Egypt - 11 October 2010 (1)

Alexandria - the Catacombs

Werner arrived at breakfast that morning with his suitcase all packed and ready to go.  We were not surprised – he seemed to forget everything Ruth told him or else he did not hear her.  He had probably lost his itinerary too.

Our city tour was delayed slightly because Mona, our local guide, had got stuck in traffic.  She arrived wearing Muslim dress with her hair and neck covered by a blue and a white scarf, carefully arranged so that both colours were showing.  She wore a full length brown robe and gloves, although she did take the gloves off from time to time.  She told us that she had only been wearing these clothes for 10 years and before that had just walked around in western clothes.  Then people started to feel that they needed to assert their Muslim identity and more and more women began to cover up when going out in public, including teenagers.  Nowadays, very few women wore western clothes, although Mona just wore jeans and t-shirts at home.  She said that the scarf had become a real fashion statement, with women and especially young women trying to outdo each other in the way that they tied their scarves, including using multiple scarves like Mona herself.  The new fashions also meant that scarves were often co-ordinated with outer clothes.  While we were walking around Alexandria in temperatures well above 30^oC, I noticed some young girls wearing tight fitting, polar neck, long sleeved, polyester jerseys to cover their arms and yet they did not seem to feel the heat as much as us.  Despite their modest dress, which did not really hide that much of their figures, they were behaving very affectionately towards their boyfriends.

The first stop on our city tour of Alexandria was the catacombs.  There were not many people there when we arrived and Mona took her time to explain how the catacombs were started and how they were arranged.  Though way upstream, the Aswan dam had caused the water table to rise, which meant that the third and lowest level of the catacombs was now fully submerged and there was some flooding on the second level.  Mona also knew a lot about her subject and tried to tell us everything.  A few groups of people overtook us and we had to wait for them to move on to enter some rooms.  When we got to the far room on the second or main level, there was a terrified kitten inside.  Sue was called and she rescued the kitten, wrapping it in her scarf and then taking it back up to the surface.

When we came out of this room, the stairs and hallway behind us were completely full of people and there was some pushing.  I started to feel uneasy when Mona led us into a side room with a completely flooded floor and only a few wobbly planks to walk on.  It would only take a couple of overly large tourists to come in behind us for the planks to break, so I yelled out that I was getting out of there and hoped that someone else in the group heard me.

Once the decision was made and I had left the room, there was no turning back.  The crush of people would not have allowed it.  It was quite scary, fighting my way through the hoards.  As I climbed the stairs, I could hear people complaining about having to wait and wondering what the delay could be.  Both flights of stairs and the first level were full.  I was so relieved when I broke through into the sunlight.  Despite the crush underground, there was still a long queue of people waiting to go in.  I was appalled because it was such a safety risk.  Several cruise ships had arrived and disgorged their passengers and this had created the huge numbers of tourists on the site.  Cruise ships tend to have elderly passengers and there was potential for serious problems if someone had fallen or had a heart attack or similar.  How could anyone to get down to help them?  There could have been a stampede and people could have been seriously injured.

I spotted Sue and she took me to the office where she had left the kitten.  She had offered to give them money for food, but the girl in the office would not accept it.  The kitten was already enjoying a meal and the girl told us that they had sent out for some fish.  It looked like the kitten was going to be spoiled.

We walked back so we could see the entrance to the catacombs and spotted Kim and Ruth.  Kim was really angry about how cavalier the organisers were about the danger level with the numbers of people underground.  He went to speak to someone about it, but no one was bothered at all and the queues did not diminish.  At long last the rest of our group emerged from the gloom and we found the bus.

Egypt - 10 October 2010 (2)

Alexandria

Once back on the bus, we headed for Alexandria.  Ruth handed out maps showing places of interest, restaurants and our planned hotel.  The trouble was that there had been a late change to our hotel.  This caused huge problems for our driver, who had to make a couple of frantic phone calls and ask people for directions as we drove around the city.  After negotiating some very narrow streets and invoking some feelings of déjà vu, he found the hotel.  It was quite an upmarket hotel with friendly staff.  We were given some hibiscus tea as a welcome drink.  It was very sweet but quite pleasant.  Caroline and I managed to upset some of the staff though by insisting that we take our bags up to the room.  I hate waiting for my suitcase to be brought up because you cannot use the bathroom as soon as you get there in case the porter arrives at an inconvenient moment.  Caroline travelled light so had absolutely no need for a porter anyway.

