The group of drunk people was back again, at 5:00 once more. Joy. However, this time I could not get an early start because I had booked a Megalithic Tour with a company called Visit Malta, as at first it had felt more convenient than navigating the buses. They confirmed and sent me a ticket saying that pick up was at my hotel, and a Google Maps link that did not work. Thus, I assumed that they would pick me up at the hotel. I tried to contact them via email previously, but I had no reply, so I told myself not to be paranoid, and trust them.
Twenty minutes after the pick up time, I called them. They yelled at me that I was in the wrong place. I informed them that my ticket read “pick up at the hotel”. They told me there was nothing they could do for me. So I was upset for about 3 minutes – that was 50 € down the drain. However, it was only 9:30 in the morning, so I had time to take matters in my own hands and go see the temples on my own. And I could even squeeze an extra one! I felt… I don’t know… gleefully spiteful. I was going to see the temples out of revenge! I know it sounds strange, but it took me back to what happened in Cappadoccia, when there was nothing I could do to fix the issue. This time around, I had lost some money, but I would not miss on the experience.
Of course, this would have been much more efficient if I had organised the visits originally on my own, since the Ħaġar Qim and Mnajdra Archaeological Park | Il-Park Arkeoloġiku Ta’ Ħaġar Qim u L-Imnajdra is in Qrendi | Il-Qrendi, quite close to the Blue Grotto. Conversely, that also made it easy for me to get there, since I knew the bus route already. But I decided not to dwell on the inconvenience and just “save back” the lost 50 € back not buying whims or mementos.
The Megalithic Temples of Malta are a World Heritage site, and it still blows my mind that they are older than either Stonehenge or the Giza Pyramids. The Ħaġar Qim and Mnajdra Archaeological Park | Il-Park Arkeoloġiku Ta’ Ħaġar Qim u L-Imnajdra might be the most well-known complex, or at least it was the one with most tourists.
The temples Ħaġar Qim and Mnajdra are located very close to one another, and they share an entrance with a small museum, thus forming one archaeological park. Both were first officially described by officer J.G. Vance of the Royal Engineers (British Army) in the 1840s. Unlike Ħal Tarxien on Thursday evening, these two were packed with visitors – more than a few of them happily touching the stones out of curiosity or for support as they walked. I got there in bus 201 and reached the entrance just before a big tour bus entered. The guide lady tried to go past me, but my face must have told her that I was not in the mood to be messed up with, and my turn was respected. The museum mostly had information about the environment, and pieces of pottery that had been recovered from the sites – similar to what the Archaeological Museum in Valletta.
Ħaġar Qim was erected using the ever-present globigerina limestone, a soft sedimentary rock, golden in colour, formed around 23 – 14 million years ago. As this and other temples have weathered out, they have taken a more reddish or brown colour. To protect the remains from deterioration, many have been covered with protective tents.
The temple has several inner chambers within a retaining wall that can be crossed through a trilithon. The whole site has a keyhole shape, and it has been associated with fertility rituals. The main temple was built between 3600 and 3200 BCE, with remains of older ruins. As construction went on, the shape became distorted. It holds the largest stone in any of the Maltese temples, and an altar probably for animal sacrifices. It was hard to get into the magnificence of the temples with so many people swarming them after the Ħal Tarxien experience. However, the structure is quite impressive in itself.
Mnajdra | L-Imnajdra is made from coralline limestone, a harder kind of stone, so as a construction material, it can be used in smaller blocks. Mnajdra might be the most representative temple in the archipelago, as its altar is depicted in Malta’s 1, 2 and 5-cent coins – though it is not the one which kickstarted the Unesco protection. Mnajdra consists on three temples arranged in a clover-leaf disposition. The structures are joined but not connected. They were erected between 3600 and 2500 BCE – so they could be over 5,600 years old. Even with the sheer amount of people around, there was something special about the complex. The temple plays light tricks on the equinoxes and solstices, and the decoration of one of the stones could be interpreted as a lunar calendar (with a lot of imagination, if you ask me). Probably, out of all the temples I visited, this one was the one I found more impressive – even if the first one I saw will forever remain my emotional-favourite.
I was done before schedule, so I went back towards the bus stop. I returned to the airport and then took another bus (119) to Birżebbuġa. There I could see the Għar Dalam Cave and its museum. The Cave is home to some of the oldest evidence of human presence in Malta, around 7,400 years ago (the oldest comes from Mellieħa Cave, dated as 8,500 years old). Għar Dalam Cave is about 144 metres in length, and it also contains remains of animals that have been long extinct in the island, found in distinct layers of sediment at the bottom of the cave.
