Apr 13, 2011 - Lebanon

Lebanon is a small country, about 200km from north to south, with Beirut halfway along the coast. This made unpacking in the capital for 5 days a wonderful and welcome option. Beirut is a fascinating city. Although the scars of the not too distant civil war remain apparent, the downtown and waterfront areas are being rebuilt. With its’ French architecture, beautiful Mediterranean location and backdrop of snowcapped mountains, it’s easy to understand why it has been dubbed the Paris of the east. Sadly though, machine gun toting soldiers and...

Dec 12, 2010 - LEBANON

(I have to tell you that my English has become "travelers english" which means that I may include British and Australian sayings and also you can imagine that I'm speaking in slow, broken sentences and probably also speaking a bit louder, as if that will help the other person understand. :) I arrived in Beirut about a week ago, and thankfully, the weather was still perfect. Beautiful, sunny, and warmer than Damascus. But yesterday and today we've had torential downpours and the temperature has dropped. Though the land certainly needs the...

Oct 23, 2010 - Lebanon

We collected a packed breakfast from the hotel at 5.45 a.m. and were on the road by 6 for the Lebanese border where we had been promised special arrangements and a swift passage through. Neither the Syrian side nor the Lebanese side was quick and the promised support on the Lebanese side did not materialise. We finally got to Baalbek, in the Bekaar valley, at 11.30. where we were met by the mayor and various people from the ministry of tourism, plenty of TV cameras and a rather fine ‘breakfast’. This consisted of a flat bread dough spread...

Feb 27, 2010 - Beirut

@@@@@@@ We arrived safely back at the Cavalier Hotel and the doorman took the car and parked it for us in a nearby lot. We were so happy to be back safe and sound from our first adventure renting a car outside of North America. There wasn’t a scratch on the car and we were in good shape too, despite our misadventure in the Qadisha Valley. It was Friday night in the Big City, but we were too tired to even think of taking in Beirut’s famous nightlife. A hot shower and more Winter Olympics on television suited us just fine. We headed around...

Feb 26, 2010 - Damour

@@@@@@@ The car rental company (Advanced Car Rentals) gave us a fabulous map of Lebanon and this came in very handy as we drove south of Beirut looking for the highway that would take us east into the Chouf Mountains and on to the valley where Beiteddine and Deir Al-Qamar are located. The coast of Lebanon reminds me a little of the west coast of Canada; it’s necessary to take the coastal highway and then turn eastward into the valleys that have been carved out by rivers descending to the Mediterranean. We had to drive south to the town of...

Feb 26, 2010 - Beiteddine

@@@@@@@ The following morning, we packed our bags, well rested from a full day lounging at the hotel and watching the Winter Olympics on the television. We had hired the car for five days and had one full day left, so we decided to drive into the Chouf Mountains south and east of Beirut to visit the magnificent palace complex of Beiteddine (House of Faith). The palace was the seat of the 18th century governor Emir Bashir and spills down the hills along one side of a picturesque valley, whose terraces are planted with poplars and flowering...

Feb 26, 2010 - Beyrouth

@@@@@@@ Believe it or not, it took me a few days to understand that the signs I was seeing, in large, bold letters BEYROUTH, was actually the French spelling for Beirut. I know that so many cities in the world have different spellings from those that English speakers use, but I didn’t catch on very quickly here. Of course, the signs in Arabic are different yet again, but I am completely illiterate in Arabic, so that doesn’t count. We had decided to drive south from Byblos and visit some interesting sites in the Chouf Mountains, south and...

Feb 26, 2010 - Deir Al-Qamar

@@@@@@@ Doubling back on the main highway, we returned to the tiny village of Deir Al-Qamar. We could barely see the road ahead of us, the mist was so heavy. I remember thinking that I was happy we had seen the views across the valley while we were visiting the Qadisha Valley, because on this day, everything was obscured. Deir Al-Qamar is reputed to be the prettiest village in all of Lebanon. From what we have seen, I would have to agree. It’s certainly not the best time of year to come; there were few leaves on the trees and the flowers...

Feb 25, 2010 - St. Charbel

@@@@@@@ We decided to stay a couple of nights at the Victory Byblos Hotel in order to recover from the exertion of hiking in the Qadisha Valley, but found that we weren’t as ‘wasted’ as we thought we would be. The manager of the hotel was extremely friendly, and he had plenty of time for us seeing that it was the off-season and there were few other guests. We told him about visiting the monasteries on our hike and he mentioned that there was a large monastery about a half-hour’s drive from Byblos, up in the mountains. The monastery was...

Feb 24, 2010 - Qadisha Valley

@@@@@@@ Our hotel didn’t have much to recommend itself, but there is little accommodation in the region this early in the spring, so we were happy that there was somewhere to stay. The owner was very friendly and ordered up a delicious Lebanese meal for us, which we ate in front of a roaring fire. It had been a long day of touring and driving unfamiliar, winding roads and we turned in early. It would have been lovely to stay longer by the fire but we couldn’t keep our eyes open. The next morning we spoke with the owner about our wish to...

Feb 23, 2010 - Tripoli

@@@@@@@ While there is evidence of human settlement into the distant past, by the 8th century BC, the small Phoenician village had grown with the arrival of traders from Sidon, Tyre, and Tartus (Syria). Each community settled within its own set of walls, thus giving the name Tripolis, three cities (Trablous in Arabic). A massive earthquake leveled the buildings in 543 AD and from then on, through history it was invaded and conquered by various ethnic groups. Five hundred years later, it became a centre of learning, with the school known as...

Feb 23, 2010 - Bcharré

@@@@@@@ From Tripoli, we turned inland and drove up through a steep valley, into the coastal mountains. We had enjoyed a full day of touring, but the town of Bcharré was our destination for the night and we wanted to get there before dark. We were entering the region widely regarded as the most beautiful in all of Lebanon, the Qadisha Valley. It’s a long, deep gorge that begins near Batroun in the west and ends just beyond Bcharré in the east. It has long been a place of escape and tranquility, and for many wanting to retreat from the...