Tripoli Full Day

Private Tour

Overview: On our way to Tripoli we take a small stretch break at the Mseilha Fortress. This Fortress was built and used to serve as a soldier’s base to defend the trade route between Tripoli and Beirut in the mid 1750’s when bandits frequently attacked the caravan serails.

We then arrive to Tripoli to see the Oscar Niemeyer fair which was started before the civil war and left incomplete. The Fair was an ambitious project to showcase and attempt revive Tripoli’s vast talent which began fading in the last century. Tripoli was once known as the “cultural capital” of Lebanon; in stark contrast the city today is often referred to as “the mother of the poor”.

Next we visit the original first branch of the famous sweets shop called Hallab. Since its establishment in 1881, Hallab has become synonymous with the highest quality traditional Lebanese sweets. We will then taste a mix of dry sweets and ashta (cream)-filled Tripoli specialties… a taste to remember.

We then begin with the visit to the old city of Tripoli; entering through the old marketplace we find a series of gold shops, followed by the al-abed turkish bath. We then stop briefly at the famous Khan al-saboun where soap used to be produced and sold by traders. Next we pass by various shops that sell clothes and a large and busy vegetable and meat market where most of the city on a limited budget buys their everyday groceries. We then visit the Saint Gilles crusader castle which was built by French crusaders in 1102.

On the last part of our day we visit the discontinued and destroyed train station of Tripoli with a few German steam engines still left abandoned. Tripoli used to be the terminus station of the famous Orient Express which connected 3 continents. Europe, Asia, and North. When the railway was operating before the civil war in Lebanon, Tripoli’s unique location on the most important commercial train route gave the city immense wealth.