A Week in Malta & Gozo - Ħal Saflieni Hypogeum, Tarxien Temples, and Vittoriosa/Birgu (Day 3)

While attempting to find the ferry dock (google maps failed us), we had a wonderful late afternoon walk around the harbor between Birgu and Senglea.

UPDATED: 2/5/2023

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This third day of our trip was the first time we ventured outside of the capital city of Valletta, and we managed to pack a lot into the day! In a way, we spent the day time traveling. We started the day by visiting two UNESCO World Heritage sites: Ħal Saflieni Hypogeum, an underground Neolithic necropolis that pre-dates the Pyramids, and visited Tarxien Temples, a megalithic site that dates back almost as far. From there we headed to the Medieval Era by exploring the quaint streets and Inquisitor’s Palace in Vittoriosa (also known as Birgu), caught the ferry across the bay and entered the modern era with the long elevator ride up the Barrakka Lift and then an evening watching Malta’s Independence Day Military Tattoo event from an rooftop terrace restaurant. Read more details about each of these and more stops along the way, where we ate, how we got around, and interesting history we picked up along the way!

Visiting Ħal Saflieni Hypogeum

For anyone who loves prehistoric and archaeologically significant sites, this UNESCO World Heritage site a mere 20 minutes outside of Valletta is worth visiting. Below we’ll share information on the Hypogeum’s history and origins, some 20th century uses, and details about the tour experience. If you are interested in going, please read the information on getting tickets to the site, as you have to plan in advance!

An introduction to Ħal Saflieni Hypogeum

The Ħal Saflieni Hypogeum was definitely one of the highlights of our trip. The word ‘hypogeum’ is Greek for underground, a perfect name for this Neolithic necropolis. The Hypogeum is an ancient burial place that dates to 4000 BCE and was used for about 1500 years.

What started as a single layer of empty burial chambers dug into the limestone gradually filled with the bones of the society’s deceased, and so over generations, the people dug down to create a second and then a third layer linked by stairs and passageways. This three-story underground monument was beautifully designed and carved out of the limestone. The excavators artistically mimicked architecture seen in above ground structures complete with arches, columns, and doorways, many of which are actually carved directly into the limestone bedrock. The site predates Stonehenge, the Pyramids, and many other ancient places.

Like elsewhere on the island, Malta is made up of a soft yellow limestone that can be carved. The entire site was dug out using early tools, and the ‘building’ mimics the above ground stonework only is instead carved out. Simply put, this is not a hole in the ground but an ornate underground building.

There are substantial protocols in place to protect the integrity of the site. Not only do you have to pass though an airlock of sorts to enter the humidity controlled ruin but lighting is strictly regulated and visitors are not allowed to take photos while inside. The best way to get a feel for the site is to check out the photos online. You can view several images of the space in this Smithsonian Magazine article (click on the top photo to scroll to the next one).

While the tour brochuer doesn’t nearly do the Hypogeum justice, you can get a sense of the layout and catch a glimpse at some of the rooms carved into the limestone.

getting tickets to Ħal Saflieni Hypogeum

This was the one stop on our trip that we really planned for in advance, and you absolutely have to if you want to visit it. Due to the impact external visitors have on the site, tickets are doled out sparingly with only a small number available each day.

The tickets often sell out months in advance. We knew we wanted to book this tour but didn't get around to doing so until later than we’d meant to and almost missed our chance! We booked our tickets about 2 months in advance, and this single 9am option was the only available time slot for the entirety of our four days in Valletta!

You can search for available tour dates and book your tickets online through Heritage Malta on this site. (Tip: find the date you want to look at, hover over the spot on the calendar, select the ‘Hypogeum Guided Visit’ option, and then the time slots will show. Hover over them to see if there are available tickets - red colored time slots are fully booked.)

getting to Ħal Saflieni Hypogeum

We arrived at the Ħal Saflieni Hypogeum early and had enough time to wander down the street to enjoy a relaxing cup of coffee while watching the neighborhood wake up.

