Summary: could be perfect.

The apartment is charmingly decorated - particularly the exposed structure which looks to be quite old gives it a unique vibe. The kitchen is adequate for simple cooking (with one cooking pot and one skillet, but a nice 4-hob gas stove), if a little small (although the large dining table provides ample work surface if you need it). It is also very well located, with the old historic centre of Valletta and the main bus station only 10-15 minutes away on foot. I did find it a little tricky to find places for grocery shopping, but they are there if you look carefully (a convenience store is just around the block selling mostly conserves and non-food items - vegetables and other fresh ingredients I found in Valletta).

I do have a few criticisms that I think I should mention. The first concerns the ground floor shower. On the first day of my stay, this seemed to work fine, but later I started having problems; the shower would give out very little water and this water was very hot - almost as if there was no cold water coming in. It is possible I wasn't using it right in terms of switching the boiler on or off or something like that, but then again I followed the instructions that were provided. Also my short stay and busy schedule didn't allow for somebody to come by while I was there to try and fix the problem. So in short, I don't know whether this is a structural issue at all.

Since I couldn't get on with the ground floor shower, I tried the one in the downstairs (basement) bathroom. This required some extra instructions from Claudette but she was (as always) very quick in communication. I did find the water pressure to be a little low and more importantly, after using this shower there was an unpleasant smell of damp, particularly in the master bedroom. This smell didn't linger very long though, and as I understand it this bathroom is a work in progress.

Finally, there was a small infestation of millipedes (a few dozen), particularly in the basement. This wouldn't be so much of a problem if the basement didn't have that bathroom in it, and if they didn't also turn up in the rest of the apartment, which they did. They weren't very bothersome as they were slow-moving, harmless creatures, but still they weren't nice to look at and it does make one a little uncomfortable to have them there. I should say the apartment was generally quite clean, and I couldn't work out where they were coming from, so perhaps this was just an incident.

If these issues are addressed, I would highly recommend this apartment. As it was I still got good value for money, and enjoyed my stay overall, but it left me with slightly mixed feelings.