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We started today with a visit to the museum of Tripoli. We had to have a guide yet again, but this time it was probably a good thing as all the labels on everything are in Arabic. We saw some wonderful mosaics, made with tiny tiles and some magnificent statues from Leptis Magna. There was one Greek statue of Athena, which was completely intact. She even had her little owl on her arm. The guide pointed to the cape she was wearing and asked if any of us could identify it, "Its the Aegis" I said. The guide said, "I have been doing this job for 30 years and not once have I heard a tourist give me this answer." Couldn't help feeling a little proud of myself. The Aegis is the skin of the Medusa, which Perseus gave to Athena when he killed her.
There was also an absolutely amazing stone carving of Medusa, which reflected all the pain she was caused when Athena cursed her. The look on her face sent shivers down my spine. There was a fantastic room with Phoenician artefacts and another room for ancient coins.
After the museum, we went to see the arch of Marcus Aurelius, which is the only thing left of ancient Tripoli, which used to be called Oea. We walked through the arch and then visited a local mosque. It called Georgie Pasha mosque, it wasn't as spectacular as others I've seen but I was nice to get a perspective on a mosque used by the everyday man. We finished our short tour with a walk through the old city and the souq. It was an amazing souq, so much to buy. I also made friends with a little souq cat, who tried desperately to get away from me, before he realised I was patting him. Then he didn't want to go anywhere.
Tripoli is great, I went for a walk on my own at about 9pm to attempt to get food. Not one person gave me any grief, or tried to haul me into a perfume/carpet/papyrus shop. The guys looked at me and a few of them yelled the odd comment in their English with an Italian/Arabic accent. They even speak Arabic with an Italian accent. I love it. As I have two extra days here, I decided to just chill out for the rest of the day and have a bit of a rest.
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