Anyone who has holidayed in continental Europe in August, especially in cities, will know that many bars and restaurants are shut, sporting notices such as ‘Ferie’ or ‘in Vacanza’ in Italy, for example. Just as you, the unsuspecting tourist arrives, those who should be making a buck out of you at this peak summer holiday time of year have chosen to go on holiday too. So what happens in August in Malta, holiday islands in sun?

What to Expect in the August Shutdown
The next two weeks are Malta’s peak, local summer holiday time of year. If the father of the family hasn’t taken a break yet, he will now be shipping himself and family somewhere like a holiday flat or second home in Gozo or up North to St Paul’s Bay, abroad, or if very lucky, aboard a motor cruiser island hopping to Sicily. Mid August often sees a change in the weather to humid, sweaty, still grey days that promise rain. We can see the odd freak flash flood storm as a taste of autumn rains to come.

The summer recess in Malta moves in mysterious ways. We might not have ‘Chiuso per Ferie’ on our windows as our Italian neighbours do, but the habitual two weeks’ shutdown does leave its mark. Here’s how:

The good news
Everything a tourist needs stays open. Local businesses know that this is the time of year to make almost all their profits if they rely on tourist bucks from sun, sea and sand seeking visitors. None of the habits of Italian city restaurateurs here.

The bad news:
If you’ve moved to Malta recently, you might not know that a lot of firms – even those in service industries such as advertising, and retail businesses such as kitchen and bathroom showrooms, for instance, will be firmly shut for almost two weeks either side of 15 August. So, if you forgot to order that spare part for the washing machine, or need a new tap, like I do, you will have to wait till well after the 15th. Even then, next deliveries after the summer recess can take often until end September or longer to materialise in Malta. You will notice too that supermarket shelves may run out of favourite brands as shipments slow in August.

Although Malta has a dwindling number of manufacturing plants, the tradition of closing up the office still holds even if a firm doesn’t have a production line. The knock-on effect of the shutdown ripples through the economy. We’ve said before that the public sector is hard to reach on the phone after 12.00 from mid June to mid September, but I doubt you’ll get anywhere until September if you try to call a government office now with a query.

The other bad news is that we are all left to battle for the best places on the beach, best restaurant tables and best parking places as the islands teem with holidaymakers, locals and visitors. For some insane reason, we like to take our holidays now, altogether in a pressured two weeks. Malta’s schools don’t go back till around 24 September or later, so we’ve plenty more time to take a break.

The traditional August shutdown, while not strictly needed for most firms these days, is a habit hard to break. Maybe we can blame it on Malta’s most important public holiday, Santa Marija, which falls on the 15 August. The day is in Malta’s psyche; not only because Malta is predominantly Catholic, but also because it marks the end of Malta’s second ‘great siege’ when a small, war-torn convoy of Allied forces’ supply ships limped into Grand Harbour relieving the islands. More on that in our second August holiday article to come.

It’s peak summer, if we hadn’t noticed, which means it’s the season to be visited in Malta if you live here. Just as it gets really hot and anything but floating in pool or sea is tiring, emails from wannabe guests start populating your inbox. I’ve had a guest for almost a week which is why we’ve been silent in the past days. It’s also the reason for this post.

If you’ve lived in Malta as many years as I have, family and friends, far flung, have all been, seen and ‘done’ Malta at least twice or thrice and decided it’s time to holiday elsewhere. By now they’ve decided ‘the islands are so small’ and that ‘it’s far too hot in peak summer to sightsee isn’t it?’.

My list of guests has included a relative who wanted to see all the religious festas in an action-packed Easter, an Italian with a young son in tow who dug holes in my kitchen table, and a New Yorker who wanted picking up from the beach at will, generally in the peak heat.

As I waived good-bye, I made a mental note of the points that make for all-round easier, less stressful guest stay in Malta. The list is based on years of hosting experience. If you’re newly living in Malta, read this and be better prepared. The next few summers will see masses of repeat visitors coming your way. Do ask them to read this before they book the flights!

Hosts

Say NO!
If you’ve any nagging doubts about your guests’ stay (heavy workloads, kids sick, back from your holiday the day before they arrive, or you aren’t that close to them), just be brave and say a polite, quick reply, ‘NO it isn’t convenient’.

Be Prepared
Sleeping arrangements, extra beds and bedding, bathroom space, transport, car hire, sightseeing itineraries, food, ideal restaurants, kids’ activities, how to fit in with your routine, and a whole lot more needs working through before they arrive if you aren’t to feel like a stranger in your own home while guests are around. You will also be asked about medical things so make sure you know the times of a local doctor and how to guard against and treat mosquito bites and sunburn and sunstroke.

