Malta 2013
..Festa at Marsaxlokk
We tried really hard to visit a Festa whilst in Malta. We eventually succeeded, but the messages had been somewhat contradictory. Fireworks one night, no the other night. Starts at 6:30, no it’ll be 7:30. Fireworks will be between 10 and 11, no they’ll be later / earlier…
We settled on Marsaxlokk.
To describe this as a Fiesta was probably a mistake, should have described it as an opulent religious festival dedicated to the churches Saint which involves the whole town. Whatever it is, they certainly do it in style. Marsaxlokk is a pretty little fishing village overlooked by some even prettier power station looking things.
As no one quite knew what was going on, Mike was tasked with finding out (he’s sooo good at that sort of thing) and sure enough the bands arrived and the focus fell on the church. Dramatically, the curtain rose – everyone gasped and nothing happened, at least for another 15 minutes when the statue was carried out by several 80 year old looking chaps, straining under the weight of it. It proceeded to make it’s way around the town while we danced away to the town band.
The latter part of the evening was spent waiting for a non exsisting firework display. However, we were treated to a massive firework explosion every 30 seconds, they really need to speed up their lighting skills…
For some they didn’t get it – for others it was a pleasure to be involved in something special in such a pretty little place. For one Scout it was highly memorable for all the wrong reasons, however he did manage to get to the drain and not offer a pizza in the middle of the parade road – imagine that when the statue comes by…
He was fine the next morning and saw the funny side.
