Andante Travels

Introduction

The classical ruins of Libya are one of the wonders of the world. The sheer scale and grandeur of Roman Leptis Magna is a yardstick of imperial magnificence against which to measure all other ruined cities of antiquity. We spend two whole days exploring the ruins, tracing the full extent of this huge city.

Tripolitania was named for the 3 great cities which were coastal emporia (trading posts) under Carthage's sphere of influence.  Under Septimus Severus, who became Roman Emperor in Ad 195 and was a native of Leptis Magna, these cities enjoyed imperial favour, being endowed with prestigious monuments and public amenities on a massive scale.  Nearby Sabratha follows the same pattern of Punic trading port turned Roman city.

A natural boundary, the vast Sirtic desert, separates the East of Libya from the West.  This is reflected in a cultural distinction between the areas, for the tuines cities of the provinces of Cyrenaica were Greek fundations rather than Punic.  The terrain of the two areas is also quite different.  Visitors are often surprised at the lush, green and hilly spect of Cyrene having left the arid, semi-desert littoral of Tripolitania.  We overcome the problem of two day long drives between the two areas by taking internal flights.

It is becoming easier for western visitors to travel though Libya, and the beaches still remain underdeveloped, the shops and bazaars cater mainly for Libyans (minimal sales hassle!) and the sites are still relatively empty of visitors.  the friendliness of the Libyan people is frequently mentioned.

N.B.  Andante can arrange visas on arrival.  No need to visit the Libyan Embassy if you are a UK citizen (see visa and passport section for more information).

Itinerary

Day One
Arrive Tripoli and transfer to hotel.

Day Two
First full day at Leptis Magna, possibly the most spectacular classical site, dominated by the 3rd century Imperial monuments of the Severan dynasty. The Arch of Septimius Severus (below) is one of the first monuments you see as you approach the site, and its friezes depict the Imperial family, including the homecoming of the Emperor and his two sons in a chariot procession in AD203 - all visitors are thus still reminded of this Imperial patronage. The huge extent of this city has to be seen to be believed - it takes one day to explore the monuments of the city centre, another to visit the outlying remains. Its wealth came from agriculture - particularly olives - and as a trading centre for slaves, wild animals for the arena, gold and ivory.



Day Three
Another full day at Leptis Magna including outlying sites such as the amphitheatre , circus (strikingly situated on the empty sea-shore), the impressive harbour and villas.

Day Four
Tripoli: the Jamahiriya Museum which houses the national archaeological collections including material from Leptis Magna and Sabratha. Some of the finest and best-known mosaics in the world are housed here, including the one from Zliten showing scenes of the amphitheatre. The arch of Marcus Aurelius is one of the only surviving monuments of Roman Oea (overbuilt by modern Tripoli). Flight from Tripoli to Benghazi.

Day Five
Cyrenaica was colonised by the Greeks from the 7th century BC and the wealth of this region came from the mysterious Silphium plant, depicted on coins and much valued for its medicinal and flavouring qualities.  It was, however, harvested non sustainably, and was virtually extinct by the Roman period.  We spend the next few days visiting cities which began life as Greek colonies, and were then enhanced and modified during the Ptolemaic and Roman periods.
Today we explore Ptolemais, at the foot of Gebel Akhdar, named during the Ptolemaic era in the 3rd century BC but with more ancient Greek origins.  Most memorable of its monuments is an impressive set of huge underground cisterns, for storing the water., always a precious commodity in this dry country.  They were fed by a spring further along the coast, and it is believed that their capacity was 8,400,000 cubic metres of water.

Day Six
In 631BC, where there was ‘a hole in the heavens’, the Greeks founded a city, Cyrene, which became one of the most important and prosperous cities in eastern Libya, famous for its shrine to Apollo. The lovely hillside setting of this city provides a surprisingly green aspect for North Africa. It maintained its wealth into the Roman period and there are some very wealthy townhouses with fine opus sectile mosaics made of geometric shapes of coloured marble identified as belonging to Jason Magnus, an influential priest of Apollo, who is known from inscriptions found in the city.

Day Seven
A whole morning at Apollonia, port of Cyrene, named after the city's protective divinity. It has one of the most romantically situated theatres anywhere in the Mediterranean, beside the sea. There was a 20km road, partly chiselled from rock, which linked the two cities.  It was made by the Greeks when they developed their naval merchant fleets.