Guests

Please, please, please think about all this before you stay with a friend in Malta, especially in summer months..

Sun & Heat
June – August can easily see temperatures sore to late thirties and even over 40°C. Do expect to find that unbearable if you’re from northern climates. Do take precautions. Don’t expect your host to be sympathetic when you loll around at their house saying it’s too hot to go out, or because you got sunstroke on day one. Don’t ask them to pick you up at the hottest times of day – our cars are boiling! Stay put in the shade somewhere, then bus it home.

Electricity & Water: fans, showers, aircons and plugs
We pay among the highest price in Europe for our electricity in Malta, so please don’t leave fans, aircons or lights on when you’re not in your guest room. Do try also to save water and not shower four times a day. Plugs are UK 3-pin so bring enough adapters if from Continental Europe.

Transport – hire cars, buses
Our latest guest was supposed to hire a car but the two near misses as we drove on day one, within 100m of our house, was enough to put him off the idea. But do talk to your host in advance about how you intend to get around sightseeing or to the beach; don’t assume they can always fit in or want to pick you up. Hire cars are still cheap in Malta and a good way to explore. See our tips for safe driving. Buses are very hot this time of year but think about how quaint the journey is in our ageing vehicles!

We are not on Holiday!
While your hosts will take time to be with you, remember that they are likely to be working through summer except for perhaps the regular shutdown around 15th August ‘Ferragosto’ (to the Italians) and Santa Marija week here (15th is a public holiday). Don’t expect your host to be able to stay up late every night or be on hand to please all the time. Be thoughtful about their work routine and ensure they have space and time for themselves too.

Read up About Malta
My latest guest somehow thought that Malta would be far greener and lush – in mid July? Err…
Do read up a bit, at least, on the Islands so you won’t have the wrong expectations. Some guests seem to think that because they are staying with people they know, they don’t need to plan at all! This site might be a good place to start.

There is way more I could add to the list, but perhaps I am just too tired in the heat to pen the thoughts. Or recovering from the guest and catching up on work perhaps?

Photo: Gethin Thomas

It’s a Sunday evening in early July as I write this, which is an appropriate moment to tackle that great Maltese seasonal institution – a large, loud gathering of family and friends out for a beach BBQ.

Tomorrow morning, many a Maltese beach will bear the signs of this weekend’s nighttime invasion – litter, spent charcoal, chicken wings and detritus of all kinds will be left behind. While some litter, there are others who spend hours doing voluntary beach tidy-ups. It’s a never ending cycle of litter, tidy, litter… but perhaps we’ve reached the tipping point, or nearly.

The Beach BBQ’s Environmental Impact
Of course, it’s not solely the beach BBQ that contributes to beach littering, but here’s an anecdote on its polluting effect which isn’t all about litter.

A couple of hot July’s ago, I went out for an expensive, splash-out meal at a restaurant right next to a small bay. The establishment suggests guests arrive to catch the sunset views from the al fresco dining area. We did. And that was about the best bit of the evening, and the meal. I won’t do a hatchet job on the meal (which it deserved), but the evocative sundown drink was spoiled within around five minutes of our arrival by the chugging into action of a generator and the waft of petrol, followed by floodlights, shouting and general mayhem. The beach BBQ was in full swing.

Now, I like the idea of a beach BBQ, and went on a couple in the past. But we were responsible enough to keep noise to a minimum. The people I was with enjoyed chilling out in the mellow heat and listening to the waves, not music or generators and scoured their patch of beach meticulously using torches to ensure not a scrap of litter was left. If all nighttime BBQ-goers did this, then there’d be no need to…

Ban the Beach BBQ
Mellieha Local Council used by-laws to ban the BBQ last summer from Ghadira Bay, to some uproar. Some quarters saw it as another attack on popular ‘cultural’ pastimes. Not that the beach BBQ can be compared with the Ghanafest.

Ghadira Bay has a nature reserve behind it and is aiming for Blue Flag status as a beach with outstanding environmental and safety credentials. While the Blue Flag criteria don’t stipulate a ban on BBQs, Blue Flag status and barbecuing don’t sit happily together; the pollution the beach BBQ produces in Malta would make attaining and retaining Blue Flag status nearly impossible.

Two beaches in Malta now have the Blue Flag – Bugibba (this year) and St George’s Bay (awarded last year). Interestingly, both are ‘new’, man-made beaches and in built-up areas popular with tourists. They have no local tradition of BBQs.

Yet, the more rural, beauty spot beaches, which should have greater potential to reach Blue Flag standards aren’t yet quality enough; the BBQ culture must have something to do with that.

