04-24-2024: Around the Neighborhood

We didn’t do much yesterday as the wind was again very, very brisk. The weather has been rather unusual for April. Like us at home, there wasn’t much of a winter which meant for Malta little rain, so the country is rather parched now. Rain is expected today, though.

We did walk around Balluta Bay and had dinner at a new place on the water called Karly. As we were standing outside looking at the menu, a server came out with the specials board and coaxed us in. He was a cheery guy, very loud, and said thank you to nearly everything we said. But it was a pleasant location, nice atmosphere and pretty good food. I came home with leftovers for the next day.

Today, we wanted to wander around the neighborhood. The area where we are is Christine’s childhood home(s) area. With rain due in the afternoon, we headed out after breakfast. Tomorrow, Christine is going swimming at a place called The Imperial. Carol swims there once or twice a week and has invited Christine to go with her. There’s little chance of getting into the sea this trip. With the air temperature in the low 60s, winds of 20+ mph, and the sea temperature also in the low 60s, it is not inviting to be swimming in the sea. So a trip to the pool will be nice for Christine. She wanted to practice the route to the pool, which is just a 10-minute walk.

We love walking up and down the narrow streets in Sliema. It’s very nostalgic for Christine. And I love looking at doors, windows, balconies and doorknockers. Although we’ve seen all this several time before, we still get a kick out of walking around the neighborhood. And you may have seen many similar photos in the past, but I’m posting them again so Christine and I can enjoy our blog, which has become a cherished memory book for us.

We easily found The Imperial and we were bowled over. What a marvelous retirement and senior care facility! It’s stunningly beautiful inside and out. It offers a continuum of care from independent rooms/suites to skilled care and rehabilitation. Christine and I both said, “this is where we’ll come to retire,” however impractical that is.

The building is 150 years old and has been beautifully restored. It has many amenities, including a cafe, indoor and outdoor pools, communal dining room, hair saloon, convenience shop and much more. From just the little that we saw it seems like an elegant and vibrant home. And I’m sure it must come with a pretty price tag, but it was very inviting.

After looking around The Imperial, we headed down the High Street to find Stella Maris Church. Along the way, we came to the top of Dingli Street where there is an iconic rotary where a tree and a Brit phone box stand. There was some talk of removing this to improve the traffic flow, but there was such an uproar from the locals, that the idea was scrapped. A good thing, too, because it is such a landmark and a lovely sight.

As we walked down the High Street we passed two old villas that we’ve seen before, Villinu Zammit and the Fatima House. These were built by brothers-in-law in the late 1800s when the High Street was “the” fashionable area. The Fatima House was gifted to a nun who was a sister of one of the original owners. Since then, the Fatima House has been owned by a religious order of nuns which run a girls home at Fatima House.

We stopped into a small chapel, Adoration Chapel, which is across the street from Stella Maris church. The chapel is a couple hundred years old.

Stella Maris church is across the street from the chapel, but unfortunately, was not open. I don’t think we’ve ever been inside the church. As we were walking down Stella Maris Street, we chatted with a woman who was entering her house. She is a life-long resident on the street. Christine’s grandmother lived on Stella Maris Street, but down a few blocks from the top of the street near the church. Caruana is a very common name in Malta and even though it seems everyone is related, we weren’t sure that the woman knew Christine’s grandmother. But it is always nice to stop and chat with residents in Christine’s old neighborhood.

We couldn’t remember what number Christine’s grandmother lived. I was pretty sure it was 38, (we’ll have to check old blog posts) but that entire block has been changed with all the lovely facades being torn down and 4 and 5 story apartment blocks taking their place. We even wandered up an alleyway behind the building searching for something familiar, but to no avail. Its sad that so many old, beautiful houses no longer exist. The over development occurring has so drastically changed the landscape of Malta, and it saddens me.

From Stella Maris Street we returned to the Tower Road promenade. We went to the Surfside for lunch and watched the weather turn more and more dark. As we left the Surfside, it was starting to rain a bit. Fortunately, the worst held off until we got back to the flat.

Shortly after we got home, the rain came. For a while, it was torrential with 30+ mph winds. The wind was coming from the WNW again, so it was blowing right into our balcony, rattling the windows. It was raining so hard and was so dark that we couldn’t even see any of the buildings across the bay. So it was a good thing we had some leftovers from last night’s dinner and pizza from lunch today for our dinner. We did not have to venture out again into the bad weather.