Friday, April 20, 2012

Week 7: Libya - Michiel Houwen


Dear Followers!

We just arrived in Libya and we are currently situated in Tripoli, which is the capital of Libya. Yesterday we took the plane in Athens to arrive, 2 hours and about 1000 km later, in magnificent Tripoli.  There are about 2.2 million people living in this city, which is quite a lot. I thought, before arriving, that this would be a tense place due to the Libyan Civil war that took place here in 2011 but I was quite surprised when it turned out to be a calm atmosphere after all…


Tripoli is one of the most important regions in Libya because it is the leading centre of banking, finance, and communication. Many large international and national corporations locate their headquarters and home offices in Tripoli. The city is also home of the Tripoli International Fair. This is an important annual international industrial, agricultural and commercial event situated on Omar Muktar Street.

Due to the rise in tourism there has been a rising demand for new hotels in the city. One of them many main sights in Tripoli is the old town called Medina. This is actually a small town which is unharmed by mass-tourism. Some of the buildings here were constructed by Italian colonial rulers but later taken down by the mighty Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed in October 2011.  

When we went to the borders of Tripoli we could notice there were a lot of deserts. The Libyan Desert covers up to 90% of Libya, which is an interesting fact. Temperatures in the desert can be extremely dangerous, with a record of 57°C. I wouldn’t want to be lost in a place like this!

Anyways, Karel De Groote just asked me if I wanted to go sightsee some new spots around town so I will have to turn off my laptop and go look at some amazing places, see you in two weeks!

Take care my friends. Bessalama!

No comments:

Post a Comment