sals

This group – consisting of 2 tomba di gigante, a nuraghe and village around it, a dolmen and a domus de janus – is just west of Sedillo, and is signposted from the town.

I was rather excited about what we’d find here, and in the vicinity, and hoped that there would be someone around to ask ..... there are 3 huts which look distinctly like a visitors’ centre, ticket hut, and toilets, respectively, but not a soul in sight. No notices either, but I assume an entrance fee is payable.

From the parking area, the two tombs are to the south, overlooking Lake Omodeo, the nuraghe and village to the north, but the domus de janus and dolmen remain a mystery to us.

My notes said that the domus de janus – Ispiluncas – consisting of 34 tombs – is “on the slopes of the hill where the nuraghe rises” and my Google Earth map showed it on the slope below the info/ticket huts. I had a grid reference for the dolmen – the wrong grid reference! – and a description of its location “the monument is found to the right of the nuraghic complex”.

Right next to Tomba A you find what’s probably the most famous feature of the site – the 6 betili.

They were recorded by Count Albert de la Marmora but his notes give different positions, so they may well not be in their original place.

The 3 to the south represent the female figure, with obvious carved breasts; they are also taller, at just over 1.5m, than the males (1.23m – 1.38m) to the north. All are cone-shaped basalt.

The largest and most impressive of the 3 tombas, also known as “Betyls’ Grave” due to its proximity to the 6 menhirs (betyls or betili).

As at tomba B, there’s a bench along the esedra – this time its maximum width is over 20m. The total length is over 22m, and the burial corridor itself is 9.5m x 1.3m.

The thick walls are actually 2 walls with the cavity between them filled with rubble and earth.

The entrance to the corridor has a stone with a round cornered rectangle carved out of it – only one side remains, but it appears to be the portal to the grave.

The information boards show a reconstruction – a tomba made from courses of stone as we’d seen at Mura Cuada rather than those with a stele as at Coddu Vecchju.

The second grave, tomba B, is more impressive than the first. Though ruinous, it’s easy to see the esedra, or winged forecourt, with a width of 14.5m. The corridor is paved with square stone slabs.

The whole tomb is almost 17½m long, and has a long low bench surrounding out. Finds from inside date it similarly to tomba C.

As you go up the hill to Tamuli, the first tomba, known as tomba C, is to the right.

It’s the smallest of the 3 here, and is irregular in shape. It’s hard to work it out, but there is a narrow corridor, and the front of the grave has a paved forecourt but is missing the typical esedra. Remains found outside it have dated it to 1500 – 1200 BCE.

Signposted from nearby Macomer, this is a complex site. The grid reference given is for the car park / ticket hut; each of the main elements is being listed as a subsite.

Ticket hut, tardis-style portaloo, list of prices (5 euros / 3½ euros), but no opening times and no one in sight. The posters did warn that anyone entering outside the opening times did so at their own risk and if found there, would be liable to pay the entrance fee. Fair enough! We climbed the gate and followed the track up the (gentle) hill.

Nuraghe Losa is just south of Abbasanta, alongside, and signposted from, the SS131, though on a convoluted junction.

As you pull off the slip road, there’s a building 50m or so to the right; this is the ticket hut, but also shop, bar etc. It’s managed by Cooperativa Paleotur, and costs 3½euros to enter (reductions available). Open 09:00 – 19:00 (17:00 in winter). For once, my attempt at Italian was answered in English, and tickets and info leaflets in hand, we walked back to the turning and up the track to the main gate, about 200m in total.

The complex is enclosed by a wall, ovoid in shape and approximately 300m x 200m. Just past the gate, there’s an exhibition of funery urns to the left, gathered from all over the site; Beardy found loads more of these in the long grass behind the museum huts. The track takes you through the south east entrance; there are 3 more – one opposite, and two with oval towers at the apices of the ramparts. A village within the enclosure, thought to be late Bronze Age, has only been partially excavated.

But the main attraction is the nuraghe itself. It’s a trilobate structure, with huts and a curtain wall surrounding it. The upper floor has collapsed, but it’s still an impressive 13m high.

The main entrance is almost hidden by a round hut (Cap 1 on the plan) with several niches and recesses in its wall. In the actual nuraghe, there’s no central courtyard at we’d seen at Santu Antine, instead there’s chamber C to the right and chamber B to the left. Going straight ahead, there’s a niche to the right with a flight of steps opposite it, then on through to the main tholos chamber with 3 wall niches, one opposite the entrance and the others on the opposite sides, forming a cross shape.

The third smaller tower can only be reached from the small northerly entrance. It as a (gated and locked) stairway that connects back over the summit of the nuraghe.

The stairs are worn to more of a sandy uphill track, clockwise round the main tower. The smaller towers, E and F on the plan, and their connecting wall, are thought to be a later addition.

There’s a modern hut in the south of the enclosure with an exhibition of finds from here and other local sites.

The site has been dated to as early as 1400 BCE; it was investigated in 1898 and again in 1915, but the main excavation and restoration works were carried out between 1970 and 1976.

