Episode 8

Another bright sunny morning saw us off on another trip on the hop-on hop-off bus. This time we headed down the south of the islands to see the ancient temples. Despite some effort L had been unable to procure tickets at short notice to see the Hypogeum that is a large underground temple complex at the present city of Paolo. Ticket numbers for this site are restricted to just a few visitors per hour and must be booked well in advance or else line up at the office in Valletta and be one of the first few people in the door to get last minute tickets. The latter wasn't an option for us as it was a two hour bus trip into the bus station and a good walk from there. In this same area we did visit the Tarxiem temple though it took quite a bit of effort to find it, even the fellow in the post office couldn't give us directions. Yet when we did find it we saw that it now sits under a great white dome to protect it from the weather. How locals didn't know where such an eyesore was to be found is beyond L's imagination. This in one of the temples that are around 5000 years old and was possibly in use for 2000 years. Like the others we were to see later in the day it is constructed of huge blocks of limestone. There are two types of limestone used the construction, hard carolline stone is the main material, however the softer globigerina stone was used where decoration was to be made. Just how these massive megalithic blocks were placed into position is still debated by the experts. There is no disputing that some would challenge our modern equipment. Even the blocks used on the floor are massive with a thckness of around 14" to 16" (35-40cm). There seems to be some consensus amongst experts that some blocks have been used as alters, hence the description as temples. Also some gaps and alters have been aligned to either sunrise or sunset of the summer solstice, at both this temple and others the we visited later in the day. One can't help but wonder what inspired these ancient people to invest so much time and energy in this enterprise. Back on the bus we stopped in the pretty fishing village of Marsaxlokkk. Here the colourful small fishing boats lined the quayside. Off to one side is a large LNG port when LNG is brought in for fueling the power station that sits on the headland above the port. On the other side of the entrance to the bay is a large container port. It would have been nice to get off the bus and have a look about but the crowds that were in Mdina yesterday seem to have invaded this village today, so we stayed on the bus to the next stop Gar Dalam cave. Although a lot of significant archeological finds have been made in this cave, both human and animal it really wasn't worth the bother of the stop or the time we spent there, we could have put it to better use elsewhere. There wasn't much to see just a very unimpressive limestone cave in a small ravine with one or two very degraded stalagmites. A small information centre had a room full of bones of prehistoric animals that had been found in the cave, it gave L the creeps so we didn't linger there. Our next stop was the megalithic temples of Hagar Qim and Mnajdra. Before we ventured out to these see these temples we had a look around the information centre and watched a 3D film on how it is envisioned these ancient people went about building these temples. Wonder what they would think if they could see present day interpretation. These two temples are only about 500 metres apart, one lower down the hill side than the other and nearer the sea. Hagar Qim is the one in the better condition possibly with one single block weighing around 20 tones, that would have taken some manoeuvring into position. Mnajdra is the larger complex where one of the apertures it is believed could have been aligned to some star, so we read in the information centre. The earth has moved slightly on its axis since these temples were built so the experts are undecided about this, and it doesn't seem any better aligned to the rising summer solstice sun either. Both of these temples are under large white domes. By the time we had finished here it was again late in the day so we returned to Selima on the bus and because we had some spare time before our shuttle bus back to our hotel my lot got some lovely pizza and lasagne from one of the little take away shops to be found in many shopping streets, and went and sat in the shade and ate it. Because of the traffic at this time of the evening it took well over the hour to get back to our hotel, and that was with very few stops. Now, my lot had pulled out all the stops and booked on an all day cruise right around the main island for Sunday with the same people who run the hop-on hop off bus, so because they had been such good customers they were given tickets for a cruise around Grand Harbour. So on yet another bright sunny morning we again caught the shuttle bus back to Selima where we climbed on board the boat for the harbour tour. Valletta sits on a peninsula that has a harbour on each side, and although it looks like just one huge city right around the whole expanse it is actually quite a number of different cities. In the NW is Selima, Gzira, Ta Xbiex, then Pieta at the head of the harbour on the northern side, then Floriana and Valletta on the central peninsular, whilst on the southern shore are the cities of Paolo, Birgu, and Kalkara. L doesn't know the population of this area but it must be quite high as it is very crowded with narrow streets and small houses and units. This was a lovely tour in very pleasant weather that took us right around the harbour and into the creeks. We saw naval yards and coastal patrol boats, old fortifications from the time of the Knights of St John, and more modern ones. We also saw two massive cruise ships docked below Valletta and another much smaller one at a secondary dock on the other side of the harbour. An offshore oil rig ready to be towed out to sea we passed and big dry docks. My lot stayed out on deck so as to get the best possible view with the result that I am sure if faded in the hot sun. When our cruise finished we took the ferry across to Valletta and spent some hours walking around the city. With those two cruise ships in town the place was crowded with barely room to move along the streets where street cafes on both sides left almost no room for pedestrians. It was a Saturday afternoon and the churches were all closed. David was wilting in the hot sun so L and I parked him in a nice shady spot under a tree and overlooking the harbour while she and I went off to do some exploring on our own. I must say we covered quite a bit of the city, down this street and up that one, L took some photos and we had a good look around. We climber up onto the top of the rebuilt fortified wall that separates Valletta from Floriana. Beyond the wall was one great construction site. It is actually a large park that is in the process of being redesigned with concrete seeming to be the principal ingredient. On the inside of the main gate stands a brand new modern style structure that seems totally at odds with all those classical design building around it. After quite some time we went back to David and made our way back to the ferry as his foot was once again swollen and painful. Once on the bus back in Selima it was a slow trip back to our hotel. © Lynette Regan 25th October 2017