While spending a few days visiting Malta, my wife and I did a Hop-On, Hop-Off bus tour featuring a number of the island's highlights. It was a good way to explore Malta as we did not have a car rental while there.
The most interesting stop of this bus tour was Marsaxlokk, a picturesque fishing village whose harbor was dotted with colorful boats (known as luzzus). Last weekend's One Clue Mystery photo (shown below), featured two old fishermen folding their nets in Marsaxlokk. Congratulations to George G, PortMoresby, and Kai Rambow for recognizing where we were.
Marsaxlokk is located in south-eastern Malta and is known for its big Sunday fish market. Around 3200 people live here, historically most working as fishermen. It is an ancient village, dating back at least to the 9th century B.C. Being in Malta, the town has seen its share of occupying forces, including the Phoenicians, Turks and Nazis. Fishing is still an important business in Marsaxlokk, but tourism, shipping and power generation (the island's main power station is near here) are also all important to the economy.
We had only an hour to explore -- not much time really -- so we spent most of it walking along the harbor, enjoying and photographing the colorful luzzus.
Many of these boats have an eye painted on their prow, said to be the Eye of Horace, a symbol of protection. The bay is Malta's second largest natural harbor and the island's main fishing harbor.
We did not visit on Sunday so we couldn't experience the fish market, but there were vendors selling a variety of souvenir items.
Marsaxlokk church is dedicated to Our Lady of the Rosary, The Madonna of Pompeii. Unfortunately, we did not have the time to explore it.
Marsaxlokk has some sandy beaches nearby, and places for diving and snorkeling. There are many restaurants along the waterfront, many of which I'm sure are extremely good.
I think this would be an excellent place to spend a few quiet days during the week, or if one wanted to catch the fish market include a Sunday visit. It's hard not to be charmed by the town..
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