Read about Ron & Viv's journey so far through Africa - LIBYA - Appollonia, Cyrene, Leptis Magna, Tripoli, Sabratha - Sept 2007.
Libya
Just some remaining sections
of mosaics that can be seen in
the ruined Greek city of Appollonia.
The impressive Roman Forum.
The imposing Basilica.
The national museum houses s
ome of the finest mosaics from
the great historic sites.
Sabratha - the ruins consist of a
number of large temples and baths, along with the normal
Roman Forum to admire.
AFRICA TRIPMid September – LIBYA
Liberated Libya
Across the Border and to Tobruk
We parked in the ‘No man's land' of border control under the watchful gaze of Libyan security and waited for about half an hour until our escort come guide, Nabeel Aljilli, arrived with the paperwork. Nabeel proved to be a good guide, speaks French fluently (he is working on becoming a doctor of language (French) in France) and reasonable English as well as Arabic and Berber (both fluently). Later we found he plays in a band, and came 7th in the 2002 Paris-Dakar on a Yamaha motorbike.
We had used Arkno Tours based in Tripoli and who have an office in London to sort out all our visa, carnet, escort (an Escort is a requirement for coming into Libya and Arkno provide a guide, which is much better than just an escort), and travel requirements for Libya. They proved to be excellent and we'd recommend them to everyone. For more details contact: Craig Baguley, Arkno Tours Information Office, email: info@arknouk.com , ph: +44 (0)20 8855 6373, and/or check the web at: www.arknouk.com . Arkno Tours are based at 38 Sharia Abd al-Rahman al-Kawakabi, Tripoli, Libya, ph: +218 (0)21 444 1452.
With our new number plates and all the paperwork being done by Nabeel we got thru the Libyan side of the border pretty quickly. They asked if we had any grog and that was about all. Headed west, the country being gravel desert and becoming more limestone desert dotted with a sparse cover of what we'd call ‘saltbush'.
Stopped at the French war cemetery just outside Tobruk . The Free French Army had fought valiantly repelling Rommel's army at a small oasis south of Tobruk, thereby helping the 8 th Army survive. Ended up driving past the Commonwealth War Cemetery , which is just set back from the main road after you drive down the escarpment. Trouble is the area around the cemetery is now more an industrial site with a major oil/gas processing plant situated just behind the cemetery and which threatens to swamp it.
Went into the Tobruk Harbour and took a few pics of the harbour and the city. Then we took the main road west and headed thru Derna and around the great shoulder of Libyan coast that is one of the better watered areas of Libya and has been a rich farming area since ancient times. Finally stopped at our Cliff top camp (GPS 32°51'54”N 22°10'40”E). There are a few camps along here and the place is popular and a track leads down the steep side of the valley to a small stream. The area reminds us of the Greek coast – which I guess is not surprising as that coast is only a few hundred km to our direct north. But, as we have come to expect, there was rubbish everywhere.
To the Ancient Greek Cities of Appollonia and Cyrene
Next day we found our way to the ruined Greek city of Appollonia , (GPS 32°54'02”N 21°57'55”E) which is near surrounded by the modern village of Susa. The nearby El Manara Hotel (ph: +218 (0)851 630 30.35) caters for the tourists who come to these important ruins that stretch along the low limestone hills bordering the sea. Founded in the 6 th Century BC it reached its zenith during the 6 th Century AD. The sea level was lower back then, (like it was around most of the eastern Med) and some of the walls and streets can be seen running into the sea, while some of the ruins break the surface 300 metres out in the water. The Eastern Basilica is the most impressive building with its many re-erected marble columns, while some remaining sections of mosaics can also be seen.
From there it is only a short drive of about 20km to the ruins of Greek city of Cyrene , which are some of the best to be found in North Africa – or anywhere, in fact! The main road climbs steeply from the coastal plain and almost immediately you begin seeing, carved into the limestone rock of the mountain the homes of the early Greeks who came from Thira (Santorini) in 631BC. Any flat bit of land is cultivated and has been since these olden times.
