Contents

Day 1

The Last Leg to Malta

Arriving in Malta

Day 2

The Plan to Valletta

Valletta - How to Get One

Valletta - What to Do With It

Valletta - The Manoel Theater

Valleta - The State Rooms

Valletta - The End of the Peninsula

Valletta - St. Paul's Shipwreck Church

Valletta - The Fading Hours

A Few Notes On Busses

Back to the Hotel

Day 3

Mdina - St. Paul's Cathedral and Museum

Rabat - St. Paul's Catacombs

A Few More Notes on Busses

Day 4

Altering the Plan

Valletta - St. John's Co-Cathedral

Finishing Valletta

Relaxation Spoiled Only by a Map

Day 5

A Few Notes on Pants

Introduction to Gozo

Gozo - Ggantija Temples

What Not to Do in Gozo

Gozo Done Wrong

Gozo - Il Kastell

The Parting Hours

Day 6

Of London and Buckeyes

Day 7

The Worst Breakfast Ever

The Long Flight Home

Malta - Day Five

Ggantija Temples

Gozo looks very similar to this.
One of the problems I face when talking about the Ggantija Temples is coming up with a whole lot to say. I will grant that they are very impressive as examples of early stonework in Gozo. And the fact that they are there at all after 5,000 years or so is quite remarkable. But, um, that's about it.
When seeing something like the Great Pyramids, I would assume that their massive size is quite awe-inspiring. I admit that I have never been to see them myself, but that seems to be something of a theme for those who have seen them and I am willing to take their word for it. Likewise, the wonder of the Mayan Temples seem quite awe-inspiring in their own right, particularly when one travels through dense jungle to suddenly find oneself staring at a great tower of stone stretching toward the heavens. Again, I'm guessing here, but it seems to stand to reason that this would be the case.	Free-standing structure my keister.
Where Ggantija Drops the Ball The Ggantija Temples, on the other hand, lack something in the awe department. Part of it is the complete lack of roofs on the Temples, making them more stalls than actual temples. Part of it is the simple fact that they really aren't that large. Part of it is the fact that there are I-beams and scaffolding propping the structures up, which means that there was a rather liberal interpretation of just what constitutes a free-standing structure when the records were handed out.
Enough With the Negative Vibe This is not to say that they are not impressive structures in their own ways. The massive stones used in some of the walls are stunning for the sheer wonder of how they were moved into place at all. One must also appreciate the way in which the stones were each individually fitted individually to their location, requiring exceptionally skilled stonecutting work in order to make the parts match properly. And the interiors were interesting in their own ways, including some spiral designs that can sort of be made out on the surface of some of the stones. I mean, there is clearly something there that used to be really cool, so it's not all bad.	Look honey, rocks! Standing on top of one another! Freely!
It was a neat area and worth the 45 minutes or so we spent there. And both Gozo and the country of Malta are justified in being proud of having such ancient structures. But unless you are an archeologist or paleontologist, there's only so much to be gotten out of the experience, so we were quickly on the way someplace. This, I must now note, is when things began to deteriorate rapidly.