The Corniche

The others were going to a fish restaurant, so Caroline and I decided to pass and went for a stroll along the Corniche, the road which runs the length of the bay, alongside the sea.  When I say stroll, it was more a dash as Caroline set a fair pace.  As we flew past, a woman angrily called out to us, telling us to cover our hair.  How Egypt has changed since I was there in 1995!  We turned off the Corniche into Orabi Square and then made our way back.  There was a shop window full of baby dolls.  It appeared quite grotesque, but made a useful landmark for finding the hotel.

Back at the hotel we tried both the cafés near reception and the restaurant, but none of them sold freshly squeezed orange juice.  Feeling the need for some vitamin C, I headed back into Orabi Square in search of one of the juice shops which Ruth had pointed out on our way to the hotel.  I found one that was still open and it had a long list of the juices on offer.  I was not sure of the procedure for buying juice, but a young boy was sitting outside, so I tried asking him.  It turned out that he was the cashier.  He got someone else to translate for me and I discovered that most of the juices on the menu were unavailable because it wasn’t the season for the fruits.  I tried asking for several different juices, but in the end the only one which appeared to be in season was the pomegranate.  So I paid my E£3 and got a large glass, which I had to drink then and there as there was no takeaway service.  I made my way back to the hotel, where we enjoyed the luxury of English television.

Egypt - 10 October 2010 (1)

El Alamein

We both woke up early the next morning, so turned the lights on at 06.00.  We chatted for a while and Caroline asked me what I had not liked about the holiday so far – apart from the food poisoning of course.  Mostly the holiday had lived up to expectations, but there were a few disappointments.  This hotel was an example.  It was a very nice hotel, but we had arrived fairly late the previous evening and were due to head off after breakfast, so there was no time to enjoy the facilities.  That was true in Benghazi too.  By contrast, we had a lot of time in the poor quality hotels in Tunis and Tripoli.

Before we set off, every bag was loaded onto the roof of the bus, including Caroline’s small bag.  Ruth said that there should be a tarpaulin to protect the bags, but they were secured just by pulling the ropes really tight.  There was a real problem of communication in Egypt and I felt that the management of the local organisation was making savage cuts to its costs at our expense.  Not only was the bus much smaller than those we had enjoyed in Tunisia and Libya, but there was no English speaking guide accompanying us.  Hadi, who had picked us up at the border, had left us when we reached the hotel and we did not see him again.  That just left Mahmoud, our driver, and Ruth admitted that it was difficult to communicate with him.  Sometimes she had to resort to ringing the local office to get someone to interpret for her.

Despite everything, we set off soon after 09.00 as planned.  The first stop was yet another supermarket to buy supplies for lunch.  I was extremely lucky to have an empty seat next to me so, to ease my conscience, I got everyone to put their purchases on there.

After a very welcome coffee stop, we approached El Alamein.  The first stop was the German war cemetery, which was a building and nothing like the other cemeteries we had visited.  I stood at the doorway and felt very uneasy, so I sat outside and waited.  I tried the nearby toilets which came highly recommended.  I too would have awarded them “douze points” – until I tried to get out.  My yells of panic alerted Vic, who was nearby.  He promised to help as soon as he was able.  I tried to use my skirt for extra leverage to get the lock to turn and then tried the handle.  Miraculously, it opened!  Meanwhile, Vic had found himself truly trapped and was frantically banging on the door.  I went for help and a small army of guides and tourists gathered to try to release him.  Finally another tourist used his knife and successfully effected a “breakout from Kolditz”.  Vic gave me a hug – he was so glad to be free.