As you enter the field from the gate, the tomba is hidden – the back of it is in the nearby clump of trees, slightly to the right. It’s very overgrown!

The stele is only half the size of many we’d seen, but has the relief carving around it. The corridor is long, and unusual in that it curves slightly. There’s one capstone left, currently about 3/4 of the way along the corridor, though that may not be its original place.

Having turned off the old main road, it’s about 900m up the winding track to the level crossing, with very handy spot to park. Now, in TME, JC suggests “turn right and walk along railway line 355 paces”.

No! The line is in use; two trains went past while we were there!

Instead, go over the level crossing and follow the continuation of the track for 400 paces (OK, my paces are probably somewhat shorter than his!) to a gate with a crude wooden sign. Go into the field and turn to the right. Climb up towards the railway line, and the tomba will become visible, right up against the line and slightly to the right of your position.

Most of the tomba that we’d seen so far had a stele, or central stone, with a portal carved in it, flanked with orthostats making the curved facade, or esedra, of the tomb. But here, the construction is coursed masonry.

It’s in a good state, considering its proximity to the railway line, though a little overgrown. The tomb is over 10m long, and the width of the esedra is similar. Beardy climbed right inside – the chamber is long and narrow, but tall enough to stand up in.

A coachload of school children were at the well itself, so we wandered over to look at the hut beyond – a meeting hut due to the stone seat round the inside – and waited until they had gone to be able to fully appreciate the site.

Wow!

An elliptical wall 26m x 20m, from the late Bronze Age, encloses the well temple. It’s in 3 parts – a foyer, the steps, and then the well chamber itself.

The 24 steps are perfect. Smooth basalt, narrowing, creating a trapezoidal shape, echoed by the graduated ceiling, leading down to the well chamber.

The chamber itself has a bottle-like cross section, with the centre circular opening being about 50cm deep. The whole chamber is over 7m high and about 2.5m in diameter, again with perfectly smooth basalt blocks making a tholos style ceiling.

The water level was quite high, covering the step round the edge of the chamber.

Finds here have included a bronze ship figure, dated to 7th century BCE; the site is thought to be around 1000 BCE.

What an incredible place!

The nuraghe is a simple monotower style, built of basalt blocks, and is 13m in diameter and 6m tall. The entrance is at the south east; there’s a niche to the right and a flight of steps to the left as you enter. The main tholos chamber beyond has a diameter of 3.5m with 3 niches off it. The stairs climb clockwise round the tower, the first floor level giving views across the whole village.

The Santa Cristina complex is right longside the SS131, just south of Paulilitino. Entry costs 5 euros for adults, and there’s a cafe and bar, and souvenirs on sale, clean toilets and ample parking.

It’s open from 08:30 to 22:30 (or 21:00 in the winter).

There are 3 main elements:

The centre is a Christian village, with families living in the long low buildings and a quaint church on the village square.

The most important elements though, are the holy well to the north, and the nuraghic village to the south.

There are two menhirs alongside the path to the village, and an impressive hut at a short distance from the main part of the village which is grouped around the base of the nuraghe. One of the huts here is a massive 14m long, and its interior shows the same construction style as a tomba di gigante.

This tomba is situated just to the north of a walled enclosure for farm buildings, almost opposite Nuraghe Oppianu. The track towards the enclosure was gated and padlocked, and the undergrowth looked substantial, so knowing from our research notes that the site has yet to be excavated and the stele is missing, and that it would be difficult to see, we left this one for another time.

From Borore, head towards the SS131. At the big junction and flyover, take the first left, signposted to Flor Mirko (nursery / garden centre) and head south on the old main road.

The tomba is signposted from this road and its turn is directly opposite Flor Mirko – as you turn, there’s a farmyard infront, and the track you want goes to the left.

We drove cautiously on for about 300m, and then spotted the stele in the corner of a field on a S bend ahead. There’s a track to pull into / turn round in just before the first corner, and a similar space opposite the second.

And what a stele! Broken vertically. Has it been intact, it would probably be among the largest on the island. It’s 3.8m high, and the remaining part is 1.9m wide – originally about 4m wide.

The tomba is right up against the field/road boundary, and the left hand side of the esedra is almost non-existant because of this.

The body of the tomba runs parallel to the boundary and there are 9 of the original 12 side stones still in place, half buried in the long grass, forming a corridor 8.8m x 1.2m.

As we visited, the local farmer appeared to clear the field of sheep and gave us a friendly wave.

Imbertighe tomba di gigante has an impressive curved esedra made of small blocks, and a relief carved stele standing 3.6m high.

The body of the tomb was originally 11.5m long, but there’s very little to see of it on site. The info board says it’s been destroyed; my research notes say it’s still buried.

In a farmyard only metres east of Imbertighe tomba.

Just to the east of Borore, on the road which takes you to Santu Bainzu and Nuraghe Toscono is Nuraghe Bighinzones.

