Lebanon – a country rich in history with many
different faces. Lebanon is filled with ancient
ruins from the Romans, Byzantine, Phoenicians, Ottomans, and Crusades. All of these ruins tell a different story of
the development of the country. In addition
to the ruins are old buildings that are riddled with bullet holes from the many
wars they have had with their bordering countries. The borders to Israel
and Syria
are dotted with Palestinian (between 500,000 and 800,000 refugees) and Syrian
(over 1 million refugees) refugee camps (little cities). And finally there are the new glitzy, shiny,
tall buildings that line the Beirut
landscape. Despite the many warnings to
not go to Lebanon,
it is a very safe country and I never once felt like I was in danger. Police and military presence are
everywhere. It is a beautiful country, with
mountains and sea, and I am glad that I went.
April 2 - Arrival
My flight out of Abu Dhabi was scheduled at
12:25, but we didn’t start boarding the plane until 12:45. Not sure why though. The plane was not full and I ended up getting
moved to an exit row seat. Nice! It was a nice ride over filled with mostly
Lebanese citizens. I was probably the
only American on the plane, although there were a few (maybe 5) other
westerners. We arrived around 3:45,
which was pretty much on time. The Beirut airport is old, but
well laid out and well labeled. I didn’t
have any problem making it to customs and baggage claim. No problems at customs, I was just asked why
I was coming to Lebanon. Once I got my baggage I headed out to meet
the driver from Nakhal that was coming to take me to my hotel. I arrived at the Queen’s Suite Hotel in
downtown Beirut
around 4:30 and got checked in, cleaned up, and ready to explore downtown. I explored Hamra Street (main street that has all
the cafes and shopping) and had a nice traditional Lebanese dinner. A traditional Lebanese meal is not much
different from the Arabic food that I have grown accustomed to here. The only difference is the Lebanese bread is
puffy, not flat like the Arabic bread. I
love the Lebanese bread, especially when it is served warm. Warm, puffy, and delicious. So my first evening was spent doing a bit of
exploring on my own before I made it back to the hotel. Since I had to be ready for my tour guide to
pick me up at 7:45am the following morning I needed to have an early
night. I was back at the hotel around
9:00 and ready for bed, excited for what the following day would hold.
April 3 – Cedars of Lebanon, Kozhaya, and
Besharreh
I woke up bright
and early ready to explore all Lebanon
has to offer, but first I needed breakfast.
After a shower and spending some time in prayer, for safety and
protection for the day, and reading the Bible I headed down to breakfast. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I certainly
didn’t expect what I got. There was a
small selection of croissants (zatar/thyme, cheese, and chocolate), fruit,
hotdogs (which I suppose were to be sausages), some weird omelet thing, and the
typical Arabic breakfast fare (lunchmeat, cheese, olives, hummus, bread,
foul/beans). I had a zatar croissant, some fruit and a few mini hot dogs – I
figured I needed some sort of protein - along with orange juice. Not my typical breakfast of granola, yogurt,
and a banana, but it was free and it would do.
Well nourished, I went downstairs to meet my guide.
My tour today
would take me north to the famed cedars of Lebanon, with stops along the
way. On this trip I met Daniel, a
divorced father from the UK
who was spending 2 weeks exploring Lebanon. We paired up and chatted on the bus ride and
throughout the tour.
Our first stop was
in Besharreh (Basherry) at Gibran Khalil Gibran’s museum. Gibran is a famous Lebanese author who wrote The Prophet which has been translated
into 30 languages. Not sure how famous
it is, as I have never heard of it, or him, before but I suppose that doesn’t
mean he’s not famous. The town of Besharreh is 1,500 meters (4,920ft) up the mountain and
offers wonderful views of the Qadisha
Valley (Valley of the
Saints) that we stopped at on the way down.
The museum was ok, but I enjoyed the views more and I was ready to board
the bus and continue our journey up the mountain to see the cedars.
