This was published 8 years ago
Malta, Europe: A European island holiday with a bit of everything
By Gabrielle Costa
The Hal Saflieni Hypogeum is a hewn rock structure which was used as a cemetery.Credit: Alamy
Imagine walking into the bowels of a millennia-old tomb, knowing that thousands of people were buried here.
Imagine each stone carved painstakingly by hand, in a structure so vast that one chamber leads to another and another, everything and out of sight.
Now imagine this: you are not in Egypt, and these are not the pyramids of Giza. They are older, too. By about 1000 years.
Spend a summer in the Med exploring the attractions of Malta.
In fact, these tombs, carved from the limestone under the ground – built in reverse, as it were – are in Malta, a tiny island with an extraordinary and mysterious history.
The site I speak of here is the Hal Saflieni Hypogeum, a subterranean wonder of engineering, chambers carved from the rock long before any engineer existed, perfected with an extraordinary skill to create a rounded beauty that would rival any stonemason's work to this day. And the only tools these unknown people had were made of stone and of wood.
To get a true sense of the Hypogeum's size is impossible as a visitor. There is only a small section that can be accessed, and under the strictest guidelines. The rest is off limits.
The way, the truth and the light ... An unretouched photo of St Publius, just outside Valletta, throws Malta's Catholicism into stark relief.Credit: Gabrielle Costa
But that section is a phenomenon.
Only 10 people are allowed in at any one time – the tours had to be reined back when the breath from the visitors started to eat into the limestone walls … truly.
Even though your presence in the tombs is fleeting, it is intimate. The tours are an amazing experience into the realm of unanswerable mysteries. Who carved each stone, fragment by fragment? Why did they do it? And for me, the most pressing question of all, why did they abandon the tombs and leave the island?
A bit fishy ... Lampuki, straight from the grill.Credit: Gabrielle Costa
There were, they say, 7000 bodies in here at one time. The short visit is enough because after a while, I cannot wipe the morbid picture of the piles of bones from my mind. It is troubling and shocking and fascinating all at once, an experience like no other.
The experts say farmers who came to Malta from nearby Sicily carved the Hypogeum from the stone. Their existence was wiped in a mystery for the ages, the tombs left untouched until 1902 when excavations for a cistern on a house revealed their existence to modern man. No one knows what became of the builders of the Hypogeum, whether they abandoned their beliefs and left, or were killed off by disease.
The tombs are not the only site filled with mystery on an island that is a mystery in itself.
Temples dot the landscape too, extraordinary temples that tell of either a remarkable coincidence or a very early understanding of the seasons and the solstices.
At Hagar Qim and Mnajdra, the temples are aligned such that at the solstice, the light at sunrise falls on an altar, different altars in summer and winter. Not much remains now and what is there is tented over to protect it from the elements but if imagination allows, picture the grand structures they would have been, looking out onto a calm sea.
It is not all ancient history in Malta. The capital Valletta is a beautiful example of a well thought-out city on the edge of an exquisite harbour.
It is, if I dare say, like the best bits of Rome, only everywhere. The winding streets are paved with stone, the Opera House that was bombed to oblivion during World War II remains as a reminder of conflict, and the site, when I was visiting, of a beautiful ballet by the Russian Bolshoi Theatre.
You can take a tour through the home of nobles at Casa Rocca Piccola, where guide Eve will show you how the other half live – and indeed continue to live, a well-to-do family still resides there – and resident parrot Kiku will greet you. At the Grand Master's Palace, the extraordinary beauty is evident, if dimly lit. But beware the crowds and try to time your visit to avoid the mass tour groups.
Still in Valletta, the St John's Co-Cathedral is breathtaking in its ornate brilliance, while the darker, less crowded Church of St Paul's Shipwreck – he was shipwrecked here on his way to a trial in Rome that spelled his demise – is pokier, somehow, but disarmingly charming.
This is a highly religious country, where almost everyone identifies as Roman Catholic. At Mosta, in fact, there is a church dome that is visible, they say, from most parts of the island.
In 1942, a bombshell came ripping through that dome, into a congregation of 300 people. The German weapon skidded across the floor. It failed to explode. And not a single person was hurt.
Everywhere you go in Malta there is a church and they are beautifully maintained by a people proud of their faith. Arriving on the Maltese island of Gozo by ferry and your first sight is, indeed, a church dome. A tour of the island reveals many more.
But there is also a pub culture in Malta to rival that anywhere.
In trendy Sliema, which sits on a jutting rib of land that houses the ferry services on one side and private hotel lidos and swimming "beaches" (most are rock) on the other.
Bar after bar is crammed at night with locals and tourists and restaurants are packed well into the late evening with patrons sampling unbelievably fresh seafood just plucked from the ocean, much of it prepared with Italian influences.
At Il Galeone I had a dish of fresh sole with a silky lemon butter sauce and a glorious tiramisu that was a coffee-bitter sweet ending to a lovely meal at this family-run restaurant that's been turning out great food since 1983.
Walk along the magnificent promenade crammed with people out for an evening stroll in the warm summer air until you happen upon Ta' Kolina. The rabbit dishes are popular with the patrons, as is the lampuki, a Maltese fish that's a little on the bony side but delicious if you don't mind picking your way through them.
On the Valletta side of the harbour at Cockney's, the spaghetti alle vongole was nothing short of perfect. The clams were cooked in garlic-wine sauce and every strand of pasta was perfectly tender, made all the better by a half-bottle of Maltese white wine, deliciously fruity and the perfect chilled complement on a hot evening. There might be a little wait, as everything there is cooked to order but it is worth it, even if the ferry back to Sliema is beckoning.
Nearby Paceville and St Julian's are home to bars and clubs that are, perhaps, more the domain of the young, but every night is rocking somewhere, even if it's just a rocky ledge along the sea, where locals build fires and simply sit, enjoying the summer evening with the lap of the water as their soundtrack.
In my travels, I met Arthur. The Briton has been visiting Malta for 40 years. And I heard tell of another frequent traveller who'd called Malta his home away from home since 1946.
Arthur told me as I left that he might well see me again. I can imagine that is a distinct possibility. Who would not want to go back to a place with such a breadth of beauty?
TRIP NOTES
MORE INFORMATION
For more about the Hypogeum and pre-booking tickets, www.heritagemalta.org
STAYING THERE
Avoid Valletta as it shuts up shop en masse in the early evening. Head to Sliema for a relaxed break (Hotel Plevna was great for the price – about $96 a night, with breakfast – but the full board option is best avoided) and St Julian's and Paceville for a rowdier time. There's no shortage of hotels. Hit Google and booking sites for great deals, especially in shoulder season.
GETTING THERE
Emirates flies to Malta via Dubai and Lanarca, Cyprus. Getting there from continental Europe is a cinch (and cheap).
EATING THERE
Il Galeone (21 316 420) is at 35 Ix-Xatt Ta' Tigne, Sliema just across from the ferries and a little away from the tourist bustle.
Ta' Kolina (21 33 5106) is at 151 Tower Road, Sliema.
You'll find Cockney's (21 236 065) at Triq Marsamxett, Il-Belt, Valletta. You can see it from the ferry dock on the Valletta side.
The writer travelled at her own expense.
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