It’s a quadrilobate structure, similar to Nuraghe Porcarzos but with symmetrically arranged side towers ... not that you can tell, as it’s buried to beyond the height of the side towers and only the central one is visible. Climbing to the top, you can look down through the collapsed tholos roof to the interior of the tower, and some of the entrances to the side chambers can be seen.

Approaching this nuraghe from the road, there’s a path with drystone walls on both sides – and the view doesn’t inspire. But as I approached, I could make out some impressive walls and a path round what we worked out is the back of the nuraghe. Round the front, it becomes clearer – a long walled approach and then access to the main chamber from the first floor level only, with two side towers both with collapsed tholos roofs. The actual entrance was propped with scaffolding poles so we decided to err on the side of caution and not enter, instead climbing up to the highest point – using a flight of steps above the left hand side collapse – and peering down into the chambers.

The nuraghe has 4 side towers, sited asymetrically, though we were unable to access the rear two. Despite another scaff pole being visible through the floor of the right side tower, I climbed down – it’s at second floor level – to admire the flights of stairs up the the roof, and a double set leading back down to the forecourt of the main chamber.

About half way between the church and the road junction is a gate giving easy access to the nuraghe, through a field of tall grasses and flowers, with the occasional thistle.

The entrance to this simple monotower nuraghe faces the road – I climbed up and in, noticing a collapsed roof (or possibly the original entrance on further reading) to the left. To the right, and much lower down, there was another shaft of light but with a black void between it and me. Cursing the lack of foresight to pack a torch, I felt my way carefully down the uneven ‘staircase’ to an anti-chamber which opened onto the main chamber with 3 side chambers and a collapsed tholos roof.

The tomba of Santu Bainzu has an impressive stele, or central stone, standing 3.2 metres tall and just over 2m wide. It’s relief carved, as we’d seen at Coddu Vecchju and Li Lolghi, but this time with the addition of a large cupmark above the portal (the portal being approx 30cm tall by 50cm wide).

Not much remains of the esedra, and the low lying stones were partically hidden in the long grass and wild flowers.

The funerary space can be clearly identified at the rear of the stele; of the cist, about 6m x 1m remains, though the origial construction is thought to have been almost 14m long.

Standing prominently on a hill overlooking the main road (obviously new, as it didn’t exist on our map) from Macomer to the resort of Bosa, south of the village of Sindia.

We parked up and fought our way through the hip high grass, thistles and brambles, over stone walls, and ended up in a field still a way away, with no obvious access route, so had to be content with viewing from a distance. There were quite a few (sheep, I suspect) skulls and other bones in the field, and we spent quite a time watching the wildlife, including a dung beetle with a sphere much larger than it was, both of us contemplating picking up a souvenir or two for a certain friend .....

Visible from, and signposted from, the fast SS131 that runs vertically down the island. However only accessible when going north – the road bends quite sharply around Macomer and then heads west and uphill – watch out for the sign to the right.

We always seemed to be on the wrong side of the road, or heading home late after a full day, so never did stop to investigate.

Margaret Guido, in “Sardinia: Ancient Peoples and Places” describes the site as “an early tower, with niches, guard-chamber and staircase has a four-towered addition each of whose towers contains a tholos chamber”. It’s one of her recommended places to visit.

The hotel entrance is directly opposite the bus terminus in Bugibba – cross the road, avoiding the timeshare touts, and head for the tennis courts. From the hotel lobby, head to the rear left (coffee bar) and take the first door to the outside. Go to your right – and the temple is half surrounded by a 1970s accommodation block for the hotel.

An information board proclaims:

Bugibba Temple, which is preserved in the grounds of the hotel, belongs to the same category of prehistoric monuments as Tarxien and Hagar Qim in Malta, and Ggantija in Gozo. These imposing sanctuaries, erected for the worship of a deity which has so far defied a generally acceptable definition, constitute the oustanding achievement of the Maltese Copper Age, its Megalithic architecture. Their development lasted more than a thousand years and spanned almost the whole of the third millennium before Christ.
The features which have survived here are the main entrance roofed over by a single block of stone weighing several tons, some of the upright blocks forming the left front wall, the semi-circular chamber inside the entrance to the left and a thick rubble wall the incongriguity of which speaks for its Bronze Age date when the temple had long fallen into disuse. Two exceptional blocks, now to be seen at the National Museum of Archaeology in Vallette were decorated with relief carvings of spirals, and aptly enough for a temple so near the coast, stylised fishes.

”preserved” – not sure that’s the word I would choose. Random wiring, half destroyed and totally unsafe no doubt, for nocturnal illuminations, fastened to the bottom of the megaliths, and general detritus from hotel guests hiding under boulders .... at least the carvings have been removed and saved.

This temple was already badly damaged when the Corradino Lines, part of the harbour fortifications were built in the 1870s. Excavations were carried out by Vassallo around this time, and again in by Ashby and Peet (1913) but the WWII bombing of this area is though to have destroyed the remains which included a 6 apse structure similar to the central temple at nearby Tarxien.

