Malta

Some years ago I was in Malta for a week.


I has posted some pictures of "cart ruts" on the cliffs near Dingli here
https://plus.google.com/photos/111862100485720733421/albums/5349118699022611441


I had completely forgotten them, and they appear to have been purposefully forgotten by the Maltese as well. these ones were not marked anywhere and the tourist/archaeological authorities apparently have no interest in them.


Malta and its people stroke me as very distant - the polity towards foreigners has clear limits, and one issue people will not talk about is the pre-Christian heritage, meaning the cart ruts, Mnajdra, Hal Saflieni or the Hal Tarxien. My hotel just "had never heard" about these things yet they could give me good guidance to get around. The isle is full of churches made of stone, and most rural roads are walled on both sides with stones.

Nice pic's. Did You by any chance get to see the Hypogeum(__http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypogeum_of_%C4%A6al-Saflieni)?

No. We went to to the Hypogeum but they didn't let us in. The person at the entrance / ticket booth told us that we needed a confirmed reservation requested at least 6 weeks before. There supposedly was a group downstairs but the the place was empty, no activity that could be noted from where I was. They supposedly limit visits because breathing / exudations damage the stone. We didn't insist because the person had a rather thuggish demeanor and wasn't happy to speak to us.


If you're interested, I uploaded the pictures I made at the Tarxien site, which is near the Hypogeum.


Here is the Album: http://goo.gl/o3uaZ (Picasaweb)

P.S.: I added a couple of photos which I made on the street before the Hypogeum, better than nothing