"St.Julians (in Maltese San Giljan) - My... " a Saint Julian's Travel Page by Elly01

St. Julians in the past was used as an old fishing village where the fishermen would tie their boats in Spinola Bay. Here they would weave their nets and sort out the fish they would have caught. My mum told me once that there only was - the Grand Master Spinola's Palace, Spinola Bay and the some houses that belonged to the fishermen. The inhabitants of nearby villages used to pass through a narrow pathway in order to arrive St.Julians. At that time they travelled either on foot or with their pony.

Today Spinola Bay has changed a real lot apart from the 'typical' Maltese boats called 'Luzzu' and the Grand Masters Palace - these have not changed. Today overlooking the Bay there are loads of different restaurants where you can dine beside the sea. Then if you move towards the upper part of St.Julians you find all the nightlife! The upper part of S.Julians is called 'Paceville'. Today not many residents live there as most of them moved to more quieter places. Infact, Paceville has become a commercialized place filled with bars, discos, restaurants, hotels, cafeterias and shops. Today instead of the narrow pathway there is a road which joins Sliema to St.Julians all the way up to St.Andrews! Infact, today one can walk along the seaside promenade which we locals call 'The Front'. This commences from the stop of Spinola Hill all the way to Balluta, Sliema, Gzira, Ta'Xbiex, Msida, and Pieta' which is adjoining to Valletta the capital city. As you can see the distances in Malta are not so large and you can even arrive at times but means of a car even in 10 minutes as the towns are very small.

This is an aerial view of St.Julians ! As one can see it has changed alot over the years. It's a great pity ! St.Julians is not the fishing village it once was but it has become a popular tourist attraction.

Once in St Julians there were even bastions. These were behind the old Hilton (today Portomaso) .. these bastions stood along the seaside. Behind these bastions there was a very nice beach which was very popular especially for people from St.Julians.

As a kid my dad used to take me and my sister to go to swim at this place - we used to call it 'Kavalieri' because this small white rocky beach was adjacent to the old Kavalieri Hotel. My mum called this beach the beach ' ta' taqa' ma taqax' translated from Maltese to English it means 'to fall or not to fall' .... the thing is my mum always detested this beach since the rocks were quite prickey and she used to come down with these clogs which and walking on the rocks would make her fall so she was not very fond of this beach ! However being so close to my house it meant that my dad would take us everyday even if he had to sacrifice his afternooon nap before he would get back to work again at about 4.30 p.m. He would do everything to see us happy. Me and my sister would take our fishing nets and buckets and catch little fish and crabs. Later we would take them home until they used to stink and then my dad would get angry and throw them out.
Well I guess ! kids stuff ! :-) However I must say my father was always very dedicated till this present day.

I must say I really had wonderful memories here !

I also remember that beyond 'Kavalieri' beach there was another inlets which I think was part of private beach of the Hilton hotel because it was surrounded with a bamboo reeds to protect the beach. However I think at times it was open to the public. This beach was called 'Shingles' I have no idea where the name derived from but what I can remember is the beautiful crystal blue sea. The water was so clear that one could see the bottom. The place was as if it was an untouched place, filled with beautiful colourful fish - one would feel on a tropic island here ! At the bottom of the sea there even was sand.

I still remember this feeling of complete serenity because the place really was nice - its very hard for me to convery the beauty of this beach !

Today instead of all this there stand the new Hilton (Portomaso) not only were the bastions destroyed but they also built a massive harbour in the place where these beaches one stood. The place is a total ruin now - even though they modernised the whole place that one cannot even recognise the place it once was.
The place is now used for twtaer sports and for the boats to be berthed in the harbour of Portomaso.

Today the fish in the surrounding waters have diminished drastically as they even ruined the seabed.

Sometimes I look back and I wish that places like this would never get destroyed in the future however people are greedy for money and never seem to leave any land untouched ! Infact in Malta, soon there is not going to be anymore unbuilt land, or any old protected house because the authorities don;t really care.

Finally I managed to find a vague photo of the beach and the sealine which once exsisted instead of the hedious building of Portomaso. As you can see in this photo the Portomaso was being built and the harbour was not yet built and therefore the beach was not yet destroyed. That new building in the photo are the apartments of Portomaso which today surround the harbour. As you can see in the photo above of Portomaso today - the beaches were totally destroyed !