Casa Jecentho

Review of Casa Jecentho

Mr G Bassan (Chatham Kent)

I came across Casa Jecentho by chance on the internet and was completely impressed, not only by the house, but by Deborah’s pre-trip organisation and courteous and hospitable service during our stay.

If you are the kind of person who follows the Lonely Planet guide and loves to be immersed in a country’s culture and community, then this is the house for you! Casa Jecentho was very easy to locate and only 10 minutes in the taxi from the airport; the fares were also very reasonable as you pay up front at a kiosk in the airport before your journey.

The house itself was truly amazing – the imposing doors grab you in to a grand entrance hall fit for Kings!!! The rest of the house has been lovingly restored and contains many of the owner’s artefacts from her travels (I presume). The spiralling staircase takes you first to the double bedroom (plenty of storage space here for clothes) with its balcony and then to the very chique, clean-cut kitchen/dining/living room space which also has a balcony and all the mod-cons. The roof terrace is a fantastic addition and we enjoyed lying on the sun loungers as we listened to the sounds of the Three Cities as the sun descended over the domes of the neighbouring church. There is also a beautifully fitted bathroom in the basement in keeping with the stone appearance of the rest of the house.

The location of the house is perfect as it enables you to stroll through the historic Three Cities (the Lonely Planet guide has a great walking tour) as well as allowing you to access the local buses which connect to

. We made great use of the buses and discovered that we could reach the capital within 20 minutes and the ferry to Gozo within 1 hour 30 minutes!! Perfect! If you have booked to go to the Hypogeum (we booked on http://www.heritagemalta.org/hypogeum.html), simply get the bus to Paola and walk; you’ll be there within 30 minutes!

Do go out and sample the local restaurants recommended by Deborah in her superb handbook which you will find in the living room. Our favourites for evening meals were Del Borgo and Il Forn, but we used Tate for morning coffee and breakfast. Do, also, get out and about in the evenings as there always seems to be something going on. When we were there in July, it was festa season and there were marching bands, religious statues and fireworks everywhere. Adventure out and get chatting to the locals as they will explain what is going on but, ultimately, savour the community spirit and Maltese culture.

Casa Jecentho was the perfect setting for an awesome holiday; as soon as you step through the door, you absorb the house’s history and feel the culture pouring out of the walls. This stunning house is in an area far removed from the tourist resorts of Sliemma and St. Julian’s (although these are very accessible by bus), but this makes it even more attractive to the tourist interested in adventure and discovery of a place.

I would suggest visiting the local market stall holder, preparing a salad and eating it with a glass of wine on the roof terrace. Finally, if you are worried about the comment about the bell sounding every 15 minutes, DON’T PANIC!! The bell became incidental after day one and we hardly noticed it. In fact, it’s quite fun trying to work out the coding of the bells’ chimes. The bells are not even an issue but, if you are concerned, ear plugs will solve the potential problem.

I strongly recommend Casa Jecentho to any tourist and would like to thank Deborah for all of her help with the organisation of our holiday. Paying by English cheque was so simple and eased the pressure immensely. By the way, if you are flying the from the UK, I would suggest flying ‘Indirect’ by Al Italia to Rome and then out to Malta – you will almost halve your flight expenses and there is hardly any waiting time in Rome’s Fiumicino airport.

Happy holiday!

 Just to say that we had a wonderful time in Casa Jecentho and Malta. Its a wonderful house with some lovely furniture - and so full of character. 

S and T C

Thankyou so much for your help in the organisation of our holiday. Your house was absolutely stunning and we loved the community feel of the area.

I have already been recommending the house to people!!

GB

It was nice to spend time in a part of Malta that is so rich in history but so unspoiled by tourism, where the  local people are genuinely happy to help and ever so friendly .....happy to give directions ,and offer advice, Paul from the fruit truck at the end of the alley even carried the water to the front door for  me.

The house is close to the airport and getting around by public transport was breeze.

DM