Afternoon visit to Qasr Libya and the remains of two Byzantine churches, one 5th and one 7th century AD.  The earlier basilica had the most extraordinary mosaic in the central nave, discovered by American engineers in 1957 when they were building dams in the area.  This is of 6th century date, and has panels with various birds, animals, people and  representations of places, such as the pharos at Alexandria.  These are now displayed in a site museum.  Fly from Benghazi to Tripoli.

Day Eight
We are back in Tripolitania now, to visit Sabratha, which started life as a Punic trading colony, and then became a wealthy Roman city.  It has a particuarly impressive (but well-reconstructed) theatre. As well as the Classical remains, there is a fine church and walls of Byzantine date.

At the small town of Janzur, five underground tombs were discovered by chance in 1958 and a further 15 in 1969.  They span the 1st century AD to the lte Roman period, and include some large family tombs, some of which are beautifully and intricately painted.

Day Nine
Fly to London.

Included

WHAT’S INCLUDED

• Flights Scheduled flights from Heathrow to Tripoli; Domestic flights Tripoli/Benghazi/Tripoli
• Transfers private coach provided to coincide with group flights
• Visas
  Local Travel Private a/c coach.
• Meals All meals included; water is provided; alcohol is prohibited.
• Guide Lecturer Not to be confused with "guest lecturers"!  The guide lecturer will be with you from breakfast to supper, and probably even a drink in the bar afterwards.  There is the occasional site where they may not be allowed to guide because of local regulations (we normally manage to circumnavigate these) but otherwise the guides are just that.  They will have been chosen because of specialist knowledge and their ability to communicate and interest you.  After 22 years of making tours worldwide, we are highly appreciative of the attributes of a good guide, and intensely critical of people who do not possess them.  If you would like to know more about Dr Eireann Marshall or Tony O’Connor, please click their name.
• Tour Manager We never know how best to call the very special people whom we choose to accompany you on your tour.  They are usually employed in this capacity only by us, and have been trained to do things in the Andante way - unobtrusive, friendly and quietly efficient.
• Local Guide
• Fieldnotes written for the tour
• Entry & tips Entry to all sites in programme; tips included.

The infrastructure for tourism is still in its infancy, but the astonishing ancient sites, the sense of discovery and the friendliness of the Libyan people make this an immensely rewarding holiday.

Flights & Visa

Please note these flights are an indication of what the flights are likely to be. Please contact the office for exact details.

Scheduled flights with BA
BA898                   London Heathrow / Tripoli              09:20 / 15:00
BA899                   Tripoli / London Heathrow              15:20 / 18:05

Visa and Passport Requirements (for British passport holders only)

Note: Passport must be valid for 6 months after your return home. The Government of Libya currently refuses entry to holders of American and Israeli passports and those containing entry stamps to Israel.

The Libyan Authorities require an Arabic translation in your passport, as well as a visa. Visas are included in the tour price and will be arranged for you by Andante Travels and will be administered on arrival at Tripoli International airport. The translation needs to be done beforehand and to facilitate this you will need to send us your passport at the time of balance payment (approx. 2 months before your departure date) so that we can arrange the translation in good time. The charge for this has not been included in the tour cost.

Translation can take up to 14 days to arrange but we will return your passport by special next day delivery. If required by guests, quicker processing is possible but at greater cost.

Hotels

3 + 2 nights in a centrally located hotel in Tripoli;
1 night in a modern business hotel in the centre of Benghazi;
2 nights in Al Bayda.
Hotels are plain and as conveniently situated as possible.

Map

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Comments

What Did You Enjoy Most About This Tour?

I enjoyed it very much overall. The main sites fully lived up to expectations but Qasr Libya was an unexpected delight. Guest, April 2009

The sites and Tony's commentary and information. I enjoyed all the sites and they all had something special to offer. The theatre at Sabratha brought tears to my eyes. It was fascinating to walk on a Roman quayside at Leptis and the buildings are lovely. But Ptolemais and Cyrene were also great. And the museums too! Guest, October 2008

The privilege of seeing such stupendous sites unhampered by hundreds of other tourists, and being guided by someone as knowledgeable as Tony. Guest, October 2008

I find it difficult to choose between Leptis Magna, Sabratha and Cyrene. They were all fascinating and brought to life by Bill Manning's excellent talks. Guest, April 2008

Sites being uncrowded (able to see everything), sites being by the sea, spring flowers & mimosa everywhere.  Perfect weather for walking around sites... Guest, March 2008

Reading List

This list is no more than a guide to some books that you may find useful to read in advance of the tour. Talks given on the tour will attempt to fill in the background to what we are seeing, so no prior knowledge or pre-tour cramming is expected or needed. In many cases, we expect that you will find some of these books even more interesting and useful to read once the tour is over.