Tanks in El-Alamein Museum

After all that excitement, it was time to head to the museum and the Commonwealth cemetery.  I walked round the museum but, lacking knowledge of and enthusiasm for things military, I got round in no time.  I did enjoy looking at the displays of the uniforms worn by the different nationalities, ranks and roles.  Unlike some other museums, the models had rugged male features.  In at least one museum we had visited on the tour, the models used for Arab soldiers were somewhat disconcerting as they were both unmistakeably female and extremely white skinned and had probably been borrowed from a ladies’ clothes shop.

Tank in El Alamein Museum

Once out of the museum, I went for a cup of tea in the nearby café and then explored the outside exhibits.  There was a display of desert vehicles behind the museum, mostly tanks and a few guns.  Then it was time for more tea and some crisps, after which I sat on a wall outside to wait for the others.  Werner came and sat with me.  He said that he thought he had recognised an old friend in a photo in the BBC History magazine.  He wanted to show it to his friend’s son, but had left the magazine somewhere in Libya.  He was so scatty!  I said that I had nearly finished a third magazine.  He could write to the address in that and order either a replacement magazine or, perhaps, a copy of the photo itself.

Egypt - 9 October 2010 (2)

Border to Marsa Matruh

We waited by an office where someone with four stars on his epaulettes and looked like a young Marlon Brando was playing computer games on a small console.  His henchman, a very thin David Niven look-alike, kept hold of our passports.  Ruth was determined not to lose sight of the passports, so she followed him wherever he went.  An even younger Marlon Brando came up and tried to chat, but David Niven drove him away.

We were waiting for our bus.  As we waited, people came through and continued walking until a “taxi” came to whisk them out of no man’s land.  Still we waited.  At least the sparrows sang to us, perched on the metal writing in the wall above.  I think they used it as a nesting site.

At long last the bus appeared.  It was very small, compared to the buses we had enjoyed in Tunisia and Libya.  Our luggage went on the back seats and we squeezed inside.  Barry had to sit on a suitcase as there were not enough seats.  We popped out at passport control and showed the visas which had been stuck in our passports.  These cost $25, so I was really pleased that I had changed some money with Sue and had the required dollars.  I let Ruth go ahead in the queue, so I was last through as usual.

Then we had to squeeze back into the bus for the drive to customs.  We put our baggage on the conveyor and I was last again.  When it got to my turn, they switched the conveyor off, leaving all my stuff trapped inside.  I was not happy as anyone could have taken my handbag.  I complained and someone virtually climbed inside the scanner and got my stuff out.  It was never scanned, so I could have taken anything through with me.

Then the bus was loaded properly, with the luggage being put on the roof.  At least it would not fall off, but they tied the ropes so tight to secure them, that we were worried that the cases would be damaged.  Even with the cases on the roof, the bus was still extremely small and cramped, making it difficult to read or write on the go.  The final stop was when we had to flash our fully visaed and stamped passports to a group of people who came up to the bus.

Throughout this long process, Werner kept saying that he needed to go to the loo.  Ruth kept telling him that he would have to wait five minutes.  After we had completed all the border formalities, they seemed to forget him completely.  We drove all the way to another war cemetery which Heuly wanted to see because a relative of one of her friends in Australia was buried there.  Werner was desperate to get out by then.  Vic was really great and looked after Werner as he crossed the road to find a suitable spot.  He had some time as Heuly had to find the grave and get someone to take a photo for her friends.

After that we headed to a café to get some Egyptian Pounds.  We were very relieved to discover that we could change our surplus Libyan Dinar there.  I changed D120 for E£522.  We were told that it would be just twenty minutes to get to the hotel, so we went straight back to the bus.  But then we were told that it was 150km to Marsa Matruh and our hotel, so we jumped out of the bus and dashed back to the toilets, which were not that bad.  Then there was a delay because our driver, another Mahmoud, had taken the opportunity to have lunch and we had to wait for him to finish his meal.  We finally set off, but it was not long before the he did a u-turn and returned to the café.  He had left his mobile phone behind.  Fortunately he got it back, but all the delays meant that it was dark and late when we reached the hotel.

