Other parts of the system could do with a similar face-lift and I don't just mean track and rolling stock. The fare "structure" on First Great Western is so arcane that I now deal directly with the company and always allow for a quarter of an hour of haggling. This time I had negotiated a first-class return which was only 80p more than a standard one (an excess made up by having a receptacle or two of first-class coffee).The rules said that if you did not travel on the specified train the ticket became invalid and by now we were 24 hours late. The polite clerk winced when my wife mentioned Ryanair and gravely wrote a message on the back of the ticket saying that we could still travel.British first class is rather less impressive than standard on the TGV and the Cornish-bound "express" bumped, rattled and spilled drinks when it attempted anything approaching grande vitesse.

Nevertheless, we arrived in Par on the dot; the service was smiling and friendly and there was even a travelling chef who produced passable pasta.Perhaps it was a variant of A Tale of Two Cities and this was the worst of railways and the best of railways. The service in continental Europe was good but not that good and Britain's efforts were bad but not that bad The best of the TGV made me horribly envious. Yet few of my experiences with British railways have been as dispiriting as Mestre station at night. For information about rail travel across Europe contact Rail Europe (0870 5848848; ) for timetables, fares and tickets.. Everyone knows that Malta's the place to go for cheap-pint-and-pizza package holidays Come off it. Places such as Sliema, which looked like the city of Bath arranged round a crystal-clear shoreline, were bulldozed to build hotels and casinos. But, fortunately, the Maltese are realising now that they have a unique cultural heritage to offer the world.Oh yes, like what?Take Valletta for example. The first Renaissance city to be planned on a grid system, built and financed by the aristocracy of Europe.

This city, purpose-built "By Gentlemen For Gentlemen", is the most complete baroque settlement we have left. So much so that it is now a Unesco world heritage site.Look now. I've seen the main gate of Valletta from the bus terminalDon't be put off Everyone admits the entrance is a disaster. There are plans to shift the buses underground, get rid of that awful "Third World" gate and rebuild the Royal Opera House, which was bombed in April 1942 and never got to be high on Malta's list of priorities under Dom Mintoff. It's the only bombed "house" in Europe not to have been rebuilt.At the moment, opera is performed at the Manoel Theatre in Old Bakery Street Now there's upmarket Malta for you.

Built in 1732 by the Knights of St John, the Manoel claims to be the oldest working theatre in Europe and its auditorium has hardly changed.But are there any performances to see?Oh yes, the Manoel has concerts and operas on a regular basis plus a Baroque Festival every two years and this coming May a week-long festival "Celebrating Handel". Two huge Italianate opera houses survive on neighbouring Gozo and a Mediterranean Festival is planned for this autumn It's not all baroque opera and Verdi either. At St James Cavalier, next to the city gate, is a brand new arts complex carved out of the interior of a huge 16th-century gun emplacement, which produces slightly more cutting-edge material and presents seasons of films, recitals and small-scale performances in a brand new theatre in the round.OK, but you can't get away from those concrete hotelsAdmittedly, Malta has some pretty depressing places to stay in if you're on a tight budget, but it also has some first-rate five-star hotels, too, including Xara Palace in Mdina, which is the island's first entry in Relais & Chateaux and offers 17 luxury rooms, including two that have their own private Jacuzzis built on to the ramparts of the ancient walled city. Le Meridien Phoenicia was begun by the Governor's wife in 1937 because she wanted Malta to have a hotel to rival Raffles in Singapore. The newly married Princess Elizabeth often danced in the Phoenicia's ballroom during the time that HRH Lieutenant Mountbatten was posted to Malta.But is there anything to do apart from lying on the beach?If nightly performances aren't enough Malta has plenty of what we would call stately homes on offer.