Ruins.  Or Orthostats on the Trilithon Entrance & Other Megalithic Novelties

We set out after breakfast to the ruins of a late Neolithic archeological treasure on Malta’s southwest coast: Hagar Qim and Mnajdra, from about 3600 BCE, both older than Stonehenge.  On the one hand, just a pile of rocks.  Very, very, large rocks; one single stone at the entrance of Hagar Qim is 57 tons.  But on the other hand astonishing in their completeness.  Unlike Stonhenge, in other words not just a monument, these are some of the earliest free-standing stone temples left semi-complete on the planet.

We decided to take a local bus to the site which, at 2€ each, was remarkable value.  However, we were unprepared for the roads (extremely narrow), the close calls (at one point an oncoming car driving up onto the curb to let us pass, at another point the bus driver stopping, opening his window, retracting the rear view mirrors of a parked car) and, on the return journey, actually getting stuck.  Not once, but twice.  And at one point, given the effort and difficulty, the audacious manoeuvring, the passengers applauded. On a city bus!

It was hot, 24C, and well-exposed.  The limestone sites, although known about for hundreds of years, were only excavated in the mid-1800s.  To minimise erosion, tentlike domes have been erected to shelter them from the elements.  They are, depending on your interest in these sorts of things, fascinating.  I mean, take this one fact: at summer solstice the rising sun pierces a small crevice carved into a wall, appearing as a crescent on the interior wall, then as the sun rises the crescent moves down the interior slab until, when it’s shining directly on the floor, is a full circle.  And I can barely get the double-zipper on my wind-breaker to work.

After some exploration we boarded the bus again and went to Dingli, the highest point on Malta, where there are fine views west towards Africa across the Mediterranean.  We walked along the cliffside paths for some time, then through many small villages, eventually catching another bus back to Mdini.

Once back in “town” if you will, we stopped at Is-Serkin aka The Crystal Palace Bar for pastizzi, a local stuffed pastry something between spanakopita and a stuffed croissant. Serkin is basically a hole in the wall and although they’ve been serving pastizzi since 1946 you could miss it in a blink. Nevertheless the line-ups are significant, the prices reasonable, and it even has a Wikipedia entry, here. A sort of rite of passage for tourists and locals alike.

Then we headed back into Mdina proper.  It was a gorgeous afternoon.  We walked along the fortress walls admiring the view.

Our final stop of the afternoon was a quick tour of Casa Gourgion, a nobleman’s house in the centre of town.  Not that old, 19^th century, it fell into disrepair and was rehabilitated over two years.  I found it a little Disney-esque but gosh the views from the roof deck were spectacular.

For dinner we walked over to a local Italian place where we sat outside with the dogs and families and revelled in al fresco dining on the cusp of Halloween.