Some very short people helped Mahmoud – himself not very tall and looking extremely young – to unload our cases from the roof.  I was scared that they would drop my case.  As it was, Mahmoud extended the dragging handle and used that to lower it down, even though the handle was not designed to carry the full weight of the case.  Luckily, I had been leaving a trail of skirts, blouses, nighties, t-shirts and books behind me, so the suitcase was not as heavy as when I had set out.

After putting our bags in the room, Caroline and I went downstairs for dinner.  It was now Saturday and my last full meal had been the previous Saturday, so I really needed to eat something.  I had omelette and chips, which were nice, and some vegetables, which tasted really horrible.  It was an expensive meal, coming to E$60 with water.  I probably ate too much as my tummy had a set back afterwards – or perhaps I had just caught my second bug.

Libya - 9 October 2010 (1)

Tobruk and the Border

I was up at 04.30 as it was an early start for the border crossing to Egypt.  Just before Caroline woke up, a bird sang really beautifully just outside our open balcony.  The tranquillity was broken as the call to prayer started.  Strangely, that did not make the dogs bark, but they had barked at a few other things during the night.

Sue had taken responsibility for looking after the tip money and had run out of dinars in Tunisia.  I had a surplus, so Sue and I had done a swap: dinars for dollars.  I had a even larger surplus of Libyan dinars because I had scarcely eaten anything and Sue and I did another swap so that she had enough for the tips for Mahmoud, Darak and Ali. I was not the only person to have a surfeit of Libyan dinars and we all hoped that we would be able to change them at the border.  This was one of the problems with Ruth not having done the trip before: she did not know whether it would be possible and her notes said we could only change dollars.

Desert

There was some pleasant scenery at the start of our journey, with the Green Mountains to our right.  Mahmoud pointed out the place where St Mark was supposed to have lived and where there is a church named after him.   Unfortunately, it was not long before we had passed the mountains and were back to barren desert, strewn with rubbish.

Acroma Knightsbridge War Cemetery

Our first real stop of the day was at the Acroma Knightsbridge War Cemetery, just before Tobruk.  Like all war cemeteries, this was beautifully maintained.  There are 3,671 graves here and, once again, I found it all incredibly sad.

Acroma Knightsbridge War Cemetery

As we drove nearer to Tobruk, we passed unfinished apartment blocks.  There seemed to be a lot of construction in progress throughout Libya, sometimes in the middle of nowhere.  We seldom saw any signs of work being done though.

Tobruk Commonwealth War Cemetery

After a stop at a supermarket for supplies, we went to Tobruk Cemetery.  A silent bell from HMS Liverpool hung outside.  Inside were thousands of graves.  The non-British graves were mostly for Polish soldiers, but I also saw Czechs and French graves.  Kim said that he had seen some Australian ones.

Tobruk Commonwealth War Cemetery

 After Tobruk, we had a final stop for coffee and gave Tarik, Mahmoud and Ali their tips.  Ali did not seem to be expecting one as he had been imposed on us by the authorities, but that was also true of Mahmoud really.  We felt that Ali had been useful in getting us free access to Leptis Magna on the second day and access to the Roman Villa that afternoon.  He gave a nice little speech, which Mahmoud translated for us.

We headed on to the border.  As we passed through the town nearest the border, Mahmoud said that no one who lived there had a proper job because everyone was a smuggler.  He said that they all had dual nationality to make the border crossing easier.  At least one person was working though, because I saw someone making clothes at a small table in the open.

The border crossing was a waiting game.  Mahmoud took our passports and disappeared for ages.  Luckily, Darak was able to pull the bus under an arch, so we were in the shade.  I was at the back of the bus, so I could still see the sparrows and pied wagtails hopping about.  At long last Mahmoud rematerialised and we drove on.  Ali had been gone for some time and Kim wondered if he had been busy writing his report on us.  He came back eventually and we were able to say our goodbyes before walking the 100 yards to Egypt.

Libya - 8 October 2010 (2)

Apollonia

There was no need to get the bus in the afternoon as we only had to cross the car park to visit Apollonia, which had been the port for Cyrene.

