Ancient Malta

Setting out in our baby Fiat Panda, just the thing to negotiate the narrow streets, we had a wonderful day exploring the natural beauty and ancient history of Malta.


Really testing our navigation skills, we found the ancient cart tracks that were deep ruts in the rock, thought to be made by hand drawn carts. Some were nearly deep as your knees. Adjacent to this was a series of collapsed troglodyte caves.

We visited the Hagar Qim and Mnajdra Temples that might not be well known to most but are the oldest constructed buildings in the world. They predate the Egyptian pyramids by 1000 years and Stonehenge by1600 years. Both are thought to be temples with standing stones and doorways as well as altars with elaborate ornamentation. Many of the statues and carvings have been removed but we saw them in the Archaeological Museum the previous day.

During the day, we also walked the cliffs of Dingli and took a boat trip to the Blue Grotto. This comprised about 9 caves with aquamarine water similar in many ways to Capri.

In the late afternoon, we visited 3 coastal villages with the traditional fishing boats in the harbours and with many local people enjoying the sandy beaches. We stayed the night in Marsaskala right beside the beach. All the other tourists were Maltese people.

We gained an interesting insight into an aspect of local culture with the Saturday night barbecue. After our swim in the hotel pool and rest, we ventured back along the beachfront for dinner. On the rocky platform at the back of the beach, there were hundreds of people attending family barbecues, most with at least 3 generations in attendance. They brought their own fold up barbecues as well as tables and chairs, huge bowls of salad and lots of nibbles, including pickled cheese (gbejna) and olives.

Standing in the cart ruts.

Minajdra temple

At Hagar Qim Temple.

The Blue Grotto.

Boats at the fishing village Marsaxlokk.