Malta International Airport (MIA) welcomed the first two flights from Zagreb and Parma, which will be operated on Tuesdays and Saturdays throughout winter by Lauda Europe and Malta Air respectively, both of which are part of Ryanair Holdings. While Italy is one of Malta International Airport’s most popular markets, connected by flights to 16 out of its 20 regions, the Zagreb route is the first direct link between Malta and Croatia.

The capital of Croatia is characterised by red-roofed buildings, narrow cobbled streets snaking through the old Upper Town, and grand architecture dating to the times of the Habsburgs dominating the busier Lower Town. While the city brims with charm and activity all year, as Christmas rolls around, Zagreb’s festive attire and renowned street markets heighten its appeal as a winter destination.

By venturing just outside the city, visitors can also enjoy a spot of adventure down one of Mount Medvednica’s five ski runs. Other interesting places which are easily reachable from Zagreb and ideal for a day trip include Plitvice Lakes, which turn into a winter wonderland after snowfall, the sleepy town of Rastoke, and Karlovac where one of Croatia’s top beers is brewed.

While Croatia’s go-to tipple is beer, with the country producing 90% of all beer sold locally, Parma is well known for Lambrusco wine, Parmesan and prosciutto, making it a top destination for artisanal food tours. The time spent sampling Parma’s satisfying delicacies can be balanced with sighteeing tours of the city’s stunning monuments, including the Romanesque Cathedral and the medieval baptistery, both of which boast splendid frescoes, Palazzo della Pilotta, and the wooden Teatro Farnese.

Visitors can discover more of the Emilia-Romagna region by travelling to Bologna and Modena, both of which are a train ride of just under an hour away from Parma. The area between these two cities is often dubbed ‘Motor Valley’ due to a concentration of manufacturers of luxury cars and motorbikes, the likes of Ferrari and Ducati. Travellers who are more impressed by the sounds of opera than the purrs of fast cars will be happy to know that Modena also gave birth to Luciano Pavarotti, where his house has been turned into a museum.

Article credits: https://whoswho.mt/en/malta-international-airport-announces-new-direct-routes-for-zagreb-croatia-parma-italy

For the first time in hundreds of years, a Grand Master will be buried in the crypt of St John’s Co-Cathedral, its foundation has said.

Fra’ Matthew Festing will be the 12th Grand Master to be laid to rest in the crypt – the burial place of L’Isle-Adam, who brought the Order of the Knights of St John to Malta in 1530, and La Valette, who won the 1565 Great Siege and founded the city of Valletta.

The 79th Grand Master of the Sovereign Order of Malta, Fra’ Festing died, aged 71, after feeling ill in Malta and being hospitalised earlier this month, the Grand Magistry had announced.

He served as Grand Master from 2008 up to his resignation in 2017.

The last Grand Master to be buried in the crypt was Vasconcellos in 1623, although it is understood, despite a lack of documentation, that it is also the resting place, in an unmarked grave, of Ximenez, who died in 1775, said St John’s Co-Cathedral Foundation CEO and curator, Cynthia de Giorgio.

The tradition was that the Grand Masters would be buried underground, but from 1623, their remains would be moved to the chapel of their langue in the co-cathedral after a year in the crypt for the “special indulgences it was endowed with”, she said.

Fra’ Festing would be buried in the crypt because he died in Malta, and since he was English, there was no English langue, de Giorgio explained.

“Where else can you bury a Grand Master in Malta?” de Giorgio asked, adding that the decision was taken in agreement with the knights, the archbishop and the prime minister.

A location in the Grand Masters’ Crypt has been found and his burial site prepared, with cultural and cathedral authorities acting fast to identify a space that could accommodate the very tall man.

The last Grand Master to die in Malta was de Rohan in 1797 and he is buried in the Chapel of Provence. Since then, no others have been buried in the co-cathedral, the Order of the Knights of St John having left Malta in 1798.

The last reigning Grand Master was Hompesch, but he had left Malta before he died and was, therefore, not buried here, de Giorgio said.

Fra’ Festing’s funeral will be held on December 3 and Cardinal Silvano Maria Tomasi, Pope Francis’s special delegate to the Order of Malta, will celebrate the Requiem Mass, while Archbishop Charles Scicluna will concelebrate.

The co-cathedral’s crypt, which was reopened to the public last year, following a €500,000 restoration project that lasted 13 years, was carved out of the rock for underground burial in the 16th century.

It is located beneath the high altar and houses the remains of the 11 Grand Masters who led the Order from 1522 to 1623, including Jean de la Cassière, who commissioned the church that would become St John’s Co-Cathedral.

A descendant of Sir Adrian Fortescue, a Knight of Malta, who was martyred in 1539, Fra’ Festing he led humanitarian aid missions to Kosovo, Serbia and Croatia.