Central Church

Roman Baths

Not much of the site has been excavated, just three churches, one palace, some baths and a theatre.  They were all strung in a line between the hill and the sea, so it was quite a walk to see everything.  The theatre was at the very end.  We could not go down to it, so we remained at the top.  It was in a beautiful location, with the sea foaming over the rocks behind the stage.  We spent some time looking at it and then had to walk back.

Palace of the Dux

Eastern Church

The evening before, after I had gone to bed, the others had discovered that Ali spoke Italian.  There are not many Italian speakers in Libya nowadays, as it is a long time since the Italians left the country, and most of them are elderly.  I decided to practice my very rusty Italian, so I walked back with Ali.  It was so difficult not to start speaking Spanish, but we did manage to chat.  Ali gave me the typical chat up lines, but it was easy to put him off by revealing how old I was.  Anyway, he already had seven children by his first wife.  He said that Mahmoud had twelve!

Theatre by the Sea

We all sat on the balcony outside the hotel when we got back and had a coffee.  Then I went upstairs to crash for a while.

Long Walk back to the Hotel

I had been looking forward to dinner that evening and was so disappointed to find that there was no mashed potato.  I asked which were the vegetarian options and the waiter pointed out four of the dishes.  I helped myself to the couscous and vegetables and the waiter served me the chick peas, with an extra spoonful of the sauce, which he poured over everything.  I had just had a couple of spoonfuls, when Caroline came up and said not to eat the chick peas as they had been cooked in a meat sauce.  I was so upset that I had eaten some meat that I created quite a scene in the dining room.

I created another scene in reception and the manager came to speak to me.  He was a nice elderly man.  I don’t eat meat because I do not think it is right to eat animals, so I challenged him on the ethical issues.  I asked how he would feel if he was given something to eat and was told that it was beef or lamb and then he discovered it was pork.  Or what if he was given something and then discovered the sauce had been made with alcohol?  I think he understood how important it was to me and why I was so upset.  They gave me a mango juice and a banana and I went up to the room.

So let this be a warning to any vegetarians who travel to this area.  The definition of vegetarian food is that there are no lumps of meat.  As far as they are concerned, meat stock is vegetarian.  I started to suspect that some of the vegetables and couscous I had eaten earlier in the holiday were also cooked in meat stock.  I was quite glad that I had not felt like eating much for most of the time.

It was late when Caroline came back to the room.  I thought she would be annoyed at me because I had created a scene, but it was just the opposite.  She was positively buzzing because she had met a couple who had been in the same group as her on a holiday to China.  They had been talking downstairs for ages and making up for lost time, much to the disquiet of Ali who was wondering why she was talking to some strangers.  Her friends were also vegetarian and had been standing in the queue in the restaurant when I was complaining and they said that they completely understood why I was upset and would have done the same.

Libya - 8 October 2010 (1)

Cyrene

Sphinx in Museum

The Three Graces in Museum

Breakfast was really nice as pancakes were on the menu. It reminded me of when I lived in Peru and ate pancakes almost every morning. Strangely, I never went off pancakes, even though it took nearly eight years before I could eat omelettes again.  My Peruvian landlady had served them almost every evening.

Statues in Museum

Temple of Zeus

Anyway, enough about Peru. We were all ready to set out at 08.30 for a day packed with ancient ruins.  The drive to Cyrene was up some winding roads and through a pine forest.  It was Friday, but they opened the museum especially for us.  We were allowed to wander inside while we waited for our guide.  There were lots of statues and, most usefully, there were labels to indicate what and who they were.  When Idron arrived, he explained the most important items to us.

Temple of Zeus

Palaestra/Forum

Idron had taught himself English, so often pronounced things strangely.  At first, he was a bit difficult to follow, but I understood him better with practice.  He was very sweet and deserved full credit for making such an effort.

We got back on the bus to get to the Temple of Zeus.  This was a magnificent building, with very thick Doric columns.  Most of it was still standing.  After wandering round the temple, I spoke to three women who were sitting by the entrance.  One asked for my camera and took a photo of the temple.  I wasn’t even in it!

Theatre

Theatre beyond Site

Then the bus took us to the main site of Cyrene.  The first stop was the Greek palaestra, which was later used as the Roman forum, with a basilica attached.  We were given time to explore and went a bit further than Idron had intended, coming across the Odeon behind the palaestra.