Conspicously, today, I noticed a row of temporary info boards on Golden Bay beach explaining Blue Flag and the local sealife and fauna and flora. The Malta Tourism Authority’s info boards nearby, also a new addition this year, clearly said BBQs were not allowed, neither was camping.

So, plans are afoot to make more of Malta’s beaches BBQ free in pursuit of that elusive Blue Flag status no doubt. I love the idea of footloose and fancy-free summer nights on the beach with a Barbie as much as the next man. But given our islands’ limited beach space, masses of beach goers and our enduring lack of self-discipline, the BBQ must stay at home. About time.

Fancy a festa? If you do, then there are plenty to choose from, several each weekend across the Maltese Island throughout the summer from June – September. Some main ones are here below, but for the full diary, see, Malta & Gozo Parish Feasts 2010. Each festa has its own flavour, so ask around, for example, for the best for fireworks (perhaps Mqabba for sheer volume and Lija for aesthetics), or the most authentic, rowdy, village-like, religious and so on.

• Saint Catherine of Alexandria, Zejtun – Third Sunday of June
• Saint George, Qormi – Last Sunday of June
• Saint Peter and Saint Paul (Mnarja), Nadur, Gozo – 29th June
• Saint Joseph, Msida – Sunday following 16th July
• Saint Sebastian, Qormi – Third Sunday of July
• Saint Venera, Santa Venera – Last Sunday of July
• Saint Gaetan, Hamrun – Sunday following 7th August

I write this to the constant boom of fireworks both from my village and from a neighbouring one. Malta & Gozo’s summer festa season has begun big time. And there’s no getting away from festas, love them or hate them. People I speak to tend to fall into one of three categories in their attitude to festas:

1. Love them - relish the noise, colour, fireworks, excuse to meet friends, the mêlée, the fast food, nougat, bands, heat, sweaty faces, and the religious regalia everywhere…

2. Just see them (tourists’ view) – a quaint, weird, fun, in-your-face, tradition of Malta with amazing fireworks, so ‘must-see’ at least one good one while on holiday here.

3. Hate them – and all that goes with them such as traffic and parking chaos, roads blocked, noise (above the senseless noise of petards), and the fact that in some parishes, the religious origins are superseded by excess and rowdiness.

Island visitors seem the most middle ground in their views. Well, they aren’t subjected to non-stop festas for three or more months. Locals don’t tend to be middle ground about festas – it’s an all or nothing affair with us mostly.

What are Festas or Parish Feasts anyway?
They celebrate the day of the parish patron saint. But tend to last around a week to 10-days and involve weeks of build up and work. For a flavour of what festa is, see our article Saints and Street Parties.

Verdict: They are colourful – fireworks and the characters you see milling around at them. So for that alone, find a festa this summer, at least one, and enjoy it for what it is. A good time had by all in the community, with a statue of a saint involved somewhere!

Photo: Leslie Vella

I had some friends coming over for a buffet and needed loads of lemons. All those salad dressings to make, and perhaps a cooling zesty lemon mousse for dessert. So, in Malta, where do you go for lemons? The supermarket?

No, you look over the garden wall. Or, more precisely, you lower a basket over the wall, your neighbour generously fills it, you hoist it up, and hey presto, you’ve a surfeit of lemons to make a gallon or more of lemonade, and some left over.

This little ritual of give and take plays out if you don’t conveniently have your own tree that is. Even the smallest front or backyard in a town like Sliema has room for a lemon tree. I have olive, cypress and palms but my ageing lemon died a long time ago. My neighbour’s garden is littered with fallen lemons. Old, knarled, thick-skinned with warty lumps, and slightly mildewed or bird splattered. Fresh from the orchard, in their natural state and free of those boxtoxed-looking waxed skins, they are bliss. A lemon scent and taste to die for.

Yesterday morning, 07.30, I called from my roof across her garden as I’d heard her weeding. Mary picked out the best from her crate of windfalls and obligingly packed my wicker basket full. I pulled it up the 15 foot drop, ever grateful. And I took a moment to reflect on this endearing slice of Maltese village life: the sharing neighbours, the use of produce to the full when in season, and an appreciation of nature’s bounty.

I look at Mary’s large orchard, overshadowed by the parish church, and pray that it will never be built on. Anything is possible in Malta. Long may her lemon trees live on.

What is a ‘basket’ in Malta?
Basket is used in Malta to refer also to a plastic bag, the sort supermarkets dish out (at a price these days). Not to be confused with wicker or reed woven baskets.

