Older Than The Pyramids

When we met with Soroptomist Thea we told her where we had been and asked if there were any other must see destinations in Malta. She recommended the stone age temples of Hagar Qim and Mnajdra, located together on the far side of the island, so today we set out to visit them These temples have been dated as being built sometime between 3600 - 3200BC which makes them older than Stonehenge or the Giza Pyramind complex and they involve the same principle of building with massive pieces of stone.

Hagar Qim temple. Both temples are protected by large awnings.

Edward doesn't mention them and that is probably because in his time their significance wasn't known. In the 19th Century there were bits of stone that were obviously part of some human structure visible but a lot of what is there today was buried underground. It was assumed that there had been some ancient Greek or Roman structure there. In the late 19th and 20th Centuries concerted archeological excavation and investigation led to their dating and preservation. It's a fascinating site and well worth visiting. I never cease to marvel at how people over 5000 years ago were travelling across the globe and building massive structures with the most basic technology.

Mnajdra Temple about 500m from Hagar Qim

The Temples are located about 500m apart on a spectacular coastal cliff and there is a nature walk of about a kilometre along the cliff,  past one of the 8 surviving coastal watch towers built in the 17th Century. All in all a pleasant way to spend a few hours so we were glad Thea recommended it.

On our way out to the Temples our bus stopped to let a passenger off about half way there. When the driver went to move off he couldn't get the bus back in gear. He then spent well over half an hour trying everything he could think of to get it going. Turning the motor on and off, opening and closing the doors, raising and lowering the hydraulic "kneel" but all to no avail. He also made a couple of phone calls, presumably seeking advice, a mechanic, a tow truck or a combination of all three. At one stage a French passenger spoke to him and together they went to the back of the bus, opened the engine cowling and peered in. Finally a Japanese passenger got up from his seat, went down and pointed to a few things on the dash, the driver presumably pressed the buttons indicated and hey presto the bus went into gear. The Japanese bloke returned to his seat near us and I asked him what happened but he didn't speak English so a young female Japanese passenger spoke to him. She then announced to the bus that he was a bus driver on holiday from Japan and knew the correct proceedure to get the bus started. We passengers applauded politely and off we went. The driver made one last phone call before moving off, I assume to cancel mechanic and tow but how he explained the delay I don't know. I suspect the boys at the depot will be giving him heaps for quite a while. It's just a shame the bus driver passenger wasn't from a country other than Japan because I assume it was the famed Japanese civility that kept him from intervening earlier (or maybe it was something so simple that he just assumed it couldn't possibly be that).

On our return toValletta we had lunch at Cafe Cordino in the centre of Via Repubblikka. It advertises itself as "estd 1837" so it's possible Edward may havc dined there. I asked the waiter if it had always been in that location and he said before the war it had been further down the street but was bombed out so moved to it's current location. It was an elegant place. Edward would've liked it.

After lunch we returned to our appartment for a nap before returning to watch more Carnival festivities in the evening.