MALTA: The Fishing Village of Marsaxlokk

You know how you first try to get the lay of the land whenever you visit a new place?  Well, the day after we arrived in Malta, Saturday, we had a confab with our trip rep who helped us figure out the how and where and when of our 10 days.

That's when we discovered there would be a fishing market the next day, Sunday, in the quaint fishing village of Marsaxlokk...a definite tourist destination, she said.

Starting from our hotel in Bugibba, we took a bus to Valletta and then another bus to Marsaxlokk.

The 'x' in Maltese is the 'sh' sound, so, Marsaxlokk = MARsa- shlock.

It's a population of ca. 3500+ people.

The first thing we saw as we got off the bus and reached the harbor was the dockyard.

Big, clunky boats with years of hard work oozing out of them.

Then, turning the corner, we saw the market, lined up along the village street facing the shoreline.

Everything under the sun...except fish.  Where was the fish???

Theirs to know and ours to find out!

In the meantime, we started walking up and down the main street.

We knew there would be boats, of course, but these boats?

Colorful boats with their seeing eyes to protect them from mishaps at sea?!

You couldn't miss them if you tried.  They dotted the entire harbor.

And as you'd guess, fishermen came with them, sorting out their nets.

They're just doing their work while we tourists gawked.

A women's quilting bee came to mind.  HA!

Can you picture yourself spending a day at sea on one of these make-shift homes?

Can you imagine the sense of community such a place fosters?

About the time we passed the village square the second time, we decided to stop.

The church is the Parish Church of Our Lady of Pompei, from 1890.

It was the perfect place for a bathroom break, some koffie...and a bit of sun for Astrid!

"Our napkins have been cleaning happy faces since 1971." --Costa (UK)

Truth be told, immediately after koffie, we found a place to eat lunch.

Almost every restaurant/café was full/reserved, so we grabbed the first spot we found...on the street.

Prawns and sea bass...with the Maltese Cisk beer (pronounced CHisk).  Yummy.

And THEN we found the fish!

O M G.  Seafood I didn't need to see, really, but I did.

It was all there.

Right where the fishermen had done their thing for eons.

With women cleaning up after them, of course.

It's a way of life, isn't it.  Can you imagine it being your life?

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Then, guess what?  The next day, Monday, we rode the Hop-On-Hop-Off bus around the island...

...and passed Marsaxlook while sitting on top of the bus.

Even though it was from a different vantage point, it was definitely recognizable!

THIS is why the fishing village of Marsaxlokk is a tourist destination for Malta.

THIS.

GOUDA, as in The City

So, after we left the cheese shop, loaded with our bag of cheese from the last post...we continued our photo hunt of Gouda, the city of 71K inhabitants. Actually, it took us two seconds to figure out we could leave the bag at the shop and come back for it later. Which we did.

Gouda the city is surely most known for its cheese. Duh. But it's also known for its clay smoking pipes with looong stems, stroop/syrup waffels (both of which I didn't take pictures...my bad!) and for its candles:

Gouda kaarsen (= candles) are considered to be the cream of the crop.
They're made of stearine/natural wax with a special prepared wick, with hardly any soot or smoke,
almost never dripping and burning for hours.

And that reminds me of what Gouda is also known for, it's famous Stadhuis, one of Holland's oldest Gothic city halls, built between 1448 and 1450:

This magnificent structure sits in the middle of Market Square, as seen here from above.
At Christmas time, Astrid says all the windows are lit with Gouda candles.
Definitely on our list to see this next holiday season.


Speaking of the Stadhuis, later in the afternoon as we ate lunch on the square, I was able to zoom in on this wedding party just coming out. You may recall that weddings in the Netherlands take place at the city hall,
as ours did here in the city where we live.


On the same market square, behind the Stadhuis and just a couple buildings from where we ate, is Gouda's Waag (= weighing house), built in 1668 for weighing goods to levy taxes.
It is now a national monument.

As happens in most of these Dutch iconic cities, there's always one big church that stands out from all the others, and that would be Sint Janskerk:

A UNESCO monument known for its stained glass windows, the church was built in the 15th-16th centuries, dedicated to Gouda's patron saint, John the Baptist.
The church was open to the public for an entrance fee (€3,50 each, as I recall) but no cameras allowed.
Sorry, NO. We'll look online. Sometimes we're cheapskates, just for the principle of it.


...but as you know by now, that doesn't keep us from walking all around to see what we can outside.
I'm a glutton especially for such arched walkways attached like this.


I'm also a glutton for seeing such a steeple while out-n-about town and knowing whose it is!

Since we're in the vicinty of the grote kerk (big church), let's cross the street to Gouda's history Museum....

...with another archway. I love those walk-throughs...
(notice Sint Janskerk so close behind once you're inside the courtyard)


...and all the gevelstenen (= gable stones) inside the courtyard.
We didn't enter the museum proper but enjoyed the inner courtyard as its own museum.

The other church that sticks out like a sore thumb while you're out walking around is the Gouwekerk, over by the vismarkt (= fish market):

In the bottom right-hand images (above) you can see the 2 pillared structures on each side of the canal (with the church in the background). In days past the fishing boats would pull up alongside these open-air structures and unload their catch for market selling.

On the way to the vismarkt, by the way, we passed the following bridge being restored:

...and as we passed it...


...LOOK AT WHAT ASTRID CAPTURED! (Rated R)
The top row was the foreplay, the bottom row 'the act.'
HA! It was a real 'quickie!'

How can you ever beat Mother Nature!


Well, we try, don't we. Look at this bit of whimsy. Is this, too, foreplay???

Now, change gears, if you can, and check out these two windmills:

't Slot (= the Lock) was built in 1832 as a grain mill.


De Roode Leeuw (= the Red Lion) was originally built in 1727, also as a grain mill.

And to tell you why we love these photo hunts so much....

...just before we rounded the corner to see the Roode Leeuw windmill, we spied this sewing machine outside in a yard, suffering from the elements. As we started taking pictures of it, this gentleman, so seemingly hungry for conversation, came out to tell us all about it. He even offered it to us...if we wanted it!

And then, just to the left of the windmill, there on the canal where we had first seen the mill from afar after first parking....

...life as they know it on the canals of The Netherlands!

Bid yourselves tot straks, now, to Gouda....

...a city of so much of what I love, like more gevelstenen (= gable stones).
You can actually see the whole shootin' kaboodle here on the Dutch database.


Enough impressions for a lifetime of enjoyment.

Gouda, the city. I have a feeling I barely got started (and you thought this was long!).