Suddenly this week, we’ve had all too hot a reminder that we’re in June. Summer 2010 has had till now a late and shaky start with some wild windy days, and some sultry overcast skies heavy with thunder. But, the rising mercury is screaming summer now, so dust off memories of summers past in Malta, or anywhere else you’ve holidayed in the Med, and see if this list rings any bells with you.

You know it’s summer when…

- The cat won’t move for hours on end
- Ants start invading your kitchen
- Yells, bells and smells greet you on every street (festas, food stalls, car windows open, TVs blaring through open doors…)
- Families, old and young members like, perch outside on chairs, doorsteps and kerbs to chat
- Drivers of heavy vehicles strip to vests
- Valletta’s (old) City Gate (soon to be no more) reeks of sweets, diesel and sweat
- Tarmac starts to melt and rutch up
- Kids eat an ice cream a day
- Tourists are on the beach at midday; while Maltese turn up after 5.30pm
- Drivers start getting more abusive as heat = road rage
- You hear every festa wherever you are on the islands
- Town and village festas close roads and cause tailbacks (people kerb-crawling watching fireworks)
- There’s barely a local to be seen in village streets after midday.
- You can park in Valletta easily after midday – public servants have all gone home!
- Government offices rarely answer phones after midday
- Paceville is a no-go zone for a whole lot of reasons!
- You can hear clubbing venues’ music even if you’re miles away
- Beer not wine is the drink you want when dining out
- Aircon firms charge a whole lot more for call-outs (get servicing done by end May next year!)
- Whole families perch quayside with fishing rods as the sun sets
- Beaches get BBQs galore
- Beaches get filled up by large groups of language students (from midday at weekends, so plan to go other times!)
- You know it’s summer when you’ve had enough of going to the beach and look elsewhere for things to do.

The list is endless, so do add your own summer in Malta characteristics…

Photo: Anne Muscat Scerri of Cloudberry Images

I was in the garden around 6pm today, and I swung round startled. I heard voices so close I thought someone was behind me. The yells came from above though. It then dawned on me that it’s a month to my village’s annual Festa, and the yells were from the parish volunteers putting up the decorations. Not just any old decorations, but the grand illuminations and regalia that adorn the church – from atop the pinnacles of the belfries and dome to its interior which is bedecked with deep, bulls-blood red drapery.

The festa daredevils, steeplejacks or what you will, risk a fate as bad as death each year. I’ve seen what look like rickety wooden ladders and platform contraptions levered out from the dome so someone could manage to get light bulbs working up in the gods. I’ve seen people manage to pass each other on the ledge that runs around the bottom of the dome, when I thought it wide enough only for pigeons to strut on. I’ve seen people lean out, without a harness, to reach a stray electric wire, a defunct bulb, or something that blew out of place in strong winds. The dome often ’sings’ with whistling wind around it.

No one has yet in my living memory fallen off. It’s bound to happen. Just like each year the preparation of festa fireworks claims lives in Malta. Health & Safety law enforcement? EU laws? These don’t even come into play when festa preparations are under way. No one cares. Until their son falls to his death one day.

Tomorrow, I’ll get the zoom working better and snap them on the top of the dome. Even more unbelievable a sight.

A quick note about a feature we promised earlier this spring. We’ve now added a FORUM (see top navigation).

We get a lot of questions at Malta Inside Out, many of which don’t sit neatly as comments on our posts. So the forum is the place to ask away, access the collective thinking and get some answers or, more energetically, enter an ongoing debate.

HOW IT WORKS
You need to spend half a minute registering with us if you’d like to do more than just read forum posts. This is what you need to know to get going…

1. We started off by creating some top-level GROUPS – on subjects like Driving, Expats, Eating Out, Schools and even the hot topic of Censorship.

2. Then, within the groups, you’ll find FORUMS which are a kind of sub-themes. For example, Schools has ‘Kindergartens & Nurseries’ as a mini-Forum.

3. From here, it’s over to you with TOPICS within the forums. Post a new thread or contribute to one already going. The usual Forum netiquette applies of course.

SUGGEST A GROUP
If you can’t find a group or forum that you need, just contact us and we’ll start the new forum for your new subject. Then you can get going. In fact, let us know in the comments below what areas you’d like covered in the forum – diving, night life, festas or whatever…

BECOME A MODERATOR
If you have a niche area of expertise or simply some time to spare to keep track of a group here and there, let us know. We’re looking for people who have a natural ease in communication and know how to monitor group topic threads fairly yet in a friendly tone. Again, contact us if you can help…

A huge thanks to our now near 1,400 fans who make Malta Inside Out the living animal it is. More changes soon – an enewsletter to subscribe to with special info, deals and more..

Stay in touch!

