Ħaġar Qim, over 5000 years old, is found at the top of a promontory with a fertile plain to its east and garrigue sloping down to the sea to the west. 500m downhill from Ħaġar Qim one finds Mnajdra, a contemporary building, probably used by the same community given its proximity.

The late-Neolithic site of Ħaġar Qim consists of a group of monumental megalithic buildings, located on the crest of a ridge. To the west, the site commands views over the open sea, while to the east, it overlooks the edge of a large plain.

The main building of Ħaġar Qim is unusual with features and doorways along its external wall. The floor of the central passage inside the building is paved in stone slabs while the floors in the chambers branching off this passage are made from beaten earth. The original low-relief carvings, copies of which are nowadays in this building, are displayed at the National Museum of Archaeology in Valletta. Doorways inside the buildings are either trilithon, built of two upright stone blocks with a lintel and threshold, or an opening cut into a single megalith, known as a ‘porthole’ doorway. Parts of these buildings were originally covered by a corbelled roof, made of successive courses of megaliths, each one smaller than the one below.

Mnajdra consists of three buildings, constructed in both globigerina and coralline limestone. The first and oldest structure is the small three-apsed structure. The South building, with its concave façade was next to be completed followed by the Central building which was constructed on an artificial platform between the two earlier buildings. The South building’s doorway is aligned with sunrise during the Spring and Autumn equinoxes. During the Winter and Summer solstices, the beams of the rising sun pass along the sides of the main doorway hitting two decorated slabs within the first chamber. Apart from the central passage leading to chambers on either side, the buildings at Mnajdra also include tiny chambers constructed within the thickness of the walls.

Both Ħaġar Qim and Mnajdra are protected from the elements by shelters. Since these sites were excavated less than two centuries ago, their slow deterioration has been witnessed at first hand. Shelters were therefore constructed in 2008 and are intended to slow down the impact of natural elements on the rate of deterioration of these sites until alternative means of preservation are tested and implemented.

No matter how far I go, I can never reach it. What, then, is the purpose of utopia? It is to cause us to advance.

Eduardi Gughes Galeano

James Openheim

It was a choice between visiting the fishing village of Marsaxlokk or the Hagar Qim temple complex.

We checked the bus time tables and found that the bus to Marsaxlokk would arrive earliest so we decided that we would go there for the day. Then Mr C noticed a bus that was heading to the temples which caused him to change his mind. It was only when we were on our way that he realised the journey wasn’t direct and we would have to change.

We changed at Zurrieq, a quaint Moorish town with picturesque narrow streets. There were lots of buses returning to Valletta but we had to wait for half an hour one that went to the temples.

Before entering the temple complex, we had a traditional Maltese tuna ftira. The sandwich was so large we shared it between us.

The Hagar Qim complex consists of a main temple and three additional megalithic structures beside it. The main temple was built between 3600 and 3200 BC but other structures on the site are even older. Hagar Qim is quite different to other megalithic sites that I have seen.

We viewed one temple then, instead of taking the direct route to the second temple, we took the route of the nature walk. The ground was rugged and rough under our feet. Thankfully I had put my walking shoes on but, even so, when Mr C decided to walk along the cliff edge I headed uphill, keeping to the pathway.

Arriving at the second temple we found it to be a lot smaller in footprint than the first one. Like megalithic structures elsewhere, there are sun and moon alignments to the solstice and equinox. There is even a theory that one of the stones has markings that align it to the Pleiades constellation.

Both temples have a canvas canopy over them to protect them from the harsh elements that would erode the soft limestone rock.

Back at the bus stop we found out that, counter-intuitively, we needed to catch the bus back to Valletta on the same side of the road as we had alighted. We waited for quite some time (other people joining us) and no bus appeared in either direction. After a while we suspected that one of the scheduled buses had been cancelled and we were now waiting for the next one which arrived eventually.

Back in Valletta, we decided to relax with a cup of the tea on our balcony before setting off for our evening meal. We settled on the restaurant That’s Amore where we didn’t have the best of experiences. They were extremely slow to take our order and when the bottle of wine arrived the glasses were filled unevenly. Mr C’s empty plate was taken away whilst I was still eating and he was advised that he could order desserts and coffee later! My plate was left in front of me for a long time after I had finished eating. The lovely local rose wine we had chosen was the saving grace of the experience.

Back at the hotel, the bar staff tried to fob me off with a small bottle of inferior wine because they had run out of the normal wine and needed to go to the cellar for some more. I sent it back to be replaced with the higher quality wine that I had ordered on other occasions.