When you have potato blood in your veins!
Today we spent more than an enjoyable Sunday at Qrendi! The ingredients to make an agricultural festival a day to remember were all there…
A warm welcome by the first citizen, David Schembri, always ready to help you to discover his lovely village with its traditions and stories!
The people of Qrendi so friendly and so caring, doesn’t matter if they were farmers with “potato blood in their veins” or politicians, they are all friends and proud to be so!
And of course the Queen of the feast, the exquisite potato which is super appreciated also at an international level. Just to write some numbers every year 6,000 tonnes of potato are exported from Malta!
Did you know that there are three varieties of potatoes harvested in Qrendi?
- The Alpha very good for boiling,
- The Folva equally good for frying,
- The Anias perfect for baking and frying.
Music, young promising singers, dancers and stalls were also all colourful and delightful!!!
Inside San Mattew Chapel was set up a local artists and artisans exhibition of devotional statues.
A curiosity, the Chapel hosts a Spanish Madonna statue actually a gift from the German Knight Wolgang Von Guttenberg.
This is a secret: the dress in lace under the white one (that you can see in the pictures below) is the authentic of 1700. The one which the statue wore is ex-voto of a bride of 70 years ago… wow!
In the square an impressive exibition of paintings by local artists showed us that the countryside still is an evocative subject that can capture the imagination of the most sensitive eyes. A special mention to Nikolai Farrugia, a talented young local artisan. Nikolai your wood clocks are amazing!
There was also the “Man of the Owl”, Lawrence Formosa, who since he was 11 years old has taken care with love and passion of beautiful falcon and owls. Meet Nina in the pictures below.
Flora the Explorer also met the youngest mayor in Europe, Terence Agius from Kirkop, who will hopefully have a long and prominent career!
Then my Dad was surprised by the legend of Il-Maqluba… click here to know more 😉
Thank you David for your tremendous hospitality and now thanks to Qrendi we have a new addiction:
Potato Ice cream!
Unbelievable how nice it is!