Once you get close to the crest of the mountain the full magnitude of the central area of the old town and is temples, nearly fully enclosed by the Old City Walls can be fully appreciated.
We began by first exploring the area around the Sacred Way which includes the great temple, the Sanctuary of Apollo and a series of caves and overhangs that were once the source of the towns water supply – the Fountain of Apollo - and where the ancients erected some public baths. The Baths of Trajan were built in AD98, destroyed during the Jewish revolt of AD115, rebuilt a few years later and then destroyed like much of the site by an earthquake in AD365.
Up the hill we explored the area around the large and impressive Roman Forum and the theatres, baths and temples nearby. Met up with an Italian archaeologist who was in charge of a major excavation that was going on there (I was stopped from taking any photos of the workers working!). He has worked on the site each year since 1999 and could speak good English and was most forthcoming. While all historic accounts say the city had
around 25,000people in it, his words were, “ …. surely it was bigger”, and going by the extensive ruins, you'd have to think so. They are still trying to fathom out the actual history of the place and what it was all used for. I think he has a few more years work in front of him yet!
West to Qasr and Leptis Magna
Our next stop was the Qasr museum , in Jebel al-Akhdar, which is housed in what started out as a 6 th Century Byzantine fort and church and, was most recently during the 1920's and 30's, an Italian fort. But what is here is a floor of 50 stunning mosaic panels that were originally in the Byzantine church but were only found in 1957. The panels depict everyday rural life, Nile River views, religious scenes, animals, birds and fish, as well as an image of the Pharos Lighthouse at Alexandria.
That evening we stayed in a very posh hotel in Benghazi, which boasted only non-alcoholic beer but secure parking for the vehicles. The next day was a ‘driving day' as we only had seven days to cross the whole of the country. That day we went thru 6 police check points and our guide was running out of photocopies of our permit, copies of which were also handed over at every entry gate to the ancient ruins, cities and museums. You need plenty of copies!
About 50km east of Surt, we picked a track which lead towards the sea, passing thru a few farm houses and some body's back yard before driving around a ploughed field and then across a bare section of sand to set up camp on the edge of the beach (GPS 31°08'01”N 17°07'02”E). The sand was soft so we stopped on the edge of the low dunes; the beach was littered with flotsam of all sorts and some small and quite large sandstone boulders but it was lovely, even though the wind was blowing quite strongly from the north.
Next day we cruised down the road, bypassing the large city of Surt, the traffic increasing as we got closer to Tripoli and then headed into Leptis Magna , one of the great Roman ruins that dot this coast and a World Heritage Site. In fact, we met an archaeologist (a Brit) while at Sabatha a couple of days later and this place is the ‘holy grail' of all the Roman archaeological sites around the Med. While there is a bit of accommodation and even two places offering camping, we got permission to camp in the carpark, so that being as good as we could get, that is what we did (GPS 32°38'07”N 14°17'10”E).
The ruins of this once very important city cover a very large area centered on what was the small well-protected harbour at the mouth of a prominent wadi. Both the wadi and the harbour are silted up now and full of rushes, tall grass and bush.
The impressive Triumphal Arch of Septimius Severus , is the first thing you come to once you go thru' the entrance gate. Septimius Severus, was a local lad who eventually became emperor of Rome (the only African to do so) in AD193. With such good patronage the city thrived under his reign, which was continued by his son. The arch sits at the junction of the old Roman road that ran east-west between Carthage (near Tunis in Tunisia) and Alexandria in Egypt and the road that ran from the city, south to the fortified farms and which acted as the towns first line of defence against the often envious and warlike Berber.
Wandered down what would have once been a major and impressive thoroughfare to the fabulous public baths the Romans had here – a linked complex of baths and rooms that included a cool swimming pool, a cold chamber, a warm chamber, a hot bath, followed by a sweat room which led directly back into the Cold chamber! From near here a colonnaded street ran over 400 metres to the harbour passing the vast Forum and the imposing Basilica.
