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Published: December 7th 2010
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My Turkish dorm mate tagged along to Tripoli, we 1st had breakfast at the local Lebanese pizza joint, ummm so good! We walked to the Helou station which was only 5 minutes away, we found the Connexion bus and it left in 10 minutes, they leave every hour I think, a very popular and busy route. Big traffic we hit on the way out of the city, we skirted the coastline, Mediterranean is so blue and beautiful,a few men trying their luck fishing along the coast, then we climbed top the mountains and then back down to the coast, in only an hour we are in Tripoli.
We took awhile to get our bearings, we took the LP while standing next to this jewellery shop next door from the bus station, we got shoved to the side, we are not allowed to loiter, Orhan was pissed and mouthed off some words in English to the rude security guy. We found locals to help us find the hostel I want to stay, Took awhile and we got lost a bit but eventually found the Hotel Koura just off Rue Tall, the LP map was confusing, anyway with the local's help we
found it but the rate is awfully high, $20 for a dorm bed! The owner would not bring the price down but was kind enough to point me to the hostel next door, Pension Haddad, for $10, it's a family home, it had a homestay feel only thing English is not well spoken. Kind family I settled in one of the beds in the corner, then we set off to see the souq.
We walked aimlessly until we found signs to the Grand mosque and Citadel, the mosque was quite nice, it was praying time, we sat down and observed them, Orhan went in to pray briefly while I people watched, I like the architecture, simple and practical. not garrish at all. We found a side door that headed to the souq, it was oh so busy, narrow alleyways with all sorts being sold, olives, fruits, vegetables, meat, fish, poultry, food, bread, I love markets and this one is cool, and everyone obliged for a photo, we even got a few pieces of bananas for free from a vendor in exchange for them taking our photos., quite a turn around. It's a long souq with branching alleyways. We eventually
found a way to get up the citadel, tanks lined the street next to it uphill, you have to pay 7,500 dibdobs to go inside, we decided to skip it as it is still under renovations, we thought we wont appreciate it at all.
We headed down the hill and found a "short cut" there is a boy's school below the stairs and they got wild and rowdy when they saw us following us around and chanting like in soccer matches, their teacher was so annoyed he started yelling at them to leave us in peace, we did not mind the attention though they were friendly. Now I was hungry and wanted to have some fish for lunch after all this is a port city, from the local's advise we took a share taxi to Al Mina where we can get fish, but the only restaurant we saw was quite expensive for a medium size basket of fried small fish, it's $10! I was pissed and settled for kebab sandwich instead! Despite their fishing industry they hardly have any cheap seafood restaurant near the port, after the meal we walked to the corniche where we saw fishermen mending their
nets and getting ready for the night catch.
Orhan played with the kids and borrowed their bike to bike around the corniche while I watch on, we went back after to the clock tower in downtown, and walked some more, after a long day of walking we decided to rest in the grassy area near the Connexion bus station opposite the roundabout which curiously enough they call here a square! Orhan went back to Beirut around 5 pm,said my goodbyes to him and I slowly walked back to the hostel. Power cut at 6pm no fan until it comes back on at midnight I was told by the owner, yet they have power(generator) but no ceiling fan power. The room is hot, now I was having 2nd thoughts about basing myself here, maybe I should go back to Beirut again, there is another guest in the room, a local but barely spoke to me and the 2 other beds were occupied by 2 men in the family, the father and the son I think yup no bed for the holy spirit!
Very early in the morning I got up and made the decision to go back to Beirut,
Tripoli
Orhan and a vendor though I enjoyed my time in the souq there isn't much to do around here really and so I took the first bus out and got stuck in heavy traffic when we got to Beirut, the smog is heavy and you can see it miles away from the city, back in the hustle and bustle.
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