Lebanon

Visited: May 2017

Duration of visit: 7 days

Capital city: Beirut

Population: 6.3 million (2017)

Estimated reading time: 12 minutes

• Beirut – one of the oldest and most multicultural cities in the World.
• Watching sunrise over the Lebanese Grand Canyon of Qadisha Valley.
• Exploring ancient Roman ruins at Baalbeck and Islamic old city of Anjar, a famous sanctuary of the Roman world.
• Long conversation about life in the Middle East with my new friend Mazen.
• Refugee camps with Syrian war refugees in the northern Lebanon, showing the nonsense of the war and sympathy of Libyans towards neighboring residents.

Lebanon was never really high on my priority list and I was somehow scared by the unstable situation to visit this Middle East country in 2004, when I was exploring the region and neighboring countries.

As I always say:

“There must be a right time and real wish to explore certain area or country in order to appreciate it at the maximum.”

I was ready for a visit in 2017, but only as a one-week trip and not part of a long travelling adventure.

Location at the crossroads of three continents has created rich history and culture for this territory, but also conflicts, wars, political and economic crisis, accidents and terrorist attacks. The area of modern-day Lebanon is rich in cultural and religious diversity, but exposed to so many external negative impacts that the country has been struggling to survive.

Beirut, located by the Mediterranean Sea, is the capital and largest city of Lebanon.

As one of the oldest cities in the world, it has been continuously inhabited for more than 5,000 years, destroyed and rebuilt 7 times. Today, the Paris of the East is a mix of different culture, religions, architecture and people.

I took a free walking tour around Beirut to learn more about this unique example of contradictory unity in the Middle East. It called my attention that by law, certain positions in government are assigned to Muslim and Christian communities. The last official census was performed in 1932, and at that time, Christians were the majority. One of the rare things that most Lebanese religious leaders agree on, is to avoid a new general census, in fear that it could trigger a new round of denominational conflict.

Even though in a day to day life Muslim and Christians live together in the same city or country, on the other side everything is separated and/or exactly defined: schools and universities, quarters and areas of the city, health centers, businesses, etc.

Whenever I talked to somebody in Lebanon, they would always explicitly state their religion right from the beginning.

There are not many architectural or cultural highlights that come to my memory when thinking about Beirut.

I was much more impacted by long conversations with unknown people that opened up very quickly and were willing to share their thoughts with me. Mostly men, because women are pretty much inaccessible and not looking for conversation with a man. With a cup of tea or coffee and indispensable cigarette, the initial communication can continue as long as the visitor wants. People don’t seem to be too busy.

I met an owner of a small coffee shop in a busy road. We started to talk while waiting to be served. The coffee shop was small enough that one person could serve all the customers, but Mezan was proud enough to just observe and supervise his employees. These days, all basic jobs are done by Syrian refuges who get paid very little and attend customers very well.

Mezan explained me about life in Beirut in 2017. The country has changed, a lot of people emigrated. The refugees have a huge impact in the last years, the safety is questionable again. Business is difficult, but life goes on and multicultural Lebanon manages to live in harmony, surviving all provocations and rifts between different cultures.

Beirut is still a perfect destination for male tourists from strict Islamic regimes countries that can find the liberty, variety and promiscuity that is prohibited in their home, secular countries.

Lebanon is the only country in the Middle East that does not have a desert. On the contrary, it witnesses snowfall, and even possess ski resorts that remain open for as long as three months a year. Kadisha Valley is one of the most important early Christian monastic settlements in the world. Its monasteries stand in dramatic positions in a rugged landscape. Nearby are the remains of the great forest of cedars of Lebanon.

I took a bus to Bcharre (Bsharri), which is the only settlement of a decent size in the area. The spectacular road that winds along mountainous slopes offers view to the valley, mountain landscape, passing small communities. I quickly found a guesthouse where I was going to spend the night and left my luggage there.

Going higher up to the valley there was no public transport, but I was told that in this area, every passing car stops and pick up people that need a lift.

I started to walk on the road going uphill and after a few minutes a pick-up truck stopped next to me and gave me a lift to the top of the valley.

There are many little statues and crosses, but the mayor attraction is the Cross Path, which might be set in the most spectacular scenery, at the entrance of the Kadisha Valley with stunning views recognized by the UNESCO in its World Heritage List. I didn’t need to walk far before reaching the famous cross and local kids were of help on the way. It was a little bit cloudy and getting cold, but the view, peace and energy were so special, that I decided to come back for the sunrise the day after.

Early next morning, I was along the road on the outskirts of Bcharre and, lucky enough, picked up by a local man who took me to the junction with the Cross Path.

The view in the morning was even more spectacular than in the late afternoon.

I would have never thought to see so amazing nature in Lebanon.

Unfortunately, the integrity of the valley is at risk because of encroachment of human settlements, illegal building and inconsistent conservation activity.

The Cedars of God is one of the last vestiges of the extensive forests of Lebanese cedar that in ancient times thrived across Mount Lebanon. This tree is the national emblem of the country, its pride, and features prominently on the Lebanese flag and coat of arms.

They are not easy to spot these days. The Cedars of God protection area is located close to Bcharre, so hitchhiking was again the best option to get there.

In the winter season, the area converts to an exclusive ski-resort, but during my visit I didn’t notice any foreigners in this protected area. It is striking to observe this small protected area full of cedars, while out of the park there is not a single cedar as far as the view goes. In 1998, the Cedars of God were added to the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites.

