"Tripoli" a Tripoli Travel Page by sachara

Tripoli or Trablous is the second largest city of Lebanon.
Tripoli has two main parts: the Old City with many medieval monuments like souqs, mosques and a huge Crusader castle and the port area Al-Mina with a lovely Corniche and good streetfood.

Some of the oldest evidence of human existance in Libanon has been found an the outskirts of the present city of Tripoli at a place called Bahsas, where they found stone tools dating back tens of thousands of years.

The original Phoenician city, founded around 800 BC, was situated in the area of Al-Minia, but nothing remains.
The Greek named the city Tripolis as capital of Phoenician federation ( Byblos, Sidon and Aradus).
A huge earthquake in 543 AD destroyed most of the town.
In 635 AD the city was captured by the Umayyads and in 1109 AD by the Crusaders.
In 1289 the Mameluke sultan took the city, but made territorial concessions to the Muslims, who built a town at the banks of the river near the castle, the present Old City.
The picture gives the view from the castle at the old city and the modern areas, spreading out from the old town.