Tripoli was crazy. I had no sense of direction. It felt really really crowded and it felt like we kept taking the wrong turns. We got to the old city eventually, only to find that we had been driving around it in circles the whole time! We parked and just as we walked into the old souk, a woman from a soap shop jumps out and tells us we need to see the soap factory and she will take us there.
So, we met Mr. Sharkass and bought a ton of olive oil soap from him. He is the 6th generation of soap maker and spent a lot of time showing us how famous he was by opening magazine after magazine. A lot of the soap in the Sidon Soap museum was made by him. Now the "Sharkass" name is lovingly stamped on the soap in my shower.
Tripoli is famous for its hammams, but with the maze and all, we had no idea where to go. So, Mrs. Sharkass called over a young boy in the street and he led us through winding alleys. We didn't stay long. It was scary! This is one of the paths we took to get there:
We were all so mesmerised by the souk spaces and thought we didn't get any pictures. But I just found some pictures of the Tripoli souk on my camera!
Next, we found our way out of the winding souks to the crusaders castle.
I was quite happy to leave Tripoli and head down the coast to Byblos, a much more familiar place to me, for a beach party. Ah, the beach. Only a month ago you looked so blue!
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