The second stop
was 2,000m (6,560ft) up the mountain to see the cedars. Unfortunately there are not many cedars left,
only a small grove remain, and the park was closed to tourists due to the
snow. That did not stop our tour guide
though. He had us climb the fence and
hike through the snow to get to the remaining cedars. That just added to the fun of it. It was a beautiful sunny day and I didn’t
mind the hike. Even with the snow
covered ground and being at an altitude of 2,000m I began to get hot, so I took
my trusty sweater off. It was amazing to
think that I was in the same place as Old Testament Prophets from the Bible who
used the cedars of Lebanon to make many parts of the Tabernacle and the Ark of
the Covenant. The cedars are tall and
flat topped and there are at least 12 in the park that are over 1,000 years
old! Being out in the fresh air tinged
with the smell of cedar was a wonderful experience. I would have liked to have spent more time
there, just wandering around the forest, but I had to hike back through the
snow to get back on the bus. That’s one
downfall to being on a tour; you only have a short amount of time at each
stop. Oh well. At least I got to see the cedars and I didn’t
have to drive up, or down, the mountain.
Once we were all
on the bus we began our descent to Kozhaya/Qadisha Valley (1900m/6320ft) where
we stopped for lunch. Lunch was typical
Lebanese cuisine which consisted of appetizers – hummus, babganoush (eggplant),
pickled vegetables, fresh vegetables, cheese rolls, meat samosas, spinach
samosas, and tabouleh – main course – mix grill (chicken, beef, and kofta) –
and dessert – fresh fruit. Tons of
food. It was all delicious, as typical
Arabic food usually is. The only thing
is there was no Lebanese bread, just the flat Arabic bread. After lunch we continued on our way to St.
Anthony’s Monastery – one of the many monasteries that lie in the Valley of the
Saints. St.
Anthony’s Monastery is nestled in the lush valley and offers great views of the
surrounding valley. It was built in the
12th or 13th century and houses the first printing press
ever built. We toured the monastery
before having to say good-bye to the northern part of Lebanon and begin our trip back to Beirut.
On the ride back
Daniel and I talked about walking around Beirut
when we returned. Since he had been
there for nearly 2 weeks I let him be my tour guide. Since neither of us were really hungry, who
would be after the lunch we had, we just stopped at a little café for dessert
then walked along the corniche. He took
me to the Pigeon Rocks, which are two rocks that were formed by an earthquake
and are continually being shaped by the waves.
He walked me back to my hotel where I nearly collapsed in bed around
10pm. It was a long day filled with awesome
sights and I was pleasantly exhausted. I
was ready for bed knowing that I would have to get up early for my 7:45
departure from the hotel.
April 4 – Tyre,
Sidon, and
Maghdouche
My alarm went off
at 6:00am; way too early, but I crawled out of bed so I could get ready for my
second tour which would have me traveling south to within 20km of the Israeli
border and walking in the same place that Jesus and Paul walked.
There was a change
on the breakfast buffet this morning.
Instead of the weird omelet thing there were fried eggs on toast
(basically warm bread). I got my protein
from that this morning. The eggs weren’t
that bad, but I didn’t eat the warm bread.
After breakfast I
headed downstairs and met Monique and Margaret on the tour bus. Monique is a teacher from Australia who is teaching 11th grade
in Abu Dhabi and Margaret is a teacher from Austria who is teaching secondary grades in Turkey. We chatted about our international teaching
experiences as the bus made its way to our first stop in Sidon.
Our first stop in Sidon
was a little café for breakfast, where the specialty was a cheese or yogurt
roll. I had the yogurt one; it was fresh
and kind of sour and there was a faint citrus taste to it. I watched it being made by the “chef”. He slathered it with yogurt then sprinkled
some zatar on it followed by fresh olives from the nearby olive groves and then
squirted some fresh olive oil on it. Sidon is known for its
olives and olive oil. The flavors all
blended nicely and I enjoyed my second breakfast. Knowing that I wasn’t going to be able to eat
lunch until after 2 I knew I would need something to tide me over, so that
served as a nice snack.
It was in Sidon at this little café
that I nearly got in trouble. You aren’t
supposed to take pictures of the military and as I was taking a picture of the
surrounding landscape I got stopped. My
mind was racing and my heart was pounding: “what was he going to do?” was my
only thought. Would he take away my
camera? Would he send me to jail? Would he send me back home? He was across the street and he yelled at the
driver who came over and talked to me. I
explained that I was just taking a picture of the landscape beyond them, not of
the military at all. OK so I did get a
picture of the checkpoint, but no military personnel. The military guy was ok with that explanation
and the driver explained to me that the Lebanese army are very nice. Agreed!
