At last, the final day arrived. It was not only my final day in Malta, but also the final day of my nearly six-week long trip. When I woke up at 6:30 in the morning, I thought, “I’m one lavish breakfast buffet, and one cone of gelato away, from home.”
But there was plenty more to discover in Malta before I flew back to the U.S. With our local guide, we set off by bus to explore the UNESCO World Heritage site of Hagar Qim (imagine that there’s a horizontal bar through that “H” and a dot over the “g”) and the adjacent site of Mnajdra.
Before we reached the Archaeological Park, a little over 9 miles from Valletta, we made a brief stop to see the Blue Grotto, a very picturesque complex of sea caverns. The crystal-clear waters here are 26 meters deep.
Hagar Qim and Mnajdra, set on a promontory not far from the coast, together form a megalithic temple site dating back to 3600-3200 BCE. In other words, the temples are over 5000 years old and therefore, they pre-date the Egyptian pyramids and Stonehenge.
The name, Hagar Qim, means “standing stones.” Two types of locally sourced limestone were used for construction of the temples. Although the limestone is somewhat porous, some of the enormous stones weigh close to 20 tons.
Very little remains of the roofs that originally covered the temples. In 2009, a shelter was erected over the ruins to protect them from the elements.
Archaeologists believe that the people who built the temples came from Sicily and that they brought with them certain materials, such as obsidian, flint, white alabaster, and red ochre, that don’t exist on Malta. Although these people had no advanced technology, no metal tools, and no writing, it’s clear that they had some knowledge of astronomy.
The main entrance door of the temple at Hagar Qim faces south and the sun entered through an east-facing hole. At dawn on the winter solstice, a narrow beam of light illuminates the edge of a decorated stone slab to the right of the temple entrance. And at dawn on the summer solstice, the same phenomenon occurs, but this time it’s the stone slab to the left of the temple entrance that’s illuminated.
A stone slab decorated with spirals and a free-standing decorated stone altar were found inside the temple. These were actually reproductions of the originals, which are on display in the National Museum of Archaeology in Valletta.
In the Visitors’ Center, we read about the construction and decoration of the temples, and about the Stone Age people who built them. There were more reproductions of artifacts, including statues, that were found at the site. (I made a mental note to squeeze in a visit to the National Museum of Archaeology in the afternoon.)
Following our visit to Hagar Qim, we drove to Vittoriosa, one of the so-called Three Cities, a trio of medieval fortified cities located right across the Grand Harbour from Valletta.
The two other cities were heavily damaged in the Blitz, but Vittoriosa’s historic streets and houses are remarkably well-preserved. Unlike Valletta, Vittoriosa was not at all touristy.
The area was first settled in Phoenician times (around 800 BCE) and has been continuously inhabited since then. There are remains from Roman times, and forts and castles built by the Arabs.
We were even able to look inside a 13th century Norman house.
Shortly after noon, we heard the bells chiming at the Collegiate Church of St. Lawrence.
Back in Valletta, I treated myself to a final Aperol spritz along with a salad at lunchtime, then headed down jam-packed Republic Street to the National Museum of Archaeology where I spent a couple of hours roaming through the very interesting and detailed exhibits of Stone Age, Bronze Age, and Iron Age artifacts from throughout Malta. It’s housed in a historic building, originally the Auberge de Provence, built in 1571.
Artifacts from Hagar Qim include the impressive stone altar and a few small statues of human figures. It’s not clear whether the corpulent figures are male or female. The corpulence could simply be a way to represent abundance and fertility. Although the heads are missing, the small holes at the top of the figures may indicate that the heads were interchangeable.
The altar is carved from a single block of limestone and is decorated with small holes bored next to each other.
Phallic decorations were commonly seen in prehistoric temples.
The carved animals on this stone slab are very likely symbols of fertility.
In addition, it was interesting to see examples of prehistoric pottery and remains from other Maltese temples.
It is not known what became of the people who built the temples. At the time a new group of people arrived in Malta, around 2400 BCE, the islands were uninhabited. This new group brought with them bronze implements and Malta entered the Bronze Age, which lasted until 700 BCE.
Bronze Age pottery is quite different from the pottery of the Temple Period.
The Phoenicians, who came to Malta in the 7th century BCE, were highly skilled metal workers. They also produced pottery and multi-colored glass objects, including cylindrical vessels and beads. The technique of glassblowing wasn’t discovered until the 1st century BCE, during Roman times.
It may not surprise you to learn that when I was in college, I wanted to be an archaeologist! There’s a lot more I wish I’d learned while in Malta, but at this point, after nearly six weeks of travel, my brain was nearly saturated with new information.
After a final cone of gelato, consumed in a shady spot on Republic Street, I returned to the hotel to finish my packing. Before our sumptuous farewell dinner, our wonderful OAT tour leader Marco gave each of us a small tin of olive oil from his family’s olive grove.
I had to set my alarm for 2am to get to airport on time for my 6am flight. It wasn’t a problem getting up. I was too excited to get much sleep anyway.
As I write this final paragraph nearly four months after my return, I’m breathing a sigh of relief. It’s taken me a long, long time to write about my amazing six weeks on back-to-back OAT adventures. And I finished writing this last post just in time – I’m actually getting ready to leave soon on my next OAT adventure, Turkey’s Magical Hideaways.
