Has anyone been to the ancient sites on Malta?

@LaMaltese , have you ever been to the ancient sites on Malta?

Here's a link about a program that mentions the Hypogeum;

https://topsrs.day/show/hidden-beneath-the-cities-s01e03/season/1/episode/3 .

More information about this ancient site here;

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C4%A6al_Saflieni_Hypogeum .

There was a series of commemorative 2 Euros from Malta depicting some of these sites.

Aidan.

We have been to the Hypogeum in Malta. It was prior to the renovation in 2016-17 when they installed a new climate control system.

Since Malta is a small island nation, the towns of the main island feels as suburbs to the capitol Valetta. The distances are short and public transport gives you easy access. The museum is situated in an ordinary building that does not stand out from the others, except for the inscription on the wall.

The Hypogeum itself is a complex of natural underground caves and caves digged out of the bedrock. People lived there mainly to stay out of harms way when intruders, pirates and bandits came to Malta for carnage and pillage. The museum only gives access to a fragment of the caves. My wife has a sense for seing and feeling spirits (ghosts) and she was surprised to see a few spirits in the Hypogeum caves. The spirits were benovelent to visitors.

You need to book tickets months in advance since they only let 80 people in a day, with 10 shifts of eight people in each shift. You're down there for about 30 minutes.

One thing that you perhaps need to acclimatise to is that there is not enough potable water on Malta for all, so tap water is mainly made by desalination of sea water from the Mediterranean Sea. Brewing a cup of tea or coffee on tap water gives an odd flavour, which to me was undrinkable. Bottled water is sold everywhere.

Its a real bucket list thing for me. Between 2005 and 2016 I was hugely into stamp collecting and made Malta my main country (I had all but 3 of their stamps at oe stage, but sold the collection in 2016 to buy new glasses.

Anyway I learned about the Hypogeum, Mnajdra, Tarxien and Hal Saflieni through the stamps and have always been fascinated by them for their great age and construction. Plus from watching YT Travel videos, I can see how nice Malta is, warm, welcoming and its looks like speaking English is not an issue there!

Speaking English is definitely not an issue on Malta since it's one of their official languages (the other being Maltese). Warm, yes, even though that was never our thing, so to the Mediterranean area we used to travel prior to the season (April to May). We haven't gone by airplane since 2019 since my wife is having difficulties walking for extended periods of time.

We lived in Marsaxlokk on the southeast coast and traveled across the island by bus to the different attractions. Nice little village by the sea with a harbour, fishing boats and all. We found the accomodation via booking.com (which we do not use anymore due to bad experiences) and our stay was about five days if I remember correctly. Plane tickets back then were quite affordable.

Malta has an interesting past with many different masters, their sovereignty is only since 1964, being a republic since 1974 and a member of the EU since 2004. One should think that a small nation like Malta would appreciate tourists, but unfortunately where we lived it seemed like every dog owner let their pet crap in the streets. I've never been to a place where I had to be that vigilant of sidewalk mines.

We've been to Spain and Greece as well and prefer those places over Malta, especially the island of Crete (Greece) is to be recommended. Very good food, especially if you can find one of those tavernas where the locals come. Our favorite in Spain is Málaga and Semana santa - The Holy Week in Spain. One of my friends has recommended the island of Sardinia (Italy), which is to be the next place to visit, God willing.

Moneytane

 

Between 2005 and 2016 I was hugely into stamp collecting and made Malta my main country (I had all but 3 of their stamps at oe stage

You would enjoy the Malta Postal Museum. We were there in March. It was absolutely worth the money. They have an extensive exhibit of stamps and stories about the Postal Buses that delivered mail all over the islands (and carried passengers too). PS: we were the only 2 visitors on our tour of the museum.

http://www.maltapostalmuseum.com/

And the archaeology museum has a great display of coins (ancient to modern). Worth the admission price in its own rite.

https://heritagemalta.mt/explore/national-museum-of-archaeology/

BCNumismatics

@LaMaltese , have you ever been to the ancient sites on Malta?

 

Here's a link about a program that mentions the Hypogeum;

 

https://topsrs.day/show/hidden-beneath-the-cities-s01e03/season/1/episode/3 .

 

More information about this ancient site here;

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C4%A6al_Saflieni_Hypogeum .

 

There was a series of commemorative 2 Euros from Malta depicting some of these sites.

 

Aidan.

 

 

Yes, of course I have visited all the ancient temples of Malta many times over. They’re something we are very proud of. In fact they are one of the oldest known free standing buildings in the world. When it comes to currency, these temples have been featured on many of our circulating coins and even a banknote.

N#3894
This 5 Maltese liri cents coin features an altar from Ħaġar Qim.

N#206726

This 1 Lira banknote features the Ħal Saflieni Hypogeum.

N#2181
N#2182
N#2183
The current euro 1cent, 2cents and 5cents coin feature an altar from the Mnajdra Temples. 
 

https://en.numista.com/catalogue/series.php?id=4790

Moreover, a set of commemorative €2 coins featuring the main temples in Malta and Gozo were also issued. 
 

I am attaching a couple of photos I took last October whilst visiting Ħaġar Qim and Mnajdra Temples, they’re located within the same archealogical park, walking distance from each other.