Kharkhorin..... ancient capital of Mongolia under Genghis Khan

Kharkhorin is a 5-7 hour drive from Ulaanbatar... but worth the effort! It is on the main east/west road leading to Kazakstan... only one lane in either direction! Slow traffic and animal blocks! All roaming loose!

We visited the Erdene Zuu Monastery.... or what is now left... within the wall of 108 stupas.

The Ancient city of Kharakorin does not have any original buildings left, having been mostly destroyed by the Manchurians and then totally by the Russians. This fountain  from 1253, designed by a Frenchman captured by the Mongols and brought there to embellish the city, remains with its angel on top! It was in an inner courtyard of the KhanPalace when designed!

My first experience of sleeping in a ger.... the Mongolian yurt!

Roadside views were great!

We didn't stop for lunch at these ger restaurants!

Stopover in Seoul

 As direct flights from Istanbul to Ulaanbatar were totally booked out the week I needed to arrive I decided to go through Seoul and spend a few days there! First impressions: the people are very friendly and the city is spotless! No litter anywhere!

As I like to walk when exploring a city I booked into a central hotel The Plaza  and had a great view..

First stop was the Buddhist Jogyesa Temple.......

Then on to Palace Number 1!! Gyeongbokgung Palace... totally unpronounceable by me!

We were there early to see the Changing of the Guard..

Then on to check out the actual palace......

Then on to the water palace.....

... on to the Queen's quarters.....

... which did have heat......this is a chimney which took the smoke from four fires....

We passed by their Blue House, equivalent of the White House..... 

en route to being taught the medicinal properties of ginseng....

Then on to Palace number 2... again unpronounceable by me! Changgyeonggung Palace...

After the palaces needed to check out how the Commoners lived in past times...Bukchon Hanok village

A slightly different living style!

There is now however some interesting modern architecture....

Malta... on the trail of the Knights of Malta...

 Malta has been on my 'go to' list for a while so I was happy to take a short trip there to check it out! It's a short flight from most cities in Europe...... Ryanair owns the marketplace!

This particular plane was however serviced by Malta Air!

First view of what, we realized later, is a very small island! And two other even smaller ones!

I had chosen the 66 Saint Pauls boutique hotel  in Valletta as it had very good reviews and was very central in location. Definitely not disappointed and can totally recommend!

First view around the corner from the hotel.....

First order of the day was to buy last minute tickets to view the Hypogeum the following day. They only admit 80 persons per day and online it is booked out 6 weeks in advance! They did have 2 slots available .... we were lucky!

Exploring Valletta was interesting....difficult to not have a view of water no matter which direction one walked! And it has a lot of hills!

And of course it also has some very large boats! It's a popular cruise stop as it has a very deep channel!

This one suddenly appeared as we were having dinner with a view at the Harbour Club restaurant!

Food was great and we did enjoy the night time view!

....and our walk back to the hotel.....

On our second day we went to the Hypogeum ( no photos allowed except from postcards!).Amazing! 6000 years old!

After this underground visit we went on to another megalithic site Hagar Qim

This was above ground and actually was a little older than the Hypogeum!

This archeological site was close to the Blue Grotto.... so on we went!

Next day we continued our visits to megalithic sites.... this time on another smaller island, Gozo.

We crossed on a ferry.....

First stop was the  Ġgantija  megalithic temple...

Interesting items had been excavated there.........

In need of some sustenance we stopped at a nice cove restaurant, the Boathouse.......

Before leaving we visited the Cittadella... impressive walls!

Back in Valletta we still had to see the famous Caravaggio.... the beheading of St John the Baptist, signed by him in blood!

And we also saw the Saint Jerome Writing ... stolen for a time by, allegedly, the Mafia...

The Cathedral itself was full of gold!

We went  to visit the old capital city of Mdina .... this was where the Knights first lived on arrival in 1530, before moving the capital to Birgu, they needed to be closer to water!  It is now also called the Silent City.... not many people actually live within its walls! Lots of tourists however!

Very narrow streets...not exactly horse or car friendly!

After visiting Mdina we had to check out Birgu, where the Knights chose to live, before they moved on to Valletta!  One has  to take a ferry to  the other side of the Valletta bay.

Taking a rather intimidating lift down!

 We got a close up look of the Fort San Angelo.....

We had lunch in  what had been one of the Fort St Angelo's prisons!

Now with freedom to be outside!