The Hypogeum is about a 20 minute car ride from Valletta and is situated unexpectedly in the middle of a town named Paola. We pre-booked an eCab (Malta’s version of Uber or Lyft) the night before to ensure we had a ride ready for us. Since we had an early morning time slot (9am) and were unsure what the traffic would be like from Valletta, we left extra early. In our case, the traffic was extra light because of the holiday (Independence Day). Because the tours are limited in number, they ask that visitors arrive at least 10-15 minutes before their tour begins, and we didn’t want to risk missing our entry. One couple for our tour was running late so our group waited around about 5 minutes for them, when they finally ran in breathless. Definitely don’t be those people if you can avoid it!

Since we allowed extra time for our travel, we arrived about an hour early and so wandered over to the town square in Paola. Almost every small town in Malta has a central square with a cathedral, so you can search the skies for a dome and head that way! We were able to get a table outside at a cafe in front of Paola’s cathedral. We enjoyed got a cappuccino and café Americano before heading back for our tour.

As a bit of a funny side story - we had already eaten breakfast in Valletta before heading to the Hypogeum. As I shared in a prior post on Malta, this country is not a place of early risers and restaurants. Several restaurants’ hours listed online indicated that they would be open starting at 7am but none of them actually were! Then we remembered having passed a McDonald’s the night before and figured this American fixture might be open earlier, we headed there and lo and behold, it was! This is actually the first time we have ever had American fast food abroad, but we were so thankful to find a place to get breakfast. We both got Egg McMuffins, and found it interesting that they offered one with lettuce and tomato, something we hadn’t seen before (and didn’t try).

Ħal Saflieni Hypogeum in the 20th century

The Hypogeum was first discovered in 1902 when a home builder digging a cistern in the house (a common local practice), dug right into the site. Developers everywhere are nervous that a stop will be put to their work upon discovering something historic or ecologically important, so this one covered it up (literally and figuratively) for a time. In the early 1900s some unofficial excavations were done at the site, which unfortunately means artifacts and knowledge were lost to history. Over time, four homes were even built atop the Hypogeum, but they have since been torn down as preservation interest increased later in the century.

Interestingly, the Hypogeum briefly found a new modern purpose as an air raid shelter during World War II, and children used it as a play area during the war since it was covered. As a result, its condition started deteriorating rather rapidly. For a time, the Hypogeum was closed to the public to stabilize it and find a happy medium to allow people to explore the site in a way that did not damage it. Today, in addition to only small numbers of people being allowed into the site, there are extensive measures in place to monitor and manage the temperature, humidity, and lighting.

touring Ħal Saflieni Hypogeum - what to expect

The building that is situated at street level is a small, narrow building. In it is a small gift shop with Malta and Hypogeum related books and items. On our way out, Dustin bought a book - Malta: Prehistory and Temples by David H. Trump. There is also a bathroom and lockers where visitors will need to stow their bags (for free) during the tour. No phones or cameras are allowed.

The tour itself is split into two portions: a video and then the descent into the Hypogeum.

Upon the start of our tour, the 9-10 people in our group entered a room with a long bench seat to watch a video on the site. We were accompanied by a tour guide, who had already given each of us an audio guide in our native language that provided the sound to the video. This was a very good approach for a site that has visitors from around the world! We also enjoyed the fact that the audio all started at once and progressed on its own at the right pace - none of that awkward pressing of numbers that we are used to experiencing with audio guides.

The video explained the history and origin of the Hypogeum and what was known about it and unknown, possibly lost to time. After the video concluded, we entered a second room with a few display cases where the audio continued. Lastly, the doors opened, and we entered the Hypogeum itself.

Lit by only a few dim lights, we were on the top and oldest layer. Our audio guides continued to play automatically, and our tour guide operated as guide post on the trek, stopping at the right place so that we could all pause there as the audio guides played and explained what we were looking at before us. All of this was timed perfectly!

Because the tour was driven by the audio guides atop our ears, the entire 45 minutes or so down in the Hypogeum was entirely silent except for the calming voice of the audio guide. We were able to be mesmerized by our surroundings and take them in on our own time. As we moved to a new spot, the audio guide would share pertinent information and then revert to a steady, calming sound of water dripping in a cave with an echo-like quality. In my experience, it is really rare to have time on guided tours to truly process what you’re seeing, so this was a welcome approach! To protect the walls, the lights only turned on as we entered each space and then turned back off. This allowed us to experience the site more as its original people had with the flickering of torch lights. This is the most anti-tour tour I have ever been on, and I loved it and found it to be really well done.

interesting information from the tour of Ħal Saflieni Hypogeum

Spoiler alert! If you plan on touring the Hypogeum yourself, you may want to skip over this section where I’ll share some of the interesting information we learned from the audio guide on the tour. I am including this information here for those who don’t expect to visit themselves. If you wish to skip over this, just head down to the next blue header section!

