It was immediately after the Suez affair and the British Army had a tank regiment stationed in the country. I remember some of the day well and indeed, my time in Libya generally. I learned to swim there, taking an unofficial day off school to work out on my own what I needed to do. The reason was that the regiment had arranged a day out for the families at a place called Tolmeta Beach on the nearby Mediterranean and I was determined I was going to enjoy it to the full. Miles of glorious white sand stretched out on either side and not one local in sight. To this day I believe that Libya is a country with a great tourist future if they would open the country up to the west.
I visted the site of Leptis Magna with the Homs British Children's School. There was nobody else there, the site having virtually no visitors in those days. As we walked through the ruins, the children were disturbing Roman coins, lying in the dust.
Our visit was recorded in a little book, published by the Headmaster, a Mr F. Hugo and I've put some of the relavent pages, including a map of the site, on the web. To view, click on:-
https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0BzpS-FxkGEYtYmQzZDE3ZDgtYWQ0My00MzVlLWFmMzUtMjJmOTg1Nzk2YjQ5&hl=en
No comments:
Post a Comment