Thanks for visiting my blog, the Malta Photoblog!
A few words about me:
I am Leslie Vella, 53 years old and from the island-nation of Malta in the Mediterranean Sea. A tourism market-researcher and strategist by profession and an amateur photographer (and now also a novice blogger) in my free time. I possess various other interests ranging from a keen curiosity on things pertaining to nature, history and astronomy to international travel, gardening and collecting fossils and minerals. I have been married for 29 years and am the proud father of a 25 year old girl and an 21 year old boy. Our home also houses various pets including a 17 year old cat, a 20 year old turtle, two tortoises, a parrotlet, budgerigars, a lovebird and a variety of koi carp and goldfish in a pond. In the recent past our menagerie even included a second cat and parrot and a snake.
I have visited 57 countries and still have a long list of ones I want to visit. My lifelong dream is to visit the Antarctic and Greenland.
Limited budgets coupled with my belief that the best photographs are the ones that one manages to squeeze out of the limits of one’s equipment mean that I work with equipment on which I have spent a total of around one thousand five hundred euros: a five-year old Leica V-Lux 1, a ten year old Nikon D70, a Nikon P-900 and a range of small digitals which have included two Sony, two Pentax and a Kodak since 2001.
I work as a Chief Officer responsible for Strategic Development at the Malta Tourism Authority (http://www.mta.com.mt and http://www.visitmalta.com) and between 1997 and 2014 was also Chair of the Market Intelligence Group of the European Travel Commission (http://www.etc-corporate.org and http://www.visiteurope.com).
You may also wish to view my main collection of photographs on:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/leslievella64
My email address is leslievella64@yahoo.co.uk
Please enjoy my blog and do comment and revisit whenever you can!
Leslie
The Malta Photoblog 
Extremly interesting and very well written.
Awesome blog…
Thank you both!
Your blog is a beautiful creation. I’ve just discovered your blog and I really like it. The photos are beautiful and your writing brings out the richness of our island so evocatively. Thanks for sharing.
Very interesting work.In humble words.”You can present your pictures in black & white,your written description gives them all the color” You remind me of a Leslie Vella I had at secondary school at De La Salle who always excelled in all subjects.Is it the same person? Keep up your good work.We realy need people like yourself to promote our Island,especially our eventful history,that many countries envy.
Hi Austin, Thanks for your very nice words. I am indeed the same Leslie who was with you at De La Salle all those years ago! I am so happy that we have re-established contact through my little blog. Keep in touch and keep reading…..all the best my old friend.
David Luther Isaac was my great uncle – I have been to his grave and was pleased to see him with all the Anzacs. Pieta was a little haven in a bustling island. My great grandparents paid for the upkeep of his grave until it was taken over by the commonwealth war graves comission.
Madlen Davies
Where are you Leslie – keep checking your blog every day !!! am missing your articles – please come back !
Thanks Rita! Am passing through a dry patch. Will be back soonest, promise.
Thank you – glad all is ok !! 🙂
Leslie thanks for all this great source of info about our island nation.
Can you give some information about that unique plant endemic only to fort St Angelo, the leaves of which resemble a maltese cross.
Thanks for your comment Joe! The plant you are referring to is the Maltese Cross, latin name tribulus terrestris. It is called salib tal-art in Maltese. It is native to the Maltese islands and classified as scarce but neither endemic nor unique to Fort St. Angelo.
Leslie – I am in danger of staying up all night reading every single post on your site! I am really homesick for my “second home” of Gozo lately. I am Maltese on my mom’s side – her maiden name is Vella 🙂 and have been fortunate enough to have visited my family in Gozo eight times. My husband and I were even married in the tiny church of Our Lady of Manresa in Rabat, Gozo in 2010. Your blog is giving me great comfort as I miss my family, the beautiful islands, and the smell of the sea. Thank you for sharing so much knowledge. I love learning as much as possible about our natural and historic Mediterranean wonder. It makes me so proud! All the best to you!
You just made my day and my week and my month Celina! Thanks for your beautiful eulogy. I keep trying my best. Please keep following and comment when you can!
I will definitely keep commenting!
