Day 1: Flight Helsinki-Tripoli, stopover in Istanbul
Turkish Airlines flight Helsinki-Istanbul departs at 19.00-23.55. We will proceed to the iGA Lounge, where we will have a comfortable stay before our connecting flight.
Day 2: Flight Istanbul-Tripoli
Flight Istanbul-Tripoli 07.45-10.30.
Border formalities, including passport and visa checks. Meet local representative at Tripoli airport. Continue to the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Sabratha. Excursion Tripoli-Sabratha (UNESCO)-Tripoli (70 km in direction, 2 hours in direction).
Sabratha is a vast ruined area in the north-western corner of Libya, on the Mediterranean coast about 70 kilometres west of Tripoli, east of Al-Zawiya. It was the site of a Phoenician trading port from about 500 BC.
Return to Tripoli. We stay overnight in Tripoli.
Excursions: to Sabratha with a local Sabratha guide.
Highlights: the Roman Sabratha Theatre
Meals: lunch, dinner.
Day 3: Tripoli-Qasr Al-Haj-Tormisa-Ghadames (550 km, +/-8 hours)
Excursions to Al-Haj, Tormisa and Ghadames
Highlights: old Berber castle
Meals: breakfast, lunch, dinner
We leave Tripoli and drive to the Berber heartland of Jabal Nafusa. The first stop on the journey is Qasr al-Haj, where we will visit and get to see the Berber architecture in the castle. Dan Cruickshank (a British art historian and BBC television presenter with a special interest in the history of architecture) selected this impressive 13th century fortress for his 80 Greatest Treasures of the World series. Later, we drive to the abandoned village of Tormisa, with its stunning cliff-top views. We continue to the UNESCO World Heritage site of Ghadames – also known as the “Pearl of the Sahara” – where (in the village of Ghadames) we stay for two nights.
Day 4: Ghadames (not much driving)
Excursions: the old town of Ghadames (UNESCO), guided by a local Ghadames guide.
Short 4×4 desert tour. Visit Ras al-Ghoul and see the sunset.
Highlights: the old town of Ghadames, lunch in a traditional house and the sand dunes of Grand Erg.
Meals: breakfast, lunch, dinner.
Ghadames is one of the oldest towns in pre-Saharan Africa and an excellent example of traditional settlement. Its domestic architecture is characterised by a vertical division of functions: a ground floor used for storing supplies; then another floor for the family, with projecting covered alleys creating an almost underground network of passageways; at the top, outdoor terraces reserved for women.
Through the ancient gate of Bab al-Burr, we explore today the labyrinthine streets and enclosed passageways of the old city of Ghadames, once inhabited by the Ghadames tribes. Bani Wazid and Bani Walid. We will see various small squares, an old mosque and a madrasa. We also see an old irrigation system here. Lunch is served in a richly decorated traditional house, sitting on the floor in the ancient way. We climb to the roof of the house to see where women, who are not allowed to walk the streets alone, use the roofs as a pathway.
We will also visit the Ghadames Museum, with historical and ethnographic exhibitions. Later in the afternoon, we board four-wheel-drive vehicles to visit Ras al-Ghoul (Summit of the Ghost), the remains of an ancient Roman fortress, before heading to the sand dunes of the
Grand Erg Oriental, which border the countries of Libya, Algeria and Tunisia. We watch the sunset.
We stay overnight in Ghadames.
Day 5: Ghadames – Kabow – Gharyan – Tripoli ( 550 km, +/- 8 hours)
Excursions: to Kabow and Gharyan, guided by a local gharyan guide.
Highlights: kabow qasr, Troglodyte House, Gharyan.
Meals: breakfast, lunch, dinner.
We leave Ghadames and head back to Tripoli. On the way we visit the second ancient fortress of Jabel Nafusa.
From Kabow we continue to Gharyan where we visit the troglodyte house and the pottery huts for which the city is famous.
We stay overnight in Tripoli.
Day 6: Tripoli-Leptis Magna-Tripoli (122 km in direction, 2,5 hours in direction)
Excursions: the Leptis Magna (UNESCO), local Leptis Magna guide.
Highlights: the Leptis Magna theatre, the amphitheatre, the baths, the Imperial Forum and the market.
Meals: breakfast, lunch (light), dinner.
Excursion: to the UNESCO World Heritage site of Leptis Magna, the largest and best preserved Roman city in the world. Leptis Magna or Lepcis Magna was an ancient city in North Africa in what is now Libya, about 130 km east of Tripoli. The city was founded by the Phoenicians around 1100 BC and belonged to Carthage until the Third Punic War in 146 BC. The city did not officially become part of the Roman Empire until the reign of Emperor Tiberius, when it became part of the province of Africa. Return to Tripoli. Overnight in Tripoli.
Day 7: Tripoli
Excursions: the old town of Tripoli.
Highlights: Gorgi Mosque, Arch of Marcus Aurelius and Karamanli house.
Meals: breakfast, lunch, dinner.
Full day sightseeing tour of Libya’s capital, known as the “White Bride of the Mediterranean”. The walled old city of Tripoli encloses arguably the most picturesque medina in all of North Africa. After lunch in an old town restaurant, we explore the bustling streets and alleys. Overnight in Tripoli.
Day 7: Tripoli-Istanbul airport, return home
Flight Tripoli-Istanbul, stopover and overnight in Istanbul.
Meals: breakfast.
Transfer to Tripoli airport (27 km, 30 minutes). Flight from Tripoli to Istanbul 12.30-16.50. Transfer to Turkish Airlines service counter for transfer to hotel. We stay overnight at the hotel.
Day 8: Flight Istanbul-Helsinki
Transfer from hotel to airport. Flight Istanbul-Helsinki 08.50-11.35.
