Feasts, family and friends

Another two weeks in Malta have flown by…filled with village feasts, family time and my new flatmate arriving….

Last weekend…began on Thursday evening…with the Paola feast festivities… as the footpaths filled with decorations…

Fireworks lit the skies…

And fireworks banged from daylight to midnight!

Interspersed with music and marching bands..

The village lit up like a Christmas Tree!

And fireworks Ferris wheels cluttered up the squares… culminating in Sunday’s feast!

By Monday afternoon…the roads were open, street bunting removed, lights off and back to business!

The week leading into all this chaos, I spent with family…cleaning, shopping, dinners out and trying to stay in air conditioned spaces, as we weathered the end of the 40-45 degree heatwave…terrace dining was out of the question!

Monday…Brought some cloud cover and a few drops of rain, contractors to repair and paint the back terrace and the arrival of my friend Jill from NZ for a visit…cooling down the temperatures and upping the humidity levels!

A couple of days with juggling our time…letting contractors in and out and cleaning up the plaster dust…

With some street strolling, swimming hole dips and snacks by the sea, watching the boats roll out! We have been cooler this last week, with a breeze (warm) moving the air and finally blowing the clouds away!

Wednesday…we took a bus to Valletta..

For breakfast…got more than we bargained for…as Jill and the waiter had a bit of a communication issue…poached eggs on toast became a full cooked English breakfast!

We then bussed to the university and caught up with my cousin Claire, and after this we decided to walk from there to the coast (Sliema)

Through the university, under tunnels (street art)…

Past the sports fields…actually dirt football pitches and very hot tired trees, barely holding their feet in the ground…dusty backstreets, construction sites, pitted pavements…where my street shoes struggled…with the odd stumble or two! To the (now) hot, tourist filled waterfront of Sliema! Not my favourite place!

Gasping for a cool drink, my non beer drinking mate actually shared a beer with me..to replace some of the lost fluid from our walk!

Thursday was a beach day…a northern sandy beach! Leaving home around 9.30am…we hit the Maltese highways and byways! Navigating by my nose…as my data plan decided this was a good time to run out!

Until we arrived at Riveria bay (or Għajn Tuffieħa) where I could log in to the cafe internet and purchase the next month of data! On arrival…the beach was filling up but comfortable for our couple of chairs and brolly! By midday…

We could have held hands with our neighbours… the beach had filled up with tourists…not many locals frequent these popular (well known) “best” beaches in Malta!

We sardined it out until about 2pm..reading and swimming, before we tried to grab lunch in the now packed cafe…there is only one on the beach! There was a wait list to sit down, and with 50 or so waiting in front of us…we decided to make our exit!

Up the 200 stairs (felt like 2000) in the hot afternoon sun! Leaving the loungers to an afternoon of hand holding and trying to avoid eye contact with the strangers 5 inches from each other’s half naked bodies!

Starving! We had a quick stop at the cousins on the way south…and continued to the sports bar in Marsaskala..to devour a healthy lunch/dinner in a cool empty space!!! Away from the maddening crowds!

Today is Friday…TV coverage of the Commonwealth games athletics (in Glasgow) is limited to a french channel in the evenings…which is a little odd as the French are not competing!