Fest Napoli, in Rabat Rabat, Malta

Rabat, Malta

Another blindingly hot day. We had a bit of a tour around the coast of northern Malta in the morning and then came back to the hotel, had lunch, and pegged out around the pool for the afternoon. I have wanted to go up to Mdina and Rabat at night for a long time and tonight we planned to do that. Set off about 8pm after dinner and as we approached Mdina up the hill it became apparent there was something on. Lots of cars parking and people walking up into the old town. Luckily we managed to get parked very near the top and we walked first into the Rabat side. It was even more atmospheric by night and we could hear music and also the special “festa” light decorations were all lit up. It turned out to be a Napoli themed evening with Italian live music, lots and lots of Italian food and also a street market. We wandered about taking it all in and enjoying the atmosphere. There was lots of food, including a raft of wood burning ovens turning out pizzas. It was really special. Mostly because it was clearly a local event, not just for tourists. Most people were Maltese and there were lots of families eating and enjoying the music.
Once we’d had enough of lively Rabat we wandered across to Mdina, unbelievably lovely by night and much quieter although the restaurants in the old town were busy. The narrow streets lit by golden lamps were so atmospheric, especially on a very warm night like tonight. Many of them are covered in jasmine and other perfumed climbers. We went into a popular restaurant called Fontanella which is up on the battlements. It was full but we were past the main dinner hour so they were happy enough to serve us drinks. Daisy had an Irish Coffee and Bob had espresso with vanilla ice cream and whipped cream. Both drinks were enormous and looked delicious. I just had some local white wine which was very nice but perhaps not in the same league.
There were lots of firework displays going on, both up on the hill and down along the coast. The view was tremendous and gave a different rather glamorous view of Malta by night.
A really lovely evening and so glad we went up there. It was even better than I’d thought it would be.