The first stop was the Tarxien Temples! (BtW - we couldn't get tickets to the Hypogeum as you have ro book in a month and a half in advance and no last minute tickets were available on the day even at 50 Europe's per person!)

The Tarxien temples were from the Bronze age - about 5500 years old - 3500 BC - and slightly older than Mohenjodaro and Harappa! This is one of the few Megalithic temples in the world. As I walked through the the gates and onto the temple complex - it gave ne goosebumps - to stand in the midst of the pillars where ancient man has walked before - to touch the stones was like connecting to thousands of past memories- of ancient rituals, ceremonial sacrifices, carved altars, and men and women walking these very paths. The use of the giant pot, still preserved, is not known. Maybe communal feasts were cooked in it, woth a grouo of wonen chatting around it, or maybe fresh water was stored there. But the feeling of a lot of women's hands touching that pot was not something I could shake off. This was a place where giant monolithic sculptures once stood - only the bottom half of a female figure now stands as a testaments to the marvels of our ancestors.

The next stop was the Blue Grotto - a sea cave known for the azure hue of the water that surrounds it. The boat however was not running that day and so we had to be satisfied with loking at it from the top. (BTW as we found out, things closing or not running was not uncommon!)

The next two ore-histiric Megalithic temples were those of Hagar Qim and Mnajdra. An aside - when I asked the taxi driver to take us to Hagar Qin he looked confused - then as if a light had dawned on him Saif- oh "Hajar Im" - so G is a J and apparently Q is not pronounced and X os Sh and where there are no vowels between letters you pronounce the first alphabet - Mnajdra is pronounced emnajdra! The grandeur of the towering stones that forned these temples complexes where pre-historic men gathered to appeared the gods makes one feel insignificant in comparison.

The pre-historic caves of Ghar Dalam was our next stop. Armed with the Malta Taxi app I ruled the schedule! This cave was even older - from the last glacial age about 10,000 years ago. I was losing my sense of time and space. Fossils of animals extinct thousand if years ago - small mammoths, giant deer and swans had been found in these caves - as had the remains of civilization more than 7000 years ago.

By this time the seven year old had had enough of a bunch of stones that the adults had drooled over and was complaining that there were better stones near home than here - why were we walking so much to see brien stones! And did I mention - the 70 degrees perfect Mediterranean weather had turned chilly anf cold because of an unexpected storm front. The Maltese sunshine was no match for the cold gale force winds

And it was late afternoon and everyone was hungry and tired. We took a short taxi ride to the fishing village of Marxalokk to eat something there. Marxalokk is a colorful sleepy little village in the spot here part of Malta - picture perfect with the brightly colored boats bobbing up and down against an azure sea. The main street is lined with blue doors framed by flower boxes set against the ocean blues. We chanced upon a small shop selling fish pastis, meat pies arancini and tandoori chicken roll! Taking rhis as a divine sign, we decided to stop there and eat,

We were on our way back to Valletta as the sun set behind us and the kiss rolled in to envelop the little fishing village, Back in Valletta and still jet lagged we crashed at the hotel for a couple of hours before gearing out for dinner. The island nation keeps early hours and by 10 most plac4s were closing. As we walked around we found a local restaurant serving rabbit and octopus. With a bottle of a Maltese red we decided to call it a day.

The rabbit, by the way, was meh amd the fish and octopus to die for. The creme brulee and local honey cake ofcourse added a few guilty pounds.

As night settled into the city, we walked down Republic Street with the glow of lamps casting a golden hue on the cobbled stones - against which stood the tall pillars of a Roman amphitheater - a venue that is used today for performances. At the end of the street, the fountain twinkled with magical colored lights against a dark Maltese sky.