Libya

Well Benghazi started our five day tour of the North east section of Libya and what a lot of driving we ended up doing.

We got greeted at passport control by out guide and driver, after trying to get some money or even exchange some we headed off. We stopped at the commonwealth war graves cemetery in Benghazi had some lunch and then started our journey. After driving for a while we went through a little town called Tocra and on to Tomeita (Ptolmais) where we looked at their museum, which had all the statues and mosaics that had been excavated on show. Our guide then organised a guided tour of the site itself where he translated all the information about the site. After that we headed on to Qasr Libya, which is an old Castle, the castle is not really impressive but I would really recommend seeing the fantastic mosaics that have been found in the area that are on display inside the castle.

From there we headed to our hotel in Cryencica, near Al-Bayda, on the way we stopped at a huge bridge crossing over Wadi Al kuf to take some photos, Wadi is Valley in Arabic.

Then it was on to the hotel to settle in then out to find some food as both Cat and I were both tired and starving. After having a little drama trying to find some food worth eating we finally found some dodgy spaghetti Bolognese to eat and off to bed.

Day 2, of the tour saw us wandering around the ruins of Cyrene and Apollonia. We also got to see Latrun, which is a lovely ruin of a Byzantine church, which was also used as a trading centre. Unlike the other ruins in Cyrene and Apollonia the excavators of Lathrun have managed to piece together part of the alter and have erected it in its original spot, which was nice to see.

Day 3 was the end of the ruins and more about seeing the countryside. Mind you we did go back and spend the morning in the Cyrene Museum as it was closed the day before. We then got a packed lunch form Al Bayda and spent the rest of the day in Ras lil Hellal looking at waterfalls, caves and having picnics lunch down by the water. The Mediterranean is so blue around this area. Actually it looked beautiful where we have been so far. We also went back to Apollonia and saw another place that we had seen on a postcard, it is part of the ruins that are still underwater.

Day 4 was spent travelling to Tobuk on the way we stopped in Derna and saw a lovely waterfall there then stopped for photos of the oldest mosque in Libya, Al Sahaba, stopped for lunch and then on to Tobruk, Cat and I both got to have a bit of a drive and the funny thing is that cat has been car sick the whole time we have been in the middle east, as the driving over here is so erratic but she was fine while I was driving....lol We stopped at a couple of WW2 cemeteries and had a look at the Australian fig tree hospital, which was a cave used in the war to look after the injured. After settling in at the hotel in Tobruk we went out for some dinner and a wander around.

Day 5, we got ripped off as we paid for a 5 day tour thorough Arkno tours and we spent 2 hours being dropped to the border. What a fifth day. I advise if you want to see Libya it is definitely worth seeing but do it with a different tour group. As this trip was definitely not worth the money we paid for it.