The Palace Hotel – Malta
Sliema is the main coastal resort on Malta. That will cause many of my readers to click away from this article but I beg you to read on and become enlightened about a real hidden gem of the Med.Sliema is indeed the most prominent holiday location on the island. If you haven’t already visited then you will assume that this will be a predictable island holiday “haven”, with its dubious waterfront punctuated by tacky tourist bars, tackier souvenirs, full English breakfasts and a 12hour-long “happy” hour. Yes, we have all been to those well-known holiday ghettos, and there are many of us who do not wish a speedy return.
Now consider those other resort towns of the style of, say, Nice or Le Lavandou in France. They offer class, flair mixed with a certain joie de vivre. Well it’s rather like that in this corner of Malta. It’s very traditionally Maltese but it also oozes a little je ne sais quoi ...or whatever that is in Maltese. Sliema attracts the well-travelled and well-heeled strata of Maltese society as well as the international set, and it’s the neighbourhood of The Ferries where the fashionable shops and boutiques can be found, so bring your gold card.
This is a real town where the locals honestly do live. It’s a busy place with its boundary with the sea being the celebrated Strand, where you will be able to indulge in some high-end retail therapy as well as enjoy some of best food around. The wide promenade offers views to the capital, Valletta, a short distance away. That’s another advantage with Malta: nothing is far away. The promenade overlooks a flat rocky beach and two swimming pool lidos for the sun worshippers, although Malta offers so much more even in cool weather. You will never be short of things to do: amazing fish to try, places to go, superb wine to sample, churches to visit, delicious food to linger over, boat-rides to take, Maltese nibbles to graze upon...
So you have been enticed by glowing descriptions of Malta’s equally glowing honey-coloured stone,
and
you have made up your mind that Sliema will be your destination; but
you will need a place to stay. Sleeping on a beach is frowned on and anyway you are too old for all that. You are looking for one of the best hotels around in which to relax and be pampered, not very far from your comfort zone of some very decent retail therapy. Book yourself into The Palace.I confess that I had not done my homework before arriving at The Palace. The name sounded grand but I travelled with more hope than expectation. Was this going to be a monument to faded glory? I knew that Malta has history percolating through every stone so this could be a very old “palace” indeed.
It was with some relief that I discovered that The Palace is 5-star, and it’s easy to see why. It’s newish, contemporary, well-appointed and most importantly, friendly. The lobby is marble-clad, leather-lounged and chandelier-ceilinged, with two restaurants and two computers that really do offer instant internet access – although there is wifi in all the rooms, for those who tote a laptop or pad.
But I wasn’t staying in Reception and I yearned for a cosy room to call my own for a few nights. A long hot bath and some pillows that didn’t have the name of an airline embroidered all over. My room was on the 7th floor and had a view over the rooftops to the sea. The private balcony would have been a magnet for me and a book, had the weather cooperated.
Plenty of hanging space, a TV and a desk were all 5-star standard, along with a mini-bar and tea-making facilities so discretely hidden that I
didn’t find them until the
second night! And the bed was 6 stars at least – well, OK you will say
that it was just the sense of fatigued desperation that made that
substantial and fluffy cloud so appealing ...but it seemed just as
attractive the next morning when I tried, reluctantly, to lift my by
now thoroughly rested back from those cotton sheets.The bathroom was one of the best I have recently graced. A proper bath and a selection of eminently stealable toiletries were the focus on the first night, but the morning found me wandering the vastness of the shower. Deep joy. I can never resist bathrooms that are bigger than my house.
The Palace has a spa for those who prefer to be less dormant than this reviewer, and this is spread over three levels, offering a fresh-water indoor pool, an outdoor pool and a fitness room. There is a battery of spa treatments and a range of products to suit all skin types. Hotel guests can also use the tennis courts and squash courts at the nearby Union Club.
The Tabloid restaurant offers a very substantial breakfast buffet. Yes, OK, so one would expect a good spread. The Palace is 5-Star after all. But this was a rather positive start to the day, morning foods to tempt any sleepy palate and I do love a good, leisurely and peaceful brekkie. Lots of hot goods on offer and these included some Maltese specialities such as local sausages and cheese-filled pastries. A good selection of sweet breads to go along with some coffee for those with Gallic leanings. Fresh fruit in abundance because I wanted to be worthy, and a few cakes to follow. Yes, a well-balanced breakfast for this reviewer.
I am lucky enough to be able to spend time in 5-star hotels all over the world and The Palace is up there with the best. It has all the amenities that one would expect but the location and the quality of staff are unique to the Palace. I only have one regret and that is that I missed visiting their TemptAsian restaurant on the 9th floor. This is said to be one of the foremost pan-Asian restaurants in the whole of Europe. That’s not a bad accolade when one considers the standard of the competition. I guess a return to The Palace is in order.
