Euro Spring 2015 - Part 16 - Going Deeper Into History

Where Our Heroes

• Achieve public transit Nirvana 
• Wonder how SIL 2B has managed to train all the bus drivers in Malta
• Find there can be no wind
• Go walking in the footsteps of 5500 years ago
• Successfully continue to accept limits

 Today we went to two of the better preserved Neolithic ruins in Malta; Hagar Qim and Mnajdra. These are called temples because they represent monumental construction during a period when the homes of daily people were nowhere near that substantial.  In fact no one really knows what they were used for.

We totally hit it out of the park with the public transit system.  I had all our buses and times down and we got seats on every bus we took.  One thing that has puzzled Wife and I during our drives on the buses.  Clearly all the bus drivers are being trained by hour son-in-law 2B because they all drive like maniacs until they come to something they have to stop for where they slam on the brakes and then accelerate like demons as soon as they can.  The result is this herky-jerky ride.  The concept of anticipation and gradual acceleration and slowing down to provide passenger comfort is completely lost on these guys (and very occasional gal).  For the first time the wind died down and we were able to take off a number of layers of clothing without freezing.

Hagar Qim

Keep in mind looking at these pictures that these were built approximately in the 3500 BC time period - roughly 5500 years ago.  The pre-date the great pyramids in Egypt by a thousand years.  The culture of these days did not have a lot of enemies and none of these developed areas have any defensive walls.  This changes when the Bronze age people arrive.

Mnadjra

In addition to these two well preserved ruins there were a number of others in the area that are not.  And there are other sites all over the island.

Some other scenes from the same area

A defense tower from the 17th century

One of the smaller islands of the group, Filfla

Remember the picture of the drilling rig in the harbor a couple of days ago?  Here's one in action.

Some local flora - these islands are very dry, semi-arid

We were finished at around Noon.  We had time for a nice meal at the restaurant at the visitor center which wasn't too bad

And we took our buses back, did some shopping and were back to our apartment by 5:00.  A nice day, not exhausting, filled with enjoyment.  The way we should be doing things.