Please note: We shall be providing you with a set of field notes to accompany your study tour. These will be sent to you before departure with your air tickets and final travel details. Some volumes are hard to obtain.

New Archaeological Guide

P. Kendrick: 2009. Libya Archaeological Guide - Tripolitania. (Silphium Press, Society for Libyan Studies)

More titles

D. Mattingly: 1995. Tripolitania (Batsford) Authoritative overview of the development of this region in the Roman period.

S. Raven: 1993. Rome in Africa (RKP). A very readable general account of the history of the Roman Province.

G. Caputo & E. Caffarelli: 1966. The Buried City (Wiedensfied and Nicolson) Out of print but profusely illustrated account of the excavations at Leptis Magna.

Haynes, D: 1965. The Antiquities of Tripolitania (Darf London) A brilliant general introduction to all the Tripolitanian sites. Still invaluable. (normally available in Libya if not in UK)

C. Kraeling: 1960. Ptolemais: City of the Libyan Pentapolis (The University of Chicago) Still the best overview of this Cyrenaican city, with a focus on the results of Kraeling's excavations.

Ward Perkins & Goodchild: 2003. Christian Monuments of Cyrenaica (Society for Libyan Studies). A detailed study of the late Roman and Byzantine monuments of Eastern Libya.

K. Mathews: (1957). Cities in the Sand. (Oxford University Press). Hard to obtain but well illustrated account of the major Tripolitanian cities.

P. MacKendrick: 1980. The North African Stones Speak (Croom Helm) A very readable general account of the development of the North African Provinces.

D. Buck & D.Mattingly (ed.):1985. Town and Country In Roman Tripolitania.A collection of papers which include aspects of the archaeology of the pre-desert.

R. Polidori & A. Di Vita: 1999. Libya: The Lost Cities of the Roman Empire (Konemann) Beautifully illustrated introduction to the Roman cities of the Libyan coast.

J. Reynolds, (ed.): 1994. Cyrenaican Antiquity. A collection of papers exploring aspects of the archaeology of East Libya. Brought together in an International Colloquium.

S. Dearden: 1976. A Nest of Corsairs (John Murray) A lively account of the Karamanlis rule over the Barbary coast

A. Birley: 1988. Septimus Severus: The African Emperor (Routeledge) An excellent and accessible account of the life of this great Roman Emperor. (Guide Lecturers Choice)

G. Williams. Green Mountain (Darf) An account of a journey across the jebel Akkdar and its sites in the 1960's. (Guide Lecturers Choice)

J. Azema: 2000. Libya Handbook. Footprint Travel Guides. Now out of print but a very well written guide that is worth tracking down.

J. Wright (ed):2005. Travellers in Libya (Silphium Books) An excellent anthology of 16th to early 20th-century accounts of visits to Libya

A. Ham: 2002. Lonely Planet Libya Guidebook

The Society for Libyan Studies produces an annual journal which contains accounts of current research. www.britac.ac.uk/institutes/libya

Travel books

We recommend to you a publishing company with a mission to keep the classic works of travel literature in print. Eland and Sickle Moon Books produce an excellent catalogue of travellers' literature, old and new.

0207 833 0762 - www.travelbooks.co.uk - info@travelbooks.co.uk

Archaeology books

Oxbow Books, based in Oxford, are suppliers of probably the biggest range of archaeology and history books. They produce a quarterly catalogue, and can be contacted on

01865 241 249 - www.oxbowbooks.com - oxbow@oxbowbooks.com

General

Darf Publishers Ltd - specialises in good quality facsimile reprints of out-of-print and rare books written in the 18th and 19th centuries, predominantly books on the geography, culture, history, literature and theology of the Middle East and North Africa.  0207 431 7009 www.darfpublishers.co.uk

Booking