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Walking to the Ggantija Temples near Xagħra, Gozo

Ġgantija (meaning "Giantess") is a Neolithic megaalithic temple complex. Ġgantija temples are the earliest of the Megalithic Temples of Malta and are older than the pyramids of Egypt. Their makers erected the two Ġgantija temples during the Neolithic Period (c. 3600–2500 BC), which makes these temples more than 5500 years old and the world's second oldest existing manmade religious structures.



The temples are elements of a ceremonial site in a fertility rite. According to local Gozitan folklore, a giantess who ate nothing but broad beans and honey bore a child from a man of the common people. With the child hanging from her shoulder, she built these temples and used them as places of worship.


Close to the Temples is the Ta' Kola Windmill which is one of Gozo's few surviving windmills. Its origins go back to Gozo under the Knights during the magistracy of Grand Master Manoel de Vilhena (1722-36).


Most interesting was the hundred year old graffiti one can see on the temple and some of the restoration techniques they are using to keep the temple walls up. The way back was pretty steep and we were glad to get back in one piece.

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