Phoenicia

I returned to Valletta today. I checked out the fine arts museum. It was certainly very impressive – not necessarily in terms of quantity but the quality shouldn't be ignored. Although less could be said for the lighting. Strip lighting of the 1960s served only to befuddle the viewer. Adopting a meer-cat like stance, with head bobbing to the left and right, was the only way in which one able to achieve a sense of the subject matter in some of the rather impressive paintings. A shame. The building was lovely. One Horatio Nelson had connections with it, something to do with his naval days and serving a three year stint in Malta.

And then I went for a little walk to see parts of Valletta that I haven't seen before. I walked up to Hastings Gardens and saw the views over to Mdina and all the towns inbetween, a bit of a sprawling metropolis where they all merge into one, but still quite interesting nonetheless. I managed to find a view overlooking the bus terminus. Chaotic and dangerous in equal measure. As the buses made their way round the vast Triton Fountain, horns blowing, polluting the planet and eroding the limestone, I could see St Publius church, which is quite a vast structure and also the Hotel Phoenicia. Now, the Hotel Phoenicia is a (?the) 5 star hotel in Malta and it boasts many things and to give them credit, where credit's due, they do 'big up the bus'. Now this is where you take a deep breath, pause and say 'However'. To not put too fine a point on it, it would have to be pretty fucking spectacular on the inside to make me want to stay there. Views to the front will contain the one and only bus route into the terminus, views to the side contain the terminus itself, views from another part contain all the ne'er do wells that hang around by the bus terminus, views from the other side contain some shoddy tennis courts and chuck in a car park or two around the way. And there you have it. Welcome to the Hotel Phoenicia. Maybe when it was built it had quite a different aspect...and I'm sure it did – quite a commanding position all things considered, but oh, how things change!