The Palace Hotel
High Street, Sliema SLM1542
Malta
Phone: +356 21 333 444
Fax: +356 2262 1000
Email: business@thepalacemalta.com
Visit the Palace Hotel here
Malta – Isle of honey and history
Malta has always held a special place in British hearts. Being a colony, situated close to Sicily and the enemy
shipping
lanes,
Malta
was bombarded by both the Italian and German air forces in
the Second World War. Malta was considered a strategic target as it was
used by the Allies to launch attacks on the Italian navy.June 1940 saw the first enemy air raids. The Luftwaffe and the Italian Air Force flew a total of 3,000 bombing raids over a period of two years in an effort to destroy Allied defences and the ports. On 15th April 1942, King George VI awarded the George Cross – the highest civilian award for gallantry – to the whole island; a hard-won honour that is commemorated in a plaque on the wall of the Government Offices in Valetta.
Airports are indistinguishable the world over. They differ in size and selection of retail therapy opportunities but they are much the same everywhere. It’s the language you’ll hear when you have passed through passport control and baggage claim that will be your first introduction to the host population. Maltese is a remarkable language and quite unlike anything I had ever heard before. It’s one of the Semitic languages which are still spoken by more than 270 million people across the Middle East and North Africa. It developed into a language in its own right between the ninth and fourteenth centuries, with half of the words being Italian and Sicilian, English words making up about one fifth of the vocabulary. Before the arrival of the British, the official language had been Italian – used by the local nobility and upper classes. It was increasingly overshadowed by the use of English, and in 1934 English and Maltese were declared the sole official languages.
Malta has had, and still has, close links with Britain. The majority of signs are in English and the majority of the population speak both Maltese and English. In that and many other regards Malta is the most perfect of holiday spots in the Mediterranean. It has thankfully avoided becoming a British satellite with restaurants selling only English Breakfasts and Fish and Chips. The indigenous cuisine of Malta is still alive and much appreciated by those who seek it out.
Malta's history and position between Europe and North Africa have had an influence on its gastronomy. It has had to import most of its ingredients and that has allowed Maltese cuisine to develop using foods from elsewhere. Sicilian, Middle Eastern and Arab foods have been present for hundreds of years.
The Knights of St John have had a major impact on the island and they brought with them foods from their various homelands. France, Italy and Spain have added culinary colour to the Maltese tapestry. Malta is thought to be one of the first countries in Europe to discover the delights of chocolate, and the potatoes from Malta are considered some of the most flavourful.
The Maltese are a feisty lot and are said to be not easily led. For example, the Maltese fenkata – a festive meal of rabbit – is the national dish, which started as a protest to the hunting restrictions imposed by the Knights of St John. During the time of the Crusades, the popularity of pork products was a display of defiance towards their neighbouring Muslim countries; another assertion of independence.
When a Maltese invites you to graze on “a few nibbles” before dinner then that guest should settle him/herself on a comfy dining-room chair, loosen their belts and wait for the stream of savoury, and probably sweet, delights to arrive. I am convinced that Maltese table legs must be reinforced more than is deemed necessary in the rest of the civilised world, to allow for the weight of dishes in a typical presentation of “nibbles”. The table might include: Żebbuġ Mimli, pitted green olives stuffed with tuna; Fażola bajda bit-tewm u t-tursin, white beans with parsley, garlic and olive oil; fresh-baked bread with a drizzle of local olive oil; sun-dried tomatoes dressed with herbs; local sausages and cheeses.
There are plenty of baked goods in Malta. One could be lucky and find a baker like Larry, who is still working with a wood-fired oven many metres deep to supply the demand for his crusty country bread as well as Qagħaqa tal-ħmira – a soft sweet ring-shaped roll with a perfume of aniseed and a topping of sesame seeds.
The Honey Ring is a traditional Maltese cake, and the recipe dates
back
to
the
15th century. It’s made with black treacle which gives a
distinctive dark centre to the pastry. Marmalade, orange peel, spices
and honey are the other ingredients, along with a little semolina to
bind. That honey is from the native bees which have been prized since
before Roman times. This traditional Maltese Christmas treat is
available all year round but it’s particularly popular for the
holidays. Almond cookies – Ghadam tal-Mejtin – are enjoyed during November. This name means “dead men's bones” and they are indeed made in the shape of bones and glazed with white icing. They are an indispensible part of the ‘All Saints’ festivities.
Kinnie, the local soft drink, has been around for nearly 60 years. It has a unique taste, is alcohol-free but nevertheless rather appealing to adults, has a golden colour, and is made from bitter oranges and aromatic herbs. A perfect summer drink when served over ice with a garnish of sliced citrus.
