted to the troupes of General Reynier, after he had promised to do them no harm.

The French rule brought with it revolutionary changes, such as the abolition of nobility and introduction of education for all classes. Even the trial by jury – until then unheard of in royal Europe – found its way into Malta’s judicial system!

Probably nothing much would have happened if they had not started to loot the churches to be able to pay their army. Huge mistake in a country as Catholic as Malta! In September 1798, only three months into the French reign, the Maltese and Gozitans rose against their oppressors.

On 2^nd September four Gozitans took it upon themselves to create an emergency government: Archpriest Saverio Cassar, who was unanimously chosen leader, the doctor Salvatore Fenech, lawyer Giuseppe Grima and Martino Hasciach, a merchant.

Under their leadership, the Gozitans beat their Maltese brethren to ridding their island from the French. They besieged the French garrison in the citadel, and with the help of the Portuguese and British navies finally drove the French to capitulation.

On 29^th October 1798 the island of Gozo became an independent nation, and for the following 22 months, the Nation of Gozo was recognised and respected by the Courts of Naples and London! Gozo was independent to all intents and purposes, its government taking responsibility, for example, of raising finances for the local troops and importing food from neighbouring Sicily.

Another Gozitan, Liberato Grech from Xaghra, who as head of the Gozo armed forces had been instrumental in beating the French into retreat, built a chapel as a gesture of thanksgiving for the Gozitan victory. Erected in 1835, it was blessed by Canon Saviour Grech, Liberato’s son, in 1837. However, the two belfries were not added until 1958.

Sadly, the end of this little story is less glorious. When two years later the British finally succeeded in ridding the main island Malta of the French for good, they brusquely relieved Saverio Cassar of his duties and forced Gozo back into the fold. Who knows what the island would be like today if that hadn’t happened?

Unfortunately many websites, including Wikipedia, insist on telling that Napoleon “granted” Gozo autonomy after he conquered Malta. However, the way I see it is that he didn’t have much of a choice, did he? Other sources don’t even mention Gozo in the context of the French occupation. Well, now you know the glorious truth of little Gozo standing up to France like David to Goliath!

Various internet sources have been of help with this article, but special thanks must go to Rev Dr Joseph Bezzina and his book “Gozo’s Government”, published in 2005 by the Local Councils Association (Gozo)

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Philip was also one of the first participants in the photo competition of Renzo, Knight of Gozo, with this great picture:

By the way, you are still in time to participate in the game if you like! You still have until 24th April 2010, to download the competition details and get shooting & tagging!

But now, without further ado, here is Philip’s blog post! (Thanks a lot Philip!)

Already before coming to the Kempinski Hotel San Lawrenz on Gozo, we had planned to do a diving course on this beautiful island.

With a diving school on the spot – informing us about everything and picking us up from the hotel – we started our course immediately. After a day in the pool and a first orientation dive near the beach we went on our first open water dive near the Blue Hole at Dwejra Bay just some minutes away from the hotel.

The Azure Window sitting enthroned above us and the blue sea in front of us was just amazing.

The water was crystal clear, and we saw many colorful fishes, sea stars, corals and jellyfish. After spending over an hour under water, we were really stunned about the diving spot – underwater cliffs, tunnels, caves – on Gozo you find everything!

The next day, however, was even better! Finishing off our license in the morning, we went on our first adventure dive with our instructor Roger. He took us to the so called Inland Sea – a lagoon with a tunnel connection to the open sea.

After an incredible dive through the tunnel right under the Azure Window we finished our day with a nice cocktail at the pool bar! We will definitely come back!

Guest Bloggers wanted…

Did you have a particular Gozo experience that you think is of interest to our readers and you would like to share with them? Then we’d love to hear from you! You could add a comment to this post and we’ll get in touch with you, or send an e-mail to blog[at]discover-gozo[dot]com.

