Marsaxlokk Bay is Malta’s second largest natural harbour. In this typical fishing village, it is easy to spot the colourful, traditional Maltese fishing boats, the Luzzus, with the mythical Osiris eye painted on their prows.
The village is the Islands’ main fishing harbour; its Sunday fish market a fascinating insight into local life and a traditional industry. The stalls brim with the night’s catch – fish of all shapes, colours and sizes. The village itself has many good fish restaurants lined along the village’s promenade and renowned not just for their quality but also for their value-for-money.
Marsaxlokk derives its name from the Arabic word marsa, meaning harbour, and Maltese for the South-Easterly Mediterranean wind, the Xlokk (Sirocco in Italian). Marsaxlokk, with its sheltered habour, was an easy landing place for pirates and the Ottoman Turks. It was here that the Ottoman Turks landed for an attack which ended in the Great Siege of 1565.
In 1978 Napoleon’s army used this bay to land on the island and take over it’s governance from the Knights of St. John.
Very close to the picturesque fishing village, there are a few secluded beaches, amongst which the most popular with the locals is St Peter’s Pool in the area knows as Delimara Point.
MaltaVillageHolidays recommends staying at Bellavista Holiday Apartment in Marsaxlokk.
[alerts title=”Fireworks Festival” type=”info”]Marsaxlokk will be hosting the Malta International Fireworks Festival on 25th April 2014
More info about the Malta International Fireworks Festival here.[/alerts]