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I’ve been walking around Malta for a week now, and though I’ve been here a bunch of times, I’m always struck but how public life is here. People strolling on the streets, bars and restaurants spilling out onto the sidewalk in ways that would break bylaws in Toronto, and a real sense of urbanity, even in the small towns. It’s a late night culture too — you can eat at midnight and often you will see kids out until one or two in the morning with their parents (it reminds me of nights at my parents’ Maltese friends when we ran wild and exhausted ourselves while they drank Rum and Cokes). You can also get a variety of street food from the permanent Kiosks around, like the one above in the seaside resort town of Bugibba, where I got some Gelato last night. Other’s sell espressos, and some full-on dinners. <\/p>\n
The Kiosks below are all temporary, parked in the village of Zubbug where their feast was taking place last weekend. Feasts have a carnival feel mixed with serious religion. Inside the church people are saying the rosary as the patron saint is carted around, constant flash bombs are going off in the air outside (for hours, every minute or so, an explosion up above) and bands marching through the streets. <\/p>\n
You can get all sorts of food from the temporary kiosks (much of it bad for you), even beer, which is such a guilty novelty. Some people sat in makeshift cafes that in normal times are gas stations. It feels kind of loutish to carry around a bottle of beer in the street, but it’s best to fit in when you can, even as the dour religious figures all over cast shame on the sanctioned activity.<\/p>\n
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Perhaps an homage to a typical Toronto response to having a drink in the streets?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"