Malta
Sand Origin
Ghadira Bay
Collected and provided by the relevant authority in Malta.
Random Sand Fact
Beneath the sand of Gozo’s most famous beach lies a Roman villa with its own bathhouse.
According to tradition, it was here, in a cave above the beach, that the nymph Calypso kept Odysseus for seven years.
When the villa was excavated just over a hundred years ago, nineteen rooms were found, with heated baths, floors of coloured marble and several sculptures. The walls were painted to look like marble. After the excavation, everything was covered with sand again to protect it from wind and weather.
About a hundred years later, a storm shifted the sand and uncovered more stone blocks at the water’s edge. They turned out to belong to the same villa, which was larger than anyone had known. Since then, storms have covered and uncovered them again and again.
