Malta!

Another beautiful day in Malta. This morning we went to visit some temples that were built about 3000BC, as in 5000 years ago! They are not unlike Stonehenge, although to us they were more impressive because they are more complete. They started to deteriorate so in about 1990 they decided to cover them with tents to help preserve them. They were only discovered and excavated in the late 19th century. Originally they believe they were roofed in, and like Stonehenge, they were built so that at the Summer and Winter Solstice the sun shines on significant parts of the structure.

Near the same site we visited one of the thirteen towers on the island. These were watch towers built by the Knights, one of the main groups of rulers of Malta’s history. They all originally only had a high door like this one, but some now have a low door as the British also used them but decided they didn’t like the climb up the ladder. They were all built from 1658-9.

The guy dressed in costume was telling us each one was manned by four local Maltese men who were on a regular watch. They worked well to start with, but by 1690, when an inspection was done, it was discovered that most of the men were out fishing or hanging round in the village – not doing their jobs at all but still on the payroll! In the afternoon we went to a beach for a swim. Definitely a beach with a difference to what we are used to. It’s surrounded by rock which slopes down to the sea. You can jump off high rocks into the water or like me cling to someone else (guess who) while you make your way across wet rocks to the edge and then kind of push off clumsily into the water. Beautiful deep clear water, very salty so very buoyant, and apparently no tide at all. I didn’t know that was possible.

We finished off the day at a restaurant built into the bottom of the fort around the ‘new’ city – only 500 years old. I had rabbit livers – a local delicacy and very tasty.

Day 3 in Malta – we went to visit a ‘boat-house’ that Charlene’s family rents off the government. We would call it a bach and we fell in love with it! It is very private because you need a key to get your car near it so only a few people venture in. The boat-house itself is a square concrete block, very simple and sits on a promontory out into the sea. There’s a bit of a clamber down to the water but we discovered some steps on the rear side that made it a lot easier for this old lady...

Gus and Billy went snorkelling for sea urchins, or ‘Rizzi’ as they are called here; Charlene held the floating basket and told them what sort to get - she ate them all, except for the one I tried - none of the rest of us is very partial. We spent most of the day here – Charlene even brought out the makings for dinner and cooked for us.

We watched some of the local boats fishing with nets at the end of the day.

The sunset across the bay at the end of the day really topped it off - this photo is taken from the kitchen window of the boat house.

Day 4 and it’s our last day already, Malta has been a real highlight of our trip. It's been really good having Charlene to show us around and also to tell us about the politics and how things work here - like a lot of small communities there is a lot of corruption and 'not what you know but who' to get jobs. The Catholic Church also still holds a lot of power, divorce has only been legal a few years. We went to the fish market in the morning, which turned out to be a market of clothes and souvenirs as well as fish.

Then to a lovely restaurant for lunch – Cha and I had gnocchi and Gus & Billy had a pasta and brisket dish – all very nice and filling!

We also quickly stopped in at a church as we thought we'd better visit one of them - there are 365 churches on the island - Billy pointed out there's one for every day of the year! This one was very beautiful, this is the artwork in the dome.

Our last stop was a cave where they have found a lot of bones, including complete skeletons of elephants, hippopotami and red deer, proving that Malta was once connected to mainland Europe. They believe it was not quite a land bridge but shallow water so only the mammals that could swim well made the crossing. They must have survived cut off on the island for a long time because they evolved into smaller species than the mainland varieties. Now we have to leave this beautiful island and say goodbye to our excellent hosts, but they are coming back to New Zealand later in the year so won’t be for too long...