Temple of Demeter

House of Jason Magnus

Back in our group, we crossed the main Roman street and its rather incongruous metal railway lines. We joked about how advanced the Romans were, but I guess that they had been used to move heavy stones during restoration work. There were other tracks on the approach to the palaestra and there had been some in Leptis Magna as well.  We visited a theatre and then a huge palace complex, the House of Jason Magnus.  From there we could see over the fence to an adjoining field where there was yet another, recently excavated theatre and the Temple of Demeter.

In Odeon waiting for a Song

Agora

We crossed back over the main street and entered the Odeon from the top of the seats.  We sat down to listen to Idron and have a rest.  Someone suggested that we try the acoustics and a volunteer was asked to sing.  I could not resist, so I made my way to the stage, pretending to be taking photos.  For some reason, the only song I could think of was So Long Farewell, so I sang the introduction to that.  It seemed to go down well and I was asked for an encore, so I sang the first verse of Fever.  This was one of the joys of having the sites almost to ourselves, although on this occasion there was also another couple and their private guide.  They clapped too, so my singing did not upset them.

Naval Monument

Dolphin on Naval Monument

It took quite a while to get to the end of the street because we visited every building of the acropolis.  There were a lot of mosaics left in situ on the left hand side of the street.  Although I tried not to step on them, there was no way to avoid doing so.  It seemed the normal thing to do.  The Acropolis ended at the Agora which contained some statues and a Naval Monument as well as the usual columns.

Caves on Far Slope

Greek Propylaea and Lower Site

At the end of the acropolis, there was quite a steep descent to the lower part of the site.  As we walked down, we could see that the hill on the far side was full of caves.  The descent also gave good views of the lower site and then the Greek Propylaea at the entrance.  Nearby was the Spring of Apollo.  It was a shame that there was so much rubbish as it could have been a lovely spot, with the sound of running water amplified by the caves and several pools and channels feeding off the spring.

Spring of Apollo

Temple of Apollo

The lower part of Cyrene had many temples, a Greek theatre which was converted into a Roman amphitheatre, and an impressive suite of Roman baths.  After exploring the area, we went for a coffee in a nearby café and sat outside.  My legs really appreciated the rest after all the walking we had done.

 

Roman Baths

Libya - 7 October 2010 (2)

To Susa

Most unusually for Libya, several other tour buses descended on the Ptolomeia site, so we got back on the bus as quickly as possible to avoid the other tourists.  We headed on to Q’sar Libya, where there were two Byzantine churches with extensive mosaics.   For me, the highlight of the visit came after I had emerged from a brief look at the western church.  I sat on a chair and watched a male chaffinch fly down to a nearby tap and have a drink from the drips.

We walked through the pine forest to the eastern church.  The mosaics had been removed and taken to the site museum where they were displayed in groups of five to match the rows in the church.  They were nice mosaics and were well preserved, but we had seen lots elsewhere of much better quality.

Wadi Al-Kuf

Our final stop of the day was stunning.  The road ran over a bridge which crossed the very deep gorge of the Wadi Al-Kuf.  We got out of the bus and overcame feelings of vertigo to look down at the gorge and take photos.  I loved it.

Wadi Al-Kuf

Then we headed on to Susa, with a quick stop at a supermarket to buy water.  Caroline and I bought two litres of water each plus some peach juice and I paid with a D20 note.  The cashier gave me D18 change, but then insisted that Caroline take D2 as well.  So that was extremely cheap.  We also had another visit to a chemist because Heuly and Sue had sore throats.

Dog in the Middle of the Road

We had two nights in the Al-Manara Hotel, which was right next to the sea and the site of Apollonia.  It was one of the better hotels of the trip.  Soon after reaching our room, Caroline and I went onto the balcony and looked out at the sea and the ruins.  Two dogs were sleeping in the road below and it was quite funny watching the vehicles try to avoid them.  The dogs scarcely even lifted their heads.  But then some teenage boys came back from a swim.  One of them went up to a dog, who wagged her tail and seemed pleased to see him.  But then he started to kick sand at her in a display of unwarranted bullying.