Photo: courtesy:R.M Lowe

A day ago, I had a knock at the door just before 7pm. I rushed, thinking it was the postman as I was expecting an online purchase to arrive.

I opened to find, however, two late middle-aged ladies bearing a statue of the Virgin Mary.

It was about two feet high and in the regular pale, baby blue with rosy blushed cheeks and hands clasped in prayer. There was a moments pause while I did a double take, my mind now racing to whether I had any small change in my purse for some collection or other, or wondering whether they had come to preach on my doorstep. They too seemed a bit taken aback; I was obviously not Maltese and had a stunned look on my face which spelled out clearly that I had no idea at all what they wanted.

I said ‘Yes?’ with a hanging question mark. They paused, then one said ‘We’re taking the statue from house to house’. My brows furrowed and I think I said another ‘Yes?’. I was light years away still from fathoming their motive for being there or doing that. Statues are in churches, on street corners, in niches above doors and come out at village festa time. But never in my 16 years in Malta had I come across a small one going from house to house.

The ladies didn’t seem to know what to say next. The pause lingered. I decided that since they weren’t going to manage to explain, and I needed to get back to cooking, something had to be said or done to let us all get on. Since the thing wasn’t meant for my household – I was quite sure about that – I said the first thing I could think of that would end the situation, which was: ‘We’re protestant.’ They said ‘Oh’, smiled a faint smile and I closed the door.

An hour later, I was enlightened by the lady who baby sits my son. Apparently, the month of May is dedicated to the Rosary, and it’s a custom for the ’statue’ to reside for a week with a household before passing on to a neighbour. I am still not sure if the two occurrences are linked. The lady told me that she hadn’t had the statue for over 20 years in her house, and to think I’d passed on the opportunity. With 52 weeks a year and goodness known how many houses in my large village, it’s not surprising. I think a lot of Maltese don’t know about this tradition either, and it may be something that’s common in more rural areas or villages.

So, if you’re living here, have you had the statue in your house in living memory?

Photo: courtesy Mike krzeszak

One thing tourists may worry about when out and about in a foreign city is whether they will find a public toilet when and where they need one. The Mediterranean isn’t renowned for providing clean, findable public lavatories.

I remember as a child holidaying in France my mother’s preoccupation with making sure we kids ’spent a penny’ before sightseeing for the day. Back then, French public loos were non-existent or at best all you found were scantilly-clad street urinals. We usually had to buy a drink (the last thing you need) in order to use a cafe’s loos. Those were the days before ubiquitous McDonalds.

Our capital Valletta has for years been much the same experience for tourists in need of fast relief. Some less savoury locals caught short seem to have been using various corners of the city – take the stairs from St George’s Square down to the ditch parking and Yellow Garage and you’ll know what I mean. Thankfully this stinky stairwell will be swept away with Renzo Piano’s plans for City Gate.

But for the past month or so, Valletta has had a shining, exemplary public convenience. It stands where a monument to stench once stood, on the corner of Strait Street and Old Theatre Street; the old sign now painted over and complemented by an illuminated international WC symbol. Amazingly, for any building in Valletta, it has wheelchair access (adherence to EU rules no doubt).

A post about a public loo? We wouldn’t bother normally with such a banal subject, but this revamped loo isn’t any old loo. It’s a superloo of the 21st century with a nod in the direction of Valletta’s palatial past. The Grand Masters’ Palace is just a stone’s throw away after all.

The street it’s on, Strait Street, or il-Gut (the Maltese name sounding more appropriate), was famed in British Service days for its music halls and variety clubs – some less salubrious than others. The new Strait Street public toilets are designed in music hall theme. The entrance looks like the foyer of a club – a gentlemen’s club of sorts – or perhaps that of a small theatre. It is graced with heavy red drapes, sports a neon sign reminiscent of Radio City in New York, and is overseen by an attendant dressed in dinner jacket and dicky bow tie.

He wouldn’t pose for the photo unfortunately, but you might have more luck persuading him. He is bound to become a celebrity. Does he wear white satin gloves when squirting pine fresh cleaner we wonder? The whole convenience is such a male-looking preserve, I wonder too if it has nappy changing? Do contribute your user experiences in the comments section.

Visitor info:
Cost: 30c a visit
Location: Corner of Strait St and Old Theatre St, just between the two M&S’s entrances.
Interest score: 9/10
Visitor experience – I didn’t need to ‘go’ so please let us know what music is piped inside the cubicles!

Other gleaming new public loos in Malta: St Paul’s Bay, near the Sirens’ Waterpolo pitch. Cinema-style architecture, but contemporary, not true art deco.