12 days in Malta

Satellite View of Malta, Gozo and Comino

The group will meet at our hotel in Sliema where we will spend most of our time in Malta. Since few people actually live in Valletta, the place is virtually deserted in the evening and Sliema is the best option. It is a seaside suburb of Valletta, formerly the preserve of the Maltese upper classes, and a short ferry or bus ride to the old city. Centrally located, it is an ideal base for exploring the islands of Malta and Gozo.

Valletta from Sliema

After breakfast, we will cross over to Valletta for a walking tour of the old town. Starting from the Upper Barracca Gardens, which commands spectacular views of the Grand Harbour, we will visit the St. John’s Co-Cathedral, built by the Knights of St. John in 1573 to honour their patron. A tour of the nearby palace of the Grand Master is also in order. From there we will carry on through the narrow streets of the old city to the Lower Barracca Gardens. We can admire the mansions where the bachelor knights were housed according to nationality. After lunch, we will visit one of these, the Auberge de Provence, now the Museum of Archaeology.

The Grand Harbour & Fort St. Angelo from the Upper Barracca Gardens

The Grand Master's Palace

Today will be spent touring the archaeological sites of western Malta. In the morning we will explore the neolithic tombs at Xemxija and the remains of the temple at Bugibba, incongruously located in the courtyard of a modern hotel. After lunch, we will stop to visit the Church of Santa Marija Assunta in Mosta with its magnificent dome, one of the largest in the world. During World War II a bomb crashed through the dome during a service to lie miraculously unexploded on the church floor.

Xemxija: Tombs

Mosta and the Church of Santa Marija Assunta

Today, we will visit the Hypogeum at Hal Saflieni and the temple complex at nearby Tarxien. The former, an enormous cluster of underground burial chambers containing the remains of thousands of people, is a Unesco World Heritage site. In addition to its funerary function it also seems to have been used for initiation ceremonies. Tarxien represents the apogee of the temple building period, certainly in terms of its art.

Hal Saflieni: Interior of Hypogeum

Hal Saflieni: Sleeping Goddess

Today we take the short ferry-crossing (20 min.) to the island of Gozo where we will spend the day exploring the eastern part of the island. We will start with the Ggantija Temples, which are the best preserved in all the Maltese islands dating to 3500-3200 B.C. We will have lunch in the village of Xaghra and then drive south to the village of Sannat to hike out past the Ta’Cenc Cliffs to the ruins of the temple at Borg il-Mramma. We will spend the night in Victoria (Rabat) but will keep our rooms in Sliema while we are away.

Ggantija: Altars in the South Temple

We will spend the morning exploring Victoria, the capital of Gozo, especially the Citadel where the Museum of Archaeology is located. After lunch in Victoria, we will spend the rest of the day exploring the natural beauty and cultural heritage of the west end of the island, with stops at the geological sites of Dwejra, the Inland Sea and the Azure Window, and Calypso’s Cave on the way back to the ferry.

Victoria: Kastello

Xewkija: The Rotunda Church

Sunday is a good day to spend in Valletta—particularly if you are interested in Malta’s military past. A visit to Fort Saint Elmo, which held out so gallantly and so long during the Great Siege of 1565, when a force of nearly 50,000 Turks tried to wrest control of the island from 6,000 defenders. Today, the fort houses the National War Museum commemorating a much later siege, that of 1940-43 when the Axis powers tried to neutralize the island by the fiercest aerial bombardment of the Second World War. A visit to the Lascaris War Rooms, the operations centre during the siege and now a museum, is also planned.

Mdina Skyline

Mdina ‘The Quiet City’

Today we will drive south to see the temples of Hagar Qim and Mnajdra. Hagar Qim literally means ‘sacred stones’ and a number of important objects were recovered here including the seven headless ‘fat ladies’ and an altar carved with vegetal motifs. Mnajdra is the most beautifully situated temple, set dramatically on a steep sea cliff. Here we will see three temples, of which the Lower Temple may have been a solar observatory. We will return by way of Rabat and Mdina. The former is noted for its catacombs—burial vaults that date to Roman times. Mdina, the “silent city”, is a particularly fine example of a medieval walled city and a delight to explore.

Hagar Qim: Aerial View and Altar

Mnajdra: South Temple

Mnajdra: Guard Dog

Mnajdra: Apse with Altar in the South Temple

Tuesday is the only day that the sites of Ta Hagrat and Skorba will be open, so we had better take advantage of the opportunity. These two sites are early in the sequence of temple development and little visited but they are each impressive in their way and give a good deal of insight into the development of temple architecture. After lunch—perhaps atop the Dingli Cliffs, weather permitting—we will play it fast and loose in the afternoon. A visit to the Craft Village or to the Limestone Heritage Museum are possibilities.

Ta Hagrat: Entrance to the Temple

Today we will make our way to the fishing villages of Marsaxlokk in the south-eastern part of the island. On the way, we will stop and visit the cave of Ghar Dalam and, if possible, Borg in-Nadur where there was a neolithic temple and a later Bronze Age settlement. In the afternoon, we will make our way along the coast to Wied-iz Zurrieq where we will rent boats and visit the Blue Grotto with its underwater caves.

Luzzus in Marsxlokk Harbour

Our final day will be spent in and around Valletta, starting with a boat trip around the Grand Harbour. We will use dighijsas, the traditional small boats of the island, which means we can get right into the creeks that flow into the harbour. After the tour, you are free to explore the Three Cities—Cospicua, Senglea and Vittoriosa. The latter was the main city on Malta before the construction of Valletta after the Great Siege of 1565.

Departures.

Note:

The price of the trip includes:

• hotel taxes and gratuities
• accommodation based on double occupancy in Hotels (single supplement available)
• overland transportation via mini bus
• all visits and sightseeing as per itinerary
• the services of your tour conductors, Meg Morden and/or Willie Rowbotham

The price of the trip does NOT include:

• gratuities for individual services
• meals, apart from those specifically indicated in the itinerary
• all items and expenses of a purely personal nature
• overseas flights