1 november 2008, saturday, Binghazi-Cyrene/Apollonia

Got up at 07.00 am. Shower. Email in the lobby. Got a nasty message about our friends from Belgium. They both lost their lives in a bus accident in Egypt together with 2 of their grandchildren. Terrible. After breakfast we packed and checked out. First Victor and I went to the car and asked Khalid to help us repair the brakes (there was air in the brake system). Yesterday they almost did not work. Today it is better. We left at the hotel at 09.30. The part through Benghazi went alright, but afterwards we had to tell our guide what we wanted to see and which road we wanted to take according to our roadbook. First we payed a visit to Tolmetha (= Ad Darsia). There was a museum with all kinds of statues, sarcophages, etc. The ruins were to far to walk, so we went on because we had lost to much time already. We went on to Qasr Libya, which we found after some time because it was not indicated with a sign. It was a christian church half under the ground and a castle from the year of 539. Nice surrounding, makes you think of the Provence in France. All very fertile brown soil and a lot of agriculture. Many trees, bushes, cows, etc. Then we went to a canyon, where they builded a big hanging bridge across. You could see caves where probably in ancient times people had lived. From there we went to Cyrene (now called Shahat). There were Greek and Roman ruins, which where beautiful. Fom there you were able to see the sea. After that visit we had to go down to the coast with real hairpins in the road. Beautiful scenery and more ruins, well preserved. When we went down further, we drove along an ancient Roman/Greek graveyard. We then descended further to the coast and arrived at 17.00 in Marsa Susah (=Apollonia). There the ruins closed at 17.30 and we decided to pay the ruins a visit tomorrow morning. Together with Heert-Jan and Atske we had a beer on the top floor of the hotel on the terrace. After that we took a shower and had dinner afterwards. All real Libyan food. Very tastefull. During dinner we were asked by 2 just married couples to go with them on a fotograph. The women had beautifull henna paintings on their hands. After dinner we drunk mint tea and went to bed after doing some email.