After leaving Qasr Libia we traveled towards the Ancient Greek and Roman site at Susa or Appolonia on the coast, stopping briefly to buy cigarettes from a typical cigarette kiosk.  Cigarettes are very cheap in Libya at about one British pound per pack of twenty. Then we continued on to Al Bayda where, in the afternoon, we bought bananas from a stall near the famous Bayda Mosque.  Al Bayda is in eastern Libya and is about 1250 km from Tripoli the capital of Libya. It is noticeable that although Libya is in Africa, home of the banana, these, like most bananas sold here, have been imported from Ecuador. Maybe this was a food for oil program established to combat shortages during the period of sanctions against Libya.

In the evening  after visiting Appolonia we returned to Bayda and tried a local delicacy of roasted goat's head, roast chicken, falafel, fried chicken livers, harrisa, (chili sauce), Arab flat bread and other North African food. After dinner we walked around the main street and I bought some lovely sweet backlava made from honey, rosewater, flaky filo pastry, crushed sesame seeds and pistachio nuts. We slept in a local youth hostel in Shahat, the village nearest to the Roman ruins. The hostel was clean and spacious with plenty of hot running water. The three of us shared a dormitory for ten. Our plan was to visit The Temple of Zeus on the way to Cyrene the following morning.