Lebanon

Lebanon is a fascinating blend of people, religions and history. With sites dating back before 3000 b.c. 18 recognised religions and a geography where you could be swimming in the Mediterranean in the morning, yet with a 1 hour drive be putting on your boots for some skiing in the afternoon.

Lebanon derives its name from Labneh which in Arabic means yoghurt. Travellers approaching from the dry and arid east would be stunned by spectacular views of snow covered mountains and snow would most likely be something beyond their experience or comprehension so it must have appeared that the mountains were indeed covered in yoghurt. They must have scratched their heads pondering the population of goats and sheep and labneh manufacturers. In our time there we encountered glorious sunny days, some rain, snow, hail and quite a lot of yoghurt.

The country has a population of about 4 million but there are, depending on who you ask, between 12 and 15 million Lebanese living abroad. Brazil interestingly has the largest expatriot Lebanese population of about 8 million. Millions of Lebanese left during the civil war and years of occupation between 1975 and 2000 and many young people continue to leave today for work overseas where they can earn so much more. Tourism, banking and agriculture are the biggest economies in Lebanon.

 Beirut is the capital and is a city of contrasts, where shelled and bullet ridden buildings sit among new flashy high-rise,  brand new Audis and BMW's vie for space on congested roads with 40 year old Mercedes, Peugeots and V.W's. Elegant Ottoman and European style buildings in the central suburbs soon lead to shabby and roughly built apartment blocks.
The predominantly Algerian populated suburb of Bourj Hammoud is a bustling bargain hunters shopping area with very reasonable prices for jewellery, leather, shoes and clothes. Nearby Gemmayzeh is very trendy with bars, cafes, restaurants, boutique shops and nightclubs and has many amazing deco styled buildings from the 1940's. Hamra ( where we stayed ) is again trendy with cafes, restaurants and all the latest fashion stores from around the world. It is the student area housing the American University on Bliss Street.

The Beirut Central District ( or Downtown as it is known ) was reputed as being the Paris of the Middle East. In the 1980's it was the centre of the war zone and in the late 90's became the focus of one of the world's most ambitious rebuilding programs. Today it is spotlessly clean and relatively traffic free. The Ottoman and French styled buildings have been lovingly restored and it is here you will find the Al-Omari Mosque, originally built as the Church of John the Baptist in the 12^th century and converted to a mosque on 1291, St Georges Cathedral a Maronite church dating back to the Crusades and the very impressive National Museum. Discovered during reconstruction of Downtown and since restored are the Roman baths and the Cardo Maximus a Roman era market area. A great area for walking with so much too explore and see.
 We used Nakheel Tours for our daily sightseeing trips and they are to be highly recommended. The guides are very knowledgeable, helpful and friendly. We travelled in newish small buses and it was good to meet so many different people from so many countries. A large banquet Lebanese mezze lunch was included each day and was a truly magnificent feast. So much so we seldom felt the need to have dinner that night, usually a bit of a walk out to a cafe or bar for light liquid refreshment and a small snack was easily enough. So with free breakfast at the hotels each morning and free lunch we hardly spent much on food during our trip.

We had organised 4 days of sightseeing for our trip and this is probably enough time to visit most of the important places of interest. In retrospect we would have changed our Day1 itinerary and skipped Beitaddine Palace and Deir al-Qamar and arranged a visit to Sidon and Tyre in the south instead, which we've heard from friends as being well worth it.
Day1 started with the Jeita Grotto, 18kms from Beirut, is a labyrinth of caves with magnificent stalagtite and stalagmite formations and definitely worth visitng. Unfortunately the lower cave, which can include a boat ride was closed due to flooding, common at this time of year. Photography is forbidden, probably so you have to buy postcards at the little shop at the entrance. Pity really as there wasn't much in the way of postcards for sale at the shop anyway. The caves go some 7km into and under the hillside and although we were limited to less than 1 km they are very impressive.
Next we continued to Beiteddine Palace. Built over 30 years from 1788 it is an interesting blend of Arab and Italian architecture. Of particular interest are the Hammam or baths with stunning feature inlaid multi piece glass ceilings. Nearby Deir al-Qamar is a picturesque hillside town with traditional Lebanese houses and the oldest mosque in the country. We had lunch here at a neat little restaurant in the main square and it was possibly the best we had. 

Day2 and not far from Beirut is Byblos ( also known as Jbail ). Excavations have shown that Byblos was probably inhabited around 7000 years ago. In the 3^rd millenium BC it was the most important Phoenecian trading port on the eastern Mediterranean, trading in cedar wood and oil in exchange for gold, alabaster, papyrus and linen. The Phoenecians are credited as being the inventors of the alphabet. The Greeks ruled from 333 BC followed by the Romans in 64 BC. In 1104 AD the city fell to the Crusaders. The Crusader castle today is the most prominent building still standing and fantastic views can be had from the top ramparts over the whole site and across to the original port. It was fascinating to see where original Roman columns had been laid in rows to help form the foundations for the castle. There are still many Roman ruins to be seen, in particular the amphitheatre as well as part of the Colonnade, columns and royal tombs that housed sarcophagi, some of which still remain. Many of the best exhibits including amazing gold covered figurines can be seen in the Beirut National Museum. Byblos as well as the museum are well definitely worth a visit.

