If you’ve been following our goings on around town, you know that we’ve been checking out some of the big hotels around St. Julian’s Bay. A couple of weeks ago, we wanted to check out the Hilton (being card-carrying Hilton members), but discovered that it was closed for renovation. Its re-opening was April 16.
We walked over to the Hilton on Thursday morning to check it out. We like heading in that direction because we get to walk around picturesque Spinola Bay.
No doubt about it, the Hilton is a very nice hotel, and very busy. It was hosting a large conference put on by The Economist, the Mediterranean Leadership Summit. Clearly the Mediterranean countries are being inundated with lots of issues, no greater currently than immigration and refugees. Also, financial burdens and what’s happening in the EU are also sticky issues. Judging by how many people were in the lobby of the hotel when we walked through, the conference was well-attended.
There was a beautiful sculpture in a pool in front of the hotel.
The boutiques around the lobby were pretty impressive (code for exorbitantly expensive), including one that had a certified Faberge egg in the window.

We wandered around and finally sat down for a cappuccino on a lovely outdoor terrace above the pool.
After looking around the Hilton, we made our way back home. Of course, we had to take more photos of Spinola Bay.
And we learned something new. There is a Spinola Palace. It was built in the 17th century by one of the knights. However, it served as a hospital for many, many years after 1860. I found an old photo from 1906 on Wikipedia, which is pretty cool.
What’s cool is that the two little buildings with arches close to the water are boathouses. These building with their arches still remain and are the area housing restaurants, including Rafael’s, the restaurant we ate at a few weeks ago. Here’s what the palace looks like today; it is kind of deteriorating, although a sign on the gate said it was a diplomatic building. There is a restaurant in its basement that we hope to visit one evening.
Here’s what the palace boathouses look like today.
So a nice little outing Thursday morning, and then back to work for Christine.