The stop was only for ½ an hour so it was back on the bus to continue on
our way to Tyre.
In Tyre we saw ruins of the Phoenician
Necropolis, which has nearly 300 tombs, and the hippodrome, which is where the
chariot races and markets were held. I
climbed many stairs to get to the top of the hippodrome and capture spectacular
views of the surrounding city. We were
allowed ½ an hour to explore the ruins before having to board the bus for our
next stop in Tyre. I enjoyed wandering around the ruins and
trying to imagine the people living there and how they survived their daily
life. In the necropolis there was
evidence of a house and the guide explained that the ancient Romans like to live
near their dead! Weird! The carvings on the tombs and the columns
were pretty intricate and detailed.
Someone or, quite possibly, many someones had spent a great deal of time
making the necropolis and hippodrome something to not be forgotten.
The next stop in Tyre was at a little cave where Mary supposedly waited for
Jesus while he spent time preaching in Tyre. As a Jewish woman Mary was not allowed in
pagan Tyre so
she waited for her Son outside. This was
just a brief stop as the guide explained that Jesus performed the miracle of
healing the Canaanite woman just 12km between Tyre
and Sidon in Lebanon. The thought that I was in the same country
and region as Jesus was awe-inspiring. I
spent the time wondering what it would have been like back in Jesus’ time and
walking around with Him as He taught and performed miracles. Would I have believed?
Time for lunch so
we got back on the bus and headed back to Sidon
where lunch was going to be at a restaurant across from the Castle by the
Sea. Lunch was almost the same as
yesterday, other than the main course was chicken and rice instead of mix
grill. I have to say I liked the chicken
and rice better than the mix grill from the day before. The view was amazing as well; I mean looking
out at the Mediterranean Sea and a castle,
what can beat that?
After lunch we
toured the castle that was built by the Crusaders in 1228 atop Phoenician
ruins. I walked around the ruins with
Monique and Margaret and we chatted about the royalty that would have lived
there and how they would have entertained their guests. We climbed the stairs to the top of the
castle to get impressive views of the city and Mediterranean coast.
Our final stop in Sidon was the souq and
soap museum. We wandered around the souq
for a while, avoiding the men who were trying to push their pashminas on us,
before heading to the soap museum. Due
to its location Sidon
is known for its olive groves which produce some very good olive oil. It is this olive oil that is used to make the
soap. The soap museum was the old soap
factory, but it is no longer used for soap making. Not surprised by that as they would have
moved on to better and more efficient methods of making soap, although they
still use the olives that grow in Sidon.
On the way back to
Beirut our
guide showed us the massive Palestinian refugee camp. There are between 500,000 and 800,000
Palestinian refugees living in Lebanon
and most of them live in the camp that she showed us. Although they use the word camp there are no
tents; it is a little city complete with markets, groceries, schools, and
hospitals. The Palestinians aren’t
confined to the refugee camp; they are allowed to get jobs in the city itself. Hopefully one day they will be able to go
back home.
And that ended the
tour for the day. Another day when
history came alive to me. I think that’s
the best way to learn history instead of memorizing names and dates. Monique and Margaret talked about getting
together for dinner later that night, but I opted out due to the fact that my
knees really hurt. Too much walking and
too many stairs. I needed to rest them
because I knew I would have more walking ahead of me and I wanted to see all
that I could see. So before going back
to the hotel I went to a nearby pharmacy and got some pills for inflammation
and then had dinner at the hotel before calling it an early night.
April 5 – Baalbek and Aanjaar
This was the day
of my scheduled walking tour of historic Beirut,
but I ended up changing it. From all the
talk on the previous tours, Baalbek is the one
place in Lebanon
that you can’t miss. It was only offered
on Friday and then again on Tuesday, so I switched. In hind-sight I probably should have stayed
with historic Beirut, but I am glad that I saw Baalbek.
The day dawned
cold, rainy, foggy, and overcast but we headed out to Aanjar nonetheless. In Aanjar I saw another palace in ruins;
actually two palaces. The big palace for
the men and the little palace for the women.
Ironically though the little palace was bigger than the big palace! From Aanjar we continued on to the most
important Roman era archeological site in all of Lebanon,
Baalbek.
