We are up before daylight as usual. I enjoy my morning coffee but I think I will be glad to have our own Starbucks drip coffee when we get home. What we make is almost espresso, not quite a cappuccino, we add cream and raw sugar and some boiling water for a mug of strong sweetened coffee.
It's Sunday so we make French toast with fresh bacon. Bacon here still has the rind on and the little 'eyes' of gristle (aka riblet bones) in it. I don't know how anyone can eat bacon without using their hands and eating around these parts. It tastes good but it also takes work.
Maltese buildings are made of stone, the walls, the floors and therefore need a lot of heat at this 'winter' time of year. This morning our heater ran out of propane.
George brought a new 20lb cylinder over about 9:30. He has invited us to come with him for a family BBq on their six acre garden plot. We will arrange a Sunday before we leave. Sunday's are family days for the Maltese. They spend it with all the generations of the family, usually together for the mid-day meal, a walk and visits with friends too. They seem to work hard during the week, but Sunday's are for family, food and socializing.
We, (I), wanted to go to Marsaxlokk to see the Sunday market. We have been there during the week but this is supposed to be much bigger and much busier. It is not usually what we do on Sunday's but I still want to see it and the energy of all the Sunday crowds. Our first indication that this is not such a good idea is the buses. The driver strongly suggests we go all the way to Valletta to be able to get on a bus for Marsaxlokk. Even doing that we hardly get on the bus and we end up standing all the way, about a half hour. These are city crowds going to the villages for a Sunday outing. On Gozo no one would leave a woman standing without offering her a seat. Here young people and tourists don't even get up unless they are prompted by an older person.
The market is huge and packed with people.
We walk the whole market along the bay, turn up the hill to the bus stop we know, wait a half hour again and get the #119 directly back to Marsascala then up the hill to home. The plan is to sit in the sun and let the rest of Sunday pass us by. When we were booking this apartment we had read reviews about the beautiful views and the steep walk from the Bay. It is steep. I wonder how we will feel about it after doing it for three weeks.
Our laundry from this morning is dry. I have decided today is a good day to crack open my bottle of Prosseco, a sparkling wine best enjoyed in the sunshine in the afternoon and we sit on the patio until the sun is replaced with clouds and the temperature begins to drop.
Later to be replaced by a little red wine as the almost full moon rises over St.Thomas Bay.
This month will be different. I'm not sure if it is where we are or whether it is us. We did travel hard from St Paul's Bay and saw everything we wanted, more than once. Maybe we need a week of a slower pace to decide what it is we want to do with the remainder of our time here.
One observation....despite being in strange places and beds we have slept incredibly well. It is so quiet here at night. Maybe also we are relaxed knowing we have no phone, we have TVs, but have not watched them. We are unwound from our world, except of course from our iPads, lol......A VERY IMPORTANT CONNECTION.
No comments:
Post a Comment