Up bright and early this morning for another full day. Tourism is the number 2 industry in Lebanon so they make it a full value day! I have had Lebanese lunch everyday :) We start with the Mezza (Lebanese appetizers) which consists of bread with hummus, babaganouche (sp?), moujjanat and different salads. For main courses we have had chicken, fish, shishkabob. I think it is funny now to watch people struggle with their eating utensils. I just pick the food up and dig in like a real Arab. (I think it may be difficult using all those utensils again).
Today we journyed to southern Lebanon. it's a little tricky because that is where the hezbollah stronghold is but we had a very pleasant day with no difficulties whatsoever.
Our first adventure was to the palace Beit Eddine. It is high in the mountains and I confess our driver made me feel a litttle anxious as he just zoomed around all those hairpin curves. I guess he is used to it and we are not.... The palace is beautiful! Some prince built it in the early 19th century and it is now used as the summer residence of the Lebanese president (sort of like Camp David I guess). The architecture was fabulous and the basement of this palace contains many beautiful mosaics. When you stand away from the mosaics you cannot see the individual tiles. As you get closer you see the teenie tiny tiles. Someone put a lot of time and effort into those projects! There was a rose garden and other nice lawns..all this on top of a mountain!
We then decended the mountain and drove to Tyre which is called Sour by the Arabs. On the way we passed the largest Palestinian refugee camp in the world. Looks like a terrible place. There were Hezbollah flags everywhere. We came to the ancient Roman ruins which were interesting. It was in the familiar Roman cross shape dividing the city into quarters. Apparently Alexander the Great had been there first in 300 BC and then the Romans came and made their own embellishments. The largest Hippodrome that the Romans ever built was made there. We then drove to Sidon and had a nice lunch right beside the sea.
Sidon has a wonderful Crusader castle. It was built on an old Roman site. It looks as if some Crusaders came, decided this was a good place, oh and there are some old Roman columns we can use to build a fort...and we have to make it so the men are protected. When you see the pictures of it on facebook you will see these round things on the walls. Those are the old Roman columns the Crusaders used to shore up the castle! It was a very pleasant day!
These last two cities I mentioned are in the Bible. When I go to Turkey I will see Ephesus and the Isle of Patmos. It ended up being a good thing I didn't get a visa to Syria. One American woman did. The Syrians stopped the tour group at the border and the Syrians pulled her off the bus and grilled her for half an hour. Then they had a police car follow the bus for the entire tour so they could report any unusual activity by that American! I think I will skip Damascus.....
Tripoli tomorrow (Tripoli, Lebanon...not Libya) then off to istanbul on Tuesday.
Love to all!
Christine
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Jeita, Byblos and Harissa
Today was a good day though we had a really big tour group! I met a lot of nice fellow travelers!
Our first stop was at the Jeota Grottos. You will need to lookthese up on Wikipedia because they would not let us take pictures. There was an upper cave that we had to reach by cable car and an underground cave that we did by boat. These caves were pretty spectacular! They were HUGE inside. I thought of a caveman apartment complex! There were lots of stalactites and stalagmites. The water was natural spring water and was so so clear! Even blue!
After the caves we went to Byblos. Now Byblos had a temple that was turned into a church that was turned into a Crusader castle. I think that was its last job. There are many crusader castles in the Middle East and I will get to see about four of them before I leave :) See the pictures on facebook!
We had a nice lunch of fish and traditional Lebanese food at a local eatery and then went to Harissa.
Harrisa is at the top of a very tall mountain (by Lebanese standards). The Virgin Mary is revered by both Christians and Muslims. While Muslims do not recognize Christ as the Messiah they do revere him as a very importent prophet.Many Lebanese make pilgrimages to Harissa. What struck me was Christians and Muslims were there together today. Everyone enjoying the moment and the view. So this is a beautiful statue of Mary high on the mountain.
Tomorrow Beittidine, Sidon and Tyre. Llooking forward to this as Sidon and Tyre are places mentioned in the new Testament. AND another Crusader castle!
Love to all!
Christine
Our first stop was at the Jeota Grottos. You will need to lookthese up on Wikipedia because they would not let us take pictures. There was an upper cave that we had to reach by cable car and an underground cave that we did by boat. These caves were pretty spectacular! They were HUGE inside. I thought of a caveman apartment complex! There were lots of stalactites and stalagmites. The water was natural spring water and was so so clear! Even blue!
After the caves we went to Byblos. Now Byblos had a temple that was turned into a church that was turned into a Crusader castle. I think that was its last job. There are many crusader castles in the Middle East and I will get to see about four of them before I leave :) See the pictures on facebook!
We had a nice lunch of fish and traditional Lebanese food at a local eatery and then went to Harissa.
