In the early 1960s, Malta was still a tranquil and idyllic island, basking in the Mediterranean sun. Harold Rose’s Your Guide to Malta, published in 1963, described Malta as still unspoiled and undeveloped (in the best sense of the word).
In the Maltese countryside, wrote Rose, “almost everywhere, there is peace… San Anton Gardens are so peaceful and relaxing that you may be tempted just to sit there. When you leave, if you decide to be lazy and go by car, take care despite the low volume of traffic”.
On “Motoring in the Islands”, Rose told his readers that “the Maltese driver will amaze you. I suppose he is lulled by the small amount of traffic on the island roads.”
The early 1960s were Malta’s halcyon days. These were the years before cheap flights brought over 400,000 tourists in a single month, as the Times of Malta, quoting Malta International Airport, reported on June 4.
The same news brief went on to say: “This brings the airport to its 50th consecutive month-on-month growth.” But this “consecutive month-on-month growth” can’t go on indefinitely. The saturation point has already been reached.
The Sliema-St Julian’s area is over-crowded with foreign students and tourists. Buses on the Sliema-St Julian’s route during rush hour and on Friday and Saturday nights are packed like cans of sardines, and the majority of passengers are foreigners. The same applies to beaches and other areas where people gather.
Only those who were adults in the 1960s can recall how pleasant and “laid back” life in Malta was back then. Imagine whizzing through Malta’s streets as you drive along, with no traffic lights to slow you down, and no traffic jams. When you arrived at your destination, you always found easy parking, including at Valletta and Sliema.
Imagine having the Blue Lagoon all to yourself.
How different from present-day life in Malta, where the once idyllic and tranquil island has become the over-built, over-crowded and noisy Babel ofthe Mediterranean.
This wasn’t the way tourism for Malta was envisioned when it started in the 1960s. In his guide book, Rose depicts a charming picture of the early days of tourism in Malta when he writes about Moses Fenech, the owner of the Cote D’Or Hotel at Golden Bay.
“The story of this hotel is really the story of Moses. Until 12 years ago, Moses Fenech was a fisherman. Then he took over a beach refreshment stall from a relative and, talking to himself, said: ‘This is a gold-mine.’
“Gradually, he started to improve the building and called it the Cote D’Or. He is extending the accommodation along the cliff-side against which the hotel is set - and don’t be surprised if you see Moses himself digging trenches with his workmen.”
At the Cote D’Or Hotel restaurant, “sometimes, busy as he is, owner Moses Fenech will cook the steaks, one of the many things this versatile hotelier does very well indeed”.
Those of us who were young in the early 1960s will remember with nostalgia the places mentioned under the heading “Dining and Dancing” in Rose’s book. They were the only places we had to “hang out”. The Preluna, the Hilton and the Sheraton, with their bars and night clubs, were not open yet. Paceville was still a quiet residential neighbourhood.
Compared to today’s profusion of bars, restaurants and night-clubs, Malta’s “dining and dancing” venues in 1963 were few indeed.
They are listed in Rose’s book, in alphabetical order, as follows: Astra Hotel Restaurant, Sliema; Bologna Restaurant, Valletta; Britannia Restaurant, Valletta; British Restaurant, Valletta; Cafe Cordina, Valletta; Cote D’Or Hotel, Għajn Tuffieħa; El Matador, Tower Road, Sliema; Golden Harvest Restaurant and Cafe, Tower Road, Sliema; The Griffin, Rabat; Harbour Hotel, St Paul’s Bay; The Lantern, Valletta; Melita Hotel, Balzan; Palm Beach Restaurant, Baħar-ic-Cagħaq; Hotel Phoenicia; San Remo Beach Club Lido, Mellieħa Bay; Selmun Palace Hotel, Mellieħa; Tunny Net Restaurant, Mellieħa Bay; Villa Rosa Beach Club, St George’s Bay.
The only night club mentioned in the guide book is Las Vegas in Old Theatre Street, Valletta.
“At the time of closing for press, Las Vegas was the only place of its kind... where the younger element can dance to a much-too-noisy band in the Stygian kind of gloom which custom dictates as necessary for night clubs.”
In the early 1960s, restaurants in Malta were few. The Maltese people preferred to eat at home. Compared to today’s cosmopolitan cuisine in Malta’s top hotels and restaurants, “so much of the food in Malta is English, and cooked in our style”, writes Rose, “that it is quite difficult to find typical Maltese dishes in restaurant menus”.
The Bologna Restaurant in Valletta “offers plain English food and not very ambitious Italian dishes”. At the Hotel Phoenicia, “the food, here, for a long time, was very bad indeed, but it has now reached a most acceptable standard. The Italian chef (let’s hope he stays in his job)... is particularly impressive with his national specialities, such as mozarella in carozza,” – rather homely fare compared to today’s nouvelle cuisine!
After dining out at the Phoenicia, the tourist drove back to his hotel. On the road, he encountered the “amazing” Maltese driver mentioned earlier.
“The Maltese motorist,” writes Rose, “hardly ever gives anysignal, is an inveterate middle-of-the roader and... you haveto crawl behind him for miles and miles.
“He indulges in excessive, unnecessary horn-blowing. It is apparent that everything is permissible and stupidity is forgiven provided one has blown one’s horn.”
I can confirm that this was the prevailing mentality regarding horn-blowing in the 1960s.
Rose describes how the courting of upper-class Maltesegirls was conducted in theearly 1960s.
“The really beautiful daughters of the more class-conscious families are kept out of sight almost as effectively as if they were locked in the towers of old-time castles.
“I have only seen these rare birds at evening, out to enjoy entertainment in certain of the better establishments on the island, and accompanied by both their parents.
“It may be an exaggeration to say that if a man secured permission to dance with one of them in such a place, and he did so three times in succession, this would be virtually a proposal of marriage - but I get the impression that the damsels are carefully guarded.”
What Rose wrote about courting in Malta at that time was true. But I wonder how feminists would respond to his sexist and patronising language about Malta’s “rare birds”, and “damsels”, “locked in the towers of old-time castles”. These “rare birds” and “damsels” can nowadays be found “clubbing” till sunrise in crowded and noisy venues and at rowdy rock concerts.