A ‘live’ nativity is pulling in the crowds on the Mediterranean island of Gozo, off Malta. And there are rooms at the inn
It’s dusk in Bethlehem, and in the straw-strewn stable baby Jesus is bawling. Mary gives Joseph a knowing look across the manger, and within seconds he produces a dummy. Peace is restored, onlookers’ mobile phones come out for yet more photographs, and no one seems to mind a bit that this most authentic of live nativities has been infiltrated by a 21st-century pacifier.
We’re not in the real Bethlehem; this recreation of the Bible story is in a village called Ghajnsielem, on the Maltese island of Gozo. It’s Malta’s answer to London’s Winter Wonderland: but here, instead of a rollercoaster and ice rink, there’s a carpenter’s workshop (complete with carpenter at his lathe), a shepherd’s cave, a farm and a boat ride. Just as in Hyde Park, there are plenty of stalls, but instead of alpine crafts, you’ll find hand-baked breads and local fruit and vegetables in Gozo. And where Winter Wonderland gives pride of place to its white-knuckle Detonator ride, the centrepiece of Ghajnsielem’s Bethlehem is the more hands-joined experience of the stable, where four-month-old Alicia Xerni is holding court with her mum Annette as Mary and her uncle Darren as Joseph.
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