Qasr Nalut

Although winter is well in advance in Europe, here seems late summer, our bus with the aircon running full blast saves us from the heat. It is actually crawling up hairpin bends up the slopes to Nalut.

Our local guide told us that it is worthwhile to stop in Nalut before we proceed to Ghadames and stretch our legs.

Worthwhile???See for yourself….

Qasr is arabic for “castle” but Qasr Nalut is not meant for defense but as “grainary storage”. Yes grains, oil and other agricultural stock, deposited inside cubicles closed by palm doors so important for the community`s survival that it needs protection.

Storage

Marami our guide explained to us that it works like a modern savings bank even for the owners own protection from excessive consumption and waste. The taxes collected in form of cereals and other goods are distributed to help the poor,, some are sold to finance the school and maintenance of the qasr itself. Old Mosque

Sabratha Between Sand and Sea

All roads lead to Rome! On this case is true, from across the seas to the sandy beach  of this part of Africa the Romans have left testimonies of its glorious past.

Sabratha “market of grains”, sort of irony it is the Italian archeologists who brought it out from the sands, to tell its almost forgotten history…well forgotten not yet.

Unearthed from among these Roman ruins to remind us that here was a flourishing city are temples, a well restored amphitheater, roman baths, mosaic floors of once ago luxurious villas,sculptures, vases and lots of objects characteristics of a Roman settlement.

Walking along these beautiful place brings us back in time. A glimpse…of what has been, an open window of the past that is well integrated of the present Sabratha.

Sahara Experience

Vast, majestic,mysterious, immensely wonderful…few very few words to describe this wonder of creations.

Never in my islander life from Philippines did i imagine i’d be able to visit…
experience and feel the spirit of the desert. Many films, documentaries and pictures seen before
has prepared me from the impact the Libyan Sahara has left me.

It made me gasp with its endless forms and colours, left me in awe of its silence … made me feel small of its immense pure beauty! I felt lucky just being there and share all this!

I left prints on it…only to see it gone shortly after the wind has shuffled and transfered the fine grains to create mounds and hills of innumerable forms and shape…reflecting how events of my life can be similar to its movements?