Living in a concrete Jungle

I grew up in Sliema, and lived there for 27 years. It is a beautiful place to live. Surrounded by beaches, shops and bars one will always find something to do, no matter what time, no matter what season. We grew up on the streets in the 90’s, we didn’t have smart phones and Playstations. It was just us, some skateboards and a lot of abandoned houses, stores and an entire army barracks to explore.

As the years have gone by more and more brands have come to open shop in Sliema. They have demolished the abandoned houses and built new buildings, housing all sorts of businesses and property types. Bisazza Street is the main shopping street in Sliema, housing one of the first and longest standing shopping malls, The Plaza. It is also home to the famous fast food franchises Mc Donalds, Pizza Hut and Burger King.

Further along the Tigne Sea front, one will find two massive new developments. These are called Tigne Point and Fort Cambridge. These development giants are the home to some of Malta’s most high end apartments and penthouses. This entire peninsula use to be an army barracks called ‘Fort Tigne’. All the houses were bought and the whole project started about fifteen years ago and new towers are still being built and sold on plan. The Point is a shopping mall within Tigne. Most of Europe’s top brands have outlets here.

Slowly slowly, Sliema has become the New York City of Malta. The building intensity has increased so much it has even spread to neighbouring towns such as Gzira, St. Julians and now Swieqi. This is due to increased popularity in the location. It is the hub of it all. People don’t enjoy spending time on public transport and traffic, along with parking is increasingly becoming more and more problematic. The demand of society wanting to have everything within a 10 minute walking distance is what makes Sliema such a popular place, both to live and to work!

There are also many lidos peppered along the coast. These vary from reggae style bars to high end lounge type lidos. They are normally free entrance and very popular during the hot summer months. The owners normally start repainting in the beginning of March. Come April one can already enjoy a beer in the sun. This lifestyle goes on all the way up till October. So if you ask me Sliema is a super choice to settle down in for a few months!