After a leisurely morning at the flat we walked around the corner up College Street to our neighborhood market. At first I thought it might be under new ownership because there was new signage, but when we got to the entrance we knew it was still the same family running the store. The proprietor came out the door to stack vegetables outside and greeted me with cheery “good afternoon madame.” His young daughter was at the cash register (no sign of the cranky wife today). The shop had had a makeover, was a lot neater and better organized. One still had to carefully navigate around the shop as the aisles were still only wide enough for one. But it was fun doing the shopping there, very familiar.
After lunch at the flat we decided to wander around our neighborhood a bit, mostly walking along the promenade down to Balluta Bay and then back toward the Sliema Front. We’d look for familiar things and commented, “that’s still there,” or “that’s different,” or “gosh, that’s gone.” It’s kind of funny that we’re so connected to this neighborhood. We did spend 3 months here in 2016, but it certainly seems that we’ve got this place in our blood.
Just across the street from our flat we noticed some miniature buildings, like dollhouses, just on the other side of the fence, in the foliage. Upon closer inspection we found a little cat village. This was new since 2016. We were aware that the park to the right of our flat is home to lots of stray cats and are cared for by volunteers, but we had never seen any houses there. In St. Julian there is a famous cat village that has been controversial due to the plot where it is being on prime development land. There are lots and lots of cats around and these new little houses show that there are those who value them.
In Balluta there was a recent beach restoration. I read about it in the Times of Malta. It’s funny to see the beach, a very tiny area, but it is sand and lots of people were there. It’s a small area right in a very busy area.

After sitting in the shade in the Balluta plaza for a bit we headed back the other way toward Sliema. All along the seashore is a wide promenade and it’s a great place to walk and look out at the sea. In the evening, many locals come to sit on the benches to enjoy the cooler evening air, and of course there are tourists everywhere. I marvel at the number of languages we hear while riding the bus or just walking the promenade. It’s been very hot in Malta, unseasonably so. Today it’s 85 degrees and humid. The sea temperature is also above normal, 80 degrees.
As I mentioned, there is construction everywhere and you see big cranes all over the horizon and landscape. Malta is having an internal battle between the developers and the preservationists. Modern highrises are popping up wherever there is a view of the sea. Still, the Portamaso Tower remains the tallest building on the island; I think it is 22 stories. But there are plans for major development with condos of 30+ stories being planned. Of course, all the fabulous old buildings are being bought and torn down. The Planning Authority, however, now requires that buildings having historical facades that are planned for demolition must retain the facade. Just down the street from our flat is an historic facade that has been propped up and there is nothing of the building behind the facade. A new structure will be built and attached to the facade.

The seashore is mostly sandstone and along the promenade, typically referred to as “the front,” the sandstone is smooth in some places and very dimpled in others. Sunbathers find depressions to lie in so that they have back rests, natural loungers.
One of my favorite places is where there are Victorian bathing pools. These are squares cut into the sandstone to form bathing pools. In Victorian times, small tents were constructed over these pools so that ladies could bathe in the sea in private.
We then walked up Stella Maris Street where Christine’s grandmother used to live. The Caruana family still owns some of the building, #38. Christine remembers her grandmother’s apartment there. As we were walking by the flat, a man was in front sweeping the sidewalk. We stopped to chat and learned that he lives in Rosina’s old flat. We had heard that this person doesn’t really live in the flat. Malta has these really archaic rules about flat rentals and rights of the tenants which result in the impossibility of evicting anyone. The man, Peter, chatted with us and said he has lived in the apartment since 1975 and he mentioned several of the Caruana family and told us how he came to rent the apartment, from Arnold, Carol Farrugia’s father. We are having dinner with Carol, Christine’s second cousin, Tuesday so I’m sure we’ll be hearing a lot about this property.
We rested in the flat for a short while and then walked back over to the plaza in Balluta. We wanted to eat dinner there and sit outside in the plaza. All the tables were full, but we ordered and figured we could sit on a bench in the plaza. As we were waiting for our food, an older Maltese couple motioned us over to sit at their table. We had a nice chat with them and then they went on their way leaving us to enjoy a pea pastizzi and baked macaroni, yummy traditional Maltese fare. We then treated ourselves to some gelato on our way back to the flat. We sat down by the water, enjoying the lovely lapping sound of the water on the shore. The sea has been very calm since we’ve been here.
And that was the end of our day.