Tuesday 14^th November – Tripoli

• Arrive at your convenience into Tripoli – the capital city of Libya which have regular connections from Tunis, Istanbul, and elsewhere in Africa, Europe and the Middle East. YPT can arrange your flights with Libyan Wings from Tunis for €395 return: subject to change.
• Arrival and transfer will be arranged for you from the airport to your hotel centrally located in the city (Victoria hotel or Alshajara hotel)
• Depending on the time you arrive, lunch can be arranged at a nearby restaurant to the hotel with local guide.
• Pre-tour meeting will be held at the lobby of our hotel to discuss tour itinerary and to meet your fellow travellers and YPT guide.
• We’ll begin by exploring the old city (Medina), where the old city’s labyrinthine streets are filled with treasures such as the Banco di Roma building, Ottoman-era mansions, an ancient Roman arch, and among other more contemporary Tripoli attractions.
• Visit Tripoli’s WWII cemetery – here contains 1,369 Commonwealth burials, and 133 unknown soldiers. You’ll also stop by an old Christian church.
• Dinner at a local restaurant and overnight in Tripoli

Wednesday 15^th November – Tripoli – Sabratha – Tripoli City tour

Morning

• Breakfast and begin making our way towards 2 hours northwest to Sabratha – one of the most important historical sites in Libya. The city dates back to 500BC and is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Phoenicians and Romans previously used Sabratha as a seaport.
• Visit the Sabratha Theatre – dated back to 175CE and could hold up to 5,000 spectators.
• Explore the amphitheatre where duals took place in front of a crowd of up to 10,000 spectators.

Afternoon

• Lunch in Sabratha
• Begin making our way back to Tripoli
• Visit the Othman Clock Tower – this 19th century Ottoman Clock Tower which shares a resemblance of to the Dolmabahce Clock Tower in Istanbul
• Drop by the Karamanli house – built in the second half of the 18th century, during the reign of Ali Pasha Karamanli, and was used by Yousuf Pasha until his death. The house was restored during the early 1990s and became known as Tripoli Historical Exhibition.
• Arch of Marcus Aurelius – built in 163 AD, the triumphal arch of Marcus Aurelius is Tripoli’s most impressive ancient monument. It stands at the intersection of the Cardo and Decumanus and marks the exact centre of the Roman city.
• Explore many of the souqs that are hidden in old town – these souqs were previously a connection between the trans-Sahara trading routes within Tripoli vilayet and southern European Merchants ships.
• Visit the Old British Consulate – originally built in 1744 as a residence for Ahmad al Karamanli, the ruler of Tripoli. He donated it to the British Consulate, and it continued to serve that function until 1940. Since the 1990s it has housed a scientific library.
• Stop by the Tripoli International Fair – founded in 1927 and is considered to be the oldest trade fair in Africa. The so-called Fiera Internazionale di Tripoli was one of the main international fairs in the colonial world and in the 1930s was internationally promoted alongside the Tripoli Grand Prix as a showcase of Italian Libya.
• Wander around Martyrs’ Square – previously known as Independence Square under Gaddafi, built by the Italians during the colonial rule, on the evening of the 21^st August the Libyan rebel groups took control of the area during the 2011 Battle of Tripoli and started referring to it as Martyrs’ Square to dissociate the square from the Gaddafi government.
• Traditional Libyan food for dinner.
• Overnight in Tripoli

Thursday 16^th November – Tripoli – Jebel Nafusa – Gharyan – Tripoli

• Breakfast at hotel
• Drive 2 and a half hours southwest of Tripoli to Jebel Nafusa – this mountain rises abruptly from the desert of Jefara to a height of over 968 meters. This is the heartland of the Berber people of Libya.
• Visit the 12th century fortified granary of Qasr al-Haj.
• Drive onwards to explore Tarmeisa – an ancient stone village which clings off a narrow rocky outcrop overlooking a spectacular view of the Sahel Al Jefara.

Afternoon

• Arrive in Gharyan and lunch in town
• Gharyan was considered the centre of Libyan resistance against the Italian invasion in the early 20th century. The locals here protested strongly against Gaddafi where they suffered heavy bombardment by the Gaddafi forces. As of May 2011, the Gaddafi’s forces had shut down the water system and blocked food supply to the town. Rebels stood their ground and continued fighting against any resistance which finally led them to victory against countless tanks, artillery guns and snipers.
• Today Gharyan has a population of over 85,000 and produces olive oil, flour, carpet weaving, and pottery. The locally famous Troglodyte caves were dug vertically down into the rocky ground.
• Return to Tripoli with dinner on arrival
• Overnight in Tripoli.

Friday 17^th November – Tripoli – Leptis Magna – Tripoli

Morning

• Breakfast at hotel
• Jump in our 4×4 transportation and head two hours east to Leptis Magna – it was originally a Phoenician trading port and prospered for over 1000 years before the Vandal invasions and sandstorms brought its downfall. During the reign of Libyan Emperor Septimius Severus, it was second only to Rome with a population of over 100,000. The city remained buried for some 1300 years and it was not until the 1920s when a major excavation by Italian and Libyan archaeologists revealed the limestone and marble traces we’ll explore.

Afternoon

• Lunch at a local Libyan restaurant
• Return to Tripoli stopping at Villa Sileen which belonged to an ancient wealthy Roman family.
• Dinner at a local restaurant in the city where we will get a chance to converse with our local guide over shisha about what life in Libya is actually like since the call of Gaddafi, and what it was like before.
• Overnight in Tripoli

Saturday 18^th November -Tripoli and departure

Morning

• Breakfast in the hotel, before heading out for a last look around the capital
• This will be your chance to buy some unique souvenirs, such as local handicrafts, as well as things related to the former Gaddafi regime, such as the Green Book and various propaganda.
• Check out of hotel and transfer to Tripoli International Airport depending on your flight out.

Read More