Article credits: https://timesofmalta.com/articles/view/grand-master-to-be-buried-in-st-johns-co-cathedral.917539?fbclid=IwAR09D-_F4wRIZg-8GcBJOcrCGAhBEakQSrK2baxwHa4uqwO558KX2gJVmPg

The much-anticipated service between Wine Wharf quay in Valletta and Augusta will initially operate five trips a week. Ponte Ferries kick-started its service between Malta and Sicily a few days ago and the itinerary allows for flexible and late departure times to enable passengers to bridge public holidays.

“We’re very appreciative of our clients’ patience and understanding during the past weeks and thank all the parties involved for their continuous support and cooperation to give Ponte Ferries the green light to set sail,” a company spokesman said.

The port of Augusta is located less than five minutes away from the autostrada, giving those wishing to reach or explore areas closer to Catania, Taormina and Syracuse quicker and easier access.

Read the full article: https://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2021-11-18/local-news/Ponte-Ferries-inaugurates-new-Malta-Sicily-route-6736238390

There is a competitive nature that courses through Malta so raw and unbridled that it’s written into the skyline of its capital, Valletta, and permeates across all walks of life on the archipelago.

We’re talking about pika – a Maltese word that roughly means ‘a neighbourly rivalry’, but is one of those terms that feels like a fool’s errand when foreigners try to interpret it. Usually, this rivalry involves followers of different saints within the same town – and ranges from benign sportsmanship to premeditated aggression.

Every year, Malta’s festa season, when villages celebrate their patron saints by throwing big feasts, peaks between June and September. At this time, pika summons the islands’ hot-blooded Mediterranean spirit to the fore, as parishes compete in a paradoxically sacrilegious celebration of the sacred. Rivalries have become so intense that festas have had to be partially cancelled, the most recent in 2004, due to the threat of violence.

Year after year, followers of respective patron saints attempt to outspend and outdo their neighbouring parish in a contentious crusade for showmanship that seems truly fit for the descendants of the Knights Hospitaller, the medieval sect of Catholic warriors from Jerusalem that ruled Malta for about 300 years from 1530. To this day, Maltese festa pageantry, artefacts and ornaments take cues from the Baroque style that defined the 17th- and 18th-Century architecture of the Order of St John, such as the hand-held carriage that transports the statue of the saint to the festa’s main stage, and the hand-carved wooden centrepiece for the Sunday feast. In recent years, festas have included competing theatre companies and a new record for hoisting 711 flags in a village.

Band clubs in Malta are also the epicentre of the most competitive forms of pika. Band clubs are volunteer organisations that are found throughout islands. As their name suggests, they are gathering halls for marching bands – a legacy of British military bands – but they’re also social clubs, equipped with bars, pool halls and even a radio station, as well as informal religious links to the church with their own chaplain and chapel.

The size of Malta, the EU’s smallest nation with a population of around 430,000, may offer the best clue as to why rivalries here are so intense.

Read the full article: https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20190107-why-are-the-maltese-so-competitive

Boasting one of the world’s highest vaccination rates, Malta is now welcoming back visitors safely with cash incentives and a recently launched Nomad Residence Permit.

Malta may be small but its response to the pandemic has been mighty. Once enforcing some of the strictest restrictions in Europe, the country has finally been able to open its borders and welcome back visitors safely, boasting one of the world’s highest vaccination rates.

Nearly 81% of all Malta residents are fully vaccinated. In fact, Malta and Portugal are the only two nations in Europe that have reached a more than 80% vaccination rate across their total population (including teenagers age 12 to 17, who have been eligible to get the vaccine since summer 2021), according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). This makes them two of the only places likely to avoid a winter resurgence says the ECDC director, and among the safest places to travel. Visitors to Malta must be vaccinated themselves if they want to skip a 14-day quarantine.

The country is more than ready to welcome back vaccinated international visitors – especially those looking to take advantage of their company’s new remote work policies. In June 2021, Malta launched their Nomad Residence Permit, which enables visitors to keep their current employment in another country and live in Malta for up to a year (with the opportunity for renewal). Applicants must prove they can work remotely, work for an employer or offer freelance or consulting services and earn at least the equivalent of €2,700 monthly.

The Nomad Residence Permit enables holders to retain their current employment based in another country whilst legally residing in Malta. The Permit is open to individuals who can work remotely and independent of location, using telecommunications technologies.

Malta already hosts and welcomes digital nomads from the EU. This community of entrepreneurial expats make the most of Malta’s island vibes, a nomad lifestyle, business networking opportunities and cultural experiences. The Nomad Residence Permit is open to individuals from third countries, who would normally (but not necessarily) require a Visa to travel to Malta.

