Travel Journal: Malta July 2019 (Part 1) (Arrival, first impressions, first dinner)

After a restful night at Nuremberg, our flight to Malta left at 7:30 at night. We picked up our rental car directly at the airport and drove to our hotel for this week. My girlfriend decided to drive because she has been driving on the left side at Ireland before. I am happy that she drove through the tiny streets at Malta.

The first impressions of the hotel were great, however, we did not really like the hotel during our stay. The Maritim Hotel & Spa will not be visited again by me or my girlfriend and it was priced quit high. Besides that, there were many small things that annoyed us: not working remote control for the TV, fridge was turned off at arrival, unfriendly staff and more! There also have been some bigger things: the mattress was really old and really bad. The breakfast was big, however, the quality was not up there. Especially, the coffee sucked and there was a huge line behind the two coffee machines. Additionally, there was a construction side directly opposite of our room and it was loud in the morning. For the money we paid, I would book another hotel next time.

I cannot agree with the positive rating for this hotel:

https://www.tripadvisor.de/Hotel_Review-g230152-d278153-Reviews-Maritim_Antonine_Hotel_Spa-Mellieha_Island_of_Malta.html

On our first day at Malta, we wanted to relax and visit some places near to our hotel. First, we drove to Popeye Village, however, we did not check for the entrance fee before: 17 Euro. That was too much for us and we decided to not visit this abandoned film set. We drove north to Ahrax tar-Ramel instead and had a great view for free:

(Rooftop of our hotel)

At night, we wanted to enjoy a great dinner and went to the best rated restaurant on TripAdvisor. Luckily, it was really close to our hotel so that we could walk there in five minutes. This time we could agree to the great ratings and enjoyed a great dinner as planned. We had grilled octopus as starters and a big plate with a grilled fish (hake), huge prawns & mussels. As a result of the great dishes, we also decided to order deserts: Crème Brulée for me and meringue with berries & honey for my girlfriend.
Here are the dishes:

The restaurant is called Bouquet Garni and was really busy. We were lucky to get the last table without a reservation. If you decide to eat there make sure to place a reservation ahead.

This is the restaurant on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.de/Restaurant_Review-g230152-d1180618-Reviews-Bouquet_Garni-Mellieha_Island_of_Malta.html

The rest of our time at Malta will be posted within the next days. The will be some more great photos and reports! Make sure to check my blog…