I guess I would
have to agree that it is the most important archeological site in Lebanon. It is massive and impressive! Baalbek
is composed of three temples before you even reach the main temple that was set
aside for worshiping Baal the god of agriculture. In comparison to Petra
I would just have to say that Petra
is longer. The ruins in Baalbek are located in one
central place and there are hundreds of them.
Temples. Columns.
Hamamms (baths). Altars. Tombs.
Theater. Court. City Council. Lots of stairs in multiples of 3 (they
believed that if you started on your right foot you needed to end on your right
foot) and many many other ruins.
Impressive! You just can’t help
stand in awe of how those people built it and how they carved, let alone moved,
those enormous stones. The columns are
huge – at least 22m high - and wonderfully preserved. There were originally 64 sets of columns around
the entire site, if that gives you any indication as to how large an area this
is. You can tell this was an important
part of their lives. We walked up, down,
and around the ruins snapping pictures and just standing in awe of the entire
city before we had to get on the bus for lunch.
Lunch was mix
grill again and all the talk around the table was what we had just seen at Baalbek. After lunch we headed to the Beqqa Valley for some wine tasting at Ksara. The wine is stored in a cave that was discovered as a farmer chased a fox wo stole a chicken. We tasted white, blush, red, and desert wine. Since I am not really a wine drinker this wasn't one of my favorite parts of the tour. Of all the wines I liked the sweet desert wine the best followed by the blush. Now if they had sangria I would have been happy! Back on the bus and back to Beirut.
Once in Beirut I rested for a bit
and then went to walk along the corniche.
There are amazing city views from the corniche and it is just nice to be
able to walk outside by the sea. I got
many stares on my walk, but nothing happened.
Typical staring at a tall blonde woman in a country comprised of short-ish brown haired people. I tried not to look like a tourist, but I
just couldn’t help it! Since I am not a
fan of the club and bar scene I skipped Hamra Street and went back to the hotel
to catch up on some reading and rest my knee for another day of walking.
April 6 – Byblos, Jeita Grotto, and Harissa
Jeita Grotto was
the first stop of the day. This was
probably the one thing that I really wanted to see. The grotto is a massive cave full of multi-colored stalagmites and
stalactites. We had a short cable car
ride up to the higher cave and a boat ride in the lower cave. Unfortunately pictures were not allowed as we
had to lock up our cameras and cell phones.
That’s too bad because it was amazingly beautiful. If you want to see you’ll have to check
online; there are pictures available.
The sizes, shapes, and colors of the stalagmites and stalactites varied
in different parts of the cave. Some
looked like bunches of cauliflower, while others looked like snow covered
hills. Still others looked like long
sparkly daggers extending from the ceiling and rising up towards the
ceiling. The colors ranged from white to
green with pinks and reds as well. The
river that ran through was amazingly calm and dark. There was no way of telling how deep it was. Without the boat running on it you could
mistake it for dark colored glass. I
guess that’s what happens where there is no wind to create waves.
After Jeita we
continued our journey to Byblos where we saw St. John’s Church which was built by the Crusaders
in the 12th century and the crusaders’ castle. The castle has 5 towers that circle a
courtyard and a watchtower. Comparing
the castle at Byblos to that at Sidon
I would say that I liked the one at Byblos
better. Not sure why, other than maybe
the area surrounding it. Monique and I
talked about finding a house and putting it there. Right on the Mediterranean
Sea where we could go to the souq and have coffee or tea while
watching the shoppers. I guess it was
just the atmosphere of the castle; it wasn’t anymore impressive than the one at
Sidon. There was a house just outside of the castle
that is, uninhabited but still standing, to show how far down the archeologists
had to excavate to find the castle and remaining ruins. I thought I could just move into that
house. Monique and I explored the souq
for the ½ hour that we were given before lunch.
It was at this souq that I found my jar.
I have taken to collecting jars from the different countries that I have
visited. I have one from the UAE, Jordan, Australia
and now Lebanon. I guess I will have to go back to Dublin, Oman,
and Bangkok to
get a jar! Oman will be easy enough.
Lunch was
huge! The impressive amounts of
appetizers followed by a full plate of rice and fish. The rice was good, but the fish was
salty. None of us finished our meal; so
much wasted food. We had fresh fruit for
dessert which included pineapple this time.
