Island Life

The architecture is often sandy, pock-marked stone, with boldly coloured balconies jutting out into narrow streets. Valletta is laid out in a grid, allowing air from the Mediterranean Sea to flow through. There is very little greenery, but the capital has a languid charm, the locals persisting in helping the traveller out. The capital is walkable, not much more than a kilometre in diameter at its longest stretch. There are Michelin rated restaurants, catering to a mostly European traveller. You won’t hear many American accents in this part of the continent.

I got to chatting with another solo diner from Ragusa in Sicily, who told me the island has heady notes of Italy. He had come to Malta via the waterways. We watched deliverymen drop off fresh vegetables and potatoes from Italy and Britain to Nenu The Artisan Baker’s, where I had had a traditional bread with anchovies, olives, potatoes and tomatoes sprinkled with herbs. Light on vegetables but a heavy on tradition, the decor of the place was organised around a partially arched ceiling, with accents of pink-red. 

I fell for the unique architecture, which dazzled me in the warm sunlight and kept me guessing with different patterns. Curves abound, and the balconies get asymmetrical often enough to keep me wanting to document the way they pop up.

An elderly clothing store owner taught me how to say Hello in Maltese (which I have but forgotten now), calling me sweetie every so often as he recounted his family’s immigration around the time of World War Two, mused that there are probably a lot of Maltese in Australia (especially in Perth), exclaimed that he couldn’t handle the day-long journey to my part of the world, and complained that visitors to his shop don’t say Hello and Goodbye today, just drifting in and out. Consistent with this sentiment, he made sure to greet me again as I passed by later that day, even though he was in conversation with a group of people. I returned the greeting. 

I have found that the Maltese respond to genuine friendliness in kind, though they seem kind of low in enthusiasm.