Almost the Raj!

Left the house at 4am for an early flight to Malta. As we couldn't check into our hotel until after lunch we set off in our hire car for Mdina and Rabat. All was very quiet but there again, Mdina is called the 'silent city'; it was a beautiful place and not too spoilt. Ate rabbit for lunch, an island speciality, after which we were ready for a wee siesta. Neither of us was feeling on top form and unusually for me I had next to no appetite.
Let me tell you about the hotel which was one of those places of fading grandeur. We had a good sized bedroom but being pretty cheap it didn't have any kind of view. The clientelle, needless to say, was mostly British, some of whom had been coming back for years. There was a kind of "forced" family atmosphere that prevailed and as you can imagine, there was one who saw himself as head of the household. You know the kind, all knowing, ever present with a word for everyone. Still, the staff were pleasant, the gardens pretty, even at this time of year and a lot of effort had been made to decorate the place.
We found it on the net and interestingly, Trip Advisor comments were very mixed. There were those who found it comfortable, friendly and clean while for others it was the exact opposite. We found it absolutely fine, especially for 20€ each B&B and an evening meal at 10€/head ... so what if the shower head fell down every now again and there was only BBC World on the satellite telly. It's like Ryanair ... you get what you pay for.