Stones, Bones and No Way Homes
Prehistoric Peregrinations, Skull Crushing Catacombs and Baffling Buses
Flexibility, that’s the key! Last night I decided that I would explore Valetta today whilst there was still peak ferry. This morning it strikes me that, if transport is going to become more sporadic, I should visit some of the more distant (yes, yes, I know Malta is hardly huge!) places before the transport peters out.
And this leads to a crash course in Malta’s public transport, which I have started to develop a love/hate relationship with. As the day goes on, I will discover that I need a combination of the Malta public transport app, Google Maps and blind luck to get around. Google Maps is great for tracking the journey and seeing which stop is coming up. The Tallinja app (in theory) shows live bus updates (Google struggles when things go off schedule). Neither seem to have a way of letting you know when the bus decides not to show at all. Or it shows and the driver can’t be bothered to stop. Just have to roll with it. I may have to adjust how many places I think I can visit in a day though!
So, off to Hagar Qim and Mnajdra first. This involves a reasonably civilized bus into Valetta before another out to the site.
Now I think I got on to the right bus, but the destination is not what my friendly AI suggested. Not that there is any getting off once we are wedged in. I don’t think that the Maltese understand the concept of maximum capacity.
I start to have doubts but then I have one of those travel epiphanies which takes away any stress: It doesn’t matter. I will go where I go and it will be a new adventure regardless. I feel that this is the way forward!
Turns out to be the right bus and I fight my way off at Hagar. I had expected the bus to empty - as had the other 4 people who got off at that stop. Apparently this is not the major tourist draw in the area. Everyone else is off to the Blue Grotto. Madness.
Hagar Qim and Mnajdra are ancient temples, both aligned with various solstice and equinox sunrises and both more than 5500 years old. Yes, that’s older than Stonehenge and Newgrange, older than the pyramids. And yet somehow a blue grotto is more impressive. I would say that you can decide for yourself, but I have no photos of the Blue Grotto, having elected to boycott it in disgust. Still, here is something better…
Obviously I had to get a bit of cheeky dowsing in too whilst no one else was around.
From there my bus adventures really began as I had to find my way north and then south again in order to travel east. I’m not sure that Gar Dalam cave was really worth the trouble. It’s interesting how many bones they found there, but it is far from the most impressive cave I have ever been in.
From there I wander down the hill to Borg in-Nadur, another (somewhat obscure it seems) ancient settlement. I particularly enjoyed this as I had it to myself (yes, today made it clear to me that I am poorly aligned with the average tourist). I thought that I should have a go at my signature Potter hat selfie but sadly I only have my secondary hat with me rather than Potter Prime, so the result is not ideal.
I will skip over the endless wait for a bus back to Valetta. Suffice to say that by the time I got there, hungry and thirsty, I was heading to the first food establishment that I saw, which happened to be a Burger King. Thanks goodness that this is Europe and you can get a beer with your fast food!
Suitably refreshed, I could handle the cattle truck back to Sliema. Wandering around the area, I noticed that there are lots of bags of food outside of houses. I gather that this is for wandering spirits - no, I don't think I count - it being Halloween and all.
Next day, and another random change of plan.
I had intended Gozo but then for some reason decide that I will go to St. Paul’s Catacombs instead. This turns out to be good value(ish) as it seems that there are two other attractions on my Heritage Malta pass within walking distance. Not just a twofer, but a threefor!
I have to say that travelling by bus (minor inconveniences aside) is growing on me. Not only do you get to mix with the locals, but you experience much more of the country. Malta is full of beautiful small towns and it is not unusual for an impressive hilltop town (Mdina being a case in point) or spectacular church to hove into view.
The Catacombs - a pretty impressive complex and you can enter at multiple points but, to be honest, once you have been in one there is not much different to see in the others. Not that this stopped me as I was intent on exploring. After about the tenth time I cracked my skull on the ceiling, I called shenanigans on subterranean cemeteries. I guess I should have paid attention to the sign.
Can't say I wasn't warned!
Still, I now don’t feel so bad about missing the Hypogeum as this is just really a bigger version (although maybe one that can be negotiated with scalp intact?).
The round, carved structures are apparently tables that the family used to recline around to have the funeral feast. I will refrain from poor jokes about what they may have been drinking.
On to Domus Romanus, a Roman home that was unearthed and so impressive that Malta built its first museum around it. I was particularly taken with the tile floor. The cubes have an Escher-like quality too them. I can feel some home remodelling coming on. If I had seen this before having my drive done I would definitely have gone with something to mess with the neighbours!
From here I wander up to the massive walled citadel of Mdina, once the capital of Malta. It is an impressive beast, as is the Natural History Museum structurally, but I am soon reminded that skeletons, stuffed animals and critters in jars is not really my thing. Although I am quite taken with the mummified Nile crocodile.
And so I abandon nature and trek north to yet another ancient site. Malta is absolutely littered with these and I will be visiting many, so get over it.
The buses work perfectly this time and I am back in love with Malt’s public transport.
Not so much with Heritage Malta though who seem to have just closed Ta’Hagrat, which now appears to be in the middle of a building site ( I have heard it said that the whole of Malta can be described like this, and it is hard to argue).
It seems that the Maltese are not overawed by their history in the way that I am. Many of the monuments have been cannibalized for material (which to be fair is not unusual around the world). Apparently Borg in-Nadur, which I visited yesterday, was used as a pig sty for a time.
I guess that Malta has been though so many iterations from prehistoric natives via Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Romans, Byzantine, Arab, Norman, German. Spanish, Knights of St. John, French and British to an independent Malta that you just don’t hold on to the past!