I used the hop on / hop off bus today, taking the South (Red) Tour. My feeling yesterday that this method of transport for touring Malta and seeing the sights would be the best way to go was realised. I would only do Malta this way in future, particularly knowing which sights I wanted to see. The commentary provided by the audio guide was very good.

Would I come back to Malta? The short answer is 'yes' . I remember when Pip and I were going to come to Malta for 6 days after Libya and Tunisia (before the tours were cancelled due to the Spring Uprising) and someone telling me 6 days would be too long in Malta as it's only a small island. However, I guess it depends on what you are interested in seeing. I'm here for 4 full days and it's not going to be anywhere long enough to see all I want to see in my own timeframe.

Taking the hop on / hop off bus from Sliema, I got off in Paola to visit the Hal Saflieni Hypogeum and Tarxien Temples.

Armed with my pre-booked ticket I took the 11.00am tour of the Hypogeum. Due to the strictly controlled microclimate, the maximum number of visitors per tour is limited to 10 and no photos are allowed. This subterranean necropolis with it's halls, chambers and passages hewn out of the rock on 3 levels and dating from around 4000 BC, is like stepping into a mysterious and silent world. The Hypogeum covers some 500 square metres and it is thought that some 7000 bodies were interred here over its many centuries of use (up to about 2500 BC) . It was worth coming to Malta just to visit this site. It is with extraordinary archaeological sites like this that you thank UNESCO for its protection. The Hypogeum was closed for 10 years (reopening mid-2000) due to the serious damage to the burial chambers' limestone walls caused by the carbon dioxide exhaled by visiting tourists. It was a truly unique site and the 50-minute tour was excellent.

Leaving the Hypogeum, I walked (10 minutes) to the Tarxien Temples - Malta's most complex network of prehistoric megalithic temples. The first of these temples (there are 4) is thought to date from 3600 BC. They are dry stone structures with no mortar, concrete etc used to hold the massive stone blocks in place. Very little is known about the activities or rituals that took place within these structures until the early Bronze Age when they were used for funerary purposes.

Getting back on the bus (nearly 3 hours later), I next got off in the ancient fishing village of Marsaxlokk . The town is renowned for its brightly coloured fishing boats, being home to 70% of the Maltese fishing fleet, and its top-notch seafood restaurants (and there were a lot of them). The fishing boats are painted boldly in blue, red and yellow, with watchful 'Eyes of Osiris' on the bows to ward off evil spirits. The town has a very relaxed feel. I had an excellent lunch (not seafood) and then went for a leisurely walk around the harbour before catching the bus again.

I would have liked to have seen a further two megalithic temples, Hagar Qim and Mnajdra, on this South Tour but with only half an hour before the last bus back to Sliema, I had to give them a miss. Time permitting, stopping at the Blue Grotto to take a boat ride would also have been something I would have liked to do. Oh well! Next visit to Malta.