There is a base layer of clay, older than 167,000 years. Over that lies the “Hippopotamus layer”, showing remains of two extinct species of hippopotamus, deer, dwarf elephants… One of the hippos, Hippopotamus melitensis, was a “dwarf” hippo (only 900 kg) endemic to the island. The remains are very mineralised (almost fossils) and worn down. This is also called the “Breccia layer”. Breccia is a rock composed large angular fragments of minerals cemented by a fine-grained matrix, only in this case the fragments are ancient hippo bone.
Covering the “Hippopotamus Layer”, there is a band of pebbles, without any remains. Over that one lies the “Carnivora Layer”, with remains of several of the previous animals along with foxes, wolves, bears, and smaller creatures such as voles, shrews, bats, turtles… These range from around 167,3000 to 151,200 years ago, and are less mineralised and worn down, just like the following band: the “Deer Layer”. Here there are remains of three different species of deer, some bovines, equines, and small animals. The two upper layers, starting 7,200 years ago, hold remains of small wild animals, domestic animals – sheep, goats, pigs, cows and cats – pottery and other human artefacts, and human remains.
Għar Dalam was first investigated in 1865 by palaeontologist Arturo Issel. Subsequent researchers expanded the excavation and knowledge, identified an all-new species of dwarf hippopotamus, and systematised the museum adjacent to the Cave. Said museum, called the George Zammit Maempel Hall presents hundreds (thousands, maybe) of the remains dug up from the cave. However, the most important ones, amongst them the skull of a Neolithic child, were stolen in 1980. The Cave itself is creepy and damp, and the excavation shows the different layers for the spectator to see. One wonders what lies beneath the end of the visitable area… I would believe the cave be haunted much easily than the Grand Master’s Palace.
Across the valley from the Cave, you can see the remains of a ruined Roman villa Ta’ Kaċċatura, but it cannot be reached, and it’s hard to distinguish rocks from the actual ruins.
By now, I had seen all the temples included in the original tour, so I had a bit of a victory moment. And yet, I had more to do. I loaded up on sun lotion, then headed towards the nearby Borġ In-Nadur, barely ten minutes away on foot – plus some extra to cross the street so you are on something similar to a pavement to walk on. Borġ In-Nadur is another small megalithic structure, with a cemetery, and the remains of a Bronze Age village, with remains ranging from the years 3000 to 700 BCE. Entrance to the Megalithic site was included with the visit of Għar Dalam. The temple was first excavated in the 1920s by archaeologist Margaret Murray. It is the most dilapidated site I visited, but I was again alone – except for a couple of chickens from an adjacent farm. You are allowed to go into the niche or stone circle, and unlike the other temples, it is not covered (yet?).
Near the temple, at the limestone beach of St George’s Bay | Il-Bajja ta’ San Ġorġ, I found silos and cart ruts, also thought to date from the Bronze Age, and Roman Baths directly carved into the limestone. They are not really Roman baths, as in dating from Ancient Rome, these are artificial pools were excavated into the rock during Victorian times. And yet modern people think they’ve invented something…
Not far from there, I found the bathing beaches, the commercial harbour and the salt pans, a traditional way to produce salt letting sea water evaporate from shallow pools in order to harvest the salt crystals. They did not seem in use though as they were either full of litter or used as sunbathing spots.
I still had some time and energy, and decided to invest them on getting to Birgu. This Medieval city is located across the Grand Harbour from Valletta, and it was the first place where the Knights Hospitaller settled. It has a bunch of historical palaces and museums. I would not get there before closing times, but at least I could see the town layout and some buildings from the outside. These included the Gate of Provence, the Inquisitor Palace, the Birgu Waterfront and Maritime Museum, and finally Fort Saint Angelo, a key fortress during the Siege of Malta. Today, use of the fort has been granted to the modern version of the Knights. There was a sign reading “Jurassic World: Dominion” was filmed here, but I did not recognise the backdrop.
I found a convenient bus to head back to Saint Julian’s | San Ġiljan. I freshened up and headed for dinner. At first, I tried to get a table at a restaurant right at the entrance of the hotel. Since they decided to ignore me and give the table to someone else, I moved along. I found Salt & Pepper, a nice grill with an ocean view and an outdoor sitting area. There, I was able to try Stuffat tal-Fenek (fried rabbit in garlic), a typical Maltese recipe (considered the national dish, actually) – pan fried rabbit, simmered in wine, tomato paste, garlic, peas and olive oil, served with roasted potatoes. I wanted to try it, but at the same time I was a bit reluctant, as I am not a big fan of neither garlic nor wine. In the end, I have to say I enjoyed it more than I thought (as long as I kept my mind away from it being actually… rabbit).
Afterwards, I walked around Spinola Bay for some nice views before I turned in for a shower and some sleep… only to be woken up at 5:00. Again. But hey, this time it was a group of girls.
JBinnacle – A Travel Logbook 