Libya

Libya is a place of contrasts. On the one side it’s not as manicured as Tunisia. You have all the beurocracy to deal with, Schumachers on steroids on the roads, more police and military checkpoints than you can shake a stick at and a complete and utter lack of facilities for your overland tourists. But on closer inspection it’s for all these reasons that Libya really does stand out as a thrilling place to travel. There are literally no tourists here other than one other vehicle we saw at the border. The curiosity of the locals leads to (funny) conversations of broken English, Arabic and general pointing, shouting and laughing. And to top it off it’s simply just bloody exciting. No signs in English or French, no one able to speak (much) English and sights to match anywhere in the world.

UNESCO has had a field day here designating World Heritage sights. In fact there are so many along the northern coast alone, it’s embarrassing.   If only they would clean their act up (literally) and remove the tonnes of litter everywhere, sort out the endless beurocracy, remove the need for ‘guides’ (who more often than not seem no know less than we did) and improve their general standard of driving and this place would multiply it’s tourist rates in an instance.

Gadaffi, not long ago celebrating 40 years at the helm is still revered here. We saw children carrying pictures of him and chanting his praise on school trips and rarely do you hear anyone criticise him. With fuel at the equivalent of 6 pence a litre (yep) and a continuing booming oil trade, the outlook remains steady.

The man in charge..

The Ancient Roman City of Sabratha

This was an unexpected stop, soon after the Libyan border entry. We hadn’t originally planned to go here, but having spoken to our escort and guide and after consulting our guide book it seemed to make sense to see this UNESCO World Heritage Site. I’ll be honest and say, despite the impressive scale of the ruins, we had been spoiled in Dougga in Tunisia and this really didn’t impress. But that was until we saw the ancient theatre complex and one of the greatest turnarounds of our day appeared.

The truly spectacular Roman theatre at Sabratha

The theatre, from 2 AD is so well preserved, you could still think about ordering in the pop corn and grabbing your seat for a show.

Peeking through at the grand theatre complex at Sabratha

This same structure, with its grand colonnades and ornate carved stone was around when Septimus Severus ruled Carthage.  Pretty incredible really. After a spot of Carthage has got talent, we moved on towards Tripoli.

Beautifully preserved Roman bath mosaic at Sabratha

Ritual Beating: The Hammam

So we arrived in the late afternoon in Tripoli, Libya’s capital after a day of travel and negotiation at the border and our brief stop at Sabratha. Having found a hotel, I remember lots of people in Tunisia telling us we should go to a Hammam, basically a kind of northern African spa where you can sit in a steam room, have a massage and generally unwind from the toil of driving through desert after desert. Having failed to visit one in Tunisia, we were keen to experience one in Libya. However, no one told us Hamamms in Libya are different from those in Tunisia. Wholly different. Finding one wasn’t easy, even with our escort and now a driver attempting to locate one. They haven’t even been in them before. They kept gesturing something involving the back of a hand slapping skin with malice but we brushed it off as Libyan humour. It wasn’t humour. As the ‘masseur’ (with biceps the size of a small Libyan family) slapped on the first lather of soap with a mitten that had serrated edges, I quickly retreated into myself and just thought of Britain. This man was a cross between a masseur, chiropractor and masochist with a wry smile to match. He scrubbed so much skin off my back, legs and face that I thought I’d need to get the medical insurance out early. The ‘massage’ made my body crack more than a whip at a Roman chariot race and I admit I may have shed the odd tear of pain. But after a week camping in the desert, I think our bodies needed a good clean, even if I’m still limping.

Leptis Magna: Simply Embarrassing

The UNESCO World Heritage site of Leptis Magna

Forget the Coliseum in Rome, forget Bath in the UK. Leptis Magna is off the scale when it comes to preserved Roman architecture and artefacts.

Roman script just lying around!

This UNESCO world heritage site was once the largest and grandest Roman city in the whole of Northern Africa. Built from as early as 7^th century BC and made mostly from hardy Limestone, the site avoided destruction from earthquakes and other natural disasters, leaving it for us to see today.

Inside the Temple at Leptis Magna

We spent a few hours just walking around this huge Roman city, trying to work out what each building was for (in the absence of a good map..), taking comical photos etc. We came across a large school group, all dressed in green who paraded through the ancient streets carrying pictures of Gadaffi and chanting his name and praise; again testament to his ongoing popularity here with Libyans.

Funny Characters

I’ve met some funny characters over the past year and Libya was no exception. Our escorts through the country were nuts and the locals are great fun. As a lot of them don’t speak English and I’ll be honest, my Arabic is a little rusty, we’d always be laughing ordering food or drinks..

A Libyan guide insisted on giving me some advice about relationships. It went a little like this…

Guide: Are you married?

Me: No

Guide: This is good. Do you eat cous cous?

Me: Yes, but not very often.

Guide: Yes, this is good. You eat too much cous cous, is no good. Women they like cous cous. Too much…….  no good.

Might sound harsh but it reminds me of a few days ago in Tunisia where Pat and myself visited a Troglodyte (underground Berber home in Southern Tunisia) where our guide showed us some artefacts. One such sculpture had a women’s face on the body of a scorpion with the tail facing forwards, above the head. I asked the guide to explain the symbolism used in said object and he looked at me nonchalant and simply said “woman like scorpion; the poison, it in the head.

It’s a different world here..

Talking of which, check out this comical menu we found in a road side restaurant..

What on earth is Skloob!!

Cyrene

Another day, another great historic site in the shape of Cyrene, the Ancient Greek and subsequently Roman city. Perched on a mountain top with cracking views of the Mediterranean sea, this place really was cool. Dugout rooms and cave networks left us pondering where to explore next!

Amazing vista at Cyrene, Libya

The smartest thing was the small canals that run from the mountain top, all throughout the city to supply fresh (crystal clear) water and fill the various natural baths that you find in the copious caves throughout the complex.

The other vista at the ancient Roman site of Cyrene

We also had ample time to perfect our jump photo techniques..

Who said Pats can't fly?

Eating at a Libyan Home

After a day of driving our escorts stopped off at a house one of our escorts knew (very vaguely) to say hello. This meant one thing and one thing only; a full blown invitation to dinner, offers to sleep there and a rare opportunity to watch the World Cup. The food was traditionally Libyan (pretty much like all the food here – you don’t get any fast food chains at all here!) and we sat round floor mats with the men of the house. All food is shared and it was a real ‘get stuck in’ kind of operation. However, every silver lining has it’s cloud and mine came in the form of a Libyan faux pas. Now faux pas come in many shapes and sizes but the one I made at this Libyan home was pretty big. Little did I know but one does not mention El Leader’s name in public let alone a family home full of people. So when I asked whether El Leader was the sole man in charge of everything from setting fuel prices to deciding when people should work I was met with a blood curdling silence. A short while later our escort turned to me and said, “we speak about this in the morning time”. Despite this it was warming to see some proper Libyan hospitality and learn a bit more about Libyan culture and driving (we were shocked to hear they actually take driving tests in Libya. From what we’d seen your average Libyan wouldn’t be allowed in a car in a UK driving test..).

Heavy Loads

Speaking of driving, one other thing you definately would categorically not get away with in the UK is loading your vehicle so heavily that it doubles it’s size. This is just one such example. Believe me there were thousands more on the road in Libya!

You have got to be taking the mick. That is packing.

And as the sun went down, so we headed to the Egyptian border for a final camp site before what was to turn out to be one of the most peculiar days of the trip to date..

Camping in Libya!

One of the many beautiful north African sunsets