Malta

I have just returned from a short break in Malta with Victoria. We stayed very near to Valletta - which is rather culture rich, cuisine poor - but the scenery more than made up for the lack of fine dining. It was very convenient to get from Valletta to other parts of Malta and we made many day trips - to Gozo and Comino, Naxxar, Mdina and Vittoriosa. The island being rather small, we managed to get rather a lot in and still thoroughly enjoy our relaxation time by the picturesque pool.

White shorts - GAP

Red espadrilles - H&M

Denim shirt - Emilio

White belt - Marc Jacobs

Seersucker jacket - ASOS

Pocket square - Tie Rack

Bow tie - Vintage

Sunglasses - Ray Ban
White shorts - GAP

Plimsolls - Ebay

Orange 'knit' belt - Siena market

Light red polo - Lacoste

Seersucker jacket - ASOS





Jacket - H&M

Tie - Gieves & Hawkes

Pocket square - Victoria Arena

Shirt - TM Lewin

Trousers - Zara



Liked;

Valletta:

Malta's capital, though often a little too fragrant of day-old urine in parts, is nevertheless a romantic and enchanting bijou city. Lovely wooden balconies, baroque architecture and charming culture. I also liked that it 'closed down' at night.

Comino:

This island is wonderful. Between Gozo and Malta, it's a haven of peace and nature. Barely a handful of people live there, in an old leper hospital. St Mary's Tower, which was used as the Chateau D'If in The Count of Monte Cristo, the Blue Lagoon (dreamy, turquoise waters) and a pleasing lack of people made it a unique and glorious day out.

The Grand Harbour views:

Looking around the Grand Harbour from either the Upper or Lower Barrakka Gardens is a treat. Virtually unblemished, the golden stone that surrounds the cool azure waters is an arresting and satisfying sight. A water taxi on the last day galvanized my high opinion.

The weather:

Hot, but also breezy. Malta is no sauna. The winds can pick up to quite a speed. Sometimes, the pool attendants had to lower the umbrellas to avoid injury to hotel guests. I didn't mind at all. Mere heat is oppressive.

The hotel gardens:

A walk to the pool on an afternoon, post-morning trek to a place of interest, meant a walk through the hotel's lovely gardens. Flowers, trees, bushes and grass - hoteliers take note: in a hot country, having large grounds of gardens, no matter how much they cost to maintain, will always attract the highest category of customer. For they add a certain something which no extra towels, Wi-fi, goose down pillows or Beluga caviar can match.

Palazzo Parisio:

This charming palazzo, perhaps a little small to deserve the title of 'Maltese Versailles', is nevertheless an elegant abode. Well preserved interiors are pleasant but it is the glorious gardens and the wonderful cafe in the gardens 'Caffe Luna' - which serves some of the best food I had on the island - that really captivate.

Maltese wine:

Favourite producer was Meridiana. Wonderful chardonnay (you won't hear me say that very often) called Isis was had twice.



Grey linen jacket - H&M

Cream knit tie - Dunhill

Pocket square - Vintage

Tie clip - Vintage

Shirt - TM Lewin



Shoes - TopMan

Trousers - Zara

Shirt - Hawes & Curtis

Tie - Vintage

Pocket square - Tie Rack

Belt - H&M

Jacket - Zara




Disliked;

Taxi drivers:

We used a couple of them to go to and from the airport who were the exception to this general dislike, but one of them on Gozo was rather difficult to deal with. He was persistent in his attempts to give us a 'round the island tour' in a taxi. We wanted to do our own thing, he told us rather rudely that we were making a mistake. He tried all the arguments - "I have children to feed", "...these tour buses take my business away", "the buses don't run all day." About the last point he was correct, but didn't seem to understand that we weren't 'personal tour' people. It wasn't expensive, but it wasn't what we wanted to do. He just couldn't deal with it.

The suburbs:

Valletta and Floriana are rather nice but the suburbs are nasty, unkempt and disappointing places that are in urgent need of a facelift. Peculiar trade shops (why are there so many car workshops?) that have been closed down for years, 19th century doorways filled in with breezeblocks and horrible businesses/buildings that came with the boom of mass tourism are an embarrassment to an otherwise rather grand part of the world.

English tourists:

The days of the grand tour really are over and Noel Coward was right - the wrong people do tend to travel. Terrible attitudes (incessant cackling, grunting, bravado), terrible clothes (clam diggers, flip flops, tank-tops) - terrible, terrible embarrassment. What I did notice was that the French and the Italian tourists grow out of such immaturity ('Look at 'im, in his ****ing bow tie) - the English, sun-burned, coarse, drinking, disgusting and depraved - do not. That we should be known as a land of gentlemen, on that evidence, is absurd and frankly laughable.

The restaurants situation in Valletta:

Don't get me wrong, most of the restaurants we went to were lovely; Giannini, Malata (with live jazz), Il Horza etc had decent food and plenty of charm. But only one of them had anything like a view (Giannini's view is fantastic), and they felt half done. For a World Heritage Site, a stop off point for have-yacht supremos like Roman Abramovich, a place of beauty and of fame (the harbour has been used in countless blockbuster films), there is precious little in the way of evening dining. Granted, the winters might be busier but in the summertime there is more opportunity to make money; my hotel was recommending that we go to St Julian's or Sliema once we had exhausted the decent rack of restaurants in the capital. We came to Valletta, I said, to be away from the tack and the glitz of piles like that and yet, should it have come to it we might have had to go.

Valletta is grand and important enough to tempt all around to make a diversion, a special trip for a restaurant. Transport links, and parking, are very good but whereas cafes like Deux Baronnes, little more than a wooden shack that opens at 11.30am, should be serving a good breakfast on it's marvellously fortunate terrace overlooking the harbour (a terrace a restaurateur would kill for), they are in reality, lazily and poorly run with no sense of the vision of their potential. British, French, American and Italian tourists are vain and expect to get value for money - a great view, atmosphere or particular elegance means they will easily compromise on price. It's a shame to use a dull movie quote, particularly from something so prosaic and Hollywood like Field of Dreams but it is so, so relevant: IF YOU BUILD IT THEY WILL COME.




Jacket - H&M

Shirt - GAP

Tie - River Island

Pocket square - Zara




Shoes - Tod's

Seersucker shorts - H&M

Belt - Marc Jacobs

Jacket - ASOS

Polka dot shirt - H&M

Bow tie - Vintage

Pocket square - Tie Rack

Hat - Zara