Beach days

The days in my Malta home are filled with family, swimming and wandering (early in the morning) on the shaded side of the street! Temperatures are sitting around 30 degrees most days (and humid-feels like 33)with not a drop of rain on the horizon!

Saturday I left early and went to Pretty Bay, I was there by 7.30am and snavelled a carpark nice and close…the beach was relatively unpopulated at this time, apart from a local exercise group doing beach and water aerobics! So I went for a walk around the town….

The rent-a-chairs waiting for tourists – not me I sit on the sand at the far end with the local families!! mostly grandmas and kids…

A view back along the bay from the port side…

And a wander through the town square with the church dominating the centre …I then grabbed my beach bag from the car and plonked myself in a prime position on the sand to jump in and out of the water….until around 10.30am when the crowds rolled in and almost sat on top of me….Time to move on, I called in at Lidl (supermarket) on the way home to get my supplies for the chocolate pudding I was commissioned to make for our Sunday lunch at Sam and Anna’s… home to shower, a load of washing and watch the women’s tennis final(Wimbledon) on TV.

Sunday morning up with the birds (yes there is the odd one if you can hear them over the traffic and fireworks) and off to the Sunday Birgu flea market….there I was 6.30am to get the best bargains…and not a vendor in site…the football field where they hold it was, this day, a truck carpark…well when you get a lemon you make lemonade, or in this instance coffee….

A take out on the Birgu waterfront…in the shade…and bench seat all to myself…before heading to my cousins to help prepare our lunch … Spagetti bolognese (Anna) followed by a very sweet chocolate pudding ….I say due to the brown sugar being very dark and treacle like in the sauce. Last Tennis hit with the men’s final on Sunday evening!

Monday morning the shoes went on and I walked through the next town, Fgura,and down to Bormla …. Destination Cafe Rouge…still the best coffee in the south…

Wandering off the main drag through some of the more residential streets…again early morning always a shady side…

One does see a lot more on foot…down an alley behind locked gates …. A secret garden… I decided there was still a shady side of the street and walked back home…

The prickly pears (wild on the side of the road) growing their fruit … not yet ready but in August/September devoured by the locals.

And here in Malta, no wandering is complete without a homeless cat shelter!

Home by midday and extremely hot…into bathers and off to the Marsakala swimming hole off the rocks, before a salad and beer at the beachfront bar…

Today was a bit of a rinse and repeat…walking to the Birgu street market…which was on thank goodness!…purchasing my fresh fruit, dried nuts and biccies…Coffee (and water) at Rouge cafe, but this time busing home with my extra bag of food supplies!

Then off to the waterhole for my afternoon cool off….little internet hiccup today…which entailed a modem reset so all phones and tv etc are working again!