]]> http://discover-gozo.com/2010/04/gozo-%e2%80%93-a-wonderful-diving-spot/feed/ 6 http://discover-gozo.com/2010/04/mystic-walk-gozo-is-full-of-surprises/ http://discover-gozo.com/2010/04/mystic-walk-gozo-is-full-of-surprises/#comments Sun, 11 Apr 2010 09:21:29 +0000 Stephanie http://discover-gozo.com/?p=582 After the winter we took the opportunity of the first warm spring days to go on the so called «Mystic Walk» with John Mizzi, who literally knows «every stone on the island» (in German we say that for somebody who knows an area by heart).

Together with Stephanie from Reception of the Kempinski Hotel San Lawrenz, Caroline, our new team member in Sales, as well as two friends, Fabienne and Juergen, we met with John at the cemetery of Qala, where our stunning walk started.

From the very beginning, John «abducted» us into the mystic world of the island. What looked as a normal wall of the chapel to us at first, got quickly another meaning when John showed us some very old pictures of boats and lions, etched into the stone.

Continuing the walk, we enjoyed the amazing view over Comino and the seaside and followed the Atlantic and Roman paths. Really impressive to think that so many years ago, people had already walked there with their carriages to bring goods from the ship to the island.

We could even see footprints that have been there, engraved in the stone, for over 2000 years! John told us that these footprints most probably where embedded in the stone when it was very muddy because some Vulcan near the island exploded and people came over to Gozo to save their life! (some of them fit my shoe size as you can see )

While we were all becoming more and more quiet while listening to these exciting stories, John moved on and made a stop at some very interesting copse: the so-called Vitex agnus castus (in German it is «Moenchspfeffer» which means pepper of the monks) was once upon a time used to regulate the sexual libido of the monks; they used to carry the pepper corns of the plant in an amulet around their neck. Today this pepper is still used for its cycle-regulating effects. Of course this story ended up in a big laughter from all of us

After passing by the bird hunters’ place (and to be honest we all wanted to destroy the net but we were actually watched ), the excursion started to become more tiring as we had to climb up the hill on some tiny paths. But the effort was rewarded when we looked at the awesome picturesque valley that was in front of our eyes!

Walking down carefully, Stephanie and myself stopped for a little rest in the middle of small field full of flowers and started dreaming.

John then took us to a very nice view point from where you can see the «mother goddess» in stone. At first I had some difficulties to make it out in the rock, but then it really caught my eye. John told us that these places have a special energy that you can actually feel when you concentrate (Carolin tried it out as you can see! )

After that we had a rest at an awesome private bay. The clear water attracted all of us and we were quite upset not having brought our swimming suits with us – but I must also admit the water was still a bit fresh! John palayed on his special instrument called «Shamanic» and for five minutes we really felt like in the film «LOST» and drifted away. How relaxing after a day of work!

We left the place and all agreed that this would be our beach for the coming summer. But a new surprise waited for us: a very special cave that honestly we would have never discovered without our guide. One says that coming to this cave helps couples with difficulties to find their way back to themselves. We continued the story a bit in our imagination and ended up with baptizing it the «baby cave».

As we walked further, John told us a lot more about the Gozitan plants and herbs…

…and we even found amazing decoration for our new apartment (well Juergen played Rudolf the reindeer with it -  you know how men are! )

Our walk ended in the discovery of some salt pans and wandering through the sunset; it was just perfect.

Definitely something to recommend to anyone who wants to see Gozo from a different point of view! I was amazed how little I knew about the island after living here for 10 month!
We will go on further walks and keep you updated about new discoveries.

Have a great weekend!

YOU HAVE TWO WEEKS TO…

• …add Renzo, Knight of Gozo, as a friend on facebook, if you haven’t already; you can do so here.
• …take a photo of any place in Gozo and include me in the picture. There’s a large pic of me on page 2 of our competition details that you can cut out! So your photo could look something like this:
  
  
  
  
  
  However, I do understand that you might not be able to be in Gozo within the next couple of weeks. So if you have a nice photo of Gozo and are able to do some basic photo editing, a digital version of me will be accepted. You can download my picture on a transparent background here. In this case your photo would look like this:
  
  
  





• …upload your photo to your Facebook wall and tag me, by not later than April 24, 2010.

