sals

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!