Two temples and a cave!

Ciao!

Up this morning around 7 am and down for breakfast about 7:30 am.  Unfortunately, today we must leave this stunning Hilton Resort and head to Rabat (there is an “a” … sorry!  [sometimes. – R]) for the night.  REALLY tiny island!  When we were touring Wales, R complained that we basically could see one B&B to the next, but Wales is HUGE compared to Malta!  We spent most of January in Okinawa, and again, you could certainly NOT see from one town to another. Then we got here.  Apparently, the entire island is something like 27 km long – and yes, you literally can see everything occasionally!  After our lovely buffet breakfast, we strapped up the luggage, checked out of the hotel from the Executive Lounge, and headed downstairs (to floor 5) to the main street.  There were cabs waiting in front of the hotel, and in something like under 10 minutes we were at the Perluna Hotel and their Hertz office. 

Cave and Museum

View from the garden; Knight tower in front; WWII in back

Me in front of cave

Entrance to the cave

Ruts from ancient cart tracks

Love these fat ladies!

R's tortellini

My spaghetti bolognaise

Hagar Qim; huge blocks!

Doorway into temple

Interior window/door

Pedestal altars

Interior altar; note pitting decoration on steles

My own personal favorite artifact!

Inside Mnajdra temple

More pitting decoration

Remains of a corbelled ceiling

More corbell ceiling

The car we were originally assigned was an automatic, and when I expressed dismay, the wonderful man in charge changed us out into a car with a manual transmission.  So glad!  And, in something like 15 minutes we were out on the road and heading to Rabat, our location for the night.  I figured that, depending on the size of the car, we would decide if we wanted to visit some sites with the luggage, or drop it all off at Point of Vue, our next stop on the list.  As it turns out, the boot of the car held one suitcase, R’s carry-on, my carry-on and the camera case. The second suitcase had to reside on the back seat.  And, as we really try to be careful about what is left to see in the car, we decided to head to our hotel, leave the luggage, and be off.  So … on to Rabat!

Turns out that one can clearly see Mdina (the city next to Rabat) from Valletta – I’m telling you, folks, this was really that close.  So, found the Point of Vue very easily – it’s right on the Mdina border, and were able to find a parking place for the car. As it turns out, even though it was only about 10 am, our room was ready so we left our luggage inside and headed back out.

Our first visit today was to Ghar Dalam, a cave that supposedly housed the very first traces of man on Malta!  This is a natural cave and means “Cave of Darkness.”  The presence of these early people is known from human remains, as well as animal bones in rubbish pits, and pottery. In the last ice age, there was an intermittent land bridge to Sicily, and when it was eventually covered by water, the fauna that remained on Malta developed much differently than those in other locations.  The most interesting change was in the size – there were miniature elephants and hippo, while at the same time, the Maltese tortoises grew nearly as big as today’s Galapagos giants and dormice were the size of modern guinea pigs.   Lots of bones to look at!

We then walked through the garden, and directly over several of the Maltese prehistoric cart ruts in the garden.  I’d been wanting to see those; very interesting!  We then made it to the cave itself, which is still a living cave – we could see stalagmites growing, and some very thin soda straws beginning from the ceiling.  

From Ghar Dalam, we then headed to our temples for the day – Hagar Qim and Mnajdra.  These temples were built at approximately the same time about (5,000 BC), but about 500 m apart.  The visitor center has some good exhibits, and we also sat through a 7 minute 4D film where we actually got a bit damp at one point.  

Before we headed to Hagar Qim, though, we decided to get something to eat, as we were both a bit peckish and they have a nice restaurant. R ordered their tortellini (half-portion) and I ordered their spaghetti bolognaise (half-portion) and they were both the perfect amount!  Enjoyed them very much!  Then, on to Hagar Qim!

Stunning temple – including a 20 ton megalith.  The site itself is on a kind of acropolis and seems to have no specific front.  You approach a clear concave facade, but if you walk around the building there is another on the other side.  There are five different rooms that were used, and a variety of stele that are decorated by pitting the surfaces.  There are also “libation holes” (where one poured wine for the benefit of the deceased) and the sites are marked where several of the fat ladies were actually found.   The main altars were moved some time ago to Valletta and the Archaeological Museum.

From Hagar Qim we proceeded to the Mnajdra temples.  These were quite a bit more complex, and included pedestal alters as well as what appeared to be sacrificial tables.  There were many more “porthole” stones – just what it sounds like – round holes from one temple to the next!  This one also includes several “oracle holes” where it is presumed oracles would sit to provide answers to questions asked by worshippers.  All in all, a very impressive site to behold!

Back to the car and heading now back to the hotel in Rabat.  We were actually able to find a real parking space right in front of the hotel! Yippee!  Upstairs to rest a bit, and while Rwas having the hotel people rustle up a table (for the computer) and a chair (to sit on while working on the computer) I decided it was nap time – from 3 – 4 pm; definitely needed!

Up again at 4, and we decided that we would head into Mdina – also known as the “silent city.”  The great thing was that the main gate was right in front of the hotel, and we didn’t have to move the car and vacate our great parking space!  Across the bridge and into town.  The moat has now been all drained and filled in, and includes a beautiful park and lovely walks.  

Surprisingly, there weren’t that many people around – even though it is almost mid-May!  We toured the Cathedral (the other half of the “co-“) and the museum, and both were quite impressive.  We also paid a visit to the lovely Carmelite Priory Church.  From there, we decided to head to Fontanella, a restaurant/view point that had been recommended to us by Myriam, our gal in the Hilton’s Executive Lounge.  Well … that was fabulous!  Not only did we have a 180 degree view of the surrounding countryside, Fontanella specializes in CAKE!  My favorite! (Please don’t read, Dr. Roy…) We had a lovely bottle of Maltese Sauvignon Blanc with a piece of carrot cake for Robert, and chocolate with mint filling for me.  Yum…I have always loved cake, but usually there is too much frosting and not enough cake!  This time, there was plenty, and we both ate up every bit … R said I managed to get crumbs over everything, which is probably true, but I can say I enjoyed every bite!  Thank you, Myriam for your great recommendation!

After this, we were more than ready to head back to the hotel for the night.  I am blogging now, and we are contemplating if we need to go downstairs to get something more substantial for dinner.  I’m fine with cake, but R does have his standards, you know!  So!  More later!

m

xxx