tripoli souk

ethan byblos sunset

Today Ethan and I went up to Tripoli, which is about an hour and a half up the coast from here. We took a bus, and as soon as we arrived, headed to the souk to wander around. Lebanon doesn’t have many of the traditional Middle Eastern markets left, and Tripoli’s is the best of these. Here you can buy most things you would need: clothing, jewelry, fish and meat, fresh produce, sweets, spices, household goods, furniture, etc. We bought a bunch of soap and walked around trying not to feel claustrophobic. Everything is really in your face- cow carcasses and organs swinging from hooks, cages of live chickens next to their recently expired friends, kids selling peaches, huge bags of spices and tea nearly overflowing, the smells of all of this mixing.

After this, we headed to Byblos and had a late lunch. The original idea was to maybe go for a swim, but by the time we were finished, the sun was starting to go down, so we just walked around the port area and watched the area be readied for the Byblos Festival event of the evening- Supertramp’s Roger Hodgson was to play for the second night in a row. All of the summer festivals really suffered this year and several acts cancelled (including Franz Ferdinand, sigh). Ethan tried to sing Supertramp songs, but they kept turning out to be REO Speedwagon. It seemed that a lot of the festival goers were just coming out because it was the thing to do, not because they were into the particular performer. Some people seemed awfully overdressed to see an outdoor concert given by a faded rock star.

Eventually we walked back to the highway to catch a minibus to head home. We played Scrabble on the balcony (I won) and enjoyed the evening air.