The pineapple was delicious and juicy.
Despite how full I was I was able to eat 2 slices along with a
banana. I just can’t pass up fresh
fruit.
Full from lunch,
we rode to Harissa where we would get on cable cars to journey up the mountain
to see the Our Lady of Lebanon statue.
We rode the cable cars 500m up to the top of the mountain where the
statue stands guard over the country. The
view was amazing. Despite the cloudy
skies you could see for what seemed like miles.
Ocean meets mountains with houses and buildings in between. Like I said, amazing. The views of Lebanon just can’t be beat. Living in the desert for three years has
surely made me miss the mountains and sea and greenery. Lebanon has it all.
Our Lady of Lebanon
is a statue of the Virgin Mary which was erected in 1904 and sits atop 100
steps, which I climbed to get the views of the city. While walking up the steps I noticed that
many people were bringing their babies up to the Virgin Mary. The guide says that it is tradition to take
your baby to Harissa to have him/her blessed.
In addition to the statue they are in the process of building a Catholic
Church in the shape of a cedar tree. It
will be quite remarkable when finished.
Back down to Beirut and my tours are
finished. I spent another evening
walking along the corniche, and saw another amazing sunset, before heading back
to the hotel for some much needed rest.
April 7 – Free day
Oh a free day;
what to do?! Sleep in first of all! No alarms.
I slept until 8 and made it to breakfast by 9:30. After breakfast I went back to the room to do
some reading before heading out to explore the new part of Beirut.
Since I didn’t take the Beirut
walking tour I was left on my own. I was
just going to have to find things myself.
I’m sure I didn’t see all that would have been shown to me, but I wasn’t
going to get in a taxi alone so it was all on foot. I walked along the corniche towards the newer
part of town and saw an old church built on top of a restaurant nestled in
between two new, tall, shiny buildings. I
would have liked to have gotten a better view of the church, but it was fenced
off for construction of some sort. I
hope they don’t plan on demolishing it.
The new part of Beirut, that I saw, consists of tall building that
appear to be made out of glass, the marina, 5 star hotels, and the souk. It has names like Rodeo Drive and Park
Avenue. I walked around
this part of town and explored the souk for a bit before heading back to the
hotel. I wasn’t sure what else to
explore and I didn’t want to get lost so I just walked along the corniche back
towards the hotel. On the way back I
stopped at a little bazaar that was set up and got a few more souvenirs. I also saw a group of street performers
acting out Jesus’ death and resurrection.
Back at the hotel I did some reading and resting and began packing up
getting ready to leave the following day.
Around 6:30 I had finished my book, The
Help, and I was beginning to get hungry so I went out to Hamra Street and had another
characteristic Lebanese dinner, shish tawouk/chicken, with garlic paste. Not as good as the garlic paste at Al Noor
but still pretty good. I walked back to
the hotel and was in for the night. And
that ends my adventures in Lebanon.
April 8 – Departure
My flight was
scheduled to depart at 11:45 so I had asked for my ride to be at the hotel at
9:00. I got to the airport by 9:15 and
had to figure out where to check-in; east or west. It’s a good thing I can read Arabic because I
was able to read the sign that said Abu
Dhabi along with an arrow pointing in the direction to
go. I noticed the departure screens
later. No problems leaving Lebanon,
just a lot of waiting before check-in.
The lines in Lebanon
are just like the driving; no rules. There was one conveyer belt for security prior
to check-in and there were 3 lanes of people merging into one line at the
end. Frustrating. I think that’s what took the longest; getting
those 3 lanes merged into one. Even with
the waiting and merging I had plenty of time to spare so I toured the duty free
shops and bought some Lebanese sweets.
No dates when I go home in June, we’ll be trying Lebanese sweets this
time.
Another late
departure but on time arrival. The
flight wasn’t full and I had a whole row to myself! I enjoyed stretching out and reading and
watching The Life of Pi (by the way I
watched Argo on the way to Lebanon). We arrived in Abu Dhabi around 4:45 and I discovered that’s
the best time to arrive. No one was
there. Really. I walked right up to the customs agent and
right through. Amazing! My luggage was one of the first off the plane
so I was out of the airport by 5:05 and in the taxi by 5:10. Ridiculously quick! I arrived home around 6:20 to a car covered
in sand thanks to the sandstorm that we had on Friday.