The permit will be issued for one year and can be renewed upon application at the discretion of Residency Malta, as long as the applicant still meets the set eligibility criteria. Applicants who are interested in staying for less than a year will be issued with a National Visa for the duration of their stay.

Read more: https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20211109-malta-the-island-welcoming-digital-nomads

During the past months, as tourism travel restrictions started to be lifted, the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association, the Ministry of Tourism, and the Malta Tourism Authority recognized the need to embark on a coordinated effort to ensure that the Maltese hospitality sector is viewed as adequately safe and prepared to welcome and service the most discerning tourists. Towards this end, a team of experts facilitated by the Mediterranean Tourism Foundation developed the STAR Journey initiative, a comprehensive quality programme which aims to set Malta as an In-Partnership Forbes Travel Guide Destination with a focus on Service Excellence and Safety – a first in the world.

Read the full article: https://winning.training/star-journey

Fairyland – Santa’s City will return to Valletta from the 3^rd December to 2^nd January 2022!

Fairyland promises to be exactly what anyone would expect, following its first edition in 2019, as the entrance to Malta’s Capital City will be transformed into an original adaptation of Santa’s City, all set up to give the ultimate experience to children, and those who are still children at heart!

Among the attractions expected to return, Rudolph’s Wheel will once again provide the best bird’s eye view of Valletta and neighbouring cities and the Ice Rink will be providing quite a festive adrenaline rush!. Naturally, the man himself, Santa Claus will be in residence at Fairyland, ready to meet children from all over the world, compile his Naughty and Nice list and even get a head-start on delivering gifts.

Christmas Food and Drink will be available from Santa’s numerous cabins, and there will also be a couple of surprises!

“The return of Fairyland – Santa’s City is another step forward in our path towards the normality, we strongly missed due to the pandemic. Through this event, we will be providing families with the opportunity to enjoy the Christmas spirit with their loved ones through a number of attractions aimed at nurturing the positive atmosphere that the festive season is well renowned for in the Maltese Islands. The Ministry for Tourism and Consumer Protection together with the Malta Tourism Authority will continue working hard to assure that our country remains an entertainment bastion in the Mediterranean,” remarked Minister for Tourism and Consumer Protection Clayton Bartolo.

Read the full article: https://www.mta.com.mt/en/news-details/337

Malta has once again made international headlines, and this time, its due to it being one of the safest places in Europe to visit during the winter as another COVID-19 wave surges. According to international newsroom ‘The Telegraph’, our island joins Portugal in being the safest places in Europe for the upcoming winter, with expert leading disease monitoring across the continent. A new wave of infections is sweeping Western Europe and the UK, but Malta and Portugal will be avoiding the spike due to the high rate of vaccination.

Dr. Bruno Ciancio, director of surveillance at the European Center for Disease Control (ECDC), said in a Telegraph interview that there are three epidemiological trends emerging across Europe, dictating how countries will fare this winter.

He highlighted how the critical factor in all this is vaccination, saying that the pandemic will be driven more and more by those who did not receive their jab. He said the countries most likely to avoid a substantial resurgence are Malta and Portugal as they have fully immunized more than 80% of their total population. Most other countries, like the UK, fall into a second tier where overall vaccination rates are around 60 to 80%.

Article credits: https://maltadaily.mt/malta-headlines-as-one-of-the-covid-safest-winter-countries/

While on an incentive trip to Malta, international skincare and beauty products company JAFRA Cosmetics chose a Ħamrun school to donate and plant 100 indigenous trees and shrubs propagated from local seeds, as part of the company’s corporate social responsibility strategy.

The tree-planting activity took place at the Guardian Angel Secondary Education Resource Centre on October 15.

During her speech, head of school Darlene Borg said that “these new shrubs and trees will be an asset for the school, whose environment is unique compared to the mainstream ones”.

The school, which forms part of St Ġorġ Preca College, hosts about 80 students with severe learning difficulties. Borg also mentioned that “apart from the environmental benefits, engaging in such social experiences is highly beneficial for the students, who are able to spend time with people outside of the school organisation”.

At the end of the activity, the students presented a commemorative plaque to JAFRA’s general director and the director of sales, together with clay tokens handmade by the students themselves, to every participant.

JAFRA was hosted by Colours of Malta, a local destination management company, while the coordination of the rural CSR activity was entrusted to social enterprise Merill Rural Network.

NGOs ACT and MaYA Foundation offered their expertise throughout the event.

Article credits: https://timesofmalta.com/articles/view/jafra-donates-100-trees-shrubs-to-hamrun-school.909898?fbclid=IwAR3F3vv98-dl-d6dqw3oTeDdKiNq3Cwpd6S3NMQM8MgzZ-TK-nWrFVAcRlQ