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Sabratha, Libya
Thursday, Jan 11, 2007

Ruins and Caves

David Murray
2007-03-04 10:30:56

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And then we were off. Our Labyan driver, Whalid stated that there were no speed limits in Labya. I was a little concerned when there were only two lanes, but the Labs make it into three. If you are overtaking, you sit in the middle of the road. Yes, I have seen some hairy driving in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and even the M25 in the UK but we were doing 140-160 Klm's !!! Fuck me, only a month ago, I was doing that speed on an autobahn. At least they have nice roads in Germany. The scenery was a little different as well. The Med on one side and a desert on the the other. There was only one thing to do. Fall asleep. If we were going to die, I didn't want to see it coming !!!!!

I don't know why, maybe it was the locking up of brakes, but I awoke with the seatbelt around my throat ! We had arrived in Sabratha. Home of the second best Roman ruins in Labya. Whalid told us that he wouldn't be our guide, so he had hired a different Lab for us. He said his name was Mohommad, but he introduced himself as Abdul. Because of this, I became suspicious of him straight away. As we are on a tour, all the entrance fees are paid for by Whalid, but we have to buy a camera ticket. As usual, we only ever buy one. The first stop was the museum, and when they asked for my camera ticket, I showed them the only one I had which was for the ruins. I played dumb and told the Lab guard, I was only offered this one, so he accepted my story, and in we went. There was some ok mosaics and statues, not as good as Tunisia's, but it was better than looking at a blank wall.

Before we go any further, just a quick note about Sabratha, realistically, if it had not been for the earthquake of 365, it would have been a nice little city, but the quake came, and the city had fallen down. It was then covered in sand and lost for nearly 2000 years, before it was discovered, and ever so slightly restored.

Back outside, we ...