L'Imnarja - 2

Some more photos from yesterday's trip to Buskett Gardens. The first photo is of the 'Imqaret' , traditional Maltese sweets made out of dates. The basic shape is a square piece of pastry filled with dates and deep fried. These dates delicacies are usually bought from stalls at open air markets. Then you can see some of our local tomatoes and the girl with the pony.

L'Imnarja

Today in Malta it is Celebrated the feast of Saint Peter and Saint Paul and this is known as L'Imnarja. It is the most popular traditional summer festivity held as a folk festival as well as religious holiday. In fact this feast includes a mixture of religion, tradition food and colour. A lot of People gather at Buskett gardens to listen to traditional 'ghanejja' (maltese singing)and to see the lovely displays of local vegetables and fruits from farmers and also animals such as rabbits, chickens, turkeys, cows and horses. This is where I went this morning with my two children. I will show you more photos tomorrow as I took a lot of pictures!!

Cars

Recently I went to a wedding and usually the cars carrying the family of the bride and groom are modern cars. This couple had these lovely old cars. Obviously I did not have my good camera with me but only my phone,so I excuse myself for the quality. I am not a car expert but I think these where Lincoln cars, maybe around 1950's.

Malta's National Plant - 'Widnet il-Bahar'

This plant has been declared Malta's national plant in 1971 and is endemic to the Maltese Islands, being found only in Malta and Gozo in the world. It's habitat is mostly seaside coralline limestone cliffs and screes, where it grows with other Maltese endemic plants. It's English name amongst others is Maltese - Rock Centuary, and it's scientific name is : Palaeocyonus Crassifolius (Bertoloni) Dostal. This is one of the photos my friend Laetitia's has taken on her day visit to San Anton gardens.

HOT HOT HOT!!!!

Feeling hot hot hot!! Feeling hot hot hot !! ole ole ole ole ...... do you know this song? It seems so right to sing it now. We are getting a hot week, someone said this morning that it should cool off a bit by Friday...... we'll see about that. In the meantime here is a photo of some of the local cafes and restaurants, there is more to the left of the photo and will post the continuation of the street on a later post maybe this evening before going to the beach I will take a photo of the whole area. Coming here in the evenings is not as easy to sit down as it is during the day as they are usually all full, and one has to wait for a table.

Pretty Bay in full swing

 


This is pretty bay , Birzebbuga. I thought after yesterday's post this would refresh you a bit. The girl doing the cartwheel in the middle is my daughter, and the man diving behind is my better half !!Have a good week everyone.

Building 'il-hajt tas-sejjieh' rubble wall

Last week I had the opportunity to see these men hard at work in the heat building this rubble wall. When I say hard at work in this heat I really do mean it is hard work , because even walking in this can be too much let alone working. So to this I add that I appreciate and I feel for all the workers out there working out side in the heat.

Get ready to dip in!

Wait not just yet we need to stop the boat, you are now looking at a small archway in the cliff between one inlet and another.....



Ladies and gentlemen we have now stopped the boat and anchored so whoever wishes to take a dip in this lovely sea may do so freely, enjoy your swim, please note that you do not need a towel to get dry because it is so hot that as soon as you are out of the water you are dry!!!






I hope you all have enjoyed this boat trip, and will be back again. Good weekend to everyone and thanks to our Captain Mr Agius, and his wife the photographer ;)

Light house, delimara point and delimara

Always looking on your left side we are now about to leave the inlet, you can see the light house here which is fully functional and in use of course.


Here as you can see the inlet comes to an end and we approach open seas. I hope no one is feeling sea sick!!



.... and here is delimara, where Sarkozy decided to hide for a perfect quiet break ;)

St.George's and Qajjenza

Going out slowy for now looking on your left hand side you see St.Georges bay .....


......and still looking on your left hand side you now see part of Qajjenza, this is part of Birzebbuga . Tomorrow we get out of the Birzebbuga sea and head to Delimara and 'Hofriet' another inlet where Sarkozy was seen with his yacht earlier this year.

Drinks, sky and the blue med!

Ladies and gentlemen make sure you have your life jackets on and are wearing your swimming costumes as you might get a little bit wet!!



Here's a drink we would like to offer .............

Sit down and relax....

.... as Mr. Joseph Agius ( Laetitia's husband) will take you for a speeeeeeeedy drive around the southern part of the Maltese Islands. I'm sure you will enjoy this ride as the weather here is getting hotter and hotter and a drive on a boat will be as enjoyable as drinking pina colada! Photos where taken by Laetitia.

We start here at St. George's bay in Birzebbuga and slowly head out, good day everyone.

Birzebbuga

Again I got stuck for photos! I hope you all like this one, it's a photo taken yesterday overlooking some of the fields which are found around the outskirt of Birzebbuga.

Marsaxlokk - The Fishing Village

This is part of the Marsaxlokk seafront, I hope you like the sepia effect. If you ever come to Malta you have to come here on Sunday mornings for you will find a market selling from groceries, fish, vegetables to pets, shoes, tools and a lot of other goods.

Now something which has to do with yesterday's photo and a bit of History Lesson on the Maltese Cross.

Well the Maltese Cross is a symbol of the order of Christian warriors known as the knights hospitallier or Knights of Malta. The cross is eight pointed and has the shape of four 'V's. It's design is based on crosses used since the first crusade, the eight points are said to symbolise the chivalric virtues : Loyalty, Piety, Frankness, Bravery, Glory and honour, Contempt of death, Helpfulness towards the poor and the sick and Respect for the Church. The Maltese Cross is considered on of Malta's national symbols and it will be shown on the back of the one and two euro coins which Malta is expected to introduce in Jan 2008.

