Santa doesn't go to Libya

Last year we spent Christmas in Northern Italy, and thoroughly enjoyed it. We wanted to see something completely different this year, so went off to Libya with Explore, a well known tour company.

The excitement began early on in the trip, pretty much on arriving at Gatwick, at 8:15 on friday (22 Dec) morning. Our flight was at 11:20, and it was recommended that we get to the airport at around 8. We were flying with Afriqiyah Airways, a company that says they're the fastest growing African Airline. The whole of last week saw chaos at England's airports, specifically Heathrow. There was a persistant fog that lead to the cancellation of a huge amount of flights, and general mayhem at most airports. Gatwick was no different, and it was literally bursting at the seams. Afriqiyah Airways (which will from now on be known as Afrikakka), shared 4 check in desks with Air Ghana. Air Ghana's flight had been cancelled for 2 days, so there were 3 flight loads of passengers trying to get onto 1 flight. This resulted in the que system being abolished, and a general riot at the check in desks. 10 policeman were assisting staff, and it was truly a fantastic spectacle. Majority of the passengers on our flight were travelling to Lagos via Tripoli, and they were taking everything with, including the kitchen sink and a few sheep. It took us around 2 hours to check in, and then another hour to go through security. Finally we made it through, only to be told that our flight was 3 hours delayed. We boarded the plane a while later, and then sat for 30 minutes while Afrikakka tried to find a lost passenger. This passenger was never found, and their luggage (and sheep?) was removed. Finally we took off, and about 4 hours later we were on a bus on the way to Hotel Yousser in Tripoli. Our tour group of 14 was predominantly english, and was a good mix of ages. The drive to our hotel was an experience in itself, and would probably be similar to taking part in the Paris-Dakar rally. We passed Gadaffi's house, surrounded by 5m concrete walls, and then a Barbie doll shop (still open at 11pm) on the outskirts of Tripoli. Our tour guide, aptly named Allaeddin, told us that he'd arranged supper for us in the hotel restaurant. Not knowing what to expect, we made our way up to the 6th floor, where we were fed a 5 course meal (soup, salad, pasta, Colonel Gadaffi's secret recipe fried chicken and fruit), which finished at 12:30am. Finally to bed, after a pretty challenging, but interesting day of travelling.

The next morning, Alaeddin took us walking around Tripoli, which has been his home since birth. One of our stops was a beautifully decorated Mosque, and from there we made our way through the local market to the Tripoli museum. Tourism hasn't really hit Libya yet, and this was really evident during our walk through the market place. Not once were we irritated by the sellers, and it made for such a nice change. The Tripoli museum was full of amazing artifacts (and even had an old Volkswagen beetle that once belonged to Gadaffi), and was the perfect introduction to the ancient and turbulent history of the land.

Mr Schumacher then took us to Sabratha, which was around an hour west of the city. Sabratha is a well preserved Roman city, and was situated on the road between Alexandria (in Egypt), and Carthage (in Tunisia). It sits right on the coast, and it was fantastic to explore a place that has not only been so well preserved, but also to view it in such beautiful and open surroundings. The most impressive building was the huge Theatre, and our guide conducted a wonderful tour of the sight, explaining what the city was like in the 2nd century AD. The communal latrines were also of interest, bordered with marble benches making up rows of toilets. The Romans would send their slaves down to the loo, to warm the seat, and then later, they would sit in a group of about 20, going about their business in a shockingly sociable manner. Later that evening we enjoyed a meal in a local restaurant in Tripoli, and found ourselves in bed fairly early.

Leptis Magna is another Roman City (estimated to cover about 3 square kilometers), which was originally of Phoenician origin (around 1 AD). It was also on the road between Carthage and Alexandria, about 2 hours east of Oiea (or Tripoli). Only about 30% of the site has been excavated, but it still covers a huge area, and is one of the best preserved Roman cities anywhere in the world. It was completely covered by sand until early on in the 20th century, when the Italians discovered it. The best thing about the city is that it really makes it easy to understand the day to day goings on during Roman times. We walked along the limestone roads, through marble, granite and sandstone architecture, learning enough history to make your head spin. I won't bore you with the details, but feel that I should tell you 1 really interesting fact. Firstly, our guide was a typical Libyan, and as such pronounced all his P's as B's, and vice versa. We were walking along a street when all of a sudden he stopped us, and with exploding excitement pointed to one of the sandstone blocks making up 1 of the walls. There was an image carved into the stone, and he explained that the bennis (penis) was fighting the eye, and that this was the symbol that the Romans used to fend off evil spirits. Later on, we saw another bennis, but this time it had it's own bennis, and it was again fighting an eye (see pic). Probably one of the most bizarre pictures I've ever seen. Our accomodation for the night was the Homs Resort, a local spot, about 5 minutes from Leptis Magna. Our chalet was on the beach, probably about 20m's from the ocean, and there was a patio and bar area. After a few non-alcoholic beers, we enjoyed dinner in the restaurant with the whole group. The atmosphere was fairly formal, and this was made worse by the lack of alcohol. The english require a drink or 2 to loosen up, and also to become a bit more interesting.

Christmas morning arrived like any other. After a quick breakfast of bread, coffee and cheese, we jumped into the bus. Aleaddin said happy Christmas, and that was that. We drove off to the amphitheatre, which hugs the coast, about 3km from the centre of Leptis Magna. Unbelievably well preserved, putting the Colloseum in Rome to shame. The best thing about it was that you could explore the animal cages and tunnels, and once again this just made it a bit easier to understand the process. A typical event would see 16,000 people crowded into the stands. The show would start with a group of slaves being tied to pillars in the arena, and then wild animals being released. This would be followed by gladiators fighting, and these fights could sometimes last a whole day. After walking through the last few sights of interest, namely the harbour, theatre, and hunting baths, we made our way to the car park to enjoy our Chrismas lunch. This had been purchased by ourselves a bit earlier from the local cafe. We had rolls, tuna, cheese, and as a special treat, some chocolate.

After lunch we drove to the ruins of a Roman Villa (beach cottage), which must have been on 'Millionaires Row'. The villa is famous for some of the most attractive Roman mosaics, and my favourite was a pygmy trying to pull his friend out of a crocodile's mouth. Our journey then took us back to Tripoli, where we had the chance to change some money (Libyan Dinars aren't hugely useful anywhere else).

I had done a bit research on Triploi beforehand, and decided that I wanted to eat at a restaurant that I had read about. The whole group joined us, and besides the lack of booze (and therefore social skills), we had a good evening. The menu was full of local dishes, with fish being their speciality.

We had to be up seriously early on the last morning, and after a 45 minute drive we were at the airport by 6:20. We checked in with surprising ease, and after making our way to the departure lounge, we realised that our flight was 4 hours delayed. Thanks so much Afrikakka, not sure if you're the fastest growing airline, but without any doubt the fastest to frustrate passengers, and fastest to lose customers. My patience ran out as we were fighting to board, and after being told to hurry, I told 1 of the officials that he was stupid.

Luckily I was recently given a copy of the new authorised Hansie Cronje autobiography, and this kept me thoroughly entertained throughout the wait, and the flight. If it wasn't for the book, I would probably be in a Libyan jail for strangling an Afrikkaka air steward.

After landing at Gatwick we finally had the feeling that we were nearing the end of our days travels. This was short lived however, and because of engineering works on the trains, we had to catch the replacement bus service to Victoria. This took 2 hours, and after a short tube ride, we were finally at home.

Was it all worth it - YES. An amazing experience and a look into a culture we know very little about.