Birgu

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Great decision to go to the three cities today il Kalkara in Cospicua, il Birgu in Vittoriosa, il Isla (senglea).
Being Sunday it was all quiet on the street & on the buses. Last night Valletta had it's annual 'Notte Bianca' a huge festival that attracts over 70,000 & apparentley it ran all night..to which we decided not to attend to avoid the crowds. This into all hours event definitely made the street scene this morning sparse compared to what we had experienced the rest of the week.
A straight run to Valletta on the 21 bus. Change to bus 3 which took us to Riche in Birgu. A very sunny and warm day.
In previous time, Senglea, as well as Cospicua, were the centre of Malta's elite and intelligentsia. The Second World War rapidly altered its social structure as many left to take refuge in outlying towns and countryside, never to return. In recent years, rehabilitation of the Cottonera Waterfront as a yacht marina has spurred a lot of interest from foreign expatriates and businessmen.
Many many yachts around the world are registered Valletta.
The Grand Harbour is enormous for such a small island and it's natural deep water harbour and inlets are of high value to the boating world. Enroute to major shipping lanes is still (as always been) a haven or refuge for boats. It is a very strategically apt island.
Beautiful Limestone buildings all in their original state. The three cities now protected from development (high rise) and therefore given the area great value. The streets are pristine and usually cleaned by the homeowners themselves. Back in Balluta where we are staying they are struggling to maintain the old buildings. There is a group of people banded together to save the small areas that are left. It's a catch 22 as the economy is doing really well with all the development, and yet the old buildings left are starting to become quite valuable but they are only 3-4story levels wheras the high rise go 8-10 story.
The limstone streets (Triq) are very pretty, narrow, quiet and emanate history.

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Comments

[Mum]

I wonder if the very old buildings are as lovely inside as they are outside and what it is like to live in one?