Dinner in the hotel that evening was a buffet.  I went down as I really needed to eat something.  There was nothing much that I could eat, but they did have some mashed potato.  I just took a plateful of that and it was really welcome.  From then on, I had a huge craving for more mashed potato and, for a long time after I got back to the UK, I virtually lived off potatoes.

Libya - 7 October 2010 (1)

Ptolomeia

The Desert

Breakfast was really good.  The help yourself buffet had lots of choice.  Anne told me off for having orange squash and Madeira cake, but the cake was all I felt like eating and I needed the orange squash to take my all my drugs.

Decumanus - Remains of Roman Arches

The hotel was right next to the sea, near to a harbour, so we set off with the sea to our left and some restored Italian buildings to our right.  Mahmoud said that Benghazi had been badly bombed in the war and only a lighthouse was left standing.  It looked a very modern city, but we only saw a small part of it.

On the outskirts of town, we stopped at a supermarket which had some lovely fruit and veg outside.  I bought a bottle of water and Barry discovered that they were selling three litres for just one dinar.  Hearing that, Sue dashed out of the bus to really stock up.

Fortress of Athanasius

Cistern

Then we headed on towards Ptolemaia.  There were roadworks on this section of road too.  At one point we had a very slow diversion through a village, which included driving across patches of bare ground strewn with masses of rubbish.  Another diversion pushed the traffic onto tracks running either side of the new road.  Someone ahead had run out of petrol and blocked the track, so we had a do a U-turn and cross over to the track on the other side.  There were some narrow squeezes when passing oncoming traffic!  Meanwhile, we had virtually finished the crossword in the BBC History magazine with some help from Vic and Barry, so I passed the magazine on to Werner.

              

Villa of Columns

Later on I thought we had reached yet another diversion, but we had arrived at Ptolomeia.  This time, we had a very knowledgeable guide, who had been working on excavations on the site since 1960.  He obviously knew his stuff, but was sometimes a bit dictatorial about where we should stand to take photos.

Villa of Columns

 At first the site looked quite empty, but then we reached the  Monumental Road (Decumanus) and the ruins materialised out of the desert.  We walked down the road, while the guide mostly pointed out the junctions with other roads and ignored the ruins to the right.  We saw some water cisterns at the end of the road.  We turned right and reached a most extravagant villa, the Villa of Columns.  It was really huge and was on two levels plus the roof.  It even had two triclinia (dining rooms): one for summer and one for winter.

Exit from Cistern under Forum

Forum

Then we walked to the forum.  Our guide said that the largest set of cisterns in North Africa lay underneath.  The others went down to see them, but I stopped by their exit.  Disembodied voices emerged from holes in the floor of the forum as they moved around.  I took photos as people emerged.  Our last stop was the Odeon and then there was a long walk back.  There was some seating and a café at the entrance.  The puppies of a dog which Sue had fed on the way in came up to greet us.

Odeon

Cockerell Mosaic in Museum

The site museum was air-conditioned, which gave some very welcome relief.  Our guide explained what the headless statues were and where he had found them.  There were some mosaics, which had been taken from the site too.

Then it was time to eat, making use of the seating outside the museum.  We were beset by puppies and Sue fed them, which encouraged them to stay.  They went into a frenzy when their mother arrived, but she refused to feed them.  I guess she thought they were ready to be weaned.  The puppies were cute, but I was worried about fleas when they started to get very close to my legs.

Libya - 6 October 2010

Along the Gulf of Sirte

After a broken night, I was woken up by the alarm.  By 06.00 we were all at breakfast and the bus was loaded up and ready for the off, bang on 06.30.  It was still dark and the moon was the narrowest slither.  As it grew lighter, I thought that the silhouettes of the date palms would have made a great subject for a pen and ink drawing.  By 07.00 it was light enough to read.  Darak turned the radio on, which drowned out the music on my headphones.

We stopped for a coffee in Misrata, which Mahmoud said was his home town.  I had a tea, but it was already sugared and far too sweet, so I had an apple juice which cost only D0.25.

