Tunisia and Libya, 2010

It is now many weeks since we returned from Libya but now that summer is well and truly on the way one tends to get stuck indoors when the temperatures start getting up towards 40degrees. Time to write an account of our winter break to North Africa. As we had 16 days we decided to add in Tunisia as well as Libya.
We flew out of Abu Dhabi on 28 January for a daytime flight across Saudi Arabia (the most amazing views of the “sand rivers”) and across the Gulf of Aqaba then across the Sinai to pass over the start of the Suez Canal, Cairo (even managed a quick photo of The Pyramids), Nile Delta and Alexandria to head across the Mediterranean. Out one side of the plane was Sicily with Malta out to the left. (Only 48 people in economy so we able to make good use of the views)
Tunis was our first stop and straight onto to a bus to Nabuel for a few days. The local buses and louages provided and easy way to get around to places such as Hammamet, Koirouan and Sousse.

The Mosque in the old medina, Tunis

Rooms with a view at Hammamet, Tunisia

Traditional blue style doors, Sidi Bou Said. Note two knockers on the door, one for women and one for men.

After a few days based in Nabuel (the pottery capital of Tunisia) it was back on the bus to Tunis, check in to our hotel then off on the train up to Carthage for the Punic port ruins and then to walk up the hill to first of many ruins ( It is difficult to say that all the ruins we saw were Roman ruins. First came the Phoenicians, then the Greeks, then the Romans and the Byzantines occupied some sites as well after the big earthquake and tsunami of 365AD).

Gail had a ball taking photos of blue doors. This is what this part of Tunisia is famous for.

After six cold and sometimes wet days in Tunisia it was time to fly across to Tripoli in Libya.
First stop was Sabratha to see where so many magnificent mosaics had been rescued and preserved before wandering about the first of many restorations that the Italians had begun in Libya. Italy began a colonial empire in Libya in 1911 and serious digging and restoration from 1922 to 1936 saw many ancient cities excavated and partially restored.

I mentioned the 365 AD earthquake before; everything got reduced to rubble and what was left of the coastal sites severely devastated by the following tsunami then covered up by centuries of sand blown in. Sabratha was one that was reoccupied after the collapse of the Roman civilisation by the Byzantine empire and flourished for 200 years or so before everyone disappeared with the coming of Islam.

600 km to the south west of Tripoli is Ghadarmes. This is an old caravan town. The oasis still gushes water is large quantities. We arrived just on dark after long day in the car from Tripoli. The roads consisted of newly opened 4 lane highways (2 each way but often no lines painted down the middle) to a bulldozed track in the sand alongside the road works. A couple of stops along the way to see a late 12th Century storehouse at Qasr al-Haj and the village of Nalut on the plateau where there is another old village; different arrangement of stores and an old olive press. Apart from these two sites the journey was pretty uninteresting and the Libyan desert here was mainly featureless flat stony ground. (You have to go another 1,200 km down to the real scenic part of the Sahara.



The 12th Century circular store at Qasr al-Haj

Each of the stores had doors made out of date palm trunks and was used mainly for grain and olive storage. Local families rented their storage rooms and hoped that there would be enough left for the next harvest.

Oil was stored in large amphorae and many are still in place as it is only recently that these facilities ceased to be used. Everything was made entirely from local materials – the stoppers still have an oily smell on the date palm fibre ropes used as seals.

These two recently facilities are now major tourist attractions and have been well looked after and worth stopping to see.

The main attraction out south west of Tripoli is Ghadames which is in corner of the country where you can Algerian and Tunisian territory close by.

Olive oil press, Nalut, Libya


Even though it was really hot outside in the street at Ghadames, it was surprisingly cool in the old town – now I know why white is such a popular colour here and also in parts of Tunisia.
Our guide still has a house here and lived in it until recently. The Colonel is now using Libya’s vast oil wealth to built free housing for its citizens and moving people out of their old traditional place. Mohammed here would rather still be in the old place though.

There are still some houses left as tourist attractions; we had lunch at one of these, yet more rice and camel meat but by this time we had come to expect this. (Libya is a bit like Cuba, in a 40 year old time wrap and the food pretty predictable although we do recommend Libyan soup with a good dose of fresh lemon juice squeezed into it.)

The old town of Ghadames is made out of mud bricks and as a consequence is prone to crumbling when it rains and needs lots of work to maintain it. Fortunately large parts of it are being repaired although WW2 bomb damage looks like it might be left as it is.

From the roof tops you can see the paths that lead everywhere around the village. Once a woman was married she was not allowed out onto the streets again. A network of paths across the roof tops allowed for easy access to all parts of the town and a weekly women’s market was held too.

A fascinating place and we are pleased we made the long hot dusty trek down there.

After two nights it was time to head back to Tripoli to catch a plane across to Benghazi and Cyrenaica. First stop was Ptolemais, (ruins), Qasr Libya (mosaics) before checking into a rather nice hotel on the beach at Sousa next to the ancient site of Apollonia (more ruins). Next day we got thoroughly ruined out, again, at Cyrene after an early morning start at Apollonia, - the Temple of Apollo and gladiatorial ring were among the highlights.

After Cyreniaca it was time to head back to Tripoli to what is considered one of the best sites of Libya, Leptis Magna. Again, this Roman city was completely destroyed by the earthquake of 365AD but has had great a restoration job done by the Italains. There are still massive piles of broken columns, capitals etc to be put back together.

The Arch of Septimius Severus at Leptis Magna. The Roman road from
Alexandria to Tunis passed through this.



Sunset from Sidi Bou Said, Tunisia.


12 February saw us heading back to Tripoli Airport for an overnight flight back to Abu Dhabi via Doha. We are pleased we went but have had enough of ruins now for sometime. After a busy 15 days we were pleased to get back home.

More photos are included in this blog.