Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Day In Valletta

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The gates seen from inside the walled city.

Once we were inside the walled city, we wanted to savor a bit of Valletta for a brief moment, breathing in the air. We stopped a few feet from the gates and took in the charming city that was enclosed by the imposing walls. Briefly, I noted impressive old buildings and the mostly pedestrianized city streets from where I was standing. I was most fascinated by the facades and made a mental note to snap at doors and windows - looked like a goldmine for these photo subjects.

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First thing on our check list - the only one - was visit St. John's Co-Cathedral. But before we could even walk a few feet from the gates, my attention was caught by these boards posted on the facade of the building to the left. It looked like giant chalk boards with poeple's writings on chalk - words of wisdom - some were in Arabic (I'm guessing) and others were in other languages. I lingered to read each one. I don't know if the writings were by prominent people or by ordinary tourists/locals. I was very interested to find out about these boards, its origins, its purpose and intention, and if they change the writings on the boards and if they do, how often, and how they select whose words go in the boards. I know I know, silly little thing. But it got to me. Thought it was pretty neat to have tourists, travelers, and visitors read those or even leave their words behind for others to read and mull over. BUT there was nothing online that I could find to answer my questions. If anyone knows about this, can you please leave a comment here? Thanks, much appreciated

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My favorite quote or writing is by one Lara Chetcup (can't make out the last name clearly) who wrote: "Why stick to the same tastes when there are other flavours to savour?" Exactly my point.

To be continued..........................

15 comments:

Chyng said...

Those simple notes got me too. Benta din yan sakin. 'communication is the bridge that joins hearts.' simply peaceful. kelangan yan sa pinas ngayon, hehe

dong ho said...

"Why stick to the same tastes when there are other flavours to savour?">>> true. it also means take the unusual routes even in life as it is moral and righteous.

Ginnie said...

I have no clue about those boards, Maria, but they are indeed very cool. I'd want to know, too. This is fun.

Pietro said...

Those boards are really interesting. They are a nice way to express publicly a thought or an opinion.

Luna Miranda said...

did you write something, too?:p
what a neat idea--we should put up boards here somewhere.:p

Eki said...

Hmm ... I've never seen anything like that anywhere. But it's very interesting indeed. Could it be part of the efforts by the city to attract more tourists?

kayni said...

interesting and the idea is similar to caribou coffee's quotes all over the cups and napkins.

Denise said...

What a neat idea. Great photos and I loved your ending quote.
An English Girl Rambles

Luke Wiley said...

Interesting "wall"!

Louis said...

Interesting way o cater for grafitti - love it.

upto6only said...

that's a beautiful quote. in that wall is very interesting.

Sidney said...

Wow...always travelling ! Lucky you !

The Nomadic Pinoy said...

I tried to read all the quotes - and they're very quotable. Too bad, the names are not familiar.

Joy said...

That's what I calling expressing yourself! Every city should have a board like that.

Have a great start to your week!

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arabesque said...

nice !
- be broad minded not narrow minded. ^0^
sadly, we need this quote here.