May 24, 2023

May 24, 2023

We had planned to rent a car at the Malta Airport. Since we took the ferry, we now have no wheels. Our traveling companions alerted us to Uber now being available in Malta. So we used the app this morning to drive us to the nearby city of Mdina. With the heavy traffic, narrow roads, and opposite side driving, Aimee is very happy we are using Uber instead. I am too.

Mdina is the old capital of Malta. It is a small walled city atop a hill. Its name is Arabic from Medina, or old city. When Malta was given to the Knights they moved the capital to Valletta. The old Maltese nobility remained here but without their power, earning Mdina the nickname of the Silent City. Aimee and I walked the narrow, clean, almost barren, streets dodging cars. There are few tourists at this hour.

Our first stop is St Paul’s co-cathedral. It shares the bishop seat with its counterpart St John’s in Valletta. It is much smaller and less ostentatious. But it does have the same tomb flooring like St Johns. A mass is starting so we can’t stray far from the entrance.

We finish at the far end of Mdina where we get nice views of the surrounding valley. We chuckle watching a woman with a tripod-mounted cell phone taking selfies. It is a new world we live in.

We exit through the side Greek gate and next visit the Domus Romana. In Roman times Mdina was called Melita, from which the whole island got its name. In 1882 a large mosaic floor was discovered from a large Roman city house. The centerpiece of the design is two doves drinking water. This is a common motif for Romans.

During excavation a number of artifacts from the likely wealthy owner were discovered. I am always amazed at the quality of Roman luxury goods. It reminds me that the needs of husbands and wives have changed little through the millennia.

From Mdina, we Ubered across the island to Hagar Qim. This is one of the World Heritage Megalithic Temple sites we learned about yesterday at the Archeology Museum. Mediterraneans curse the Sirocco winds. But one benefit is that they buried ancient sites in a layer of Sahara dust protecting them for 5000 years. Hagar Qim is older than Stonehenge and equally as mysterious. The stone temples consist of multiple adjoining rooms in a cloverleaf pattern; akin to a cathedral with lots of side chapels. No bodies were discovered, so it is not a tomb. It must be associated with some religious ritual. The purpose must have been pretty important to spend precious time carving, moving and erecting huge blocks of stone. On the temple perimeter is a niche room with a hole cut to the interior. One archeologist suggested this might have been used by an oracle to deliver predictions.

About 500 yards downhill towards the sea is Mnajdra, another set of three temples. This one is in a little better shape because of the use of a harder stone. Some of the stones are decorated with thousands of little holes. Aimee thinks they resemble the hammered copper look of the kitchen table she has been wanting.

We are getting hungry so we Uber back to Mdina where we find a madhouse. The cruise ships must be bussing tourists in by the hundreds. We walk away from the crowd and find a nice restaurant where we have a lunch of Maltese Pasta. It was much better than last night’s choice.

Afterwards we walk into the adjoining town of Rabat (suburb in Arabic) to the Basilica of St Paul. Paul was shipwrecked here on his way to Rome. During his time on Malta he installed a bishop and started an early Christian community. The cave he supposedly lived in is called St Paul's Grotto. Because Christians buried their dead instead of cremating like the Romans, Rabat is filled with catacombs.

We then Ubered to the Hal Saflieni Hypogeum. This is another Megalithic site. Unlike the many above ground temples in Malta, this is an underground catacomb that was only discovered a hundred years ago when a worker was digging a cistern. Like the caveman paintings in France, the site deteriorated quickly because of tourism. Visits are now limited to ten at a time. I had to make this coveted reservation months ago.

After watching two films, we are led down the stairs into this hand-dug cave system. It must have been grueling to remove all this stone in darkness. Because of dampness most of the thousands of interred skeletons simply disintegrated into dust.

Many of the rooms are carved to resemble the stone slab architecture of the above ground temples. A few ceilings have remnants of decoration with red ochre paint. We have seen similar catacomb and troglodyte housing elsewhere. The 5000 year-old age of this site is just an indication that digging into stone must somehow be in the human DNA.

Back in Valletta, we relax on our rooftop deck with some beverages bought at the lobby bar. We watch the biggest cruise ship I have ever seen leave the harbor. It holds 9000 crew and passengers and even has a giant water slide in the stern.

We also watched a crew filming a German language movie outside our hotel, and in the adjoining building. Because of all the stone fortresses and narrow streets, Malta has long been a filming location. Our hotel clerk said last year dinosaurs from the latest Jurassic Park film rampaged outside the hotel.

For dinner, we ate at a Michelin guide restaurant. It was excellent. Starting with a half bottle of Caravaggio wine, we had a tasty bean appetizer that reminded us of Olive Tapenade. Our main course was Sea Bass. We finished with a dessert of Prickly Pear Panna Cotta. Yum