If you plan to visit the Hypogeum, please check out availability long before you travel. I was fortunate to be there in very low season, so next day booking was possible, but at peak times it can be fully booked for over a month in advance. Tickets are €9.32 for adults – there’s probably a child reduction but I wouldn’t really recommend this place to youngsters unless they are really interested.

The building has numerous steps and low passages to negotiate, and is therefore unsuitable for the less mobile, or for anyone who suffers from claustrophobia or is afraid of the dark.

The group I joined were waiting in the entrance hall for our guide, and several times people came in without pre-booking – including a group of lads carrying a small Father Christmas who’d obviously had a couple at lunchtime – and were turned away. The entrance has comfy bench seats and toilets if needed.

There is absolutely no photography allowed and in fact you have to leave all your possessions in a locker – the guide has the key so everything is safe during the tour.

The first part is a visit to an exhibition of finds – most are of course in the National Museum of Archaeology in Valletta, but a few remain here, including a copy of the sleeping lady which you are encouraged to touch. Audio commentary is provided on hand held devices and is available in 5 languages. Then there’s a film to watch about the discovery and excavation of the site, before you can enter the hypogeum itself.

Our guide – Joanne – offered as the whole group was English speaking, to dispense with the hand helds and do it “properly” for us – and happily the group accepted her offer.

The area around Paola experinced massive development in the late 1800s to house dock workers, and the discovery of the hypogeum was reported to the authorities in 1902, but, from the construction of foundations and supports for the new builds, must have been known about for years before. In fact, the area around Hal Saflieni had an ancient name meaning “of the caves”, so the site may have been known about long before that.

The hypogeum was excavated by Fr. Magri initially, with the middle level being opened to the public in 1908, and then T Zammit worked on the upper level after the purchase of the houses built on top of the site (the houses being eventualy demolished in the 1990s). However, it was closed to the public in 1991 as the damage caused by high visitor numbers had been realised, and reopened on 7 July 2000 – with climate control and regulated light levels. The lighting in particular dictates the visitor experience – it’s timed to go with the audio commentary and only the features being described are illuminated. So you have to keep up!

A door from the AV room leads to the upper level; here there is a massive entrance trilithon and side burial chambers. Zammit estimated, by counting the number of patellas amongst the ochre painted bones found, that there were around 7,000 bodies interred here. The path through to the middle level was closed for excavation work, so we all trooped back to the rear of the entrance lobby and down a dimly lit modern spiral staircase.

The middle level has the most interesting features whilst the lower level cannot be visited, just observed from above.

Our guide showed us a section of wall with pick holes in it; no metal tools have been found, so it’s suggested that animal horns were used to create enough of a gap to insert a piece of wood, which when soaked with water would expand, forcing open the natural faults and fissures – with flint, obsidian and stone tools used to complete the rock quarrying. Then we moved through to the oracle chamber with its ochre spiral painted ceiling; the guide encouraged one of the party to speak into the oracle hole, but deemed his tone not deep enough for the full resonant effect.

We passed through another ochre painted chamber – this time with spirals within hexagons – to the trilithon looking down into the lower level and onwards to the “holy of holies”. The lower level has 7 steps leading down to it – but then a 2m drop! There are side chambers at the level of the last step, and the group discussed whether these might have been accessed using a plank as a bridge between them.

The votive or “snake pit” adjacent to the second ochre painted room is thought to be the location where the Sleeping Lady was found. This small (only 12cm long) terracota statuette is the pride of the collection at the National Museum of Archaeology with its exceptional level of craftmanship; the curvaceous female figure is reclining on a couch and is often referred to as the sleeping goddess of fertility. As finds in the pit were discovered whole rather than broken, we discussed the possibility that the pit had been filled with water or perhaps straw to prevent damage to items placed or even thrown in.

The “holy of holies” chamber has a facade that possibly mimics the roof structure of Maltese temples, and has a side chamber of it, a niche (possibly for a statue) and libation holes. This chamber would have significant amounts of natural light from a shaft which runs right down through the hypogeum around the summer solstice.

Then we retraced our steps to look at the main hall, with its trilithon windows through to niches and smaller chambers beyond, and to the holy of holies. The chamber was originally painted with red ochre and some of the pigment is still visible.

Then round past the area where builders confessed to breaking through in 1902, with arches to support the houses above visible, and back to the spiral staircase up and out as the light faded behind us.

A fascinating place! I would have loved to have spent more time in each part, but the light levels are strictly controlled, and as I mentioned, timed to coincide with the audio tour, so it wasn’t an option.

The temples are open 9:00 – 17:00 and entry is €2.33 for adults; there’s a small exhibition of items that have been removed from the site to preserve them and placed in the entranceway, and a selection of books and souvenirs to purchase. There are also public toilets. A new visitors’ centre is expected on the plot to the east of the temples, and excavations have been carried out, but planning difficulties have held up the actual building work.

