Malta - Day 2

Well we are only about a week behind with our blog. What with busy days and very poor internet connections, we will try to catch up before we get home!

On our second day in Malta we got up and had a basic European breakfast in the hotel. Cold cuts, cheese, fruit, croissants and coffee. We then took a Bold (equivalent to Uber) to the Hypogeum - a necropolis (burial place) which dates back to the 4000 B.C. To 3000 B.C. The place was found when a man was digging a hole for a cistern and cut a hole in the roof of the place. There are no photos as the environment is very sensitive and there were only 10 people on the tour crowded into very small spaces. The tour lasted one hour. It was really interesting and like nothing we have ever seen before. There are stories of rooms cut out of solid rock. I will try to send a PDF that i was able to download in a separate email.

We then took the public transit into Valetta where we opted for indoor activities as it was raining. Once the rain had cleared we went back out into the sunshine. Two of the highlights were St. Catherine’s Monestary and the secret garden. A wealthy couple bequeathed their palazzo to orphan girls. The building became a monastic order where the nuns pledged never to leave the building. We went on a self-guided tour of the main floor which contained kitchens, storage rooms, bedrooms for the nuns and Mother Superior, laundry area and more. In the middle of the area it was open to the sky and there was a garden in which the nuns grew food to sustain themselves. (There was also a crypt where many of them are buried.) Today only one very elderly nun remains.

The next stop was the Kinisa San Dominica - this one occupied by Dominican monks. It was spectacularly furnished and was attached to a magnificent church which was painted by a Maltese artist.

After walking around we found the Archeological Museum and we also met a couple who had been on the cruise. The museum contained many artifacts found at the Hypogeum and well as displays on the different ages of the ancient world ending with the Phoenician’s who were also known as Canaanites! Two figures from the Hypogeum were a sleeping lady and another very large statue of a woman.

Then back on the bus to Marsaxlokk where we had a rest and then enjoyed a lovely meal overlooking the little harbour. We found the portions quite large as we had resolved no to eat so much after the cruise!!!

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