The fruit of the cactus grows in abundance and is red, sweet and juicy when ripe. The hedges of cactus divide fields and act as wind breaks. The red jewels of fruit are used to produce Bajtra prickly pear liqueur – pale blush pink, delicate and sweet. Stunning when made into jelly, and Bajtra turns a scoop of vanilla ice cream into smart dinner party fare. Simple yet exotic.
Malta is indeed a honeyed island. The very name could be from the Greek word for honey – ‘meli’, or land of honey, ‘melitos’, or even the Roman ‘melita’, also meaning honey. Even the stone buildings have a soft mellow honey glow. The honey is sweet and celebrated. There is much more to Malta than sun and friendly natives. It’s a land of many delicious culinary surprises and I look forward to a return visit.
Europe’s Oldest Civilization: Malta’s Temple-Builders
by Mark Miceli-Farrugia, Former Ambassador for Malta to the United States of America,assisted by Heritage Malta, the Neolithia Foundation (Marie Mifsud), and photographer Daniel Cilia
Seven thousand years ago, a mystical people appeared in Malta. Within 1400 years, this society started
producing there, using Stone Age tools, the earliest and most wondrously constructed, free-standing
megalithic architecture in the world. What is astonishing is that their surviving World Heritage sites predate
the better known Giza Pyramids and Stonehenge by 1000 and 1500 years respectively!
Who were the first Inhabitants of Malta?
Malta is a small archipelago of 121 square miles located at the center of the Mediterranean Sea - 60 miles
south of Sicily; 180 miles north of Africa - and lies midway between the Strait of Gibraltar and the Suez
Canal. Early pottery remains suggest that Malta was first inhabited from Sicily during the Early Neolithic
Period (5000 BCE). Malta can be seen from Sicily on a clear day. These immigrants at first lived in caves,
but later domesticated animals, developed agriculture, and lived in huts and villages. They buried their
dead in kidney-shaped shaft graves and created, without a potter’s wheel, gracefully shaped and tastefully
decorated pottery.
Malta’s Position in the Mediterranean
Map of Malta with the Neolithic Temple sites
How did the Temple-Building Society evolve?
Carbon-dating indicates that, between the years 3600 – 2500 BCE - 1400 years after their arrival in Malta,these skilled people raised over 30 free-standing, megalithic (large stoned) temples throughout the Maltese
archipelago. Although each site has its own idiosyncrasies, the structures share a number of common
features:
• They all consist of a number of semicircular chambers (apses) with three lobes (trefoils), which are
organized symmetrically around a central axis;
• The entrances of each of these structures are erected monumentally within a concave façade which
looks out onto an open space or plaza; and
• In general, the temples’ finely finished trilithon doorways (two upright megaliths supporting a lintel
slab) are mostly orientated towards the south-east and south-west. One exception, the Mnajdra Lower
Temple faces exactly towards the East.
Aerial photo of the Mnajdra Temples
Hagar Qim façade
Ggantija Temples façade
Mnajdra Temples façade
Hal Saflieni Hypogeum - ‘Main Chamber’
Hal Saflieni Hypogeum - ‘Holy of Holies’
Mnajdra Lower Temple - Equinox sunrise
Mnajdra Lower Temple - Equinox sunrise
How were these Megaliths quarried?
Malta’s geological structure permitted the use of two types of limestone for construction purposes:(1) the hard, grey, upper-coralline limestone; and
(2) the soft, pale, globigerina limestone. By exploiting natural fissures and crevices in the rock, the early Maltese builders managed to break off megaliths using primitive tools. These included hand-axes fashioned from imported flint, knives chiselled from imported obsidian, wooden wedges and levers, stone wedges and hammers. The soft globigerina limestone was adopted for the more refined, masonry work.
How were the Megaliths transported?
After the megaliths were quarried, they were transported
over rollers, using levers, to nearby buildingsites. At the building site, the rollers were possibly exchanged for stone balls (still found in situ) so that the
megaliths could be moved in all directions on the plane. This made it easier to place the large stones in
their designated place since rollers only permit loads to be moved backwards or forwards.
How were these Megaliths erected?
The height of Maltese temple ruins may reach 20 feet. How
did Stone Age people lift slabs weighing up to20 tonnes to such heights? The early Maltese Temple-Builders would have known that dragging a burden
up a ramp was much easier than lifting it. High external walls required long ramps. These ramps would be
removed once the structure had been completed.
Reconstruction stone model (scale c.1:35) of a construction of a hypothetical Maltese temple
Reconstruction of Tarxien’s façade, based on temple façade model found also at Tarxien (inset)
How were these Structures decorated?