There are usually guided tours available in English several times a day – unfortunately the guide had called in sick the day I visited, so I was reliant on my notes and the offer by the staff to answer any questions I might have. Much of the carved stone from Tarxien was been moved to the National Museum of Archaeology in 1956, when restoration and reconstruction were also carried out, and the items on display are replicas – but this by no means detracts from the site.

There are actually 4 temple structures on this site.

To the east, furthest away from the entrance, is the oldest, smallest, and least well preserved temple, from the Ggantija phase (3600 – 3000BCE). The stones are low lying, and only the western section of what is believed to have been a 5 apse temple survives. Area 10 on the model.

There are 3 main components – the south, central and east temples. Of these, south and east are older, from the early Tarxien phase 3000 – 2500 BCE, with the central temple having been built at a later date between these two.

Taking a walk round from the main entrance to the site, there are numerous small boulders, possibly used to roll megaliths into place, scattered over the ground to the left, and then a well, before you face the trilithon entrance to the south temple. To the right here you can see the remains of a possible niche (ref 1), with libation holes and a stone bowl in front of it.

The path around the whole site has been improved and the tethering holes just outside the entrance to the south temple (ref 2) now have a perspex covering so you can view them through the path.

The main doorway has been heavily restored with rubble covered concrete; the first apse to the right (ref 3) has the huge statue of a skirted women and the altar with plug stone which contained animal bones and horns, and flint knives. To the left (ref 4) are many spiral carved stones and those decorated with animal friezes; the Mariners’ Stones which stood here have now been moved into the entrance building for protection – they show ship graffiti but the debate is still out on whether this is late Neolithic (believed by Diane Wooler who studied them in 1957 and supported by T Zammit’s notes) or from the Bronze Age (Evans, Trump and various others). A model found in 4 pieces in the northern most room of this temple lead Carlo Ceschi to draw a possible facade for the temple in 1936 (see links).

Moving through to the central temple, there’s a huge stone bowl in area 5 and the walls here show fire damage. The oculus stone was originally in area 6, guarding the entrance to the 2nd pair of apses; there’s a hearth in the centre of this area, and turning to the right, area 7, there’s the bulls and sow chamber, now with a roof to protect the relief carvings.

Just before you leave the central temple, to the right, you can see a round boulder, used possibly for transportation or positioning, under one of the megaliths. Then there’s a set of stairs, which may have led to an upper floor (area 8).

The east, and least decorated, temple, is thought to have been significantly altered for the building of the central temple, and was also reconstructed extensively by Zammit in 1919 – and suffered collapses as recently as 1999.

I had the site almost to myself for the best part of an hour, but then some more tourists appeared, and we started chatting. With only few info boards and no official guide that day, I found myself taking a small tour group round to point out the main features!

Borg in-Nadur is under the care of Heritage Malta and is not currently open to the public. As well as the temple, there’s the remains of a bronze age settlement to the south west and the possible remains of a room to the south east.

The area immediately in front of the (unusually not concave) facade of the temple is being used for vegetable cultivation and there’s a security hut, similar to those I’d seen at Ta’ Hagrat and Skorba.

The site was noted possibly as early as 1536, but definitely from 1647, with excavations being carried out by Margaret Murray in 1920s.

It’s hard to make out the site apart from its entrance megaliths but aerial photos do show a four apse structure to the south east of the main enclosure. There’s a fair bit of rubble around, from excavations and local field clearance.

Dolmen hidden in the industrial estate near the disused Hal Far airfield in the south west of Malta. I got lost before I got here, but if I’d followed the signs to the Playmobil factory, I’d probably have found it.

At Bingemma gap, along the Dwejra section of the Victoria Lines, there’s a tiny chapel dedicated to Our Lady of Itria with a Punic tomb underneath it, but if you look to the right of the chapel, there’s a path down to a network of rock cut tombs believed to date back to the Bronze Age but also reused in Punic times, by early Christians, and also as refuge for local farmers during WWII.

I’ve not as yet managed to find any evidence of the exact age of these tombs (the map clearly says prehistoric) but spent a very pleasant hour or so scrambling in and out of them in glorious sunshine.

This site is only open to the public on Tuesdays from 11:30 – 13:00 – so would tie in nicely with an earlier visit to Ta’ Hagrat if you plan carefully.

The site was noted in 1914 by Themistocles Zammit but not excavated until 1937 by Captain Charles Zammit – with only preliminary work carried out then and further investigations put on hold by the outreak on WWII. A full survey was eventually conducted from 1961 (David Trump) and showed that despite the poor state of preservation, it was indeed a very important site.

There are two temples here – enclosed by a nasty wire fence with a guard portacabin inside but a blue tardis loo outside (cheers!) – and then to the east, behind a low wall, are the remains of two huts.

Skorba has infact given its name to two of the periods of Maltese prehistory – Grey Skorba (4500 – 4400 BCE) with its undecorated grey pottery and finds of hunting implements and obsidian and flint – and then Red Skorba (4400 – 4100 BCE) with its pottery covered with a red clay slip and highly polished; however finds from the site show its use for perhaps 2000 years.

