A visit to the Funky Cold Medina and Pot World

Hi there

Firstly, I apologise for borrowing the lyrics from Tone Loc (for those of us who can remember the 80's). Luckily, this is where my attempt at banal humour ends and for the rest of the entry, I will try to be a bit more serious! What I really want to do here is show you some of our happy snaps so to give a bit of an idea about what Tripoli looks like, in particular the Medina and the nearby town of Giryhan.

Tripoli is a fascinating place and we are lucky enough to be here at a time of great change. Tarabulus (as the locals call it) has been around since the Phoenicians settled here in around 500BC (thanks Lonely Planet!). The city has been occupied at different times by the Romans, the Arabs, the Spanish, the Ottoman Turks and most recently, the Italians. Tripoli is quite cosmopolitan and you will see people from countries such as Nigeria, Liberia, Tunisia, Morrocco, Sudan, Chad, the Philippines and India, as well as all the oil industry expats who come from all over the globe.

Looking towards Tripoli from the beach to the west of the city. The cream building directly behind the centre palm tree is the Corinthia Hotel. The Desert Rat's office is part of this complex.

At the moment, there is an immense amount of development going on - lots of new high-rise offices, hotels and other buildings are being built. As a result, there are a lot of old buildings coming down at a fast rate - it is not unusual to drive past a building one day and by the next it has been demolished. There is a real energy about the place and there is a lot of talk about how this development will attract tourism and further investment.

It is nice to see that some important historical sites are being preserved and restored. The Medina in the centre of Tripoli, is the heart of this ancient settlement is having a lot of work being carried out at present - buildings are being restored, paths being repaved and new businesses established. Both the Desert Rat and I went on a tour of the Medina with a local historian as part of our cultural awareness course that we did when we first came here. This was great as it gave us access to some of the many mosques and other buildings we would not normally be able to go into.

A tiled wall in one of the mosques in the Medina.

Walking around the Medina is an experience to behold - there are lots of tiny shops and doors that lead to houses and mosques and hostels and workplaces. Children are running around everywhere and at times can be incredibly crowded as people come to do their shopping or catch up with friends. There is also a distinctive aroma, that seems to become more pungent as summer goes on. This may be in part to the piles of rubbish around the place - a favourite haunt of the many cats that live there. But there are also scrumptious smells of the restaurants preparing Libyan food. We have been to a fantastic fish restaurant where you sit in a tiny room with only 4-5 tables and they bring you amazing fish and seafood dishes served with cous cous.

A street in the Medina

The markets (souks) are an important part of the Medina and sell everything from clothes, pottery, spices, gold jewelry, silver, Berber rugs, souvenirs, fruit and canaries in cages.

Looking into the copper souk

For those Gladiator fans, this is the Arch of Marcus Aurelius, a prominent landmark in the Medina remaining from Roman times.

The outer walls of the Medina and gate inside. This is across the road from the Desert Rat's office.

Tripoli itself lies on the coastal planes, but to the south there is a quite high escarpment. A few weekends ago we headed out that way to a town called Giryhan, a place famous for its pottery.

The road to Giryhan - looking back onto the plains. This windy road is now the 'scenic route' as a main highway has been built which is more direct. As you can see, she's pretty dry. There are many eucalyptus trees on the way and it is very easy to compare the landscape to some parts of Australia.

There road into Giryhan is flanked by lots of shops and stalls selling pottery. You can park your car at one end and just wander along the side of the road, buying what you want. The sellers are very friendly and keen for you to look at what they have to offer.

One of the stalls we bought some bowls from.

A fine selection - we have been told the brown bowls are the more traditional Libyan colouring for pottery where as the brighter blues and greens are influenced by Tunisian colour schemes.

After buying up big at the pottery stalls, we headed over to a troglodyte house which has been restored and is open for tourists. These houses, which are centuries old are essentially man made caves dug into the ground. There is an courtyard that is open to the surface.

Looking into a troglodyte house from the surface

The doors lead into rooms or tunnels that connect with other houses. We met the owner of the troglodyte and he told us that his family had lived here until the 70's and he had been born in the corner of the room we were sitting in (see below). His whole family lived in this room and they had used curtains to separate sleeping space from the living area. In fact, at this house visitors could actually rent a room and have a sleep if you wanted (it was quite tempting, I must say!). Like caves, the temperature stays quite constant so on a hot day as it was, the room was lovely and cool at a very pleasant 22 degC. We had a really nice cup of tea flavoured with mint and cardamon.

So this ends this entry of The Camel Diaries. I hope this gives you a feel for Libya and I look forward to writing more soon.

Sahara Gal and The Desert Rat