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All the photographs have been taken by myself including those of holiday.

Tuesday 15 July 2014

Gozo Malta

Hi,
The day we went over to Gozo its was a bank holiday on the Island,  it was very busy on the ferry across to Gozo from Malta, as many families were having a day out on Gozo  

Gozo is Malta's smaller sister island it is more fertile and more picturesque and far more unspoilt.  Malta and Gozo have a lot of history too much for me to write on here.  The capital is Victoria the Gozitans always use the name of Rabat it is the only town on Gozo and was named Victoria in 1897 and is in the centre of the island and has been the capital of Gozo since the Roman times.  There are several villages around the island.  The picture above was taken as we arrived in the ferry port on Gozo

 We went to the Ggantija Temples,   in the past they were known as the The Giants Tower,  they are the best preserved and most impressive prehistoric temple.  It is probably the finest of ancient remains in these Islands and can be compared with Stonehenge for grandeur.  It was uncovered around 1826.   It is older than Stonehenge and the Pyramids.

View from the Temple.

 Ggantija consists of two separate systems of courtyards which do not interconnect.   The South Temple is bigger  and earlier (c.3600 B.C.)  and better preserved incorporating 5 large apses.
The North Temple which is smaller and later (c.3000 B.C.) with 4 apse structure.
Wood or animal hides might have been used as roofing material.

 Two types of stones were used in the construction "talfranka" the soft stone mainly used inside as floor slabs and portals.
"talqawwi" a harder stone mostly used for walls and general construction.   Traces have been found that the walls inside were painted with red ochre.

 Inner part of the Temple,  as you can see there is some scaffolding up unfortunately time and the weather is taking its toll on the temple.  As this is a very important site there's not a lot that can be done,  these are the possibly oldest free standing structures in possibly  in the world.

 These pictures show inside and they are the remains of the alters sacrifices where they  were made,  and worshipped,  I don't know what gods they were worshipping,  as I don't remember the guild saying.


I hope you enjoyed my piece on Gozo,  I did not take a lot of photos on this trip over to Gozo some places were just too busy,  we did visit an craft centre and Victoria that's where I brought the bobbin lace bookmark which I showed you a few weeks ago.
                         Hugs
                     Margaret 

7 comments:

  1. lovely pictures of your day out on Gonzo, looks beautiful
    Tilly

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  2. I love archaeology and this looks like great fun, great way to spend your vacation!

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  3. Fabulous photos thank you for sharing Ginny x

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  4. Lovely photos, and amazing that parts of these structures are still standing.

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  5. Your pictures and descriptions are better than any tourist guide. I feel as though I have visited myself.
    Carol
    xx

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  6. Wow! Great photos, Margaret. Sounds as though you had a marvelous time!

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  7. Again you take us to amazing places we'll never get to visit! I knew nothing about either island (well, I had heard of Malta, but never knew where it was!) , and I now know more about them! It boggles the mind trying to understand the ancient civilizations. So nice of you to share your photos! They are wonderful!

    I missed your recent posts, and am so glad to see you doing more tatting! The brooch looks great, and I understand how tricky that was to work around the edges. I also can't believe how far you've come on the doily - very pretty! And congrats on your card!

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