St. Julian's. Church Our Lady of Mount Carmel

The camera in front of Balluta Bay, in the resort town of St. Julian’s, is set in Le Méridien St Julian’s Hotel and Spa. It offers five-star rooms with views of the Mediterranean Sea, from $100 per night. We can also see other hotels and an unusual swimming pool right in the sea, one of the main attractions of the resort, as well as the Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.

The church was built in 1859, but a couple of decades later it was rebuilt by new masters. Local monks were replaced by monks of the Order of the Carmelites, who converted the church for themselves in 1900. The last reconstruction was carried out in the 20th century, several years before the church became the parish church of the city.

In the capital of Malta, there is a basilica with exactly the same name, so it is not surprising that many tourists, instead of the huge towers and domes of the basilica of Valletta, are surprised by the homeliness of the church on the shores of the Balluta Bay and Exiles Bay in St. Julian’s.

For lovers of architecture, there is another interesting attraction, the church of St. Patrick. It is in walking distance from the Le Méridien, but it is in another town called Sliema.