Stonework within the temples is finely decorated with low-relief sculptures of animals or fish, spiral or volutemotifs, and many anthropomorphic (human-like) statues. At Tarxien Temples, one stone statue would have
reached 9 feet in height when whole. One can best appreciate the sophistication of these builders at the
Hal Saflieni Hypogeum, a complex underground temple, hewn 3-storeys deep into the rock over three
different periods: 3600 - 3300 BCE; 3300 - 3000 BCE; and 3150 - 2500 BCE. The walls of some of the
Hypogeum’s chambers have been painted with elaborate, red ochre designs: spirals, blobs (filled circles) or
chequer-boards. Other chambers were carefully sculpted to recreate life-size imitations of built interiors of
above-ground megalithic buildings. Roofs are therefore carved to simulate corbelled masonry with a series
of stone-rings overhanging each other until they span the entire chamber.
Decorated spiral sculpture from Tarxien
Small stone model of a roofed temple from Ta’ Hagrat
Decorated spiral sculpture from Tarxien
Roof of ‘Decorated Room’ at the Hal Saflieni Hypogeum
Animal motifs sculpture from Tarxien
Corbelled wall Manjdra Temples
Corbelled wall Hagar Qim Temples
‘Shaman’s Group’ - stone - Xaghra Circle
Statuette head - clay - Tarxien
Obese sitting statue - stone - Hagar Qim
‘Venus of Malta’ - clay - Hagar Qim
Sitting statuettes - clay - Xaghra Circle
Huge stone statue - reconstruction - Tarxien
‘Sleeping Lady’ - clay - Hal Saflieni Hypogeum
What was the Purpose of these Structures?
The sheer investment of effort required to cut, transport
and construct these ‘Temples’ suggests that theywere of central importance to Malta’s prehistoric inhabitants. The objects and furnishings found within them
indicate that the temples may have served for one or a combination of three purposes:
1. The above-ground temples most probably served as sanctuaries: rituals were probably performed to
worship ancestors and to venerate a corpulent fertility deity which may have represented ‘mother earth’;
2. The unique, easterly orientation of Mnajdra above-ground temple suggests another purpose: this
temple may have served as one of the world’s oldest solar calendars. Sunrise lights up the interior of
Mnajdra’s southern temple on the first day of each of the four seasons. On the Equinox days, a ray of sun
enters the temple and lights up its main axis. On the Solstices, sunlight illuminates the entrance chamber’s
megaliths – focusing on the left-hand vertical in Summer and on the right-hand upright in Winter; and...
3. The underground hypogea – Hal Saflieni and the recently excavated Xaghra Circle – also served as
burial grounds.
What happened to the Enigmatic Temple-Builders?
We cannot as yet explain the reason for the sudden decline
of this magnificent Temple-Building Societyaround 2500 BCE. We can only guess that these master-masons may have been obliged to emigrate due
to climatic factors or were decimated by epidemic disease. Although their monuments have survived, the
more refined structures carved out of the softer globigerina limestone have, over the years, suffered serious
degradation. Their conservation has since been entrusted to Heritage Malta, the government agency
responsible for the protection and promotion of Malta’s cultural heritage.
The Legacy of the Temple-Builders
These Temple Builders not only left their buildings as a
legacy to mankind, they also bequeathed theirinnate masonry skills to succeeding generations of Maltese. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organization (UNESCO) recognizes 8 Maltese properties deserving of World Heritage preservation
due to their outstanding value to humanity. These 8 World Heritage sites include 6 above-ground Temples
(Ggantija, Hagar Qim, Mnajdra, Skorba, Ta’ Hagrat, & Tarxien), the underground Hal Saflieni Hypogeum,
and the majestic Baroque walled-city of Valletta. Not surprisingly, it is claimed that the stoneworking skills
reflected in 16-17th century Maltese Baroque architecture are themselves a legacy of Malta’s Temple-
Builders of the 3th millennium BCE.
Book references:
Cilia D., ed, Malta before History, 2004, Miranda Publishers, Malta
Renfrew, C. Before Civilization: The Radiocarbon Revolution and Prehistoric Europe. 1973, London:
Jonathan Cape.
Trump D., H., Malta Prehistory and Temples, 2002, Midsea Books Ltd
Vella Gregory I.., The Human Form in Neolithic Malta, 2005, Midsea Books Ltd
Zammit T., The Prehistoric Temples of Malta and Gozo, (various papers and books) 1929-1931
More information about Malta’s Temple-Builders may be obtained from:
www.heritagemalta.org
www.neolithiafoundation.org
http://web.infinito.it/utenti/m/malta_mega_temples