Redemption. That's the word for today, and today was awesome.

Today we visited Leptis Magna, which was outstanding, one of the most amazing ancient sites I have ever visited. We started at the circus, which was the ancient chariot race track, Tarek our tour leader pointed out how to get down to the track and walk into the amphitheatre along the triumvural way, just as the victors would have done.

The amphitheatre, was the most impressive I've ever seen, and I've seen a lot of amphitheatres. It was so well preserved. We climbed up a hill not knowing what was coming and it just hit us, this massive hole in the ground with seats around the edges. After ogling the amphitheatre, I walked down to the circus track and walked along it for a while and then turned onto the road leading into the amphitheatre. I came out into the amphitheatre, which was blinding after going through the dark tunnel which led there. I walked through one of the tunnels, imagining what it would have been like for a gladiator to walk into, full of people screaming for your death and having never been in such a building before. Terrifying.

This amphitheatre, was one of the most bloody, violent places in the ancient world. In addition to gladiator matches and feeding Christians to the lions, this is where they brought all Africa's wild animals. As Leptis Magna is still in Africa, these animals had no time to get used to human contact and were the most wild they could be in captivity. They were pitted against, gladiators, Christians and even each other.

I climbed all the way to the top and explored its hidden passages, it was wonderful and all without a stupid guide shadowing my every step. It was also without thousands of other tourists. The entire site was deserted and it was surreal being in such a superb site, which would rival the Pyramids of Egypt, the Parthenon in Athens or even Rome itself and having it all to myself.

After the amphitheatre, which is situated a bit out of the ancient city, we visited the museum. It was small and poorly lit and I think all the good pieces have been moved to the Tripoli museum, but it was still interesting. Colonel Gadhafi dominated the atrium, in a giant victorious pose, you would have thought you were walking into the Gadhafi museum.

Unfortunately, Tarek was not feeling up to taking us around the ancient city and hired one of the local guides on site. Damn, my luck has run out for the day I thought. Thankfully, I am getting the hang of tuning people out or this guy would have really annoyed me. He spent half an hour telling us a load of generic rubbish, just standing at the Arch of Septimus Severus. He also had pictures to point at, that's my pet hate. Its right there! Why the hell would I want to look at pictures!

The arch of Septimus Severus, was very impressive. Impressive, get used to that word, I'm going to be using it a lot in this entry. It was as big as the arch of Constantine in Rome and it was more intricately decorated.

We left the arch and walked down the main street, the groves for the wheels of the chariots were still visible, as were the drainage channels and manholes in the road. We headed for the theatre, where dramatic performances would have been held. Ultra-Impressive!

I walked all the way up to the top without looking back and it was a spectacular view from the top. The amazing stage and columns of the theatre, framed by the Mediterranean Sea. I sat at the back and just stared at it for the longest time, still not believing that me and the five people I'm travelling with were the only ones in there.

We walked down and up onto the stage and then visited the Forum, which was pretty ruined, in comparison with the rest of the site. We moved onto the senate, which was really impressive, it was a huge building, with columns around the inside and medusa heads everywhere. Part of it had been converted into a Basilica in the Byzantine period and this was also very impressive. In its heyday, it probably would have looked something like St. Peter's in Rome. I managed to get up into the pulpit for a picture.

Our next stop was the Gymnasium where sports were practised and then the Nympheum, where the locals stopped to get water. It would have been a giant fountain in ancient times. We went into the Hadrianic bath, which recognisably still had its open air swimming pool, latrines, fridgidarium (cold room), tepidarium (warm room) and Calidarim (hot room or sauna). We left the baths and ended up back at the Arch of Septimus Severus.

We were back too early and had to sit around in the coffee shop for an hour and a half, I realised it was because the dodgy guide hadn't given the group any free time to look around the site on their own. I had pretty much done this anyway, always keeping about twenty paces behind the group and just out of earshot. That strategy has worked well today.

After we finished waiting around, we headed for Tripoli, which didn't take long to get to. We checked into our hotel and then went out to have dinner. Tripoli is a lovely city, it is like Cairo, combined with Istanbul, with a little bit of Italy thrown in. I'm here for four days, and as the locals say, I think I'm going to really enjoy Tripolitania.