Sunday, May 5th, Valletta, Malta

Greetings!

I'm going to try to describe our adventures today without immediately jumping to the last thing we saw - the Hypogeum.  I hope I can convey to you the enormity of the experience well enough for you to understand the degree of self-restraint involved.

So first,  the Tarxien Temples.  I've never seen a ruin site better protected.  So forgive me for too many shots of the canopy constructed over it.  Steel cables forty yards long supporting a seriously impervious roof.  Not that it rains around here.  

And that walkway, what care to place it as close to the walls and rocks.  While I appreciate the work done through a grant from Norway to facilitate access and education, I found it a little too presentational.  Much of the site has been reconstructed, and the viewer isn't clear enough on where original rock remains.

Next, we drove to the three cities in which Vallettans live, and which provide the most insight into the character of its history.  Around the edges of the harbor, the fishing and merchant communities of Senglea, Cospicua, and Vittoriosa wind their way along the walls and waterfronts, to the palaces, churches, forts and bastions.  Viewing luxury yachts next to original rowboats, and kayakers enjoying a seemingly endless water course.  We stopped for lunch at another great restaurant, and Michael mixed Maltese language lessons with his ability to provide us with just the right meal for each of our needs and tastes.

Finally, we narrived at the Hal Saflieni Hypogeum at our purchased appointment time (3pm).  Fortunately, an unused surrendered ticket allowed us to include a member of our group without one, and we all descended into an entirely underground series of three levels of limestone, with its halls and chambers interconnected through a labyrinth series of steps, lintels, and doorways.  Here is another link to this outstanding travel destination,  I classify it as one of the top ten ruin experiences I have visited.

Carved after 4,000 BC with antlers, flint, chert, and obsidian, and used as a sanctuary and necropolis, it contained an estimated 7,000 individuals, intricately decorated pottery vessels, stone and clay beads, shell buttons, amulets, axe-heads, and carved figurines depicting humans and animals. One of the figurine, the Sleeping Lady, is thought to represent a mother goddess.  Unfortunately, cameras were not allowed in the visit.

To see all of the photos taken today, click on Sunday, May 5th, Valletta, Malta.