| Andrea Stegani, Creativity Coordinator with Valletta Design Cluster (VDC), took us on a tour of the beautiful restored yet contemporary building that started life as an abattoir (French for slaughter house) then a bakery before falling into disrepair filled with squatters, garbage thrown in by neighbors which attracted rats. The restoration was within the past few years, funded by European and Maltese grants and creates multiple spaces for member organizations to meet, make, and teach. A decision was made to incorporate a small road that ran between the formerly two spaces within the renovated building when it was discovered that a natural spring is under the site. The spring and collected rainwater are utilized for the extensive roof garden and accompanying vertical wall garden. Unfortunately we took very few photos during the tour but we will be snapping shots while we are here and will share in a later post. After the tour we went to Studio 6 (There we have good enough Internet access to be able to upload this blog.), the space reserved for us at VDC during our week stay before going on to Gozo for the artist residency through Spajzu Kreattiv, the cultural organization hosting our residency that is housed in a restored historic building in Valletta (we will be teaching a class there on Tuesday for Opening Doors Association, an organization devoted to providing arts experiences for adults with intellectual disabilities and will be touring the building on Wednesday). Back to the VDC townhouse to start a load of laundry and eat our lunch before going to the National Museum of Archeology exploring the 7,000 years of human habitation on the island (the museum is housed in yet another historic building undergoing renovation - Valletta has an incredible number of historic sites throughout the city). We were especially impressed by the designs of the Neolithic era pottery that are amazingly sophisticated. Then onto the Bronze era and Phoenician era collections. The museum is about the right size, lots to see but just when you are about to be totally fried and can't take in any more the exhibits come to an end. |
Back on the street we stopped for some overpriced but delicious gelato (lime/basil and black currant) before heading to Anthony D'Amato Record store to hunt for local roots music. The owner was extremely helpful and shared that, established in 1885, it is claimed to be the oldest record store in the world. Ownership has remained in the family to the eldest son for five generations, he is the most recent to take charge. Through his recommendations we purchased three interesting cds, two of which the shop had been involved in mastering into discs. Walking back to our apartment we stopped at a beer pub to taste local craft beers that are brewed on the island of Gozo. We definitely will schedule a trip to the Lord Chambray brewery while we are in residence there.