Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/806571
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 2 APRIL 2017 16 Balluta Bay: the old house that today houses the Barracuda and Piccolo Padre restaurants looks almost unchanged and stands out at the bend that separates Sliema from the Balluta Bay buffer before St Julian's. Still standing are the houses next to the Carmelite Church, but behind the Barracuda restaurant, a new five-storey development is in the offing News PHOTOGRAPHY BY JAMES BIANCHI A century apart PHOTOGRAPHY BY JAMES BIANCHI Carmelite Church of St Julian's Balluta Bay, St Julian's The old Carmelite Church, without the two wider naves it had built instead of the neighbouring houses: today's parish church is higher and wider than the original seaside 'chapel'. Images of bystanders by the rocky pier down below convey an almost bucolic impression of the sleepy village From the same standpoint, this time looking at where the Neptunes and St Julian's water-polo pitches would be. Of course, the absence of cars means no major roads cutting through the village A collection of photos belonging to the artist Giuseppe Calleja (1828-1915), who lived in St Julian's near Balluta Bay, present an almost unbelievable vision of a Malta that has long been forgotten and replaced by the unstoppable advances of the age. The photos, most probably dating from the second half of the 19th century, were found in a personal archive of Calleja's