There is ongoing research being conducted on the Hypogeum and as human knowledge grows and new technologies are discovered to reassess historical sites, I’m sure this information will continue to evolve. Most of this information shared on the tour provides additional insights into what we saw and is based on academic research.

Throughout the chambers of the Hypogeum were holes in the walls that were fairly high off the ground to the modern eye; however, when the Hypogeum was being used, the ground within it would have had soil so that it would have been higher up and the holes would not have appeared as high. This would have made access to them easier. The holes go to additional chambers that were also used to house the deceased.
One chamber has an echo spot in it. If you speak into it with a deep voice, its sound carries on the wavelengths throughout the cave. Archaeologists are unsure whether that was intentional or accidental and, regardless, what it would have been used for. One theory is that it could have been used for musical intonations as part of religious or spiritual activities. Its also possible that having higher floors during the site’s use would have changed or removed the echo.
Burials in the Hypogeum appear to have been done en masse instead of individualized burials.
It is believed that after a person died, their body remained above ground until the majority of flesh was gone from the bones and only later placed in the Hypogeum. This would have been more sanity, less smelly, and allowed more remains to be placed in the site.
In spite of early ‘explorers’ removing invaluable items from the Hypogeum, some artifacts were still discovered there. One that is particularly noteworthy is the so-called sleeping lady figurine, which is housed at the National Museum of Archaeology in Valletta, where we had seen it the prior day. Within the Hypogeum, we were shown the crevice in which it was found, though no one knows when or why it was placed there.

The Tarxien Temples were burried for centuries but were rediscovered and excavation began in 1915. The temple as seen today is a mix of original stone and recreated structure.

Visiting Tarxien Temples

If you find yourself in Paola to visit the Hypogeum, you should absolutely tack on another nearby site: Tarxien Temples. It is easy to walk from one site to the other, and the walk itself is under 10 minutes. We had no trouble at all following the route on Google maps, and there are also signs in the town pointing to both sites. Like the Hypogeum, this site is also a UNESCO World Heritage site.

An introduction to Tarxien temples

The Tarxien Temples are megalithic structures built between the years 3600 BCE and 2500 BCE, which means there was an overlap of this temple building with the usage of nearby Ħal Saflieni Hypogeum (built starting in 4000 BCE and used until 2500 BCE). The four temples are identified by the following names: Easternmost Temple, South Temple, Central Temple, and East Temple.

The structures were discovered by a local farmer in 1913 and much of the excavations took place shortly afterward from 1915-1919, though there are ongoing excavations through present day that continue to uncover more about the site. When you visit today, the site is a combination of original structures plus recreated blocks in certain spots to represent blocks that were removed for preservation. There are intricate carvings, designs, and patterns adorning the limestone walls. Many pieces of the structures that were removed are available for public viewing at the National Museum of Archaeology) , which we visited the prior day.

The temples are multi-apsed in shape with one, the Central Temple, having a unique six-apsed layout.

The central temple at Tarxien with its 6 apses.

A deep cistern was cut into the rock to provide water to the ancient people who lived and worked at the Tarxien Temple.

The limestone of the Tarxien Temple was precisely cut and, in many cases, intricate patterns were carved into the faces.

touring tarxien temples - what to expect

There is a small entry building on the street that houses a few preserved blocks from the site and is where you can purchase tickets. As of this writing (December 2019), prices vary based on the visitors. Tickets are free for children under 5, €3 for children 6-11, €6 for adults 18-59, and are discounted to €4.50 for students, seniors, concessions and teenagers 12-17 years old. This site is included in the Heritage Malta multi-site pass, which you may want to consider purchasing. You can read more information here about the 1, 2, or 3 day pass that includes admission for 25 sites and museums run by Heritage Malta.

