These recent Maltese fishing boat pictures seem to be from an almost forgotten past
Some places and some scenes make time seem to stand still...
Wander through some of Malta's old city streets and coastal areas and you could easily forget the changes the island has witnessed across the past century. Some scenes remain timeless and these pictures provide evidence that, in some respects, time truly seems to stand still. An almost forgotten past of the island's close relationship with the sea comes alive in these recent photos of fishermen and fishing boats in Malta.
Motors have largely replaced sails and oars on local boats, but not in all of them. This beautiful well-loved boat on an old-fashioned slipway not only runs by man-powered oars but also contains traditional fishing nets in a multitude of colours (scroll right on the arrows).
When the boats are out at sea on fishing duty or simply on stand-by, the scene may not look much different from what it might have been a long long time ago.
Many of the boats still carry the Eye of Osiris and you'll be hard done finding a luzzu - the traditional local fishing boat - without them.
While the precise origin and meaning of the eyes has been lost in time, it is widely accepted that they are a remnant from the island's Phoenecian past, when the sea-faring merchants used the Maltese Islands as a trading place for their goods; these, in turn, probably adopted the iconic symbol from the Egyptians. The eyes are related to luck and superstition as well as to a good catch, protected from the evil eye of the envious, as well as protection for the fishermen against the rage of stormy seas.
The boat houses seen in the first picture and slipways - like the one below - are a common feature in many coastal villages and areas that have a history steeped in fishing, one of Malta main traditional occupations before the industrial revolution.
In places like Ghar Lapsi (above) or Wied iz-Zurrieq (below), it is easy to forget that modern life as we know it ever happened.
And when you see a place like Marsaxlokk, its harbour dotted with luzzu boats, the pavements covered in fishing nets and several cats waiting for luck's abundance, you might wonder whether you've been unknowingly been whisked away in Dr Who's Time Capsule.
Scenes like these make me wish the Doctor would really whisk me away to times like these, when life was simple, colourful, raw and in touch with the elements.