😃
Hi Leslie,I have always wondered who you are, seen a lot of your photography on the net love your photography work,I am a mature student, I was doing some research, for a piece of art that i am working on at college, my art piece is for a graded unit , the theme is (Identity), my self being Maltese, I took the opportunity using my nationality as my Identity project I have been living here in Scotland for over 30 years, and I am proud who I am and where I am from, will never forget roots,, I came across your name by accident today, i was looking for Maltese knights cross, Phoenician writing, love your t/shirt Rush, I have every venal album and CDs in a way love rock music.
David Barbara
Hi David, Many thanks for your flattering comments. The wonders of web-based communication make such distant hand-reaching so possible! Nice to see that we have so much in common. Enjoy Scotland, a most beautiful place but also cherish your Malteseness!!!!! Keep in touch, Leslie
I stumbled on your site while looking for other material. Good work.
Thanks Joe! All the best.
As a Malteser living in Sydney, Australia – loving on your blog! Keep up the good work 🙂
Thanks for your comment! Will keep doing my best. 🙂
Great that you’re back !!!!!!!!!!!!!! a bit belated but happy New Year !!!
Thanks Rita. Nice to see that you’re still following! Belated New Year’s greetings to you too! 🙂
Hi Leslievella.
I was wondering if you know what the 5 pointed flower ( only way to describe it ) on Cominotto is ? Google earth shows it pretty much slap bang in the middle of the island !! I’m intrigued 🙂
Shows at 36.013503 14.319716
Just looked it up and have to confess that it is the first time I’ve seen it! Definitely looks man-made but no idea about its age. Will ask around to try to unearth some more information!
Appreciated 🙂
I would guess it may be your local version of ‘Crop Circles’ then. Appreciate your finding out (y)
Precisely!! It was my pleasure. Thanks for alerting me to something new!
Just discovered your blog and find it very interesting. I recently spent two months on the Maltese islands together with my partner and we both loved the place so much that we are coming back to spend the winter on Gozo. I shall be following your blog for more interesting information about the islands.
Thank you very much for your nice comment. Gozo in winter will be fabulous if you love nature. Here’s to a good rainy season this coming autumn! Keep in touch 🙂
and I just love all the limestone on Gozo, brilliant!
Limestone is addictive once you learn to appreciate its beauty
To late for me, I became addicted the day we arrived 🙂
have been addicted for 52 years!
Loved your blog about cominotto! I have family in sliema and visit the islands every other year or so. This past summer I hiked across comino and it was the best part of my trip! .I have an odd question that led me to your blog: when viewing cominotto from Google Earth, you can see a flower shaped design in a seemingly desolate area. Do you have any idea what it might be? I’ve never stepped foot on the “tiny comino” and when I noticed it I became curious. Is it possible to step foot on the little island?
Signed,
curious Barbara
Thanks for your comments Barbara. I know about the flower design on Cominotto. It is a pattern composed of small football sized rocks on a patch of cleared ground and is most probably of quite recent origin. You can of course visit Cominotto but the only way to get there is generally to swim across the Blue Lagoon to the tiny beach. The islet is composed of very rough coralline limestone so good walking shoes are recommended. And beware of the sheer drops besides avoiding stepping on the garigue plants. Apart from the remains of a few rubble walls recalling agricultural activity, the only other structure is the stone foundation of a wooden shed which had alternative uses as a fuel storage depot and an ammunitions dump during the twentieth century. Thank you!
Beatifully written gems
So glad you liked them! Thanks!
Hello, hope you read this. We’ve found a connection between the picture you ran of the young English girl Emily graic a couple of years ago. Found her fathers grave here in Torquay, England.
Hi, Emily’s resting place from oct 2017. We have stumbled upon you after seeing the grave of her father Sir Hector while looking for our relatives. He’s buried in Torquay, England. After typing in his name we found you. It’s nice to of found a connection. We can hopefully share the photo.
Thank you Lee Godfrey! That is really touching! I can send you the photos I took of the grave and it would be great to see Sir Hector’s grave in Torquay. Maybe I will come to visit it one day if you could kindly provide me with directions and references.