After purchasing your ticket, there is a door that deposits you directly outside to the site. To tour the site, which is self-paced and self-guided, visitors follow a raised walkway that follows the outer boundary of the site. From here, you will have good aerial visibility into the site below, which helps to show the apse-shaped structures. There are also informational placards that point out what you’re seeing below. During our visit, a large white tarp/tent covering that appears to be permanent covered the majority of the walkway and all of the excavated site to protect it from the elements. We ended up with a drizzling rain and so were able to mostly stay dry. After the raised walkway has gone around the site, it dips down to the ground level and provides various routes to tour the temples at eye level. It is here that their size, dwarfed from above, becomes apparent, and it is also a good way to see the intricate details carved into the limestone.

Trying to get an aerial shot of the temple.

The size of many of the stone blocks is incredible. Most of them are taller than I am!

While at first glance, we thought it wouldn’t take us long at all to tour the site, the size is actually deceiving, and we spent just about an hour there. Other than a large bus carrying a German tour group that arrived when we did, there were only a handful of small groups visiting during our trip. We hung back to let the tour group get ahead of us, which took no time at all, as they were there on a time crunch and moving through at rocket speed!

While up on the walkway, we also got a good view into the surrounding area just outside the walls enclosing the Tarxien Temples. Right next to the site is a modern cemetery, and a short distance away schoolchildren played outside. The juxtaposition of the ancient structures, a modern cemetery, and children was a poignant reminder that the world is really just layers upon layers of civilizations soon lost to time and that none of us are here all that long. From the earliest part of the temple, which dates to 3600 BCE to present is a massive span of 5620 years. How will we be viewed that same distance into the future in the year 11,240? The idea is literally unfathomable to me!

This carved block is a copy, the original sits in the National Museum of Archaeology in Valletta.

Of course what visit to an ancient temple would be complete without a selfie to commemorate the occasion!!

Tall buildings cast welcome shadows over the walking streets of Birgu, creating a wonderful shaded wind tunnel to keep you cool in the heat of the day.

Potted gardens line the streets, creating a splash of life which contrasts nicely with dusty yellow stone.

Visiting Vittoriosa/Birgu

After spending the morning touring the remains of ancient civilizations, it was time to head forward in time and explore part of the island that, while old, is much closer in time to us in comparison! We again ordered an eCabs ride from the app to take us to Vittoriosa (also known locally as Birgu) , just across the bay from Valletta. Vittoriosa is on one of the three peninsulas that are known collectively as the "Three Sisters". Vittoriosa had played a pivotal role during the Siege of Malta in 1565 so I was eager to see it, particularly Fort St. Angelo as well as a few other sites. Vittoriosa is also know for being an easy-to-wander medieval town with quaint streets. Part of what had piqued my interest was one of the books I read before our trip that explained the area in depth: Empires of the Sea: The Siege of Malta, the Battle of Lepanto, and the Contest for the Center of the World by Roger Crowley.

lunch al fresco in vittoriosa’s victory square

The heart of Vittoriosa is Victory Square. We had lunch at BeBirgu , which was delicious. We found a table outside on the square with nice views of the city center and a monument in the center of the square. From what we could tell, the majority of the people around us were locals, and both the inside and outside of the restaurant were quite filled.

Dustin ordered a burger topped with sliced Maltese sausage and Lindsey had Maltese pasta, which an online receipe describes as a cross between the flavors of lasagna and penne al ragu, which seems like the best way to describe it. It is a common and popular dish in Malta, and if this was a good representation of it, I can see why!

At the center of the Inquisitor’s Palace is a peaceful garden.

touring the inquisitor’s palace - what to expect

After lunch, we headed a scant block or two up the street to the Inquisitor’s Palace. This is the only inquisitors palace currently in existence which is also open to the public, so this is a really interesting spot to check out if you’re in the area. Upon entering the Inquisitor’s Palace and inquiring about their dual ticket to Fort St. Angelo, we were informed that that fort was also closed for the week just like Fort St. Elmo had been in Valletta. What the heck?! But the Inquisitor's Palace ended up being a fantastic way to spend the afternoon even without the fort to visit, too.

Beyond the obvious - that we would be exploring the building that served as the Inquisitor's Palace - the museum offers so much more. It is filled with interesting history, architecture, and ethnographic exhibits. We ended up spending an entire two hours wandering through this building, and other visitors could spend longer or shorter depending on their interest level in the different exhibits.

