Ksara winery and the Umayyad town of Aanjar

This morning I got a shared taxi from Zahleh to the nearby winery of Ksara, Lebanon’s most famous. Set up in the 1860s by a pioneering Jesuit, the winery is also home to an underground set of natural caves stretching for 2kms that are ideal for storing the wine barrels. The winery produces 2.2 million bottles a year including 7 reds, 3 whites, 3 rosés and a desert wine. The annual summer harvest lasts about 8 weeks and takes place around July and August. After a short tour of the underground caves we were brought to the tasting room and sampled a white, a rosé, the desert wine and a couple of reds. The quality across the range was quite impressive though the reds would definitely get my nod.

Getting from Ksara to Aanjar was not straightforward, and after many misadventures and confused locals (the Armenian-dominated town of Aanjar is about 2km from the historical site but locals don’t seem to know about it, and my Arabic was insufficient to describe it) I finally arrived. The site of Aanjar is the only remaining Umayyad city in the Middle East and this walled town, discovered in the 1940s dates back to the first centuries of Islam. Inhabited for a mere 50 years the city is a historical snapshot of an important period of Lebanon’s history and the site’s constructs are mostly built with recycled Byzantine, Hellenistic and Roman stones. The tetrapylon is particularly impressive and there are some nice but faded mosaics as well as 2 palaces, a mosque and several beautiful archways. There was also an abundance of lizards and some beautiful butterflies fluttering around the site. Getting back to Zahleh was more straightforward thankfully, and another delicious dinner of barbecued sheep rewarded the day’s efforts.  Tomorrow back to Damascus and then on to Jordan for a short visit there.

- David

Temples of the Sun City and the culinary capital

It was time to visit Lebanon’s most celebrated site yesterday so after dropping my bags off in a hotel in Zahleh, Lebanon’s third city I continued on to Baalbek (a.k.a. Heliopolis), the “Sun City” of the ancient world. After Syria it was hard to imagine a country that could compete with its impressive history and monuments but Lebanon makes a very strong claim. The stunning site of Baalbek temples – which took about 120 years to build - is one of if not the most important Roman site in the whole Middle East and in its heyday far outshone anything even Rome could muster. It is considered by many to be one of the Worlds wonders and mystical powers are attributed to the stones of this temple. In short a visit to Lebanon is not complete until you have been to Baalbek.

The site lies in Hizbollah territory, a fact hard to miss given the preponderance of posters, logos and their famous yellow and green flags. However this is not a dangerous region and it is not here that they are militarily active; here it is more a question of regular politics – and there is no tension among the mixed Christian/Muslim population.

Baalbek dates back to the third millennium BC when the Phoenicians lived here and during its history housed sacred prostitutes and witnessed many bloody forms of worship. Here is a grisly quote from the ancient tablets of Ugarit in Syria about the sister and wife of Baal, the chief deity of Baalbek: “…waded up to the neck in human blood. Human heads lay at her feet, human hands flew over her like locusts. She tied the heads of her victims as ornaments on her back, their hands she tied upon her belt. When she was satisfied she washed her hands in streams of blood before turning to other things again”. Charming!

The ruins themselves are stunning and in such a good state that it’s not hard to imagine how the city must have looked in its heyday. Some of the largest stone structures in the world are used in the temples of Baalbek, some weighing over 1000 tonnes and how they were moved and positioned so accurately remains a mystery. The Jupiter temple and the temple of Bacchus are particularly impressive. Not far from the ruins is what must be the kitschest mosque in the world. Quite tasteful from the outside, inside everything sparkles and glitters and the effect is almost comic!

I returned to Zahleh and with a few people I had met shared some lovely mezze by the river in the restaurant area of this culinary capital of Lebanon and some delicious arak. Tomorrow I will visit Ksara winery, Lebanon’s most famous, for some wine tasting, and Aanjar, Lebanon’s only extensive Umayyad site.

- David

Hiking in Qadisha Valley

Yesterday’s hike in Qadisha was beautiful and some badly needed exercise for me too. The hike was supposed to be a level 6 hike (though in the end we were not able to complete the full hike due to a couple of slower walkers - not me, I swear!).


We left Beirut at about 8 in the morning and drove north along the coast for a while before turning inland and up into the mountains. After about an hour and a half we arrived at our starting point, at an altitude of about 900m. There are mountains of well over 3000m in this range but they were not the schedule for today’s trek. We hiked through various valleys and along some ridges, stopping off at a monastery that initiated the Middle East's first printing press and dates back about 1000 years (and where it is possible to overnight), a hermitage (where we had lunch) and a historic church.

The group was a mix of Lebanese and foreigners and the atmosphere was friendly and communal. In all we hiked for about five and half hours, nothing too strenuous for a serious hiker but a decent walk. As I said there are all kinds of options in these mountains and most importantly of all everything was well organised and run and our guide, Michel, really knows the mountains of Lebanon very well, and was the brains behind the Lebanon Mountain Trail, a project that developed trails together so you can now walk from north to south all the way across the country. We stopped off for ice-cream in a popular place on the way back and a couple of beers too. A thoroughly enjoyable day.

- David

Byblos and Jeita's grotto

Yesterday I headed north along the coast to the beautiful town of Byblos (a.k.a. Jbail, yes another town with 2 names!) I wandered around the quaint port area, a simple port that belies an impressive history. It was once the nerve-centre of the world’s trade, being on the main trade route between Mesopotamia and Arabia and the Mediterranean. Byblos once supplied its much coveted Cedar wood to the world’s ancient castles. After a walk through the beautifully restored market area, that now caters mostly to domestic tourists I headed to the site of the famous ruins of Byblos. My ruin-fatigue quickly vanished amongst the stunning ruins of Byblos that overlook the sea. A crusader castle also overlooks several temples including an obelisk temple, a church, a Roman theatre and some royal tombs.

