New restaurants are moving in and stay open until late. While Valletta is a relic, it’s also changing rapidly, especially in the more modern part of the city.
If it weren’t for the occasional smartphone, modern car or reference to Facebook, you could assume that no time had passed at all. Threats are scrawled on signs in tiny grocery stores. Construction workers blast 80s power ballads as they build. Young boys kiss their uncles on the cheek in greeting. The latter manifests itself in elderly ladies who spend their days looking out their balconies and gossiping in traditional Maltese homes with plastic-covered couches and giant portraits of the Virgin Mary hanging above beds in the vintage bars where you almost expect to see World War II-era sailors cavorting in the religious festas that dominate the summer months.īut more than anywhere else on the island, this outer part of Valletta feels even more so like it’s from another era. Malta is peculiar in that you feel like you’re living in two different decades - the present day and perhaps the sixties or seventies. (I was told that this part of Valletta used to be one of the roughest neighborhoods on the island back in the day, but it has since improved.)
It becomes simpler, blue collar, a bit rougher. Here you’ll find immaculate squares, beautifully painted balconies, and plenty of tourists.īut when you head further down toward the end of the peninsula, the feeling in the air changes.
Valletta is a peninsula leading off the mainland, and its more glamorous part is the part closest to the mainland. This time I took advantage of my location and explored Valletta more deeply. There’s a lot of value in being based in a place as beautiful as this. I took advantage of that more than once!īut the best part of staying in Valletta? I would wake up in the morning, walk out the front door of the Palazzo, and see this. If I wanted to go to Sliema, it would only be a 10-minute ferry ride away from Valletta. Soon I learned that Valletta wasn’t as quiet as I had thought it would be - in fact, it was just the right level of noise, except on Sundays, when everything would more or less close down.Īnd the view of the Grand Harbour? It’s the best seafront view in all of Malta. It’s got the seafront, the hotels, the restaurants, the nightlife.īut on my second visit, I was based in Valletta, staying at the gorgeous Palazzo Prince d’Orange as part of the Blog Island campaign. Julian’s next door, is the center of the world for both the Maltese and tourists. At the time, I declared Sliema to be the best place to be based on a trip to Malta, and Valletta lovely, but too small and quiet to be based there the whole time. On my first visit to Malta, I stayed in Sliema and took the 10-minute ferry to Valletta for a day trip. Most of them are headquartered in drool-inducing seaside mansions in nearby Ta’Xbiex. Valletta is tiny - the population is only about 6,000! And there are no embassies or consulates here. The city is one of Malta’s three UNESCO World Heritage Sites. It was one of the first planned cities in the world, and the gridded streets rise and fall with the hills, far more organized than the rest of the country. Valletta is an incredibly romantic city, characterized by its brightly colored balconies and religious statues carved into street corners. It is the single most un-capital-like capital I have ever visited. That may be the case in Washington or London or Singapore or Brasilia…but not in Valletta. People so protective of their government-oriented careers that they wouldn’t dare rat out an enemy - well, unless they were Frank Underwood. Forget money. When you think of capital cities, what comes to mind?Įmbassies. Share on Twitter Share on Facebook Share on Pinterest Share on Email
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