Stepping stones to the city

Picture this: All the façades of the buildings in Valletta are restored. The decaying wood balconies and the rusting wrought iron additions are put right and the façades that lie smothered in grime are cleaned.

The city would shine like a diamond.

The thick walls of the palatial houses and the palazzos shroud tales of mystery and intrigue soaking the city with an allure reminiscent of capitals whose birth was celebrated some 400 years ago.

Artists and writers have, mostly all, been fascinated by Valletta.

One of these artists is Gozitan George Apap who spent a good part of his life in the city, his second home for a fair spell during his teaching career.

Like a first love, his yearning for the city keeps resurfing. Starting on this pictorial journey, for many months he made it to Valletta by bus early on Sunday mornings and sketched and snapped many a nook and cranny of this marvellous city.

He will be exhibiting a record of these silent excursions in 63 watercolours and acrylics called City Steps at the Ministry of Tourism and Culture, Merchants Street, Valletta, between Saturday and March 30.

Viewing times are between 8 a.m. and 7 p.m. on weekdays and 9 a.m. until 1 p.m. on Saturdays.

Steps characterise most of the archaic corners of Valletta. Steps that challenge the most healthy and torture those whose breath is perhaps half what it used to be in their vigorous years.

Mr Apap has captured little spots that speak volumes about the city and its people even though in none of them does one see a soul.

Or, rather, you tend to make out "souls" if you look close enough because the spirit of those who lived behind and went past these massive walls can still be felt in the worn-out steps and in the unkempt state of some of the façades.

And this is what makes Valletta the romantic city par excellence: Because it encapsulates so many memories of all those who have lived there, walked through it and had their psyches touched by it.