Tripoli: Mosque
El Kabir, the old souk, the fortress, palm islands
and the railway
station
Tripoli is the second largest city in Lebanon, lying
88 km north of the capital. It is the administrative
centre for the whole of North Lebanon.
In the days of the Phoenicians, one thousand years
before Christ, it extended only over the small headland,
4.2 km long by 2.5 km wide, known today as El Mina,
or The Port. It is protected by the sea and on the
east side by a wall running the length of the neck
of land, making the place impregnable. The ancient
Greeks called it Tripolis (the Three Cities), because
of the walled trading depots belonging to the three
associated cities of Tyre, Sidon (Saida) and Rouad.
It was a commercial centre no less important than
any of the other Levantine trading posts. Conquered
just as they were first by the Assyrians in 980
B.C., then by the Greeks under Alexander in 332
B.C., and after them by the Romans under Pompey
in 66 B.C., it was for one thousand years a very
animated town, highly urbanised with its paved streets
bordered by colonnades, its theatre, its schools,
its famous library containing 100,000 works, and
its temples. Then came the Arab conquest in 705
A.D. and like the other cities of the East Mediterranean
coast, for four hundred years it slumbered.
In 1099 the Francs arrived under the leadership
of Count Saint-Gilles of Toulouse and the city came
to life again for a period of 180 years. Seized
yet again, by the Mamlouks (1289-1516) and then
by the Ottomans (1516-1919), its fortifications
were demolished and it became no more than a small
coastal harbour. The Tower of the Lions, an enormous
cube 28 by 21 metres two storeys high with a parapet,
is the only defensive work left from the time of
the Mamlouks.
However, in the year 1100 Count Saint-Gilles of
Toulouse put up a fortress 3 km to the east, on
a hill bordering the river Abu Ali. It was around
this "Sanjil" Castle that a new town grew
up, the present-day Tripoli, which will be seen
to be no more 900 years old. Conquered by the Mamlouks
under Sultan Qalaoun in 1289 and then by the Ottomans
under Selim 1st in 1516, it presents wide modern
streets and by way of contrast busy bazaars, or
"souqs", with spinning mills, foundries,
soap-works textile factories, pastry shops and jewellers'.
Old Tripoli preserves its old oriental charm with
its narrow streets, souqs and alleys and with its
friendly people! Tripoli is particularly well known
for its Arab pastries. No trip into town would be
complete without a visit to one of the welcoming
vendors of confectionary. The ruins of Sanjil Castle
still rise impressively despite its checkered history
of demolition and reconstruction by different conquerors,
notable among whom was the Mamlouk Prince Kurdji,
who carried out extensive restorations in 1307.
On the western side of the hill, the Francs built
a romanesque church named Saint Mary of the Tower,
destined to become after some alteration the Great
Mosque. Near this stands the Koranic school, the
Madrassa Qartauviy. More to the north is the Es-Saboun
(soap) Market, Khan El Kayyatin (the Tailors), and
a maze of narrow streets, bazaars rich in oriental
colour and perfumes of eastern spices. Between the
two cities we have described there stretches an
immense orange grove, 3 km long, whose praises have
been declaimed in verse.
Palm
Tree Island or Rabbit Island
Few countries
are so favored as Lebanon by their climate. From
the seashore up to the snow-covered peaks, the Creator
made of it a Garden of Eden, a garden of Eden Adonis.
Several nature reserves have been set up to protect
the richly varied fauna and flora. There are some
twenty of them, of which only eight are government-controlled,
by the ministries of Tourism, Environment or the
Interior or by the town councils or official associations.
The reserve on Palm Tree Island was created by Decree
nº 121 of 9th March 1992, under the control
of a commission attached to the Ministry of the
Environment.
After
leaving Beirut and going 80km north along the highway
to Tripoli, one turns left and in less than five
minutes one reaches the sea-front parade where one
may park one’s vehicle. From there (or from any
coastal port, Beirut, Byblos or Batroun) one may
take a boat and after thirty-five minutes’ sailing
one lands at Palm Tree Island, 5.5 km from Tripoli.
It is
part of a small archipelago, of which the three
main islands are Palm Tree, covering five hundred
hectares and rising five meters above sea level,
and Ramkine and Sanani, both much smaller.
These
are the only islands along the Lebanese coast. Here
there are a restaurant, chairs, tables, sunshades,
toilet facilities, an information office, and all
that a visitor needs.
The best
time to visit is between June and October, or at
any other time provided that one has the necessary
permit. Visitors may pass their time from morning
till evening, without any entrance fee to pay. One
is advised to take drinking water and to wear country
clothes suitable for walking, protection against
the sun in the form of tinted glasses, cream and
a hat, and one may swim if one wants to. A camera
or telescope may come in handy. Running through
the isle, a passage has been cleared some 260 meters
long, which allows the visitor to observe the plants
and wildlife. There are the remains of an ancient
church from the time of the Crusades, with salt
pans that have been restored recently, and a well
with drinking water also dating back to the Crusaders.
One
should respect the rules and signposts warning against
causing pollution. A tower for bird-watching has
been put up on Ramkine, while fossils may be found
in the rocks at Sanini. One may observe migratory
birds as well as those that make their nests here,
such as the gray heron, the rare locally surviving
whitetail (Rotatilia alba), the ruff (Philomarcus),
the pipistrelle, green turtles, lizards and various
kinds of bats, snakes and butterflies. The plants
are no less varied and abundant.
- Mosque El
Kabir: >> View
Movie << (2002-04-01)
- The old souk: >> View
Movie << (2002-04-01)
- The fortress: >> View
Movie << (2001-04-01)
- Palm Islands, Nature reserves: >> View
Movie << (2008-07-01)
- The Railway
station 1: >> View
Movie << (2010-05-15)
- The Railway station 2: >> View
Movie << (2010-05-15)
