Our day started with time for breakfast. We walked to our meeting point as the locals were walking into town for Carnival. The children were all in costume and adorable. We were glad to leave before the loud festivities began. The streets were filled with floats that would be drawn around town with very loud music coming from the tractors pulling the floats.
When we arrived at our meeting point we also met a British woman, Janet who was joining our trip. We chatted for a while eager to get going . We left on a small bus that hooked us up with a larger group that was fewer than yesterday’s Gozo trip.
Our first stop was a prehistoric cave. Ghar dalam. Our guide explained that since there is no written record of prehistory, much remains a mystery. Bones of small elephants, bear, hippopotamus and deer were found in abundance in the cave. The original interpretation was that the Phoenicians had brought the animals but later evidence indicated that there had been climate changes that caused the sea level to fall and allowed these animals to cross from southern Europe where food and water were scarce. Apparently the cave was in a valley that had been flooded many times so that the bones may have been carried there by floods. It’s all a projection.
There were many cases of artifacts at the site showing collected bones and teeth from the cave. It was interesting to see what we were told was only a small portion of the total find.
We moved on to the two temple sites that were the main focus of our trip. We saw that the air seemed foggy. Our guide said it was actually sand being blown from African desert. No wonder I have been sneezing! These temples are also from 3600 BC which is older than the pyramids. Hagar Qim was largely under a deep layer of dirt except for a few very tall rocks that were well known in the area. It was uncovered in the 1800s. The temple had several spaces that seemed to be altars. The stones are immense. Round stones have been found in the area that were likely used as “wheels” to help move these enormous pieces.
We moved downhill to visit Mnajdra which is called the calendar temple. The solstices and equinoxes are aligned with the interior parts of the temple. The temples existed for about 2000 years and were abandoned for unknown reasons. I suspect that lack of water drove people away. Malta has no water except what is collected as rainwater.
We returned to Valletta and joined up with Janet for coffee and a chance to discuss our tour. We enjoyed our conversation away from what was now a crazy celebration of carnival. Patricia and I left to visit the archeological museum. It was interesting and at least quiet inside.
We got back to our hotel to pack and get ready for dinner. Our trip across the narrow section of Valletta was a challenge to reach our spot for dinner. We climbed up and down to return to our hotel. Streets were blocked by music and floats. We had no idea when we planned this that we were arriving during carnival.
We are being picked up at 3:40am to go to the airport for our flight to Paris. Weather says SNOW in Paris. We shall see. What a crazy way to end our trip. We hope to visit Notre Dame
The Adventures of Anne 