Wednesday, October 30: Central Beirut, Deir el Qamar, Beit ed-Dine, and Zahle
We began the day with a visit to central Beirut.
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| The view from our hotel |
Central Beirut turns out to be much more modern and pleasant than I (or probably anyone) expected. However, if you considered that the center of the city was pretty much destroyed in the 1990's, the modern (and reconstructed buildings make sense).
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| Site of the old souk, which is now a modern shopping area |
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| Shopping at the old souk |
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| Some French Colonial architecture |
We tried to visit the Roman ruins and the Parliament building, but the police had the area blocked off due to the protests.
Oddly enough, they did block off the area where the protests were taking place. Since it was 10:00 AM, and all of the protesters had gone for the night, we were free to walk around
Martyrs Square, the center of the protests.
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| Martyrs Square |
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| Another view of Martyrs Square |
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| Power to the People! |
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| Like I said.... |
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| A leaflet passed around at the demonstrations |
After leaving Martyrs Square, we drove around central Beirut and saw a few buildings that had been damaged during the Lebanese civil war, and kept in their damaged state.
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| The Egg, a theater that was never completed due to the war |
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| A destroyed building |
On a brighter note, we headed next to the
National Museum of Beirut, one of the best museums I have ever visited.
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| Exterior of the museum |
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| Interior of the museum |
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| Stele of Rameses II, from the 13th century BC |
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| Skeleton of a woman from 15,900 BC |
From the museum we headed for some other towns east of Beirut.
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| On the streets of Beirut |
Our first stop was the town of
Deir el Qamar.
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| Fakhreddine Mosque, built by Fakhr-ad-Din in 1493 |
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| Maronite Church of Our Lady of the Hill, dating from the 1500s |
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| Inside the church |
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| A copy of the New Testament in Arabic |
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| Town center of Deir el Qamar |
Our next stop was
Beit ed Dine. a town whose main attraction is the
Beiteddine Palace, which was built in the late 1700's. Some shots from the exterior and interior of the palace are below.
From there, we went to the city of Zahle, where we spent the night.
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| The bridge is part of the highway from Beirut to Damascus |
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| More political signage, this time involving Putin |
In Zahle, we stayed at the Grand Kadri Hotel, which served as French military headquarters during World War I. Very elegant (but empty) hotel.
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| Entrance of Grand Kadri Hotel |
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| In the lobby |
Thursday, October 31: Zahle, Anjar, and Balbaak
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| View from my hotel window |
On our way to Anjar, we passed several Syrian refugee camps. Since these are of more recent vintage than the Palestinian camps, they are more like tent cities. Several of them were on farms, with the tents being near the main house.
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| Syrian refugees working on a farm |
Our first stop was in
Anjar, where there are numerous ruins from the 9th century. Anjar is about 10 miles from the Syrian border, but we were not attacked.
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| Our "group" and guide in Anjar |
From Anjar, we returned to Zahle, and visited a winery there.
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| Zahle |
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| Caves in the winery |
From the winery, we headed towards Baalbek.
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| About $6.30 for a Big Mac and a cheeseburger |
The ruins at
Baalbek include Greek and Roman temples, and are some of the most impressive in the world.
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| Entrance to the Baalbek site |
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| Great Court of the Temple Complex |
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| Temple of Bacchus |
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| Museum at Baalbek |
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| Hezbollah t-shirts at a stall in Baalbek. I didn't buy any. |
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| Local children playing at Baalbek |
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| More local transportation |
Next to the Baalbek ruins is
The Great Mosque, one of the tackiest mosques I've ever seen.
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| Exterior of the mosque |
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| Interior of the mosque |
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| Ceiling and lighting in the mosque |
From the mosque we went to a local restaurant for an excellent lunch.
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| I opted against the raw liver |
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| The bread is a lot bigger than what you get at Lebanese restaurants in the US |
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| The whole shebang |
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| More military presence outside Baalbek |
From Baalbek, we drove through some fantastic mountain scenery to the town of Hasroun.
When we arrived in Hasroun, we drove to the hotel we were supposed to stay at only to find out that it was closed for the season! After making a couple of calls, our guide had the driver take us to the Valley View Hotel. I don't think they were expecting anyone--we were the only guests in the hotel and the kitchen was closed. To top it off, when we got to our rooms, we found out that the heating had been turned off. Fortunately, they were able to turn the heat on, and the owner of the hotel drove me to town (in a Jaguar SUV) to pick up something to eat.
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| The Valley View Hotel |
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| My (temporarily) chilly room |
Friday, November 1: Mountain Towns and on to Byblos
Today we drove through several mountain towns (and spectacular scenery), and eventually to the city of Byblos, on the Mediterranean
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| View from my room at the Valley View Hotel |
First we headed to the town of Bsharri to visit the
Khalil Gibran museum.
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| Bsharri |
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| Another view of Bsharri |
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| The Gibran Museum, located in an old monastery |
They wouldn't let us take pictures in the museum, so below are couple that I stole from the internet.
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| Recreation of Gibran's bedroom |
From Bsharri, we drove to the
Cedars of God, one of the last remaining stands of cedars in Lebanon.
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| Obligatory cat picture, taken at the cedar grove |
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| A souvenir vendor at the Cedars of God |
We then drove to the
Monastery of Qozhaya, built into the mountains, dating from about 1000 AD.
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| Some mountain scenery on the way to the monastery |
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| Main building of the Monastery of Qozhaya |
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| Part of the monastery built into the mountain |
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| A cave at the monastery with artifacts |
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| A church built in to the rocks at the monastery |
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| Another building at the monastery |
From the monastery, we drove to
Byblos (also known as Jbeil), on the coast. Byblos is the oldest continuously occupied city on earth, believed to have been first occupied between 8800 and 7000 BC.
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| The harbor at Byblos |
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| My hotel room overlooked the Mediterranean |
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| The shoreline near the hotel |
After arriving, I took a walk around the center of town and had an excellent Lebanese meal at Feniqia, followed by some photography of local sites in the dark.
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| The souk (marketplace) in Byblos |