Harrisa is at the top of a very tall mountain (by Lebanese standards). The Virgin Mary is revered by both Christians and Muslims. While Muslims do not recognize Christ as the Messiah they do revere him as a very importent prophet.Many Lebanese make pilgrimages to Harissa. What struck me was Christians and Muslims were there together today. Everyone enjoying the moment and the view. So this is a beautiful statue of Mary high on the mountain.
Tomorrow Beittidine, Sidon and Tyre. Llooking forward to this as Sidon and Tyre are places mentioned in the new Testament. AND another Crusader castle!
Love to all!
Christine
Friday, October 15, 2010
Baalbeck, Anjara and Ksara
Yesterday we went to these three places. Just a note...yes I am here alone but I don't feel alone. Everyday I meet fellow travelers and we band together and make friends. I will never see these people again but for that moment we enjoy each other's company! I have met many interesting people from many different countries. I am loveing that part of traveling!
We started our day at Anjar. This is a ancient archeological site discovered by accident. Because there was conflict going on in Lebanon at the time they could not get any professional archeologists to excavate it so it was excavated by students at the university. There are some obvious mistakes but it doesn't take away from the fact it is history and a great example of Roman ingenuity. They had drainage systems. They had Roman baths with cold, tepid and hot pools. There was a harem that even though we couldn't see the true beauty of it we could see from what was left how beautiful it must have been! The entire site was a square shape and in the center were walkways that went from east to west and from north to south. Each quarter had a different function from living quarters of the Caliph to the harem, the souks and so on. I keep wanting to touch these ruins hoping some dna from the past has been left that I can connect to. It is an amazing feeling!
From Anjara we went to Baalbeck. Here the Temple of Jupiter at Heliopolis along with the Temple of Venus and Temple of Bacchus were built be the Romans. The Temple of Venus has a very feminine feel to it. It was made in the shape of a horseshoe with tall columns and you can tell it was beautiful in its time. The Temple of Jupiter is HUGE!! I guess since he was king of the Roman gods he had to have the biggest! When you look at my pictures on facebook you can see what the temple in its entirety looked like. It is still very huge and I confess I had a bit of vertigo being so high and no railing to hold onto :( Got a little weak in the knees. The Temple of Bacchus is in a corner of the same grounds. Apparently after the rituals and sacrifices they enjoyed (quite a lot) of the fruit of the vine!
We went to the winery of Ksara. The intersting thing about this is the Romans found it and made a winery of it. That is how old it is! It is a labyrinth of caves and it goes very deep into the mountain. Apparently because of this it is an ideal temperature and climate for making and preserving wine.
I am taking today off from outside tours today to rest up for the next three days. Very busy days before I leave on Tuesday for Istanbul! I will go out and explore more of Beirut this afternoon.
Christine
We started our day at Anjar. This is a ancient archeological site discovered by accident. Because there was conflict going on in Lebanon at the time they could not get any professional archeologists to excavate it so it was excavated by students at the university. There are some obvious mistakes but it doesn't take away from the fact it is history and a great example of Roman ingenuity. They had drainage systems. They had Roman baths with cold, tepid and hot pools. There was a harem that even though we couldn't see the true beauty of it we could see from what was left how beautiful it must have been! The entire site was a square shape and in the center were walkways that went from east to west and from north to south. Each quarter had a different function from living quarters of the Caliph to the harem, the souks and so on. I keep wanting to touch these ruins hoping some dna from the past has been left that I can connect to. It is an amazing feeling!
From Anjara we went to Baalbeck. Here the Temple of Jupiter at Heliopolis along with the Temple of Venus and Temple of Bacchus were built be the Romans. The Temple of Venus has a very feminine feel to it. It was made in the shape of a horseshoe with tall columns and you can tell it was beautiful in its time. The Temple of Jupiter is HUGE!! I guess since he was king of the Roman gods he had to have the biggest! When you look at my pictures on facebook you can see what the temple in its entirety looked like. It is still very huge and I confess I had a bit of vertigo being so high and no railing to hold onto :( Got a little weak in the knees. The Temple of Bacchus is in a corner of the same grounds. Apparently after the rituals and sacrifices they enjoyed (quite a lot) of the fruit of the vine!
We went to the winery of Ksara. The intersting thing about this is the Romans found it and made a winery of it. That is how old it is! It is a labyrinth of caves and it goes very deep into the mountain. Apparently because of this it is an ideal temperature and climate for making and preserving wine.
I am taking today off from outside tours today to rest up for the next three days. Very busy days before I leave on Tuesday for Istanbul! I will go out and explore more of Beirut this afternoon.
Christine
Beautiful Lebanon!
Lebanon is an amazing country. It is so beautiful!! It has certainly had its challenges but like a Phoenix it keeps rising from the ashes! It is heart wrenching to think of how much has been destroyed by war. I think now the purpose of war is to destoy the soul....to take away the old and ancient things that have been so much of a country's heritage. Still the Lebanese people love their country and continue to rebuild. Beirut was especially hit hard and you can see the remains of conflict though contrustion is taking place everywhere!
