One of the places Eve wanted to visit again was Mdina, which was a real plus for us. Mdina is one of our favorite Malta places.
We met Eve at the Antik bus stop and awaited the #202 bus. Of course, it was late, but finally arrived. It was already packed, so we started off standing with the driver yelling “move back” at each stop, where more people squeezed on to the bus. As passengers got off for work around San Gwann and Naxxar, we eventually were able to sit down. It is a long, bumpy bus ride to Rabat, the suburb village of Mdina, where there is a bus terminus. But I’ll never tire of seeing the image of Mdina high on the hill as the bus turns out of the Ta’ Qali craft village and starts up the hill to Rabat. I have yet to get a good photograph of that sight, and I’ll have to figure out some way to do that because I really love it. Mdina is magnificent.
We entered Mdina through the main gate and our first stop was at a little café for a cappuccino and pastizzi. We like this little café because first, it has an interesting collection of clocks, especially the beautiful Maltese clocks that line the walls at the entrance, and second, it feels like being in a cave inside this lovely “house of character.” After reviving ourselves with our little repast, we made a plan for regrouping at 1:30 and split up, Eve off to find a good spot in which to paint, and Christine and I off to the Domus Romana in Rabat. On the way we stopped to take in the scenery from the Mdina walls.
The Domus Romana is the remains of a Roman domus that was probably built around the 1st century BC and was inhabited until the 1st century AD. The Romans conquered Malta in about 250 BC, but this domus is really the only big archeological site covering Roman culture here in Malta. Ruins were discovered in 1881 when workers were digging holes for planting trees to make the Howard Gardens, a nice little park between the bus terminus and the Mdina moat. And the domus was the first archeological site to become a museum with a building built around the remains, and it has been open to the public since 1882. We thought the museum was really interesting and the artifacts on display were amazing.
A domus was a town house where an important Roman businessman lived. As such, the front rooms were where people came to receive the blessing of the important person and to conduct business. Roman houses (of the 1%, of course) were very fancy and fine, with colorful wall paintings, beautiful carved cornices around the ceilings, fabulous mosaic floors and incredible marble statuary. Much of the décor was Hellenistic in style and artistic decorations.
The museum was a little confusing at first because the timeline went backwards, showing large posters of who was ruling Malta and what was happening. It was kind of humorous that Christine and I both wanted to go to the earliest segment of the historical timeline and move forward, but we made our way back in time. I think a very interesting fact was that during the Byzantine period of rule in the 11th century AD, the Domus Romana was by now covered over with earth and they did not know about what lay beneath the ground. The Arabs used the same location for a cemetery and some 250 skeletal remains were found during the domus excavation. Interestingly, all the Arab skeletons were positioned on their right sides with the heads turned facing south, the location of Mecca. The photos of the skeletal remains were rather interesting to see, all in this described position.
The artifacts on display in the museum were quite interesting and presented various aspects of Roman life, including personal adornments, how clothing was made and worn, how water was obtained and used, how rooms were lighted, and how oil and precious substances were stored.
There were amazing samples of the marble statuary found during the site’s excavation.
There were wonderful samples of columns and cornices and how the architecture of the domus was done.
And then there were the mosaics – the floors and samples of artistic adornments that would have been around the house. The mosaics were really amazing. They had been produced in 3 layers and were very intricate, using tiny little squares of marble. Christine and I both commented that we found the rather 3-dimensional patterns very much like Escher’s work. The domus must have been really something to see with all the artistic decorations and colors.
Outside the museum was some excavated partial walls. You could get a sense for how large the house must have been, but the actual site itself was not much to see other than piled up stones.
After our visit to the Domus Romana, Christine and I walked back into Mdina and wandered around all the lovely narrow streets. I do love it so.
We had arranged with Eve to meet for lunch as she wanted to do some painting. We messaged her and found out where she was. We were able to sneak up on her and take photos of the artist at work.
We then went to the Xara Palace, a 5-star hotel, and had a delightful lunch out in the courtyard in front of the hotel. Eve and I had a yummy Gorgonzola and pear salad and Christine had a salmon salad. Our starter was a wonderful olive focaccia. It was a very lovely spot for lunch and we had a delightful time chatting and feeling very good about being in Mdina.
After lunch we snooped around the lobby of the Xara Palace hotel and then wandered around Mdina a bit more.
We then had gelato as our final Mdina treat and then headed back to the bus terminus for our trip home. Upon arriving back at the flat, Eve went back to her Airbnb for a rest and we rested in our flat.
We regrouped for dinner, but we had a hard time deciding where to go. None of us were terribly hungry after our nice lunch. I had called a tapas bar to find out if they were open. What I didn’t know is that this place had been closed for a while, apparently for renovation. They said they weren’t open yet. A few minutes after I called, the phone rang and it was the tapas bar owner saying that I had been their first caller and so if I came Wednesday, Thursday or Friday and gave a secret password (pesco sour) they would honor me with a free bottle of wine or some extra food. So, we might just check that out later in the week.
Ultimately, Eve mentioned an Argentinian restaurant on the front not too far away, so off we went. Christine and I had seen this place several times on our walks, but no one ever seemed to be eating there. However, we were greatly surprised by the place as they were very welcoming and the food was really good. It was just a perfect meal of wonderful meat kabobs, an empanada, potatoes, and grilled veggies. And some really nice Argentinian red wine. What a nice dinner we had.
Afterwards, we strolled along the esplanade for a bit and then headed back to our respective flats. And, I think a nice day was had by all.