A few days ago I got back from visiting a very interesting country—Malta. My main reason for going there was to experience the many megalithic temples that have been excavated and are open to the public. I have a strong fascination for megalithic ruins including how old they are, and who built them. How did those ancient people all over the world manage to move those multi-ton stones?
The country of Malta is actually made up of 3 main islands, Malta, Gozo, and tiny uninhabited Comino which is between them. Malta is located right in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea between Sicily and North Africa. Because of that, Malta has been invaded and occupied multiple times by countries that wanted to control those shipping routes, starting in ancient times with the Phoenicians and right up to modern times with the French and British. It gained independent status as a country in 1964. Everyone there speaks English in addition to their local dialect.
During the last ice age when the sea levels were much lower than today, Malta, Gozo, and Sicily were all connected to Italy via existing land bridges. As sea levels rose, the islands became separate from each other. The bedrock there consists of several types of limestone, and all of the megalithic sites in addition to the buildings that are there today are built of this stone. That has resulted in a curious combination of a patchwork of pale tan clusters of buildings in cities, towns and villages, separated by vast green spaces of the agricultural areas.
I was also pleasantly surprised to see wildflowers in bloom all over the place. I will dedicate a separate post to those.
There are also walled citadels and forts on top of most of the high places on both Gozo and Malta, in addition to around the harbors, because of the ongoing necessity through the ages of watching for invading forces looking to conquer these islands.
We went out on boats several times, although one boat trip had to be canceled because of rough seas.
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