THE BEST ENTRIES…

• …will be published on this blog, discover-gozo.com.

AND THE VERY BEST ONE…

• …wins a t-shirt of Renzo, Knight of Gozo!

SO… GET SHOOTING & TAGGING!

The somber festivities marking Holy Week start on the Friday preceding Good Friday, with a procession with the statue of id-Duluri – Our Lady of Sorrows – taking place in many villages of both, of Malta and Gozo.

Palm Sunday

Palm Sunday, a week before Easter, the congregation receives palm fronds or olive branches blessed with holy water by the priest celebrating mass. This ritual often takes place in a chapel in the vicinity of the parish church, and is followed by a procession from the chapel to the church.

Maundy Thursday

In the evening of Maundy Thursday, it is local custom to visit seven different churches to pay homage to the Altars of Repose. This tradition dates back hundreds of years and is said to originate in Rome where early pilgrims visited the seven pilgrim churches as penance.

There are also various places in Malta and Gozo with Last Supper exhibitions on public display. One very elaborate display can be found at the MUSEUM Centre in Nadur, where life-size figures (all created by Nadur artist James Azzopardi) of Jesus and the apostles are placed around an oblong table full of fruits mentioned in the bible. The picture below shows the scene in Banca Giuratale, on Independence Square in Victoria.

Good Friday

The processions on Good Friday draw a large audience of both, believers and tourists. Life-size scenes with statues are carried through the streets, depicting the stations of the cross.

Behind each statue/scene there is either a  brass band playing, a choir singing, or – more spectacularly, a group of hooded men carrying large wooden crosses or pulling heavy chains that are tied to their ankles, as an act of penance.

Other parishes’ Good Friday processions carry different “flavours”. For instance, in Xaghra the procession takes the form of a pageant, with participants wearing colourful costumes of the period, re-enacting the story of Christ’s Crucifixion.

Easter Sunday

Easter Sunday, of course, is the feast which ends forty days of Lent and a week of somber mood. Church bells ring incessantly, and the morning sees another procession with a statue of the Risen Christ, accompanied by a brass band.

The Easter procession is followed by Mass, before the more mundane Easter celebrations begin.

Children receive the traditional Easter sweet, figolla, and other sweets. Easter lunch is of utmost importance, too, of course: even today, many people keep strictly to their fasting rituals during Lent, forfeiting sweets or disallowing themselves some other indulgence, as a form of penance, which ends on Easter Sunday!

I first saw the light of day on March 27^th, just before Earth Hour (how’s that for timing, eh?), while five hundred candles were alight in the hotel’s restaurant (see photos of the event here!)

I’m owing my life to the conspiracy of three creative ladies – all a little crazy, to varying degrees: Tanja, who is a fanatical outside-the-box thinker;  Sabine, whose creativity is perfectly in tune with Tanja’s way of thinking. And then there’s Nicole, a very talented young lady, who tied it all together and made me who I am!

This is exciting!

So what am I doing here, you might well be asking? Well, I’d like to help the Kempinski team to tell the world about Gozo… about its culture, its history! For such a tiny rock in the Med, Gozo has a long, long past, and I have come in now to tell you all about it. Did you know, for example, that Gozo was granted autonomy that lasted almost two years, by none other than Napoleon Bonaparte after he conquered Malta in the late 18^th century? You wouldn’t believe how much more there is to discover – and I will tell you all!

The route through the rugged area (which I believe is called Ta’ Klula) to Ghadira, as straight forward as it may be, is one of Gozo’s most beautiful ones. The road is wide enough for motor traffic, but stuck inside a car, you might miss out on some of the most spectacular scenery the island has to offer!

Then, just as you think your feet could do with a break, you arrive at your destination. Ghadira is a freshwater pond that carries water practically all the year round. However, the best time for a visit is in spring (in my humble opinion that is anyway the best season for discovering the island!), when you’ll find a lush oasis of peace – if the frogs keep quiet, that is!

We hope you enjoyed our outing of this week. Below is a map showing the way – and we’ll show you a different, slightly more challenging route from the hotel to Ghadira in one of our next posts!