#Birgu by candlelight

Another very hot cloudless day here in Malta with temperatures approaching 30 C.

Did some shopping for essentials in Birgu - bread, milk, water. The shops open at dawn and close at noon and the queues at the small bakery start around 7:30 am. All the shopping here seems to be done by the womenfolk whilst the men sit out in the street.

Took the water taxi across the Grand Harbour to the centre of Valletta. Cappuccino at the Saluting Battery, then a walk into the city centre. Even here in the capital city a lot of the shops close on Saturday afternoon. A bit of sightseeing, some food shopping at M&S, another cafe, a search to buy a new SD card, back to the Saluting Battery to see and hear the 4 pm cannon and 4:15 pm water bus back across the harbour.

The festival in Birgu continues. There are dozens of stalls selling street food - local delicacies include rabbit stew, snails, hog roasts and cakes - and there's also the usual fare of burgers, candy floss etc. lots of entertainment too.

The highlight of the festival is the candlelight night. All the lights, including streetlights, are turned off from 6:30 pm and everywhere is illuminated by candles and oil lamps. It's not unusual for a house to have three or four hundred candles outside with a further hundred in the downstairs room. The churches, battlements, squares are also full of flickering flames and candle chandeliers strung across the streets.

The narrow streets are packed with people - I think the whole of the population of Malta is here.

Here is one of the smaller displays outside one of the houses, lit by a solitary lamp.