This ancient kitchen would have helped feed the believers rooting out heretical thinking during the Roman Inquisition.

A primitive skylight in the ceiling of the kitchen provides light and ensures fresh air is circulated.

In this corner of the kitchen we found the imprint of an oven and a table where food was likely prepared.

Decorative accents are found everywhere such as these beautiful beams and molding along the ceiling.

As we toured the Inquisitor’s Palace on the ground level, we saw a short video about the spot and its noteworthy residents, then toured the kitchen and store rooms and beautiful courtyard before moving upstairs. From there, we meandered around the upstairs and eventually to the tribunal room (where the trials were held), back down to the warden’s room, the torture room, and then the separate spaces for the men’s and women’s prison cells, both just off of a prison courtyard that held what appeared to be a water feature – a cistern or fountain of sorts but turned out to be the spot that the prisoner’s toilets dumped into so we can only imagine what that prison courtyard smelled like!

The upper levels of the Inquisitor’s Palace also include an ethnographic museum and other artifacts. Included in those spaces was an exhibit on the celebration of Christmas in Malta and the importance of “cribs” (manager scenes) and the craftsmanship and care that goes into them. There were also dioramas of crib scenes around the world. There was an exhibit that included miniaturized church altars by a local artist, an exhibit on the porcelain used in the Palace in its heyday, furniture and other artifacts and artwork, and original Inquisition documents as well as some select prisoner stories to accompany them.

There is something about worn stairwells that really speaks to me. Centuries of human feet have carved their weight into the stone.

On display upstairs were various dioramas depicting Jesus’s life.

a brief history of the inquisition tied to this palace

What inquisitors palace would be complete without a torture room?

If, like us, your perception of the Inquisition has been formed by Hollywood and melodramas, you would probably also expect this palace to be a hotbed of torture, killings, and all sorts of human deprivations. One interesting fact that we learned (maybe we used to know this and had forgotten?) is that there were in fact three separate inquisitions. The most famous and well known and most often depicted in popular culture was the Spanish Inquisition (which was in fact quite deadly and brutal), but there were also the Medieval and Roman Inquisitions. The Palace in Malta was from the Roman Inquisition, which is the most benign of the three and had relatively few deaths as punishment. While the museum did a good job explaining this, we felt the need to fact check it after the fact just in case this Roman Catholic country was viewing its history through rose colored glasses, but we confirmed that the depiction in this museum is factual based on historic evidence.

Through this door we found a very spartan guard’s room.

The Roman Inquisition carried out in this ecclesiastical palace was established in response to the spread of Protestantism. Its primary focus was ferreting out inappropriate books and people engaged in other heretical behaviors (such as adultery). The geographic scope of the Roman Inquisition included mostly Italy and expanded to Malta, due to its proximity to Italy. One of the most famous outcomes of this inquisition: Copernicus’ book positing that the sun is the center of the universe was banned, and Galileo was also placed under house arrest for his expansion upon Copernicus’ view on the universe. And while the death toll was far more limited, that does not make light of the significant impacts that this less deadly inquisition had by creating fear, intimidation (neighbors reporting neighbors was common), and driving people away from academic and intellectual pursuits. Within the palace are numerous first-hand accounts and even trial notes explaining what people had been accused of, their defenses, and showing the unwinding of family and neighborly ties that resulted. It was relatively common for people to accuse others of heretical behavior as a way to get back at them for some other reason, and no one was safe.

At first this might look like a refreshing well… then you read the placard which states it was the septic tank for the prisoners’ toilets!!

The Grandmaster Inquisitor’s bedroom chamber is an interesting mix of luxury and monastic simplicity.

The stonework inside the palace becomes increasingly complex and beautiful as you move from older parts of the palace to more recent. (Recent being a relative term here!)

A courtyard garden was added to the palace by one of the later grandmaster inquisitors.

strolling through vittoriosa and the ferry to valletta

Afterward leaving the Inquisitor's Palace, we wandered Vittoriosa a bit more and walked down to see what we could see of the closed Fort St. Angelo at the tip of the peninsula, which wasn't much from our vantage point.

After quite a while in the heat, we walked back to the square, got some water and ice cream bars to rest and cool off at L-Arlogg Café. I have said this before, but I can't imagine being in Malta during the height of summer heat!

