Sannat

Today we will head to the second largest island in Malta, Gozo, where my grandparents come from. Dad also spent the first few years of his life here & was here 40years ago.

Breakfast was at Cafe Cordina, the oldest cafe in Malta and the number one place to do for a morning coffee. The building is very ornate with decorated ceilings and cakes and pastries which looked very yummy - not sampling any today.

Not far away is St. John’s Co-Cathedral, a unique monument with Baroque art, with its stunning architecture, paintings, statues, adornments and much more. It is Malta’s most imposing church, having been built by the Knights of St. John in 1577, soon after the Great Siege. For many years the church was where the Knights of the Order of St. John gave praise. They donated gifts of highly artistic value and made enormous contributions to enrich it with the best works of art by leading artists available to them, including their most famous piece by Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, known as Caravaggio. The altarpiece which depicts the beheading of St. John the Baptist, is the largest painting he produced and the only one known to be signed. As a result, The Order dedicated this church to St. John the Baptist. The Co-Cathedral contains tombstones and monuments, artefacts, museum collections, tapestries, sacred vestments, choral books, and a silver collection.

The only way to describe it would be stunning, stunning, stunning. We spent a good hour in the Co-Cathedral, during which time there was something new to see around every corner.

Dad and I visited the world’s oldest music shop, D’Amato Records, which is situated near our hotel. Vinyl records not found elsewhere, DVDs, and even some VHS cassettes can be found here.

We planned to catch the car ferry to Gozo this afternoon, so we drove to Mdina, also known as the Silent City. It is a fortified city in the northern region of Malta, and is still confined within its walls. It is also one of the main tourist attractions in Malta.

While in Mdina we had lunch at Is-Serkin, the most sought after pastizzi producer on the island. At the time we were there, they were experiencing a power black out, yet customers were queued our the front door. They were the best pastizzi I have had in a very long time. In order for Katie to become “woggyfied” Dad set her the challenge of eating a couple of pastizzi, which she did admirably. She has also eaten a traditional dish for lunch, ‘Hobz biz zejt’, which translates to bread with oil. Actually it contains much more than that.

Then it was off to the car ferry to go to Gozo (Ghawdex in Maltese). The 45 minute trip was uneventful, with a rural character and brown landscape as far as the eye could see, with limestone buildings also evident. Also known for its scenic hills, it provides stunning views in all directions.

We are staying with Dad & Desma’s friends, Charlie and Cornelia, who have rented an apartment in the trendy seaside village of Marsalforn. We have the penthouse which is 4 floors up and there was no electricity at the time we arrived - neighbours had told us the power had been out for about 20 hours. So what does one do in such circumstances? Yes off to the local beach for a dip and cool off.

The beach was Wied il-Ghasri, which was not too crowded given 2 nearer beaches were available also. The water here is very salty, even ,it’s so that’s the beaches we are used to back home.

Dinner was in Ghajnsielem, where traditional Maltese food was once again consumed by all (I had the chicken parmigiana to sample how the Maltese do it).

After Dinner, Charlie & I dropped the everyone off back at the apartment and we went to Sannat Festa. This is a local village festa that is called ‘Feast of St. Margaret the Martyr’, this has local Brass Band playing, food trucks, an air display of fireworks then a ground display of Fireworks on structures made for the festa (see the video)
All villages have these and it is when the village is on show and the church is all don’t up with the streets. Only way to put it, Chinese New Year Malta Style!Read more