In general, cedar tree is a symbol of greatness, nobility, strength and incorruptibility. The cedar trees were mentioned for the first time in the Epic of Gilgamesh. The Lebanon cedar is mentioned several times in the Bible. Hebrew priests were ordered by Moses to use the bark of the Lebanon cedar in the treatment of leprosy. Solomon also procured cedar timber to build the Temple in Jerusalem.

Baalbeck is the most spectacular archeological site in Lebanon; one of the most famous sanctuaries of the Roman world and a model of Imperial Roman architecture. Baalbek temple complex includes two of the largest and grandest Roman temple ruins: The Temple of Bacchus and The Temple of Jupiter. It was inscribed in 1984 as an UNESCO World Heritage site.

The Temple of Jupiter is an architectural wonder, since it is supported by the tallest columns ever built by the Roman at the height of almost 23 meters.

On the other side, The Temple of Bacchus is described as one of the most beautifully decorated temples in Roman world. No doubt, the place is well worth the visit. However, it is always a question of security, since these days, the valley of Baalbek is currently heartland of Hezbollah militant group.

Due to reasonable distance from Beirut, I decided to visit Baalbeck and Anjar in the same day. I was told that the area was safe and that plenty of public transport was available. Being the only foreigner on the bus was not a surprise, but not seeing any other international visitors at the ruins was disappointing.

If Baalbek is the best-preserved ruins complex of the Roman empire in the region, Anjar offers the best-preserved ruins of Islamic civilization. It was sunny and hot in the afternoon and the bus dropped me of on the main street that was a long walking distance from the entrance of Anjar complex. I was trying to get a lift and luckily enough, the first passing car stopped and offered me help.

The driver was a soldier of Lebanese army and warned me about the vicinity of ISIS troops, which were fighting just on the other side of the mountains that surround the archeological zone. He didn’t want to give me more details, beside:

“Bandits, bandits. We were shooting them 2 days ago on this mountain. The area is dangerous, don’t walk outside of the archeological site. Give me a call when you finish and I will take you back to the bus stop.”

And that’s exactly what I did.

Driving outside of Beirut, toward the northern area, or east toward Baalbek, I noticed many refugees’ camps where displaced Syrians were looking for shelter. These camps were located in deserted, remote areas, outside of inhabited sections, a few hundred meters of the main roads. We managed to see them from a distance, but I couldn’t really approach or find out how were they organized.

Talking with locals, they never expressed any hate or dissatisfaction with the millions of refuges that settled down in Lebanon since the beginning of the civil war in Syria, but the consequences for the country and the impact on the quality of life was enormous.

If Lebanon was famous for being the Switzerland of the East during the 1960s, it became the country with the highest percentage of refugees in the world in 2017.

I was wondering if Lebanese position and openness towards refugees has to do with the fact that there are three times more Lebanese living outside of Lebanon than within the country. They know how difficult it can be, when you settle down in a foreign land, far away from your family, home and friends. If you have to leave your country because of the war, it is even worse.

Jeita Grotto Cave System is an easy day trip from Beirut. I took a wonderful ride on a cable car to reach the top, where the entrance to the cave is. In order to protect the pure nature, we were not allowed to bring cameras or phones inside the cave. The guard was very serious and warned us that they are very strict on implementing the rules, so nobody thought about cheating.

The Jeita Grotto is a system of two separate, but interconnected, karstic limestone caves spanning an overall length of nearly 9 kilometers. Of course, only one small part is open to the public. The cavern is so serene that it reminds of an enormous cathedral. I observed one of the biggest stalactites in the world, measuring over 8 meters, as well as tiny stalagmites looking like candles or spaghetti, pillars and columns in several sizes, coral pipes, giant organs, curtains, a giant tulip, a big mushroom and more.

The upper level is the main cave, with long path allowing you to see stunning cave formations. The lower cave is smaller. There is a lake that I crossed by a short boat trip to explore the area. This boat ride offers a relaxing trip whilst gliding calmly into a tranquil river which reflects delicate limestone formations in a profound silence, broken occasionally by the melodious sound of water drops. Due to the high level of water the boat ride could not be possible during certain months.

Another easy trip from Beirut was a visit to the Shrine of Our Lady of Lebanon, above the fishing village of Jounieh. The area from where a cable car took me up to the summit with spectacular views over the coastline and the capital, might be still considered the suburb of Beirut.

In my country, we usually use cable cars in the winter on ski slopes, but in Lebanon, they became very useful to visit tourist attractions or pilgrimage spots with difficult access. On the top of the monument, a white Statue of Virgin Mary with bronze crown stretches her hands towards Beirut.

In the last meters before arriving to the top, the narrow path was too crowded; people pushing each other and almost desperate to come closer to the virgin, light a candle, offer flowers or just touch her.

I didn’t spend much time on the top and preferred to give space to the pilgrims that were queuing behind me. I can’t imagine the number of worshippers when Pope John Paul II visited the shrine during his official visit to Lebanon in 1997.

Lebanon is a Middle Eastern country that is truly distinctive from any other in the region.

It’s a fascinating mix of Middle East, Western trends, tradition and modernity, Christianity and Islam. It goes from glamorous beach resorts, ski resorts, fabulous cuisine, natural beauty, the best Roman ruins outside Rome to hedonistic capital city.

The country has battled with decades of civil war, as well as sectarian violent uprisings, camps for Palestinian refugees in the south and Syrians in the north.

I liked the experience of this melting pot, talking with people who are usually very serious at the first glance, but later open up and show immense hospitality and wish to help.