Ruins and Caves
Trip Start
Aug 23, 1996
1
306
453
Trip End
Ongoing
Sabratha,
Libya
Thursday, January 11, 2007
I don't know why, maybe it was the locking up of brakes, but I awoke with the seatbelt around my throat ! We had arrived in Sabratha. Home of the second best Roman ruins in Labya. Whalid told us that he wouldn't be our guide, so he had hired a different Lab for us. He said his name was Mohommad, but he introduced himself as Abdul. Because of this, I became suspicious of him straight away. As we are on a tour, all the entrance fees are paid for by Whalid, but we have to buy a camera ticket. As usual, we only ever buy one. The first stop was the museum, and when they asked for my camera ticket, I showed them the only one I had which was for the ruins. I played dumb and told the Lab guard, I was only offered this one, so he accepted my story, and in we went. There was some ok mosaics and statues, not as good as Tunisia's, but it was better than looking at a blank wall.
Before we go any further, just a quick note about Sabratha, realistically, if it had not been for the earthquake of 365, it would have been a nice little city, but the quake came, and the city had fallen down. It was then covered in sand and lost for nearly 2000 years, before it was discovered, and ever so slightly restored.
Back outside, we hit the trail. Mohammad/Abdul was pretty knowledgable. He talked the talk and liked sitting next to Lucy on the latrenes. Personally, he can sit next to her, because sometimes I am sure something has crawled up inside her and died !!! There were some nice bath-houses with some left over mosaics. Mohammad/Abdul seemed pretty excited, but we have seen this all before in Dougga. We let him have his wank over it, and then moved on into the forum. This was ok, but the biggest problem with Sabratha is that most of it is laying on the ground. You need to have a vivid imagination. Still, there were some pretty impressive columns still standing, especially in the Temple of Isis. Our last stop was the Amphitheatre. They say it is the biggest in North Africa, then Mohammad/Abdul told us that Mussolini had personally opened it himself. So I sat back and thought about this, and looked at the Lab, opened my mouth and asked when it had been opened. He told us 1937 !!! I kind of lost all interest from that moment onwards. There was going to no rendition of The Holy Grail here. This place was not worthy. Lucy ran to the top of the seats, and Mohammed/Abdul asked me to sing a song, and the only tune that came out was the National Anthem of Australia. Not the best song, but worthy for this place. However, it can be revealed that there once was a theatre here. The Italians did use a little of the original stonework, and there are some lovely marble carvings at the base of the stage. We bid farewell to Mohammad/Abdul, not ever finding out his real name. As far as we know, this Labs name could have been Ahmed, but only he can reveal the truth in the matter.
Lunch was taken. Salad, Soup, Lamb, Tea and Desert
Back in the car, Whalid drove at his usual breakneck speed, whilst I did the usual fall asleep jobby. And then I awoke again. We were in Janzour. At the local museum, were some caves with some old paintings. Nobody could tell us how old they were, in fact, Gadaffi's son could have done them, but as our Lab was paying for us to enter, we did so, said wow, look at that, took the photos, and then jumped back into the car for the drive into Tripoli.
We were dropped off at the hotel. Our room was bigger than our flat in London !!! I turned on the lappy which we had brought with us and found that there was a wireless connection. I went downstairs to ask for the key as it was encrypted. They Labs told me that the internet was down. Whilst being told this, I looked down on the reception desk, and there it was, the key !!! As they only used two numbers, I said ok, walked back upsatirs, placed it into the lappy, and we were surfing like there was no tomorrow !!! Fuck those Labs off for a joke !!!
As petrol is so cheap here, we drove into the centre. Two minutes later, we were there !!! We had a walk around Tripoli, it seemed nice, in fact, there were more women out on the street than in Tunisia. I also had two young ones give me they eye and say, hi, how are you, welcome to my country. Quite understandable when you are attractive as me !!! It did seem also very man orientated as to be expected.
Dinner was taken. Salad, Soup, Chicken, Tea and Desert
I am now very bored with the food !!!