The wire fence only really encloses the better preserved west temple, and cruelly cuts through the ground plan of the east temple, leaving the red skorba huts outside and almost hidden – I’m glad I rechecked my notes and found the huts as they revealed important finds (a group of figurines, pottery and goat skulls) and were suggested (by Trump) to be part of a shrine.

The west temple has a trefoil shape, with only really the back apse and one megalith at the entrance with any height. A noteable feature is a series of libation holes at the entrance – the flooded area when I was there. Libation holes may have been used for liquid offerings, but there’s also some discussion that they were used as a tethering point for animals (for sacrifices).

Skorba is signposted from the road from Mosta/Mdina to Mgarr – watch out for the square to your left after the road climbs uphill as the temples are at the end of this, at the edge of the village.

This site is currently only open to the public on Tuesdays 09:30 – 11:00.

It’s signposted but the easiest way to find it is to head west towards the dome of the church in Mgarr and watch out for a side street to the left about 200m before you reach it.

The site has a low wall but high railings surrounding it, and a security hut and portaloo – and a gate with a big padlock!

The site was excavated by Sir Themistocles Zamit over various periods from 1923 to 1929, and then restored in 1937 by his son, Charles.

There are two buildings here – a main temple with a smaller one to the north.

The main building follows the usual trefoil pattern with apses arranged around a central room, and the floor of this central area is lower than those of the apse rooms. The main facade is concave, and there are 3 large steps from the forecourt through the restored trilithon into the temple.

The small temple has a similar if slightly more irregular shape, but without the impressive entrance stones.

I guess I approached from the easy direction, as I pulled off the main road (Ghargur to Mosta) heading west from San Pawl tat-Targa Cart Ruts just before Mosta fort and with a group of houses to the left, and looked to the right and there was the walled enclosure!

Overlooking St Paul’s Bay, dolmen A is the larger of the two with a capstone 3.6m x 1.7m supported on three (?) stones about 1.4m high; dolmen B is smaller, supported by the edge of the plateau on one side and low stones on the other – its capstone is about 3m long.

The winter greenery made it difficult to work out this site, but it must look fantastic in the summer (I bought “Malta before History” – Miranda publishers – expensive but exquisite – see page 394 – as my holiday souvenir) with ruts running straight across flat ground and bending round and down the slope.

There’s extensive quarrying in the area – almost right up to the edge of the ruts.

In the north east of Malta, the easiest way to find this temple is to follow signs near Bugibba and Bur Marrad and Naxxar to Plant Supplier Ltd as it’s directly opposite.

The temple is not signposted or labelled, and is supposedly closed, but there was nothing blocking my way, so I walked up the track beside a modern building.

To the left were huge stone blocks, and then an archway – described as dolmen-like elsewhere – which I used to enter the temple. Being winter, the ground was covered with a plant like giant clover, and I used the paved blocks to pick my way cautiously across the soggy site. It was hard to make out the four apse plan (excavations here in 1927 by Zammit) but the (more modern?) steps at the original entrance to the temple stood out.

It’s thought to be the only temple orientated east-west on the island and its most precious find was a decorated limestone slab – see link – which is on display at the National Museum of Archaeology though I missed it – pah!

Originally excavated by Vasallo circa 1840, this site was badly damaged by bombing in the 2nd World War and has now disappeared under modern development.

The museum is on the main street in Valletta, Triq Ir-Repubblika, it’s identified by flags outside, and is only a few minutes walk from the crazy bus terminus. Open daily 09:00 – 19:00 (last admission 18:30) and costs 2.33 euros (seniors and students 1.16, children 0.58, 5 and under free). There are currently guided tours in English every day at 10:00 and 15:00 at no extra charge. There’s a well stocked shop and visitor toilets. Officially there’s no photography inside, but no one seemed to mind me taking pictures without flash.

I had arrived a little later than planned due to a long wait for a glorious 1960s Bedford bus and some crazy traffic, but tacked onto the 10am tour less than half way round and was very glad I did – a very well informed guide explained the temples and their finds with a fair amount of humour too.

The first part of the museum (nb only the ground floor is open – but seeing as it’s this floor which covers the prehistory I wasn’t bothered that the planned expansion upstairs and galleries on Phoenician and Roman culture, through 1800 CE, were still unfinished) explains the cronology of the period covered (5200 to 2500 BCE) and the possible construction techniques used, before moving on to look at most of the main sites in order and in detail, with fabulous scales models to see.

Some information about the finds:
there are loads of headless bodies, with sockets where the neck should be, to insert a choice of heads (from Hagar Qim); a green stone cylinder with gold inlay (unique to the islands) and red stones inset (from Tarxien); a sherd with a solar wheel decoration (from Hagar Qim); the Venus of Malta; a clay statuettte of a pregnant woman and a whole display case of stone carved and clay phalluses (maybe the temple builders were indeed part of a fertility cult); and most importantly, the “Sleeping Lady” found at the Hal Saflieni Hypogeum.

