The Passenger ⋆ Page 113 of 308 ⋆ Memories and hints of a travelling IT professional.

December 23, 2019January 10, 2020

Sfiha

Lebanese food is well-known across the world and because of the large Lebanese diaspora, it is also widely available. But you don’t need to think about high-class restaurants – even small eateries or bakeries can surprise you with delicious experiences. One of them is Sfiha, minced meat wrapped in pizza dough and baked in small pieces. You get it with a lemon to drop some juice on top and salted yoghurt to drink in between. Once you started with eating it is hard to stop again.

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, 2019April 15, 2022

Byblos

The city of جبيل, Lebanon, is one of the oldest, still inhabited cities in the world. It dates back to 5th century BCE and was over many centuries an important harbour for trading with Egypt and Cyprus. While the Egyptians preferred the strong Cedarwood of Lebanon, the Lebanese needed stones that were less weak than the local material. Byblos also became an important hub for trading papyrus. Under the name Gibelet and under Christian reign it became an important harbour for the Christian crusaders travelling to the Holy Land.

December 22, 2019January 21, 2020

Malena

You won’t stay hungry at جبيل, Lebanon – there are a lot of good restaurants located around the old harbour and in the old souk area. If you prefer a more quiet option than the Malena might be the right choice for you. It is a hidden gem located close to the harbour of Byblos (Jbeil) and you need to know where to find it. The restaurant has a roofed terrace with amazing views on the harbour and the sea, and it is placed within a nice garden with fruits growing around the restaurant.

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.