We had to be out by 5pm, which meant we didn't get any time to check out the eastern side of the harbour, or the well-preserved Amphitheatre , built during the time of Nero (AD54-68) and having seating for around 16,000 who watched men and animals fight to the death. Many of the fine marble statues that were here have been removed to the national museum in Tripoli, which is a bit of a shame, but at least they are safe there – the museum is worth a visit as we found out the next day!
Tripoli
Tripoli is a bustling busy city. The national museum is housed in the Red Fort , which has long been the centre of control for Tripoli's rulers and sits on the very edge of the Old City. The museum houses some of the finest statues and mosaics from the great historic sites spread around the country. Took a pic of the statue of Apollo, which was found at Leptis Magna, which is now close to the entrance to the museum. In all it was very impressive while the quality of the mosaics and the fine work they displayed was incredible. The top floor of the Museum is mainly devoted to the glory of Gadaffi, who has been in power since the 1 st Sept 1969 – 38 years – as many billboards along the highways and around the towns and cities proclaim.
Arkno is also based here and with its guest house close to the centre of the city and the old town it is not only a very comfortable place to stay but it is also extremely handy. There's a well-stocked shop, less than 200 metres away and this proved to have everything a traveler requires, while its fruit and veg were very high quality. Checked out the internet café about 300 metres away, which proved to be a really fast connection.
West to Sabratha and the Border
The sprawling ruins of Roman Sabratha decorate the coastline about 65km west of Tripoli. Less grand and not as big as Leptis Magna they are beautifully situated around a small reef protected harbour and take up the immediate area just back from the water's edge, with even a couple of ruins descending into the water proper – probably because the coast has dropped (or the water risen) in the intervening millennia (ahh, global warming back then!!!). These Roman ruins sit on top of an earlier Phoenician city, which was probably destroyed by the Romans after they beat the crap out of them and destroyed Carthage (in modern day Tunisia). Later, around the 3 rd century AD, the Byzantines added or changed some of the buildings to churches and built a wall around the city.
There's a museum with some grand statues and magnificent mosaics, which is worth a visit, while the ruins consist of a number of large temples and baths, along with the normal Roman Forum to admire, but the real piece-de-resistance is the imposing and magnificent theatre that towers over everything. Restored by Italian archaeologists between WW1 and WW2 the theatre has been in regular use (again) since 1937. The towering 80-foot, 3-storey high scaenae frons (the rear stage wall), which consists of 108 Corinthian columns really sets the place off and with seating for 5,000 spectators arranged in a semi-circle before the stage it is really marvelous.
Like many of the great cities along this coast it was badly damaged by the earthquake in AD365, and a century late the vandals sacked the place. By the time the Arabs arrived in 640AD the place was deserted and being covered with sand.
After our quick visit we headed off and continued westward, filling every available fuel container with diesel just short of the border. Next stop … Tunisia!
Return to main Trip diary page
FOR MORE PICS - SEE PICTURE GALLERY PAGE ON EGYPT
The delightful coastal town of Swakopmund.
Another bush camp near Cape Cross, right on the beach .
The road along the Skeleton Coast .
The kids at the park gate entrance into the Skeletron Coast got some new knitted hats (thanks to Viv's Mum).
The delightful mountain pool at Ongongo Camp.
Ron with young Himba boy who was tending his cattle - he got a nice new pair of boxer shorts from Neil & Helen.
The spectacular Epupa Falls - they were flowing really well during our visit.
The Ruacana Falls - not as extensive as Epupa, but still impressive.
Chudop Waterhole had lots of animals coming in to drink - giraffe & black-faced impala.
A group of zebra line up for a drink.
Pretty black-faced impala.
An impressive size male Kudu comes down to drink.
A bullock drawn sled - a common mode of transport in the Caprivi Strip.