The largest room is devoted to the Tarxien temples, and has many of the original spiral carved stones, moved to the museum to prevent damage from weathering – replicas are now in situ there. Many of the stones are shown alongside photos of their excavation.

The museum building is the Auberge of Provence, and the guide explained its history with the Knights of St John in the 16th century.

An essential visit!

This site is not open to the public and is enclosed behind a high brick wall. However, it’s only a few minutes walk from the Hal Saflieni Hypogeum and the Tarxien temples, so it seemed rude not to try to visit.

From the main square where the buses stop, head north north east along a road that bends to the right, until you reach a roundabout. Follow the footpath round to the first exit and cross the road immediately opposite church with a huge purple cross to its left.

There are signs to the temple but ignore these and go up the steps towards the church and in front of it, turn to your left. There’s a gate in the wall facing you, and the wall that runs from here down the the building adjoining the church hides the temple.

The site is under the care of Wirt Artna and is open by appointment. I didn’t have one, so had to content myself with standing on tip toes to balance my camera on the wall, and then walked round the block to find the back gate (which is beyond another gate, which fortunately was opened for me – sadly that gate keeper didn’t have the set of keys to let me into the temple itself).

Excavations were carried out here in 1909 (Ashby and Peet) and a further survey in 1971 (Evans). There is a curved facade which is paved, and from the front of the structure, the upright megaliths left of centre lead through to the corridor of the trefoil building to the apses of the temple. Noteable features are to the left – niches in the wall, and the stone quern (sometimes described as a dugout canoe) across the threshold to one of the rooms. To the north, and visible on my photo taken from the back gate, is another structure, not at all well preserved, but thought to be another trefoil temple.

Only metres away from nuraghe Longu but not as well preserved.

A single tower structure, diameter 13.5 metres, height max 4.4 metres.

Another of the numerous nuraghe visible from Santu Antine!

From Olbia airport, head west and watch out for the sign to Loiri – even though you want to go south and logic says that’s left, it’s a right turn.

Second time lucky, we got on the right road – the SP24 – and turned off at the sports pitch mentioned in TME – the tomba is signposted from here.

We parked in the area probably designed for those visiting Pedres castle, on the hill overlooking the site, having seen the state of the bumpy, sandy track, and walked the last 200 metres. There was a red Renault parked just by the gate in the low wall, and it turned out that it belonged to the site guardian – a lovely man! You can buy a ticket for 5 sites round Olbia for 7,50 – the others being:
Pozzo Sacro “Sa Testa”
Acquedotto e Cisterna “Sa Rughittola”
Nuraghe “Riu Mulimu”
Fattoria Romana di “S’imbalconadu”
but we only had time for this one, so paid 2,50 euros each. They may not get many visitors – the tickets had their prices overstickered for last year, if not the year before’s charges.

This is one of the largest tombas in Sardinia, 28 metres long. As at Li Lolghi and Coddu Vecchiu, it’s thought to be a reworking of an allée couverte.

The esedra is huge; the stele has been broken off and removed, leaving a stump of stone with a ridge down it on the left of the entrance, giving a good view down the funeral corridor.

An unloved tomba not far from Santu Antine. It’s not signposted, but is easily visible from the road running south east from the easterly railway crossing near Torralba. After the crossing, you go over the river on a bend, and when you see a track to the left, stop – the tomba is in the field just after the turning.

We climbed over a wire fence to get access.

The stele, though weathered, is impressive. About 3m high, with relief carving and that pink tinge to the stone we’d seen at several other tombas. The area is quite overgrown, and it’s hard to work out much of the burial chamber.

Yet another (!) nuraghe visible from Santu Antine. Quite ruinous.

Nuraghe less than 1km north west of, and visible from, Santu Antine – partly demolished to use the basalt blocks for building a nearby road.

Yet another nuraghe (11 metres in height) alongside the railway line near Torralba station and Santu Antine. We didn’t get close, but apparently you can get to the first floor and there’s an underground room and nearby springs.

Less than 1.5km east of Santu Antine, though we spotted it from the road running parallel to the railway line rather than from that nuraghe.

This is a single tower structure 8 m high and with a diameter of 11 m. If you get up close (we didn’t!) you can see through the entrance to its interior room.

Another nuraghe clearly visible from Santu Antine. It has a single tower – diameter 12.5 m, height 4.6 m – and some huts surrounding it.

A nuraghe right next to the railway line, about 700 metres from Torralba station – and visible for miles around. Being the wrong side of the tracks, it’s classed as being in Giave though. Apparently it’s possible to visit, but it’s recommended to take care on the railway!

If you only visit one nurahge, make it this one! Just take a look at its aerial view from Google ...

