rachal1084

Hi all

I have posted in forums before so I am aware that I probably haven't give enough information and that I am probably approaching the move with a Naivety but please bare with me.

I have lived in Turkey, Benidorm, Marbella, Malta and Portugal over a 10 year period on and off, and my heart has always been abroad, after research I have decided that Malta ticks a lot of boxes as my Husband and I have a 2 year old son, and we love that Malta has good Schools, Hospitals and a low Crime Rate all these things are massively important because of having a child.

The thing I need help with is where would be best for us, when I lived in Malta it was a short amount of time and a lot of years ago now, compared to the other places. I lived in Sliema which if I am honest I wasn't keen on, but I was told by many people I met that their are loads of lovely places in Malta.

We are looking for somewhere with a good State School, an ideal place to bring up Children with an Expat Community, we would also like to be near the Sea as we live by the Sea in the UK and that is an important factor.

So hopefully we can get some ideas then start visiting Malta to help decide where we would like to finally settle.

Thank you in advance for your help

Gozit

Hey... I have a question for you... Are you looking for somewhere with proximity to work? If not then I would recommend living on Malta's sister island, Gozo... It's a tightly knit community, fun place to live, and everywhere is by the sea as the island is so small... There is decent shopping in the capital [of Gozo] (Ir-Rabat / Victoria / Vittorija) , decent public and private schools, a lot of the kids go to Agius de Soldanis (which I believe is a public/state school) (Edit. Oops that's a high school! I will tell you, the state schools are taught in Maltese. But since your kid is two he has plenty of time to learn

Gozo has a high concentration of British expats (actually higher than Malta)

As for Sliema I share your sentiment and I totally get it... Sliema and San Giljan (St Julians in English) are the more over-hyped, expensive areas of Malta, and you'd be better off elsewhere. Although it's great to head into San Giljan for a party

Hope I answered your questions and post back if you have anymore questions

rachal1084

Hi

We have savings but not enough to last forever, so yes we would be looking, I love the sound and look of Gozo but I was told that's it's a very quiet place and I was worried that it would be too quiet but then on reflection I want somewhere nice to bring up my son and Gozo does sound perfect. I assume it is quite difficult to find work, my Husband is a Maintenance Man/ Labourer by trade and has extensive experience and I am a Sales Manager I think Sales would be easier to find but ideally I would be the one wanting to look after my boy, although I assume they start Nursery at about 3? I love that my boy could be bilingual

Thank you so much for your reply, it's been very helpful, and I certainly will be looking into Gozo

Regards

Gozit

Gozo? Quiet?

If "quiet" is defined as "Church bells and fireworks at 3 in the morning and again at 7 am all summer" , then sure its quiet. Has that person even been to Gozo?

Gozo is certainly more laid-back, and "quiet" than Malta. Which is good IMO. Great place to raise a kid. Work is hard to find all over Malta, and Gozo is no different. A good website for finding jobs is www.careerjet.com.mt ... Yeah nursery is started early over there, around 3 like you said. One thing to watch out is the condition of the nursery. Mainly, does it have heating and A/C to keep your kid at a comfy temperature.

Yup, being bilingual is an awesome opportunity, especially speaking a not-well-known language like Maltese. I'd love to be able to speak it. I'm Maltese by descent (have I mentioned that? ) , actually Gozitan from Gozo, my grandparents are from Gozo.

One thing i'll note on which relates to the "noisiness" I posted about above is the feasts. The feasts (or "festa" in Maltese) are lovely. Traditionally they are based on religious events, but the partying done at these events doesn't reflect that. They are always outdoors, in the pjazza (square) of the village it is being hosted in, and usually go on well into the morning hours... All of this includes bands, fireworks (Maltese style, not really fireworks more like "loud bangs" ) and church bells... Lots of partying, drinking and just enjoying the atmosphere. They are usually Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights, finally tapering off around Monday morning. You can imagine Maltese workers get alot of holidays off work in the name of religion.

OK, i'll sign off now that i've made you want to buy a ticket there now, and that i've made myself homesick.

rachal1084

Lol, you did make me chuckle, the like the sound of the Festas they remind me of Fiestas they have in Spain, big Street like Parties like you have described really, Spain look for any excuse to have one, it's good really as I like quiet but not too quiet all of the time.

Thank you for the link I will be checking that out I realise it will be hard looking for work but hopefully one of us will find something, I suppose it's one of those things that my life has always been based on, "go try it" if it doesn't work what's the worst that happens" better than having regrets" suppose difference now is I am older with a child to think about but still "what's the worst that can happen" he is still very young so we have a bit of time to try

My parents are being sold on the idea of moving out there too, but problem is they like Villas but I know Gozo isn't a Villa type of place, I know there are Farmhouses and Bungalows, but they all seem very old fashioned sorry full of character! I think they just like the modern style, I have tried looking plenty of modern apartments but nothing detached that isn't over 1 million pounds, do you know if modern detached like properties exist in Gozo?

They also have a Laser Cutting Business that basically cuts wood to mainly supply the craft sector if they made the move they would be looking for a commercial building they could work from, they can take their existing customer base with them but would you say there is a call for Crafts on the Island as it would all be extra business.

Sorry for chewing your ear off you have been very helpful

Hope I am not making you too homesick with all this talk of a very beautiful Island (sorry)

Regards

Gozit

Your description of the Spanish "fiestas" sound exactly like our "festas" !

I agree, if you want to go to Malta, go try it! That's what i'm going to do, whats the worse case scenario, you go home or somewhere else abroad. Not that bad IMO, and then you don't have the "what if"s!
There are lots of villa's in Gozo according to my searches, but they are not as cheap as a normal apartment... Check out www.franksalt.com.mt and www.belair.com.mt ... On belair's website there is a beautiful video of Malta. Gets me every time.

Those real estate websites also have commercial sections so you could look there for commercial buildings for your parents laser business. Whether or not there is demand on the island I can't say too much (i dont know) but what I can say is that if there is demand and they do a better job then the local contractors, and have competitive pricing (Maltese are very cheap and don't care about much other than the price most times) then they will do well with local customers. And trust me, it isn't hard to do better than the local contractors. House builds normally take 3-5 years over there. Just due to the contractors' laziness and not caring about the job at hand.

Anyway they will do fine if they keep their current customer base...


Hey, no problem! Let me know if you have anymore questions, I hope this helps

rachal1084

A great big thank you again, I have been looking at that Frank Salts they have a massive property portfolio. And I will be checking out Belair as soon as I have finished this reply, thanks for your great advise again, you have been great, normally I just seem to annoy people in forums who basically tell me I am stupid and to go away lol, seems I found a nice one

Regards

Gozit

No problem

Yes, this is a nice one. I've been on alot of others who've told me "you're too young to be on here" etc...

Go BE

rachal1084

Yay to being young forumers \0/ (I hunk I am still classed as young) suppose it depends on who is the decider :/

rachal1084

*am I

Gozit

I think its safe to say you're pretty young on here...