6/24 - Malta

What a spectacular country! We visit three wonderful places in the capital city Valletta during the morning. First stop is the archeological museum.

Fertility was a big thing with Maltans in the pre-historic age and we see numerous strange statues, of various sizes, of what may have been androgenous people. Huge-hipped, they resembled women in their lower halves, but they had the upper bodies of men. Wow! They certainly did know how to portray women as we saw one statuette of a female with breasts sagging below her waist.

After cherishing the ancient sign of eternal life, as etched in stone to the right, several of us look for jewelry and other souvenirs that portray this symbol. Until one of our group points to a fire hose sign, exactly the same symbol!

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The second visit is to the Co-Cathedral Catholic Church of St. John the Baptist. Unbelievable! It took them only five years to construct the outside, but one hundred years to carve the incredible inside. Do look at the photos. They have two splendid Caravaggio paintings which are never permitted to be displayed outside the cathedral. Sorry, no photographs were allowed in that gallery.

The floor is all tomb-tops of various people. (I presume all priests who lived and worked there, but that may not be true.) Those tombs were frequently adorned with elaborately arranged skeletons!

Third stop is the Palace of the Magistrate of the city,  priests of the Order of St. John, who all displayed the eight-pointed Maltese star on their chests. They have elegant staterooms and a room full of exquisite tapestries.

We return to the ship for lunch, then re-board the buses for the short ride to the Tarxien temple, a very early temple (3600 bc – 2400 bc) and very interesting. Right in the middle of a suburb, it is well-cared for but not like the other temple we visit. It has no cover, the site is hot, sunny and dusty (remember, all the best art pieces are at the museum we visited this morning.)

The Blue Lagoon from a great height above it

Hagar Qim

We then go further out into the country, stopping to take photos of the Blue Lagoon left (spectacular!) and then a few minutes further to the Hagar Qim temple. Much more carefully restored, with a huge tent covering the ruins and an elaborate visitor center (2/3 funded by EU money). We are told the work had had to be completed on time or the money needed to be given back to the EU. Needless to say, it is complete and beautiful.

We return to the ship and are watching the crew ready it for departure, when we notice the crew seems to be having trouble with the gangplank. As one of the workers fussed with the end of it, the gangplank suddenly gives way and pitches him into the narrow gap of seawater between the boat and the dock.

Fortunately, in only a few seconds we see him swimming to where there was a ladder and he is able to get out. We expect to hear ambulance sirens, but after the ship’s doctor braces his neck sand placed a big bandage on his chin, they put him on a body board and carry him back onto the boat. The captain later announced that, though he got bunged up a bit, he was going to be fine and would be back at work. We see him at work a few days later and are reassured that he really is ok.

Dinner is with the Yale group led by Gordon Turnbull, a delightful evening.