Day 3 - Market Day

Sunday bells ringing again and we hopped up, showered, and were out the door. Our destination was a small fishing village named Marsaxlokk. The town is well known for its Sunday fish market, which draws locals and tourist for their weekly shopping for seafood and vegetables. 

Once again the GPS, now known as "the bitch" since she continues to fail us, made our trip exciting and very long. I think we may have been the first to transit the backstreets of Valletta early on Sunday morning and wind up on dirt roads. For some reason she refuses to take us on major roads. We checked the setting to no avail. So we bump along or are in sheer panic, but always arriving at our destination. 

Yes this is a two lane road!

Finally upon arriving in this small town on the far side of the island we were greeted with a sea of small fishing boats.

Walking along the wharf the smells filled the air. Changing from fresh fruit, to fish, to fresh herbs, all in a few steps. 

Lovely Fruit

Stinky Octopus

It is hard to believe the number of people shopping on a Sunday morning before 9, but it was a mob scene. 

After walking the strip we found a café that served an English breakfast. Tom enjoyed the fried eggs, toast, and bacon (British word for ham), while Janet chowed down on a bowl of baked beans, baked tomatoes, and chocolate croissant.  Yep Tom is sharing food, but hey he would give away beans and tomatoes any day.  Just do not mess with his eggs.

Janet will be chatting with the cafeteria staff at Mary Washington Hospital when she returns. That was her kind of breakfast! The church bells were ringing and off we went to Mass.

A very nice lady took a few minutes to summarize the readings in English and then the Priest entered and the Mass continuedbegan in Maltese. 

Ok, we did not understand a word, but we could hum the songs, and Mass was over in 45 minutes. Time for lunch!

The market crowd had filtered to one of the many street restaurants that lined the harbor for lunch. We grabbed a table and ordered what we thought was a feast for two. The waitress seemed irritated that we only ordered a starter. We called it a meal, and a very good one!

Back in the car we headed for Hagar Qim and Mnajdra, which are ancient ruins that are 5000 years old. Once again, the bitch - excuse me the GPS, decided we needed to transit through small towns that streets were so narrow that it caused us to fold the side mirrors in. Tom was still able to scrap a few rock walls, a house or two, and other cars mirrors without damaging our car or his pride.

We arrived at the historic site, and Tom was quick to comment that he had seen the Great Pyramids, Stonehenge, and now these ancient temples and each were just a pile of rocks. However these had the best location, which overlooked the Mediterranean. These ruins had remained buried until the mid-1800s, but once excavated they are deteriorating rapidly. There are huge tarps which cover both sites to protect them from the rain and sun.

It was time to go back the hotel and the GPS adventure continued. Janet was so pleased that Tom did not take out any of the participants in the Golden Bay Triathlon as awesome bikes whizzed by us. Safe arrival back in Mellieha. 

All is well and another great day in Malta!