My first day here we went to Cedars, Becherrah and Kozhaya. It was very tricky getting through town because the president of Iran was visiting. Once out of Beirut it was a pleasant drive along the coast and into the mountains. I was impressed by the houses and buidings built on the mountains. They really are living on the edge!! Each place has a view of something beautiful so I see why they do it...as well as there doesn't seem to be any flat land except along the coast! The Kahlil Gibran museum was amazing! They had many of his books there as well as his art. It is said that he stated "Had I not been born in Lebanon I would have chosen it" and he is buried here at his request even though he did much of his writing while he lived in the US. It was a beautiful and peaceful place to visit. The churches on the mountain tops reminded me of Europe a little. There is a strong French influence here and French is another language spoken fluently in Lebanon. Many of the street names are French as well a stores etc. We found more French influence when we went to the Cedars as the French contributed greatly to the preservation and rebuilding of the Cedar forest. The cedars were fabulous! It was overwhelmingly gorgeous there!! So peaceful and quiet. I could only imagine what these >1000 year old trees might have seen. They have planted more but we were told it would be at least 700 years before they were as tall as the others! There was an early Christian church at the top of a hill we hiked. It was all made of stone and the inside very rustic but it was great to sit in a church over 1000 years old! A little father on we cam to a place where there were carvings in the trees near the top. One was of the Crucifixion. There were imagesof monks and a face in the center that may have represented Christ. The French were very instrumental in preserving this project. We then visited a couple of old monasteries! We were told about the Hermits that lived in the caves in the mountains. It is amazing to me that anyone would want to be a Hermit. We visited a hermitage. Many of these monasteries could only be accessed by foot! I'll bet the monks were very fit! The mountains are very steep! At the monastery of St. Antoine (a Maronite monk) I could see the buildings were built incorporating the local caves. In one cave we saw the place where many miracles have ocurred. On one side there were upside-down pots. We were told women who have trouble becoming pregnant bring their pots and place them there then walk around three times and pray so they might have a child. It is still an operting monastery and many weddings and baptisms are performed there. Again...it is built right on the edge of the mountain! This has been a great opportunity to learn more about the early Christian church and its struggles and eventual triumph!
The Lebanese people have been very friendly! I feel well taken care of! My hotel is very comfy and I can see the harbor from my window. It is nice to watch the ships coming in in the morning. My friend, Judy, was amazed at how inexpensive this leg of the trip is!
More later!
Christine
My first day here we went to Cedars, Becherrah and Kozhaya. It was very tricky getting through town because the president of Iran was visiting. Once out of Beirut it was a pleasant drive along the coast and into the mountains. I was impressed by the houses and buidings built on the mountains. They really are living on the edge!! Each place has a view of something beautiful so I see why they do it...as well as there doesn't seem to be any flat land except along the coast! The Kahlil Gibran museum was amazing! They had many of his books there as well as his art. It is said that he stated "Had I not been born in Lebanon I would have chosen it" and he is buried here at his request even though he did much of his writing while he lived in the US. It was a beautiful and peaceful place to visit. The churches on the mountain tops reminded me of Europe a little. There is a strong French influence here and French is another language spoken fluently in Lebanon. Many of the street names are French as well a stores etc. We found more French influence when we went to the Cedars as the French contributed greatly to the preservation and rebuilding of the Cedar forest. The cedars were fabulous! It was overwhelmingly gorgeous there!! So peaceful and quiet. I could only imagine what these >1000 year old trees might have seen. They have planted more but we were told it would be at least 700 years before they were as tall as the others! There was an early Christian church at the top of a hill we hiked. It was all made of stone and the inside very rustic but it was great to sit in a church over 1000 years old! A little father on we cam to a place where there were carvings in the trees near the top. One was of the Crucifixion. There were imagesof monks and a face in the center that may have represented Christ. The French were very instrumental in preserving this project. We then visited a couple of old monasteries! We were told about the Hermits that lived in the caves in the mountains. It is amazing to me that anyone would want to be a Hermit. We visited a hermitage. Many of these monasteries could only be accessed by foot! I'll bet the monks were very fit! The mountains are very steep! At the monastery of St. Antoine (a Maronite monk) I could see the buildings were built incorporating the local caves. In one cave we saw the place where many miracles have ocurred. On one side there were upside-down pots. We were told women who have trouble becoming pregnant bring their pots and place them there then walk around three times and pray so they might have a child. It is still an operting monastery and many weddings and baptisms are performed there. Again...it is built right on the edge of the mountain! This has been a great opportunity to learn more about the early Christian church and its struggles and eventual triumph!
The Lebanese people have been very friendly! I feel well taken care of! My hotel is very comfy and I can see the harbor from my window. It is nice to watch the ships coming in in the morning. My friend, Judy, was amazed at how inexpensive this leg of the trip is!
More later!
Christine
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
