A busy and fun filled day today. We started with a trip to the capital (of Gozo), Victoria. It was a good day to go, being a bank holiday meant no parking restrictions but did not mean that anything was closed! We parked at Arkadia as always and walked up into town, passing the new Duke shopping centre on the way. Victoria is really coming up these days and has a lot of good shops now.
We headed straight for our favourite place - what we call "the Franciscan Square" because the Franciscan church is there. There are tons of local cafes in and around this square and one side or other is always in the shade. We went to The Beehive and had pea pastizzis and Kinnie, our first junk food of the day.
Then we headed up to the Citadel for a quick look around there. We've been plenty of times before, but it's interesting and picturesque and has stunning views from the ramparts. On our way back to the car we had a look in The Duke centre and had a bite to eat there. Almond pie with a frozen cappuccino really hit the spot.
Next we headed off to Ramla bay for some sun worship. We'd been here before too, but on that occasion we were just about the only ones there, today it was rammed. That's what a bank holiday will do for you. We got one bed and one brolly and picked our spot on the beach before taking a dip. The water is gorgeous, as is the whole look of the bay, promontories on each side, one with a ruined fort, lovely red sand and The Madonna Of Ramla statue right in the middle of the beach. Perfect, and time for a bag of crisps to keep us going.
Two swims and a bit of sunbathing later and it's time to head back. We have to be out early again tonight to go to Xaghra festa, festivities start at 6 and we don't want to miss a thing. It's a good job we do go early as parking is already a problem when we arrive, but it seems double parking and parking on yellow lines is allowed during festa times, so we're OK.
We head into town and get a good spot on the church courtyard - pole position for watching La Bambina being brought from the church. The bands march and play, mass goes on inside the church and then suddenly it's time. A whole procession of religious artefacts is paraded out of the church before finally, at the rear of the
procession is the statue of La Bambina, all shimmering silver and gold, carried by 6 or 8 bearers. There's a sharp intake of breath as someone at the back loses his footing and La Bambina teeters, but disaster is averted as a dozen helping hands rush in to steady things.
As La Bambina is paraded out of the square we go off in search of food. Should be easy, there are dozens of stalls about. We have a slice of pizza that tastes better than it looks (it looks like it's been kept warm for hours, and probably has been). Then we hit the sweets stalls - fresh made do-nuts dipped in sugar syrup and chopped nuts and our favourite, the fried date pockets. These are if anything even tastier than those from Valletta bus station!
A return into town via one of the decorated streets sees us catch up with the procession. A stop for a prayer and a blessing every 50 or so meters along the route makes for slow progress, and you must be pretty
dedicated to follow it round the whole route, and to participate. It was too much for two young choir boys who were sent home for "larking on"! A few dozen "Hail Marys" for them too, I would guess.
After that, back to Xlendi for our usual bedtime aperetif, this time at what we call The Pirate Bar, for no good reason. A full and busy day, and one filled with nothing but junk food. It's what holidays are all about.
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