Yesterday I was MOD (or ‘manager on duty’, for the non-hoteliers among you); I’ll never lie and say I enjoy these 14 hours shifts. Thankfully they come around only once every 4 to 6 weeks, so it’s safe to say I can live with them. On these days I usually lug my camera with me – you never know that opportunities might come along! After a long drawn-out day I was rewarded when the time came for the sun to set.

View from Cafe & Lounge at the Kempinski Hotel...

...and from the roof top!

A friend of mine (who also saw yesterday's sunset) said it looked almost unnatural - it did!

The church of San Lawrenz, standing guard over the village

A last peek before descending the stairs!

Getting such shots done, make it all worthwhile for me!

Seriously, though, I really don’t find much time for my blog, what with the creation of the new blog of the Kempinski Hotel San Lawrenz, Discover Gozo. That blog is a great team effort, and besides the work it involves, it really is fun to keep it going!

The latest offering is from my colleague Stephanie, whose favourite place in Gozo is “in and under the water.” To get some nice photos to accompany her blog post, we went to Dwejra yesterday afternoon, and Mazen, our reservations manager, joined us too. And thank heavens for him!! I had roughly an idea where we’d be heading; I knew that some scrambling over rocks would be involved. I wore jeans and a t-shirt and decided on shoes that would be sort of “sensible” for negotiating the sharp and irregular rocks.

So then came the big surprise: to get to the location Stephanie had in mind, we had to cross some shallow water. Oh boy, I almost quit there and then. My camera bag, stuffed with lenses, had no space for the camera. So I had that bag over one shoulder, another over the other, tripod in one hand and camera hanging from my neck. Oh yes, and then there was the little detail of my shoes… That’s where Mazen’s gallantry came in: he heroically offered me his flip-flops and stored my shoes in his back pack.

I’m still blushing in embarrassment when I think of the idiotic figure that was wading through the water; I was so damn fearful of tripping and landing with all my gear in the sea… but I’m happy to report that all went well – and I did bring back some rather nice shots, too!

Stephanie preparing for the swim...

...and readying the snorkel gear

Meanwhile, Mazen is hunting sea urchins!

Sunset time is getting closer!

the majestic Azure Window, almost close enough to touch!

No comment LOL!

one of Gozo's big trademarks: the crystal-clear sea surrounding it!

Message in a bottle, in front of the Azure Window

Azure your mind!

Oh, and if you need an explanation of Azure your mind – you find it here!

Have a great Sunday… I need to azure my mind a little now, after all the fun!!

This week, for me, was mainly characterised by waiting. DigitalRev sent me an e-mail this morning – in response to my message bickering about the delay – saying they would ship the parcel today. Was there a public holiday in UK this week?? That’s what they gave as excuse, anyways. Man, I hate waiting!

In the meantime I thankfully found some distraction in work. A while back we had this idea of creating a blog about Gozo. Et voilà: I have great pleasure to announce that yesterday afternoon, at around 5, Discover Gozo was finally born! Our aim is to create more awareness about the island of Gozo, but not necessarily from the viewpoint of a journalist and/or travel writer. It’s not going to be an authoritative guidebook, and the blog posts won’t be written all by me, either. Discover Gozo belongs to the Sales & Marketing team of the Kempinski Hotel San Lawrenz, and each of us will contribute our two cents’ worth. The diversity found in our team – an enchanting mix of “genuine” Gozitans and foreigners – should provide for some interesting insights into the nooks and crannies of this island! In other words, “real” people are talking about the reasons and places they think make Malta’s little sister worth a visit!

So watch that space… while I’m watching my letter box. I’m just dying to lay my hands on my new baby!!

If you are planning to pay the little rock of Gozo a visit in autumn, which is one of the most beautiful times of the year -  you could do worse than taking up the special offer of the Kempinski Hotel San Lawrenz! But you’d need to hurry, because this is available today only:

All online bookings made today for stays between 5th and 8th October or 19th and 22nd October will benefit from 4-star prices: you pay just EUR 99 per night for a Deluxe Poolview Room for 2 persons and including breakfast! Don’t phone: the offer is exclusively available through our online booking engine. You can book here. Obviously this is subject to availability, so if you’ve made up your mind, don’t leave booking until minutes before midnight…

You might want to consider that breakfast at the Kempinski is as good as lunch elsewhere, and in the unlikely event that the weather won’t oblige, you will love the heated indoor pool, the use of which is naturally free of charge for hotel guests. Using the gym, tennis & squash courts – and obviously the outdoor pools – is also free!

Deluxe Poolview Room at the Kempinski Hotel San Lawrenz - which can be yours for EUR99 per night in October!

Who knows, maybe we’ll meet next month?