As much as I
enjoyed being in Lebanon
it was great to be home. To be able to
sleep in my own bed and enjoy my own desert town. I do miss the mountains and sea though, but
it’s good to be back to normalcy. Just
11 weeks until I’m home for the summer!
Time to start planning my NC trip as the other vacations are either
already planned or in the process of being planned.
After church on Friday June 14th, Vanny, Kristie, Jane and I headed to meet a bunch of people for lunch near Mall of the Emirates (total opposite direction from Ajman). We had what's called mandi. It's a traditional Yemeni dish, but it is gaining popularity among other Arabic countries. Mandi is meat (typically lamb, but we had goat) that is cooked in a special oven called a tandoor. The tandoor is placed in a hole dug in the ground and then covered on the inside by clay. The meat is lowered down the hole, but it doesn't touch the charcoal that is inside the tandoor. Once the meat is suspended the tandoor is closed which allows the meat to steam underground. Weird cooking method, but it makes the meat really tender and flavorful. The meat is served with bryiani rice and yogurt. Since this is traditional Arabic food in a traditional restaurant you eat the traditional way; sitting on the floor with no shoes on and using your hands (although we all used a spoon). So we had a nice lunch before we began our journey to Ajman.
Our ride back to Deira City Center, in Dubai where we decided we would have lunch, took us nearly an hour instead of the 20 minutes it should have taken us, due to the fact that Freida (my GPS) took us through Ajman and Sharjah instead of taking us on Emirates Road (the highway that we came in on). I was quite frustrated. It wouldn't have been a problem except that the traffic in Sharjah was terrible (as it always is). I suppose it would have been the quickest way and Freida doesn't really know about the traffic issues in Sharjah so I guess I can't really blame "her". We had lunch at Texas Roadhouse, where the steak was terrible. No flavor at all. I had mine swimming in A1 Sauce. The chili was good, but that's about it. After lunch I took Kristie home while Jane and Vanny did some shopping. I made it back to Al Ain around 5pm, just in time to get some shopping done at LuLu before it got extremely busy. It was a nice weekend and what made it even nicer was the fact that since school was over I didn't have to get anything planned for the upcoming week.
My last weekend with Kristie was spent in Al Ain. Kristie and Jane wanted to learn how to bake so I offered to teach them what I knew about baking, which is simply follow a recipe and hope it turns out right! They don't know how to bake because having an oven is considered a luxury in the Philippines and not many people own one. I had no idea. My idea of baking is stuff like cookies, cakes, pies, brownies and the like. That is not what Kristie had in mind; she wanted to bake sardines! I was not thrilled with this idea, but since it was my last weekend with her I decided to humor her and allow her the thrill of baking sardines. What could have been a simple task turned into a learning experience for me. Kristie bought the whole sardine, not the pre-cleaned and filleted ones. So she spent a good hour in the kitchen cleaning, deboning, and filleting the fish. What a stench! I'm glad I had moved my air purifier into the kitchen. It was running the entire time and the kitchen still smelled of fish. After getting the fish prepared Kristie placed it in the preheated oven and we went to the living room to chat. We continually returned to the kitchen to check on the sardines, but we still ended up burning the top layer of the sauce. Since just the sauce burned we decided to try her creation. She loved it! Jane ate it, but she was picking bones out. I had 2 bites, which for me is a good thing since I am a very picky eater. I love fish, but sardines have a very fishy taste. I think I'll just stick to salmon, tilapia, and trout that I'm familiar with and that don't really taste like fish.
Saturday morning we had pancakes for breakfast and just kind of lounged around before heading out to the Al Ain Palace Museum. This was my 5th time there so I wasn't all that excited, but I did get to act like a tour guide as I was telling them about some of the artifacts in the rooms. They had a good time and took tons of pictures! Kristie loves having her picture taken and she loves taking pictures of others as well. Actually I think that's a Filipino thing, as all of them that I know take tons of pictures. Seriously. There are 83 pictures of the weekend just on my camera. That's not including the ones on our phones. And that was just one weekend! Lots of memories! I'm glad they had a good time though and I'm thankful that I got to show them a bit of Al Ain.
