Streets of Valletta, Malta

By Leslie Parks - Friday, May 24, 2024

Once inside the city gate, the streets of Valletta were laid out in a grid, going either north to south or east to west. It was a planned city built upon rock and surrounded by thick walls. A few streets curved but not like the winding paths that many European cities have. Cafes lined the streets along with trinket shops, jewelry stores and historical places. Umbrellas and chair colors designated one cafe from another just like the balconies matched the color of the front door. Pigeons swooped overhead landing on sign and roofs, getting underfoot at cafes, begging for crumbs to be dropped. Music trickled down the street from one cafe to another and around the corner. Soccer games were televised so you could have a drink outdoor and not miss your team's match. From 10 am onwards to well into the night laughter could be heard rising from the streets. Cars drove on the outer streets and deliveries were made in the morning before tourists were up and going. There were few plants and what doorways did have plant, they grew from rocky little planters. Buildings were mainly three to four stories high and all made from the yellow limestone of the island, most were hundreds of years old with arches or scrolled brackets. We wandered through the city, discovering how easy it was to find our way around, to convivence stores, cafes or pistazzerias and also the different historical places and forts. We learned quickly where our favorite Gardens were and side streets and I would invariably find my way back to these over and over again.

On our first day in Valletta, before we learned anything about the city really, we learned a bit about the people. We had accidently left our cell phone in our Uber. I could track it on find my iPhone, but it wouldn't play the sound. I sent messages to uber but unless I used the account that I had booked uber with they could do nothing for us. Since we had used that particular phone to book the uber I was stuck watching our driver ferry other people around the city. I racked my brain on how to reach out to him, enlisting a friend back home for help. Nothing and so I went to bed sick in my mind unable to fully sleep and wondering about how this would affect the next two weeks. I checked in with the find my phone app and realized that the phone would run out of battery soon but also that it had moved location sometime around midnight. Early the next morning I checked again, and we came up with a plan. We would made our way to the spot that the phone was located and see if we could spot our driver. We realized however that spot was the police headquarters. Our driver had found the phone, driven at midnight to the police station and turned it in. We arrived and explained our situation, go around the front we were told and ask for the quarter master. I thanked in Maltese. However, we soon found that we would need to reenter Valletta and obtain a police report in order to visit the quarter master at the headquarters. Frustrated but wanting to actually get the phone, we again thanked the officer in Maltese and trudged back into the city. Once at a police station, we were told that all we had to do was ask for the quarter master. Why didn't we just do as we were told. After a bit of explaining, the officer there created the report for us and away we went back to headquarters where we were ushered inside. Once inside it took some doing but we were escorted to the back to retrieve the phone. With a bit of proof that we were the owners of the phone, we had it back in our hand. Then a lesson on languages and suggestions on types of food to try we were on our way again. The tourist day hadn't even started yet and we were able to sit at one of the lovely little cafes for a Fanta and to people watch.