Are you looking for Khan al Saboun? Here are directions: Enter the souks, Tripoli’s ancient marketplace. Walk past the gold jewelry. Turn the corner. Get lost. Keep going. Pass through the archway. You’ve found it.
Each time I visit Khan al Saboun, a guild of artisan soap makers in the heart of the souks, I feel as if getting lost is a prerequisite for finding it. There are no signs here, no maps. If you’re not with someone who’s been here before, bring pita crumbs. Established in the 15th century, families here have been passing down the tradition of hand-making olive oil soap for hundreds of years. Gardenia, za’atar, jasmine, mint, lavender. The smells are incredible and the products are organic. But it’s not all-natural in a going back to the roots sort of way — it IS the roots.
These are the scents of my childhood, and they’re my roots, too. My mother and my father were both born and raised here in Tripoli, the second largest city in Lebanon. It’s my ancestral hometown.
With a population of about half a million people where over three quarters are Sunni Muslim, it’s ethnically and denominationally homogeneous, especially compared to the capital, Beirut. Especially compared to my personal hometown, Boston. But like Beirut, and like Boston, evidence of occupation by a variety of groups remain.
A Crusader fortress, the Citadel of Raymond de Saint-Gilles, or Qalaat Sanjil in Arabic, overlooks the city. In the early 14th century, the Mamluks took over from the Crusaders. They erected the Mansouri Great Mosque near the ruins of a Crusader church. The alternating black and white stonework details of the mosque are characteristic of this Mamluk period. The iconic Tripolitan clocktower standing tall in the Al-Tell square in the center of downtown is from the Ottoman Empire. The buildings in which people live range drastically in age and condition, as do the vehicles. The electrical wires are the most recent addition, and I have a hard time believing that they are all live.
