Go for the promenade, stay for the café life, linger over the shops and take home memories of the deep blue sea.

Words by Adriana Bishop

If this is your first time visiting Malta and you’ve been told to “go to Sliema”, then you’ll be following in the footsteps of well-to-do Maltese families, who first flocked to the coastal town in the early 1900s to build their summer houses as a respite from their formal residences in the capital Valletta across Marsamxett Harbour. Today’s much coveted seafront apartments, complete with a princely price tag reflecting their prime location, replace the elegant terraced houses with bay windows that had been built by the British in the Victorian heyday of their colonial presence in Malta, and by the Valletta families who quickly adopted the more superior sounding English as their preferred language in Sliema, an affectation that persists today and defines a true Sliema resident or Slimiż.Some of those Victorian families even had their own private seawater pools hewn out of the rocks. If that’s not luxury, I don’t know what is. Those ‘baths’ are still visible today, but they are now accessible to all common mortals.

I am a relatively recent ‘infiltrator’ to Sliema, having only moved to the town as an adult, 30 years ago, but born and raised elsewhere – a full 2km away – so not entitled to be called a true Slimiża. My parents were lucky enough to get their hands on one of those seafront apartments before the prices skyrocketed – only to discover that our block was built on the site of the former summer house belonging to the family of Chief Justice Sir George Borg, who had received the George Cross on behalf of the Maltese population in 1942. It is to that apartment that I return several times a year, ostensibly to visit my father, but really to spend hours sitting on the balcony just gazing at the sea. And that is exactly where I am sitting right now as I write this article. Lucky me! It’s officially winter, or as wintry as Malta can get, but I can spot people – almost certainly tourists because the Maltese don’t do beaches after the end of September – sitting on the rocks, in their swimsuits, soaking up on vitamin D and filling their Instagram with countless pictures of the golden coastline. On a windy day, that sea shows its full force, crashing wildly, several storeys high, splashing any hapless walkers who dare stand too close to the railings. You’ve been warned. Before leaving Malta to take up a job in London, my new employer gave me some words of advice: “Take one long hard look at the sea before you go.” Decades later, those words live on in my heart and I keep a stash of photos of the Sliema sea view on my phone for when the inevitable homesickness kicks in.

The seaside promenade stretches for several kilometres almost uninterruptedly from neighbouring St Julian’s, through Sliema, down to Gżira, on to Ta’ Xbiex and Msida, ending in Valletta. But the Sliema section remains one of the most fashionable walks for the Maltese. This is where we flock to on a Saturday evening in the warmer months to see and be seen, to socialise and gossip, to show off our best clothes and pretend we’re putting in our 10,000 steps by crawling at the most genteel pace, taking in the crowds and the view we never tire of. “The Front” – as we call it – is a people magnet, from dawn runners to dusk strollers and everyone else in between. But Sliema is more than the promenade. Head inland up the side streets to catch a glimpse of the old charming elegance that once characterised the coastal town with immaculate terraced houses and iconic, colourful, wooden balconies. One of my favourite roads is the impossibly narrow Stella Maris Street that snakes uphill from the promenade towards the parish church of the same name. It is so narrow that I feel I have to suck my tummy in when I am driving through it, let alone close the wing mirrors. The church, one of four parishes in Sliema, stands opposite the tiny chapel dedicated to the Virgin Mary, the original Stella Maris, star of the sea, that used to serve as a beacon and reference point to fishermen, who could spot it from their boats. The very name of the town is a direct reference to the Virgin Mary as sliem means peace and also refers to the opening words of the Hail Mary prayer Sliem għalik Marija.

For one particular Turkish ‘visitor’, the Ottoman corsair and naval commander Dragut, Sliema became his final resting place under less than peaceful circumstances in the Great Siege of 1565, when he was killed at il-Qortin encampment by a bombardment from Fort St Elmo on the opposite flank of Marsamxett Harbour. After the Siege, the Knights of the Order of St John developed il-Qortin, renaming it Fort Tigné, and it was later enhanced as a barracks by the British in the late 19th century. Today, you will know it as The Point, one of Malta’s largest and most popular shopping malls. Look out for the arched façade that is one of the last remaining details of that expansive fort. Remnants of military installations protecting the coastal town are still visible today, but they serve an entirely civilian purpose. The watchtower built in 1657 to protect St Julian’s Bay, as part of a coastal network, is now a little bar and the former artillery battery built by the British between 1872 and 1876 still stands today as a casual eatery. And speaking of eateries and cafés, you’ll be spoiled for choice in Sliema as the second local hobby after the passiġġata along The Front is people watching at a café over an abundant plate of deliciousness. And of course, when in Malta, you do as the locals do, if you can find a seat.

Fun fact

The ferry crossing between Sliema and Valletta ran for decades and was revived in recent years to alleviate traffic congestion with more modern boats and a new ferry terminal. The historically popular journey even inspired a folk song about a captain who is not seaworthy and should retire. If you are sitting next to a Maltese person, ask them to sing it to you. Also, rest assured today’s ferry captains are fully seaworthy.

 Maltese
Minn tas-Sliema għall-Marsamxett
Il-kaptan bil-pipa f'ħalqu
Jidderieġi l-bastiment.
Sewwa sewwa f'nofs ta' baħar
Il-kaptan ħassu ħazin
Ma kellux min idur miegħu
Daru miegħu l-baħrin.

Għamillu karta
Għamillu karta
Għamillu karta
Għal tax-xjuħ.

English

One ferry coming, another is going
From Sliema to Marsamxett
The captain, with a pipe in his mouth
Steers the vessel.

Suddenly, right in the middle of the sea
The captain felt unwell
With nobody to see to him
The sailors had to do.

Write him off
Write him off
Just write him off
To an old people’s home.

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