Malta: St.Julian's
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That's the place where we stayed. It's just about a sixty minutes walk along the shoreline from Sliema. Because of the immense traffic jam on narrow roads and streets (plus driving on the left-hand side), we didn't rent a car on the island. So we got to know a very peculiar thing - the Malta bus.

Those buses were run by their own drivers, possibly on franchise terms. They are small, loud, very old. Some dated back from the '40s, some from the '50s, many from from the '70s and '80s. The drivers made up decorations, like saints' icons, plastic flowers, images of the Virgin Mary, all according to their own taste.
I saw one middle-aged driver playing American ballads of the '50s and '60s (Frankie Laine, Marty Robbins, Claude King, Jimmy Dean, etc.) on his old squeaking small-breasted stereo that might have suited a Volkswagen beetle while driving in what he thought was a very cool way: he lit up a cigarette in his non-smokers bus, put a leg on on the dashboard, swinging to the music, being admired by some come-into-age buddies of his.
This image gives you an idea of what St. Julian's had been before -  a picturesque fishing port, north of the capital. In recent years, it has turned to be the touristic center of Malta.
Thus it became crowded with tourists. There's even an impressive marina, construction not yet finished, but at the time being, you're already going to find an abundant amount of the big-money type yachts 

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In case you're wondering what that construction is, it's the traditional way of entering the sea in order to go swimming.   It seems to be very common and is to be seen everywhere on public beaches.

Remember the cathedrals? Even on Malta there are different religious approaches for the real believer...

See this modern-type church and read that sign:

  Your Pit-Stop For Inner Peace

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H.

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The English Circle Magazine


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