LibanItaly: Trablus - Thu 23 Nov 2006

With the usual, unmistakable, unique irony that characterizes Lebanese people, a "referendum" between friends suggested us to leave Beirut today , to avoid the mess, and to point to the North, probably more "safe". You know, all of them had an opinion about the less risky place: in fact, the real risk was about disorders between falangistes and left-wing radicals, as "voice of people" tells that after the cerimony at 3 PM a group of right-wing radicals was supposed to join the shiite area (or Achrafieh, the area of maronite general Aoun)...and in that case nobody knows what could happen...

I'd like to stay in Beirut and to participate as independent observer at the funeral of Pierre Gemayel, but i didn't want to involve my kind friends in such "experience": maybe because they are from Achrafieh, they were enough afraid to stay in Beirut....unless to remain in their houses! :)

After some "tour" trying to get the right available street to leave the capital, continuously bumping into posters of victims of terrorist attacks or cars with right-wing parties flags

finally, a kind and funny young soldier has indicated us the road, asking in change the number of my nice friend :) Actually, in Lebanon checkpoints are everywhere but not enough information about the road to keep to reach the North. By the way, the crowd was gathering in Beirut, suggested to leave their car at the surrounding and take cumulative bus to join the center: am surprised by the several families i met, all of them participating to the "event". Am really not used to such kind of massive participation ...

The highway leading to the North presents clearly signs of last war destruction: i have noticed that in July and August Beirut, excluding the southern suburb area, has not been so drammatically hitted by bombs, am talking about buildings and main streets, but lot of bridges and road to leave the City were hardly damaged, getting "litterally" isolated the Capital during all the war period...how many of western people could have accepted to be not able to leave their city as the main highways were wasted???? how many of us would not have felt a sense of humiliation and frustration for such unfair powerlessness? Anyway, this is what remains of the highway to the North: it's now one-way and lebaneses set the way according to the direction of the traffic, trying to avoid a congestion

Trablus is 80km far from Beirut, the 2nd city of Lebanon for population and economy. Just a break in a very old railway station (who said there are no trains in Lebanon? :)) where my kind friend shooted for a documentary (incredible, she's architect but, to stay in lebanon, she re-invented herself and her skills in a documentary technician, specialized in making measurements!)

and here we are in Tripoli/Trablus, here we parked and then went to visit the Port (El Mina) and the Madina, with a nice Suq and important mosques, Taynal, Madrasa Al-Muallaq Burtasyat, Madrasa Al-Qartawiyat, evidencing the importance of the city in moyen-age. With a sunni majority, Tripoli was not as much hitted in last war as 20y ago, theatre of sad and bloody fights between syrians and OLP.

Then Trablus and his dates...just wow! like all the leb fruits, so yummy....come in Lebanon and you'll understand really what is the REAL flavour of fresh fruits!!!

Publicity of a travel agency specialized in organizing pilgrimage to La Mecca (not so far from the same organization in Italy for tours to Lourdes, San Giovanni Rotondo, etc. eheh)