Malta

On Thursday we sailed into Malta harbour - what an impressive sight! The fortifications are truly stupendous and it is easy to see why it had such strategic importance during WW2.

I used a screen shot from the ship camera to show how tight the entrance to the harbour was and how tight the turning operation was for such a large ship as ours. The captain came into the harbour and then pivoted on the ship's axis to berth.

The first part of our tour was a visit to a museum in the heart of the old town - Valletta - to see some examples of the Neolithic culture that was based on Malta from around 3,600 BC.

This image is the Sleeping Lady figurine found in the Hypogeum, which was a burial site located underground, and it is believed to be around 5,000 years old. Very expressive.

The new parliament building in Valletta was designed by Renzo Piano and completed in 2015. It was a radical change in style from everything else in Valletta but fits in remarkably well.

The next part of our excursion was to visit Hagar Qim, which is a megalithic temple complex built around 3,600 - 3,200 BC. It is the oldest free-standing megalithic structure in the world and is World Heritage listed. Due to the type of stone used it has suffered from weather exposure and is now covered by a protective structure erected in 2009.

Our final stop was a stone work museum that showed how the stone in Malta has been extracted and worked over the centuries.