The roads were much slower beyond Misrata.  A new road was under construction, but the old one was so full of potholes that vehicles often had to resort to driving on the left to avoid them.  Fortunately, there were some large gaps between the on-coming traffic.  To add to the delays, there were several checkpoints.  We were stopped at one and Ali “had to prove his worth over a cigarette” as Kim put it.

On and on we travelled, sea and new tarmac to the left, scrubby desert to the right, with a few power cables and lots of rubbish.  There was the occasional bush which sprouted plastic bags instead of leaves.  We saw some camels and, when we were in the queue for the main check point into the Sirt area, we saw two donkeys.  The larger one was hobbled, so walked slowly in search of something edible.  There did not seem to be much.  It took a bit longer to get through this checkpoint so that Caroline began to despair of reaching the hotel much before 20.00.

Eventually, Ali had done his stuff and we were off again.  We stopped for petrol and used their multi-sex loo.  While we were inside, local men were outside, washing their hands and feet in preparation for their prayers.  We decided to have a drink in the café.  Again, my coffee was horribly sweet, so the guy who made them gave me another one, this time with no milk or sugar.  By then it was nearly time to leave, so Heuly topped it up with some water to cool it down enough for me to drink before we had to go.  Then we went to the shop next door to buy some food for our journey.  The water only came in huge containers, so I went back to the café and got a small one from the fridge.  Because he had no change, the cashier gave it to me for nothing.  Another sign of how generous the ordinary people were.

Philaeni Brother from Italian Arch

The road was a lot better after our stop and Ruth estimated that we would reach the broken Italian Arch in about an hour. Meanwhile Mahmoud told us the story of the Philaeni brothers, who were commemorated on the arch.  The Greeks and the Carthaginians wanted to agree a border between their lands to settle their territorial disputes.  So they decided on a race.  The aim was to have two people set off from Cyrene and two from Carthage and the border would be where they met.  The Philaeni brothers ran from Carthage and were very fast, so that the two pairs met much nearer to Cyrene than Carthage.  The Philaeni brothers were accused of cheating, which they denied to the extent that they were willing to be buried alive so that the border would stand.

We saw a few trees and Mahmoud pointed out the reservoir for the Great Man-Made River.  We also saw the Ouagga Dougga Hall in the distance.  This was the venue for the conference which had prevented us from staying in the area.

Philaeni Brothers from Italian Arch

Our only photo stop was during our lunch break, taken at Medinat Sultan.  We were taken to where the ruins of the Italian Arch lay in the sand.  The ruins seemed to be of helmeted men or a lot of spare legs, so I didn't take any photos.  We walked back to some buildings, one of which had plastic chairs outside.  Behind the buildings lay the statues of the Philaeni brothers.   They had been cast in bronze in 1934 and were now on their sides having been taken from the Arch.  We ate our supermarket purchases in the shade of a building.  There was another building nearby, which functioned as a small hotel.  There did not seem to be many bedrooms when we went inside.

It was a long time before the next stop.  I finally finished my book, which had been a really tough read and started my next book, which was a Star Trek novel.  It was some light relief and I just raced through the pages.

Our journey was broken only by the occasional coffee stop and comfort break, but we mostly just pushed on to Benghazi.  Mahmoud took over the driving for a while to give Darak a much needed break.  Gradually, as it grew dark and I could not read anymore, we started to see more and more buildings.  We even came across a set of traffic lights.  The left turn led only into what must have been a very important building, with a large gatehouse, spotlights and security fences.

At first, we thought Mahmoud was teasing us when we finally drew up to our hotel, the Hotel Tibetsi.  It looked far too expensive for us and even had topiary outside.  Its only fault was one which comes with most expensive hotels:  the room was too dark, with no bright central light.

Caroline went for dinner, but I stayed in the room and ate some more of my supermarket food, washed my feet of all the desert sand from Medinat Sultan and went to bed early.  I had just started the crossword in my BBC History magazine when Caroline came back and we managed to get most of the answers between us.  She tried to open a window to let in some air but, as we were on the 11^th floor, they were all sealed to protect against the high winds and prevent anyone falling out.