Hands down best country in the Middle East…
I took a trip here with a friend Mike, over Easter Weekend of 2013. Hell, it was only an hour long flight from Egypt and I have heard so many good things about it.
Seems like all people have heard about Lebanon is from the news in the 80’s and 90’s. Let me tell you, that was one of the most beautiful countries. You tend to think of countries from the Middle East as sandy and desert, but Lebanon fell into that Fertile Crescent very nice. Obviously their flag has a cedar tree on it, because a lot of the country is covered in these trees.
I booked a bunch of day trips as one of my friends I taught with in Venezuela lived and worked there and she knew a company that her school uses. I would highly recommend this company as they will tailor your every need and are very understanding. The companies name is:
We didn’t get into Beirut until the night, and quickly went around to get some food. Low and Behold we found a pizza place with PORK HAM!!! Normally people wouldn’t think anything of this, but in Egypt, you cannot just pop into a restaurant and order pork. So of course we got a few beers and also some pork pizza and were very happy!!!!!
We left Beirut along the coastal road towards Jeita Grottoes, visited the upper and lower galleries with its beautiful stalactites and stalagmites. We continued to Balaa to enjoy a short hike to reach Baatara Natural Bridges. As you can see from the pictures below this is a beautiful waterfall that falls into a hole that goes to the depths of the earth!!!The rest of the day was spent in Byblos, one of the oldest cities in the world that has been continuously inhabited. We walked along the old fishing port, visited the churches, mosque, the Crusader Castle and took a stroll through the old souk and saw the bar area of the city.
Today we headed towards Baalbak. This city is on the border with Syria so it is often prone to violence. As we were driving along, we couldn’t help but notice all the camps with Syrian refugees in them from the war. It brought some sadness to our eyes to see this right in front of us. Our first stop was Anjar which is the only Umayyad Site in Lebanon. As I was taking pictures, I was nearly trampled by a roving band of Goats. From here we head to Ksara wineries to enjoy the visit of the caves followed by a wine tasting. I think I got about ten bottles of wine here and really loved this little winery. After lunch we headed toward Baalbak!!! I have been to a lot of Roman Ruins in my life, but this is one of the best preserved and untouched I have ever seen. As you can tell by the pictures, because of the violence with Syria, there was not a lot of people there so we pretty much had the whole place to ourselves!!!! Before going back to Beirut, we got a chance to see the biggest stone in the world that a guy turned into a tourist attraction after this big hole was used as a dump. Really great guy!!!
Today on the last full day we are here, we headed south!!! We left Beirut along the coastal road towards Tyre. We visited the 2 sites of Tyre, the ancient Phoenician City(which had some great Byzantine and Roman sites) and the legendary birth-place of Europa and Elissa(which is on the ocean and gives us another lovely glimpse of Roman Ruins.) In the afternoon, we went to Sidon being the 3rd largest city in Lebanon. We walked around this lovely city and saw the sea castle with some amazing views as well as went through the Souk, where subsequently I was photographed by two Lebanese girls for their school project.
The last day we had a flight out in the afternoon but managed to do a little shopping and walk around Beirut before we left. My impression of Lebanon was better than before I got there. I firmly believe they take care of their sites very good. The cities are very clean as they care about tourism greatly. I also believe they have the best food in the Middle East. I plan to go back here one day to see more of the famous nightlife and eat some more delicious food!!!!