'Skuna' The bigger fishing boat

Following on to yesterday's post , today I am posting a photo of the bigger boat (there are bigger fishing boats than this) that at the moment is being used for Tuna and Swordfish fishing. I want to try and go sometime in the evenings when this boat returns from the open seas of the mediterranean full of fish and fishermen!! Good weekend everyone.

Maltese 'Luzzu' and it's fishermen

Having no photos to post for today, I headed for Marsaxlokk a fishing village next to Birzebbuga. I parked the car, my son was sitting comfortably in his seat at the back, I got my camera out (the old one, as I was recharging the batteries for the new one) and started taking pictures of the fishing boats. Then Mr. Gafa a local fisherman asked me what I was aiming at , I told him about my blog and he showed me his father's 'Luzzu' and also a net they where working on. So here are my photos for today fresh as can be, the Maltese Luzzu and the net for fishing, which is used for small fish. This Luzzu is also used for small fish fishing, tomorrow I will post a photo of a bigger fishing boat that is at the moment being used for Tuna and swordfish. I must thank Mr. Gafa senior, his son and their friends as they where very helpful and friendly!!

'Il-Bajtar tax-Xewk' - Prickly Pears

Prickly Pear trees are known all over the world in hot countries. We have them here too, I love the fruit they make. As you can see at the moment they only have the flower but later in the summer it will become fruit, yummy! To cut them off the tree one has to either do it very early in the morning or late in the evening when the sun is not there. The reason for this is because of the prickles. One has to wear gloves then to slice the outer skin and get the fruit. I like to put them in the fridge and eat them cold as snacks mmmmmm!!

Cake no 2.

This cake was made by Laetitia, and here she is all dolled up and pretty. You can see the flowers which I have posted some time in May have been turned into a lovely arrangement. Well done Laetitia.

'Il-Kamra gol-ghalqa' The room in the field.

This field is found a bit further up the road from where I live. I wanted to show you today something different. In some of the fields here on the island you can find a room or two. Some of them use it on Sundays , they BBQ or make a 'fenkata' (cooking rabbit) others use it to store in it and others sleep there too on occasions. In this photo you can also see the famous 'hajt tas-sejjieh' the wall which is made my stacking uneven pieces of stone on top of each other.

San Anton Gardens - 4 and 5

This is a Clock face, presented by the Ambassador Mr V.S.Vlasov on behalf of the Government of the Russian Federation on the 7th of January 2006 to the President of Malta Mr. E. Fenech Adami.




.... and here is the little turtle having a swim in the rain!!

San Anton Gardens - 3

This is another pond found in these beautiful gardens. It's build as an egg shape and it is very well made according to our knowledgeable builder Mr. Joe Agius. Again this photo was taken by my friend Laetitia. Good Sunday to you all.

San Anton Gardens - 2

This fountain is found in the centre part of the gardens. The day was blessed with rain.

San Anton Gardens

San Anton Gardens are found in the northern part of the island, Attard. This is the winter's residence of the Maltese President. In the next couple of days I shall give you a tour through photos of these gardens. All photos were taken by Laetitia. I hope you enjoy them.

'Sette Giugno' - 7th June 1919

A little bit of history today........ 7th June known as Sette Giugno, this is in remembrance of the riots of 1919 when the Maltese population revolted against the British government to obtain some form of representative government. Four people died when fire was opened on the protesters. One of the four men was Giuseppe Bajada who hailed from Xaghra-Gozo. He happened to be in Malta on that fateful day when he went to obtain a passport to emigrate. He found himself amongst the rioting crowd and according to Giuse Orlando, quoted by Herbert Ganado, the the ensuing melee he was hit while in 'Strada Teatro' and fell down holding the Maltese flag. To remember the tragic events and the death of Guiseppe Bajada and the others The 7th June of every year is a Public holiday.

Just a note to you all Birzebbuga is in the southern part of the island on the left side of where Marsaxlokk is.

In Malta we have rain too!!

Yes the sunny islands of Malta get their fair share of rain too. I took these photos two days ago on Monday from my house.

Now really who is missing in action??

Yesterday I posted a photo of some fathers having fun at tug of war. I have another question for you. Who do you think won?

Missing in Action???

I don't think so.... what do you think? This was a funday organized by the local football club and as you can see the father's here had to get into action. One of them is Laetitia's husband, he is a builder can you guess which one ? I will give you a hint he is wearing a baseball cap. Oh my two questions for you today.

Gnien Indipendenza 'independence garden'

This garden was officially opened in November 1989 by the Minister of Social Politics, Mr Louis Galea in remembrance of the 25Th independence anniversary of Malta. As you can see here in Malta we are having rain this weekend!! |(not usual for this time of year).

Other photos of this garden can be seen on my other blog..mydailylife... link at the side.

Around Birzebbuga seafront

These are photos of parts of the birzebbuga seafront. You will see in one of them two young ladies enjoying a stroll with their sons!!

DP Theme : View from my bedroom

This morning I said to myself, 'oh I don't have any new photos to put on my blog!'. So I started going through the other bloggers and saw Torin first with this theme, so there was my answer and here's the view from my bedroom door. Unfortunately I haven't yet mastered how to get into the dp monthly theme so I can't add the links. Have a good friday everyone.