Backwall in the grave
I have heard about some old graves just outside Tripoli it is only a short taxi ride away - hence I find a taxi and we agree on a price - I think I get a fair deal but you will have to take into consideration I got no clue what the fair price is.
We drive along and it is a reasonable drive - and my taxi driver actually speaks a bit of English so we chat along the way. I tell him I am going to this small museum with some graves he is interested but have never heard about this place - but he ask me if he should wait for me at the museum. I tell him well I don't know how long I will be in there so maybe he should just drive back to Tripoli and I would get another taxi.
One of the walls in the grave
But he says no no it is no problem at all I just wait - this is when I get a feeling I probably paid way too much for my ride.
We drive along and find the museum it is pretty tiny and there is a group of 3-4 men hanging around outside - I doubt they are all working there hence most of them are just passing time not working. Well one of them comes up and tells me in broken English sure I can get in there is only the small thing about the a photo fee of 5 dinars I will have to pay but I can do that when I am done visiting the museum - that's fine by me and I go in with the English speaking man who may or may not be an attendant at the museum. They clearly don't get many visitors at this place and I got a personal guide to take me around. He shows me the basement level with the main grave at the sight he turns on the light so we can actually se something and tells me a bit about it - like it used to belong to a rich man and then we go to a poor mans grave down in the basement.
After this we head upstairs and take a quick look at the exhibition up there - it is not the most spectacular thing I have seen but this is a small museum so what can you expect. We head out to the garden where there is several other graves belonging to poor people he tells a bit about them and then I say thank you for him being my guide and letting me see the museum. I reach for my wallet and try to find a 5 dinar bill (about 4$) but he says no go go go. Ok I give him my hand and say good bye and thanks - great to be giving a free tour of a museum not that often I get this kind of treatment at home - then again if I visit more local museums in Denmark maybe but I doubt it.
Just a short trip outside Tripoli is a tiny museum. It only got on main room at the top with some exhibits found on the premises. The exhibit in the building is not all that interesting. The main thing about the museum is the old Punic graves which are found on the premises.
A couple of the graves are just under the main building. One of them belonged to a rich man who were buried hear in a richly decorated grave with some fabulous frescoes on the walls and on the sealing. The grave is pretty small there wont be enough room even for a small person to stand up and it is about 2 meters long. Hence don't come expecting anything like a Egyptian Faros grave.
But it is a nice little grave to go visit for a trip out from central Tripoli easy to get to by taxi.
The wall
The wall
The wall
The wall
The roof of the grave