Signposted from Sant’ Andrea Priu and south of Torralba, on the SP121, in the valley of the nuraghes – they are everywhere! We’d taken some binoculars and spotted the nuraghes of Fraigas, Oes, Bonzalzas, Mura Coloras and Cabu Abbas with little difficulty – all under 1.5km away. Fig 29 in Margaret Guido’s book shows the distribution of nuraghe across the island – and here it’s over 0.6 per square km. Crazy!

There’s a fair bit of parking in the layby, a simple cafe, ticket booth (entrance fee 3 euros, ticket also valid for the Valle dei Nuraghi museum in Torralba) with information leaflets and an extra hut selling local produce of all kinds.

The site has been managed by La Pintadera Cooperative since 1992, when the town council assigned Santu Antine to them.

We stopped for a toastie and a drink, while talking to an older couple trying to persuade a small scared white kitten to drink the cup of milk they’d bought for it, and then went past the reconstructed round hut at the gate and to the southerly entrance.

There’s a settlement surrounding the nuraghe and it’s possible to make out maybe 10 huts, with some later Roman building too.

The nuraghe itself is built on a triangular plan out of basalt blocks. As you go in, there’s a guard post or sentry box to the left – this area now houses the visitors’ book – and then the courtyard. It might make more sense if you have a look at the plan .... but ....

The furthest left is the entrance to the west tower (B), then a passage which joins the passage which runs from the west to the north tower (D). There’s a flight of stairs up to the second level with a well just in front of it, then an entrance to the central tower. The pattern repeats itself with another staircase, a passage to the passage that runs from D to C, and entrance to the east tower (C).

We checked out the ground level first of all, amazed at the illuminated corridors, and saw the second well in the north tower, which also has a secondary – now barred – entrance to the nuraghe. Then we took the left hand stairs which lead to a walkway round the perimeter wall and then back down the right hand stairs.

The central tower or keep used to be about 25 metres tall, but is only about 17.5 now. Entering this from the east-west courtyard, there’s a corridor that rings the chamber to the right and a staircase to the left. The ground floor chamber has an impressive tholos and is 5.25m wide and almost 8m tall. Following the winding staircase up to the second level, there’s another tholos chamber on top of the first one and this room has several storage niches visible and a low bench seat along its walls. Up again to the third level – this room is now open to the air, hence the reduced height of the tower – with superb views over the surrounding settlement and across the valley and the numerous other nuraghe in the vicinity.

The light had changed in the ground floor corridors by the time we came back down again, from the initial warm orange to a beautiful cool blue grey.

A stunning place!

From Bonorva, follow the signs towards Bono (also signposted for the site) on the SP126 and then the SP43. About 6.5km from Bonorva take the right fork and proceed carefully – we hit the bottom of the hire car on a ridge and pothole combo and though fortunately nothing fell off, and no leakage occurred, it made some very nasty noises for the rest of the holiday and didn’t do much for my nerves! – for another 2.5km. Park on the road by the big tree opposite the site.

Open 10:00 – 13:00 and 15:00 – 19:00 (all day in July and August, I think), entrance 3½ euros per person including guided tour of the main tomb – in Italian!

From the ticket hut, follow the path up the slope and double back on yourself past the steps and tombs to the “tomb of the head” which is locked when the site is closed. This tomb is deep and made up of several different rooms: the vestibule area has cists cut in the floor on the left and cupels the other side of a central rainwater channel. The two rooms behind each have two pillars and numerous side chambers, and on the ceiling you can see the original red paint, and later murals as the tomb was used through Roman times, and then used as a church, and was still in use in the Middle Ages. There are numerous friezes from its Christian period on the walls. There’s also a light well, and the floor in the central chamber has been carved to collect the rainwater that this also lets in, probably used for baptisms.

You are free to wander around the rest of the site – to the right is tomb VIII with its carved roof, meant to resemble the rafters of a hut, and right from there in tomb IX someone’s added graffiti “Ciao Lucy” in red paint.

The steps to the right lead to a small gate, and then a rock cut path to the hilltop, where you find more tombs / dwellings cut into the rock, and the rock cut dolmen, described as being known locally as “the Elephant” in TME, but also listed as a Taurus in my research.

1.4 km east of Mores, on the 128bis, turn south onto the SP47. After 6.3 km turn right, and then after another 3.15km turn right again past the farm to the dolmen. All turns are signposted!

Just before the final junction, we were held up for a while by, but then inched forward through, a flock of sheep and barking dogs, actually herding a few stragglers with the car when we turned to the farm.

The first gate is 730 metres further on – we drove through and parked, walking the last couple of hundred metres.

It’s huge! My notes say 2.7 metres tall, 5 metres long, and the capstone used to be 6 metres by 3 metres by 60 cm, weighing in at 27 tonnes.

The rear wall is missing; the front has a small portal as though belonging to the stele of a tomba di gigante, and inside there’s a niche carved into the side wall.

Whoever had visited the dolmens such as Ladas around the village or Luras had been here, or maybe it’s a local custom, but yet again a potted plant had been left recently.

Free and open access – but watch out for livestock on the approach road!