Day 563, 27 Dec '15, Sunday Market Madness - Birgu Flea Market & Marsaxlokk Market. It's not that we need anything, in fact if we buy anything non-consumable, something has to come out of our bags and be discarded to make up for it. So our penchant for markets is not about buying stuff - it's more so about the experience - the treasure - the trawl. We started the day bright and early - we learned last week that morning markets in Malta are just that... up and running by 7 am and back on the truck by midday. First stop was a gen-u-ine flea market on the pitch of the Birgu Farmers' Market. We navigated into one of the "three cities" - Birgu/Vittoriosa where parking is rarer than Faberge eggs at flea markets, but thanks to our Parking Fairy Godmother, we found a spot right by the market and essentially parked on a shelf. I found some makeup I needed for €2 so that was a huge win (and it was a "need" - replaced items in question are 99% used up). Our super-duper iPad navigation device had a tiny problem when we left Birgu... it completely ran out of juice (obviously human error in expecting the charge to last forever). We therefore threw ourselves on the mercy of the travel-gods and the big blue street signs and headed off cross country to Marsaxlokk. Originally famous for its fish market on the waterfront, much frequented by locals, it now sells almost everything - clothes, shoes, jewellery, souvenirs, groceries, linens, wines and octopuses (or is that octopi? check today's album for primo example.) The market actually extends around 2 km along the waterfront and the colourful boats bearing the stylised eye of Osiris are the trademark of this village. Thought to come from the Phoenician traders... around 500BC. We tried the many and varied baked goods on offer and even investigated Mqarets... that's Maltese for date filled, deep fried thingies. And yummy thingies they were too. Since we were a maps-free zone and didn't want to get lost in the middle of Malta (albeit a very small island), we decided to continue the exploring, set our left shoulders to the coast and headed for home - taking in some astonishing coastal and cliff scenery along the way. We made it as far as the Blue Grotto before turning right and heading into Qrendi... whereupon we relied on SOP navigation to make it all the way home. That's "Seat of Pants" navigation for the uninitiated. Manana? Back to the Blue Grotto in the peace of a Monday morning to take a boat out to the famous arch. Bring it on.