Sights Archives ⋆ Page 59 of 153 ⋆ The Passenger

December 24, 2019December 26, 2019

Pigeons‘ rocks

The Pigeons’ rocks or Raouché rocks are a rock formation consisting of two large rocks standing at the shore of the Mediterranean Sea – surrounded by water and waves. They are located in the West of بيروت, Lebanon, belonging to an area called Raouché or Ras Beirut (‘Head of Beirut‘). These iconic rocks are a town’s landmark of the city and often visited by tourists and locals. It is believed that the rocks have split up from the mainland around the 13th century CE. On them, archaeologists discovered tools and flintstones of early humanity.

December 23, 2019January 10, 2020

Château Ksara

The landscape of Lebanon is totally different from other countries of the Middle East. You won’t find deserts there – because of the high mountains it is a green country and you can even go skiing. The Beqaa valley is used to grow all sorts of fruits and vegetables (formerly also hashish and opium, but that is another story) and of course wine grapes. Different vineyards can be found and the Château Ksara at زحلة is the oldest and most visited. It was founded in 1857 by Jesuit priests because they needed wine for religious purposes.

December 23, 2019January 19, 2020

Baalbek

One of the very good reasons to travel to Lebanon is the historic temple site of بعلبك. Baalbek is located in a strategically important position of the Beqaa valley and was once called Heliopolis (the city of the sun). There the Romans built temples to worship their gods between the 2nd and 3rd century CE. The site is vast and temples for Jupiter, Mercurio, Venus and Bacchus can be found. The temple of Mercurio is mostly destroyed, the temple of Venus is preserved only in parts. Most interesting and best-preserved are the temples for Jupiter (the highest god) and for Bacchus – the god of wine.

December 23, 2019January 13, 2020

Biggest stone

There seems to be a competition around the world who has the biggest monolith. Is it in Lebanon, in Egypt or in China? When you get to بعلبك, Lebanon you can visit the Roman quarry in which the stones for the Baalbek temples have been carved and at its centre, you’ll see the Hajjar al-Hibla (Stone of the South or Stone of the Pregnant Woman). The monolith with a weight of 1,000 t is 20 meters long and has been carved but not yet moved to the temple site.

December 23, 2019January 20, 2020

Umayyad city ruins

The Umayyads might be unknown to most Europeans. It is a clan of the Quraysh, the Arabian tribe from Mecca whom also the prophet Muhammad belonged to. They were the ones who conquered Spain and when their caliphate was at the greatest extent it reached from there via Northern Africa to the Middle East, the Arabian peninsula and Western Asia. At عنجر, Lebanon you can visit the ruins of one of their cities created in the 8th century – which is today a UNESCO world heritage site.

December 22, 2019January 21, 2020

Crusader castle

The crusader’s castle or castle Gibelet at جبيل, Lebanon, is a fortification dating back to the year 1103. When the Christian crusaders came to conquer the Holy Land and Jerusalem they needed ports – and Byblos was one of them. The castle was built from material taken from ancient temples of the city. Still today you can see how they fortified the walls of the castle by using parts of columns of the temples – which consisted of stronger material typically imported from Egypt.

December 22, 2019April 15, 2022

Rocket man

The most amazing cable car ride of my life! If you want to visit the Shrine of Our Lady of Lebanon located on mountain حريصا (Harissa) 650 meters above sea level you can go by car on bumpy roads up the mountain or you can feel like rocket man by using the téléphérique from Jounieh – a gondola lift with gondolas that are not running continuously but are connected to the system when needed. And these gondolas are started with quite some speed.

December 22, 2019January 21, 2020

Our Lady of Lebanon

Lebanon was supposed to be a Christian state. After World War I a mandate was issued by the League of Nations to France – they were requested to create a new state as a home for the Maronite Christians on the ground of today’s Lebanon. But within this État de Grand Liban there were also some regions with a Muslim majority which wanted to be united with Syria. A source of great conflicts that even became worth when a lot of Arabic refugees arrived from Palestine.

December 22, 2019January 22, 2020

Jeita grotto

At مزرعة الراس, Lebanon, in the valley of the dog river you can find a giant flowstone cave called the Jeita grotto. It is 10 km long and separated into two parts: the upper grotto is the opposite of narrow (with heights of more than 100 meters) and you can see spectacular formations and very long stalactites (up to 8.2 meters long) while walking 700 meters through the grotto. The lower grotto is rather short but contains an underground lake on which you can have a short boating tour (400 meters). The navigation skills of the staff are quite impressive.

December 21, 2019April 15, 2022

Corniche

If there would only be one place for a nice walk at بيروت, Lebanon, it would be for sure the Corniche – the 4.8 kilometres long promenade along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. It starts in the West of the city and leads then along the North of the city centre next to a street called Avenue de Paris. Along the way, you can see the lighthouse of Beirut and the famous Pigeon’s rocks. The Corniche is often filled with people walking, chatting, playing chess or fishing.