Malta’s world famous prehistoric sites interest me greatly and on Easter Monday this year, the final day of my 18th visit to this jewel of the Mediterranean, I decided to renew my acquaintance with the Hagar Qim and Mnajdra Temples, where I was surprised to discover that in order to visit both sites it was necessary to purchase not one, but two separate Senior Citizen’s admittance tickets.

I bought both tickets from the uniformed attendant who was on duty that morning at the kiosk just inside the entrance of the upper of the two now fenced-off sections of what is officially still one archæological park – a term that, according to the map, also includes the Misqa Tanks, which nobody save myself visited while I was in the park.

I told him that one reduced-price Senior Citizen’s ticket had sufficed for everything in May 2004, that on several previous occasions entrance for senior citizens had been entirely free of charge, and that when I first visited these temples in December 1994 it had been possible to look at everything, instead of so much of interest being either roped-off or covered over with wooden planking. He acknowledged that some things had changed.

Each ticket carries the legend: “To be retained at all times while on the premises.” Puzzlingly, however, each ticket also announces that it was “Issued at: Head Office”. Can that be right? Does the Hagar Qim kiosk attendant’s area of responsibility also include the Tarxien Temple, the Hypogeum and the National Archæological Museum in Valletta?

Re-examining my tickets, I am even more puzzled by the differences between them than by that anomalous similarity. The Mnajdra Temple ticket was issued “Date: 27/12/2004 Time: 1:33 PM”; that for Hagar Qim states “Date: 23:03/2005 Time: 10:18 AM”. Easter Monday this year was 28 March.

Can any of your readers unlock the key to this mystery?

Colin James Hamer (Dr)

Exeter, Devon, UK