We started off today visiting the National Museum of Libya which just reopened in January after 16 years, in brand new digs. It’s one of the most impressive museums I’ve seen in a long time. The Phoenician-Greco-Roman floor has more recovered statues and mosaics than I have seen anywhere. And the rest of it could match anywhere in the world. (Okay, the genetic mutations section was really, really weird.) Everything (except the recent history floor) was in Arabic and English, including all the multimedia exhibitions. But if you’re looking for anything about Qaddafi, it’s not there. The current government wants everyone to move on.
From there we walked onto the Red Castle, the Roman fort that the Libyans used to defend the city (and help capture the USS Philadelphia) from the Americans in 1803. They see it as a great victory over the US; we remember it in ‘’…to the shores of Tripoli’’ in the Marine’s Hymn.
Then we walked around the city: Martyr’s square, the souk, the old city, the King’s palace, and the Anglican Cathedral of Christ the King, which is still functioning. There isn’t much of a British/Commonwealth ex-pat community in Tripoli but the cathedral serves many of the migrants from sub-Saharan Africa who are trying to get into Europe. The Dean of the Cathedral is Nigerian.
Even though there isn’t much left from the Qaddafi era, I did manage to find a Qaddafi clock (which I chose not to buy), and some Qaddafi stamps and notes which I bought and plan to turn into refrigerator magnets.
Libya doesn't get a lot of tourists so unlike places like Morocco, Egypt and Tunisia, you can walk through the shops without being approached, much less harassed. I even tried to walk into a touristy shop and the owner said ''We're done for the day'' and kicked me out. One of the wonderful things about Libya is that when locals are being kind (which happens often) it's not for payment. They're just being kind. One of the (minor) drawbacks is how often locals want to take selfies with you. It's great for the first couple days but then one starts to understand how celebrities must feel. It can be exhausting.
Tomorrow is our last full day in Libya. We’re off to Leptis Magna which is reputed to be the largest and most impressive of the ancient Roman cities in Libya. Then I fly back to Tunis and onto Saudi Arabia the following day.
My Libyan photos are here (Opens in new tab.)
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