The setting is peaceful, and the sounds of the sea soothing, and surprisingly there were very few tourists around. In one of two small but decent museums I got talking to the man working there and he offered me tea and we chatted about the similarities and differences in the history of Lebanon and Northern Ireland amongst other things. After a delicious mezze lunch in the market area, I headed back towards Beirut stopping in the famous caves of Jeita, a stunning series of caverns with some of the world’s most impressive stalactites and stalagmites. The caves stretch for about 6km. Despite the tacky toy train and an abundance of tourists, more than I have seen anywhere else in this country, the site cannot fail to impress with its sheer scale and natural beauty. Unfortunately photos are not allowed so I will try to find some pics elsewhere on the net and post a link later on.

Today is a rest day, but tomorrow I will join a hike to the Qadisha Valley in North Lebanon.

- David

PS OK so I found some decent pics here, though I accept no responsibility for the grammar found on this page!

South Lebanon

I got the bus South of Beirut into the Muslim-dominated part of the country to the town of Sidon (known as Saida by the locals). This charming town has a beautiful old town, much of which contains a very photogenic market, and the parts outside the market are equally photogenic. Selling everything from gold jewellery to colourful dusters the market is a friendly bustling place to wander for about an hour.

Then I headed down to the delightful 13th Century Crusader sea castle with columns built into the walls, joined to the mainland by an 80m fortified stone causeway. There were very nice views across the port, the old city and even the new city. After exploring the castle I wandered around the port for a while, which while certainly not pretty in a conventional sense was interesting enough and made for some nice pictures. I had some lunch in a pizzeria opposite the waterfront and then got the bus further south to Tyr (known as Sour by the locals).

Tyr is a Muslim-dominated port town that suffered heavily from the wars with Israel. Its history however dates back to the 3rd millennium BC and many of the ancient ruins remain – colonnaded roads, mosaics, a Roman bathhouse, a Crusader castle and a hippodrome. Perhaps it was ruin fatigue on my part but while the history of the site was very interesting I found it hard to get excited about the site itself. Perhaps I need an independent (non-ruin-fatigued) opinion on Tyr. That said the market area was quite nice though not as interesting or active as Saida’s. All the journey here and back you see posters of Hassan Nasrallah, the Hizbolah leader, a reminder that things in Lebanon are not always as normal as they seem.

Tomorrow I will visit Biblos, one of the most famous sites of the whole of Lebanon, second only to Baalbek.

- David

Beirut

I have to say I wasn’t expecting to like Beirut a lot. Everyone I met seemed to stress that it was a modern city, and given that I most of this was said in Damascus that seemed to be stating the obvious. After I arrived into my hotel I was sitting down with my friendly host and she was explaining where the sights were and then warned me to stay away from the area where Hizbollah have a large tent erected in the South of the city. It’s not in an area you would be likely to wander into by chance but it was good to know anyway.

Wandering around the downtown which comprises only new buildings alongside a minority of buildings that haven’t been rebuilt yet, so beside some lovely new sandstone buildings stands a building that’s roof is falling in, has had no windows for some time and has rusted and warped metal coming out of every façade. It’s quite a contrast but somehow seems to suit the city. The city also abounds in BMWs, Mercedes and flashy sports cars. It’s not a poor city by any stretch of the imagination, and after each bout of violence and turbulence it suffers, from civil wars that ripped the social structure of the country to shreds to crippling Israeli invasions it seems to have kept bouncing back. Most Lebanese speak French, English or both, alongside Arabic and have successfully played the (obviously lucrative) role of mediator and middleman between the West and the Middle East.

The infamous Green Line that divided Christian East Beirut from the predominantly Muslim and Druze West during the worst of the civil war where every faction was fighting every other and crossing from one side to the other was literally taking your life in your hands with snipers all around is no more. In its place is Martyrs Square the city’s heart, on the edge of which is the beautiful Al-Amin mosque, looking like a newer version of Istanbul’s blue mosque (where I heard the most beautiful call to prayer I have ever heard anywhere in the world), next to the lovely Maronite cathedra of St. George. Around the corner are more churches and mosques and even the remains of a synagogue.

The waterfront area known as the cornice in the West of the city is Beirut’s most popular evening strolling spot where many come also to watch and friends set up their sheesha (or argile) pipes and smoke as the world goes by. But for the lively Beirut night life East Beirut excels and there is a huge selection of cafes, restaurants and flashy bars that stay open till the very early hours. Prices are similar to most of Europe though so it won’t necessarily be a cheap night out. You have been warned!

Yesterday I visited some more of West Beirut including the American University, one of the best in the Middle East that teaches exclusively in English and attracts the cream of the academic crop from the region and far beyond. The campus is very pleasant with sea views, parks with plenty of benches, tennis courts, a football pitch and some very pretty girls! Afterwards I wandered around Hamra, a predominantly Muslim area nearby in West Beirut and the difference is striking – from dress to architecture to interactions between the people it’s like stepping into a different world. Beirut is most definitely a city of contrasts but that’s precisely what makes it interesting, alongside the frienly locals who are very easy to meet and hang out with and there is a real buzz and optimism about the city that makes it certainly worth a visit.

Tomorrow South Lebanon!

- David