 On the way back to Beirut we caught a very steep cable car to a hilltop 600 metres above sea level where a large statue of the Virgin Mary ( Our Lady of Harissa ) dominates the skyline. Great views up and down the coastline can be taken in here. It was at the top that the skies opened up and from the shelter of a small cafe we drank tea and coffee while large hail stones pelted down around us.
That evening we decided to walk down to the Pigeon Rocks at one end of the Corniche to watch the sunset. There was a fair swell rolling in and it didn't surprise us one bit that a bunch of lads in a small boat were hooning around the rocks and speeding through the cave.
Walking back into Hamra we found a very pleasant bar that was serving one of Beirut's newest boutique beers - 961 Red Ale, brewed not far away in Gemmayzeh. They were advertising  Happy Hour and this seemed to be an offer too difficult to refuse. After a few very delicious 961's we departed feeling rather happy indeed.

Next day after a good breakfast we headed off by bus to Baalbek in the Bekka Valley and home area of the Hisbollah. Baalbek was named after the Phoenician god Baal. The greeks called it Heliopolis ( City of the Sun ), the Romans made it a worship site for Jupiter and the remains of the Roman City are pretty impressive and are one of the more spectacular archaeological sites in the Middle East, comparable to Jerash in Jordan and listed as a World Heritage site. The Temple of Bacchus ( also known as the Small Temple ), completed around 150AD, is amazingly well preserved and is most definitely not small...it's huge. With snow covered mountains off in the near distance this is a particularly beautiful spot.
On the way back to Beirut we stopped at the Ksara winery, Lebanon's largest winery. Behind the front main building are a series of natural caves, apparently discovered by the local monks who's chickens were being killed by a fox. One day by pursuing the fox the caves were discovered and they proved to be perfect for making and storing wine. We sampled a few of the wines - they were ok but we thought not really up to NZ or Australian quality.
Nearby is Anjar, built in the symmetrical Roman style by the Islamic Umayyads. In the city's heyday  shops ( 600 have been uncovered ), palaces , baths and mosques lined the two 20 metre wide main intersecting avenues, the Cardo Maximus and Decumanus Maximus.

Having done all the historical sites day 4 of sightseeing was up to the mountainous area known as Cedars. On the way we stopped in a beautiful village where Khalil Gibran lived. We has a look around a small museum dedicated to him.
The cedar forests in Lebanon were famous 1000's of years ago and it was a major trading commodity. The Lebanese will tell you that their cedar is the best quality. Nowadays unfortunately there are only small pockets of them left.
It was a beautiful blue sky sunny day and to be up in the snowline admiring these old, large and snow covered trees was delightful. Many on the bus had never been in snow before and the kids had a great time playing, jumping, rolling in the snow and throwing snowballs at each other and their parents.






Our first 4 nights were spent at the popular Mayflower Hotel in Hamra, which was pleasant enough, although the wireless internet was limited and usually required standing on one leg in one or two certain parts of the room with your tongue in just the right position. The last 2 nights we stayed at  the more upmarket and a little more expensive Hotel Cavalier where we were given an upgrade to a Superior suite which was just fantastic. There was a really pleasant little bar across the street which was playing some fantastic Middle Eastern crossover music. The owner was a real music nut and we spent some time chatting with him over a few beers and leaving with a list of recommended artists.
We really enjoyed our brief holiday in Lebanon and really ought to have stayed a few more days to allow a bit more time in Beirut which is a fascinating, vibrant and bustling city.

On the downside, like in many Middle Eastern countries there is a large rubbish problem. People just toss their rubbish willy nilly and too many of what could be truly beautiful and pristine places are somewhat ruined by littering.  However Beirut itself was surprisingly pretty clean, well the city centre areas anyway. Parts of the country are deemed to be dangerous, especially the Syrian and Israeli border areas. Just after we got home we heard of shooting on the Syrian Border and a cameraman was shot and killed.
On the plus side there is just so much to see and do and the food is just so delicious. The Lebanese ( particularly in Beirut ) are modern, liberal and progressive thinking and are very friendly and helpful. Nakheel our tour provider are to be highly recommended and their in tour guides are wonderful . We found that their prices which you could organise from your hotel are a lot cheaper than if you book ahead before you go. Big thanks to our tour guides Rania, Eliya and Natasha, your immense knowledge and enthusiasm was much appreciated.
 The unique blend of peoples, religion, politics, geography and history make for a holiday destination where you come away feeling like you have been somewhere quite special and very different indeed.

Photos from left to right are:
Pigeon Rocks, Beirut;  Shell and bullet ridden building, Beirut;  Beirut buildings, Downtown.
Interior Beitaddine Palace;  Phoenician Alphabet;  Phoenician figurines from Byblos
Byblos -   Roman amphitheatre;  Roman columns used in Crusader Castle foundations;  Columns and Lintel;  Cable car to summit
Bacchus Temple in Baalbek;  Lions head in Baalbek;  Picturesque village of Khalil Gibran; Cedars in the snow
Al-Omari Mosque and Buildings at sunset in Gemmayzeh;  Elusive snow kiwi;  Individual prayer spaces on Al-Omari Mosque carpet