Inside this renovated Norman house I really wanted to know what was at the end of this roped off stairway to the basement.

The Norman house was beautifully restored and featured several period decorations.

Disembarking from our ferry ride we could look back at Fort Angelo at the tip of Birgu.

Looking out at the harbor between Birgu and Kalkara.

From the shore of Birgu you can see both Fort Angelo as well as Valletta in the distance across the bay.

A selfie opportunity during our exploration of Birgu.

Just up the street from there are some adorable, quaint streets that were highlighted in our tour book, along with some of the oldest buildings in the area, so we strolled around taking the city in. We happened upon the so-called Norman House with parts dating to the 13th century. The owner has the door wide open for visitors to wander in and check it out, and so we did! Out the windows upstairs, we could see the rest of the renovations being done by its owner. There is really no one route we’d recommend - just wander and turn down whichever roads appeal to you!

This monument is topped with a statue of St. Lawrence and sits in the main square of Birgu.

En route to catch the ferry back to Valletta, we walked past the beautiful church near the town square – St. Lawrence – which dates to 1681 in its current form. From there, we wandered along the harbor’s edge where there was some sort of street dance party getting started as well as construction for a future site of the ferry . . . right in the spot that our map said the ferry should be. After wandering back and forth a bit, we realized that the ferry had been relocated one peninsula over (which is closer than it sounds). We crossed the short bridge to the neighboring ‘three city’ Sengelea and found the ferry stop. It was very easy to book the ferry – basically when the boat pulls up, an employee hopped off and in record time collected money from and issued tickets to all the potential customers. We were boarded and off on the 10-minute or so ride back over to Valletta. This was much faster than getting there by car and a new way to see the harbor.

Included in our ticket was a ride up the lift from the Valletta dock area to the Upper Barrakka Gardens , which quickly and painlessly got us up to the city level without breaking a sweat! We shared the lift with a group of teenagers who had come in on a cruise ship and were headed for a night on the town. A couple of them were wearing very high heels, which I'm guessing didn't last long on the cobblestone streets! (Based on my experiences in Europe thus far, I can't imagine myself ever packing and wearing heels.)

We spent a bit of time exploring the outside of St Lawrence church.

Decorative lights were festooned around the cupola. I bet it looks cool at night.

Flowers bloom in front of the twin steeples of Collegiate Church of the Immaculate Conception in Malta.

The color palette we found on Malta was totally unexpected. I simply love the mix of bright greens and blues with the muted earthy yellow of Maltese limestone.

Fort Angelo guards the bay between Birgu and Valletta.

Oh no, the ferry left without us! On the up side, we had more time to wander and take photos! (And catch the next ferry, just a little bit later.)

This massive lift connects up to the Upper Barrakka Gardens. The ticket price is included in the ferry admission.

An Evening in Valletta

We knew that this was the last of the three nights of the Military Tattoo concert in St. George’s Square in honor of Malta’s Independence Day, which technically was the prior day. Why not spend three days celebrating?! The night before, we had spotted a restaurant terrace overlooking the square with great views of the event and so decided to pop in there for dinner.

We got to dinner very early to increase the likelihood of getting a seat right against the edge of the terrace and actually could have gotten there quite a bit later and been fine! But it was nice to have a leisurely meal while watching both the preparation for and about 90 minutes of the actual event. The celebration included bag pipers, all sorts of different military divisions with interesting and varied uniforms, baton twirlers, and dancers.

Our meal at that restaurant, City Lounge , was delicious. Lindsey got salmon, Dustin had sea bass, and we shared a brownie with what tasted like vanilla-toffee ice cream. After dragging out the evening as long as we could, we noticed the restaurant was getting more crowded and decided it was time to give up our table to someone else. When we made it back to our apartment, we were able to sit outside on one of the many patios in the apartment and listen to the rest of the concert before calling it a day.

City Lounge was situated on the second floor and provided us with the perfect view of the Maltese Independence Festivities.

Fresh sea bass makes for a wonderful meal at the end of the day.

This was our approximate route for the day. From Valletta to Vittoriosa/Birgu was mostly via a series of taxis. Once in Birgu, we explored the peninsula on foot before catching the ferry across the water and back to Valletta’s Grand Harbor.

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