Syrie - Jordanie 2001

July 27, 2001 – Beirut – Tripoli (Trablous)

I woke up at 7 am under a concert of horns on the avenue and by a real feeling that I was devastated by mosquitoes during the night! It doesn’t seem that I will stay a long time in Beirut.

At 9 am, I take a bus to Tripoli, I pay the fare around 2,500 (nearly three times the normal price) but I want to go out this city very soon. I had no time to visit Beirut and many other places in Lebanon but I will come back one day. During the trip we watched an American movie: Rambo III in a surprising version, subtitled in Arabic and without the sound!! We arrive in Tripoli at 11 am.

I notice the visitor center when entering the city and I will go there in the afternoon. I also see the City complex where I could surf on internet and give news to some friends and the family. At the bus station near the clock tower, I try to find the Pension Haddad. Two Lebanese offer me a trip to Byblos but I can’t, not enough time te countdown is on its way to zero. I finally find the pension that is a lovely house with many rooms. The travelers live with the family and it is with a great pleasure that I can speak French with them. I take a lovely room for 10 USD but it’s Lebanese price.

In the afternoon, I start the visit of the old town by entering the souks. And after Aleppo, I succumb once again for some soap: one more kilogram. I visit the Hammam Al Hadij by asking the key to the shopkeeper in front of the monument. Inside it’s pretty nice and my guide shows me using my sunglasses as a mirror the Malta cross formed by the little holes that illuminate the hammam.

I decide to go and visit the citadel and after some bargaining I have a good price to enter the site (2,000 LL i/o 5,000 LL).

I come back to the pension where reigns a family atmosphere, it’s like at home. I meet there two Australians who were my neighbors in Beirut but I didn’t see them. Helena and her husband Jarod are making an interesting trip of 5 months. They started in South Africa then in the Middle East and after they will around the Mediterranean sea to end in Portugal and fly back to Australia. Great trip!!

I go outside to find a bus ticket to go to Damascus tomorrow afternoon. I take the Transtour company near the clock tower. Departures to Damascus are at 5 am, 8 am and 3 pm for 7,000 LL. The trip lasts 4:30. There are also buses to Homs every hour starting at 8 am. For me it will be 3 pm.

Tripoli : The clock tower

With Helena we decide to eat a falafel sandwich in a kind of Arabic fast-food. We talk a lot about our respective travels, she explained me their problems with Egyptians when they were there. Tomorrow we will go to Bcharré in a shared taxi to see the famous cedar forest