Tourist Attractions in Lebanon

Skiing in Lebanon

Every visitor to Lebanon has heard that this is the only country in the world where one can ski on snow in the morning and swim in the waters of the Mediterranean in the afternoon. This is due to the fact that Lebanon mountain range rise up above a very narrow coast. Even the highest resorts are only a short drive from the coast, which offers on clear day a particularly spectacular view. From the top of Mzaar, the highest point above the resort of Faraya, the Bekaa Valley and the Anti Lebanon mountain range can be seen to one side, and to the other, the city of Beirut and other towns along the coast.

Lebanon has six ski resorts with groomed slopes, catering to skiers and snowboarders of all levels. Beyond the skiable domains await you kilometers of cross-country skiing and snowshoeing trails waiting to be explored; Lebanon has something for everyone. Each of the ski resorts has a different flavor; however, it is Faraya Mzaar (Kfardebian) that offers world-class infrastructure and facilities for the tourists.

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Beit Eddine

Simply known as "The Cedars", this resort settlement in Lebanon's highest range is one of the most dramatically beautiful spots in the country. Its centerpiece is an ancient grove of cedars, a tree synonymous for millennia with Lebanon itself. Just below The Cedars is the town of Bsharre, birthplace of Gibran Khalil Gibran.

The road snakes up the bare eastern slopes of Mount Lebanon presenting marvelous views at every turn. As you get higher, at the crest you look down the other side into a gigantic bowl where the ski resort, the cedar grove and the Qadisha gorge lie before you in a wide-angle panorama. Plan this route for summer or fall because snow closes the pass in winter.

A more direct way to The Cedars is from Chekka (south of Tripoli) to Bsharre. Two roads lead from Bsharre village to the cedars, about seven kilometers up the mountain. The older road, known for its hairpin curves, leads past the entrance path of the Qadisha grotto. The new road, with more gentle engineering, is kept clear in winter for painfree ascent. Whichever way you take, the vistas are beautiful, especially when fog rises from the valley.

You first arrive at a large assortment of hotels, chalets, night clubs and restaurants, which though not a village, does form a local community of residents, visitors and local proprietors. About a kilometer further on is the famous Cedar grove where the road is lined with the inevitable souvenir stands and small restaurants. The same road continues to the ski area at 2,066 meters and goes over the mountain and down into the Beqaa valley.

The Cedars is a resort for all seasons . In summer the high elevation makes it a wonderful escape from the humid coast while in winter skiing is the favorite activity.

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Baalbeck

 

Baalbeck, Lebanon's greatest Roman treasure , can be counted among the wonders of the ancient world. The largest and most noble Roman temples ever built, they are also among the best reserved.

Towering high above the Beqaa plain, their monumental proportions proclaimed the power and wealth of Imperial Rome. The gods worshipped here, the Triad of Jupiter, Venus and Mercury, were grafted onto the indigenous deities of Hadad, Atargatis and a young male god of fertility.

Local influences are also seen in the planning and layout of the temples , which vary from the classic Roman design. Over the centuries Baalbeck's monuments suffered from theft, war and earthquakes, as well as from numerous medieval additions. Fortunately, the modern visitor can see the site in something close to its original form thanks to work in the past hundred years by German, French and Lebanese archaeologists.

Baalbeck is located on two main historic trade routes, one between the Mediterranean coast and the Syrian interior and the other between northern Syria and northern Palestine. Today the city, 85 kilometers from Beirut, is an important administrative and economic center in the northern Beqaa valley .

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Beirut

Beirut, with its million-plus inhabitants, conveys a sense of life and energy that is immediately apparent. This dynamism is echoed by Capital's geographical position: a great promontory jutting into the blue sea with dramatic mountains rising behind it.

A city with a venerable past, 5,000 years ago Beirut was a prosperous town on the Canaanite and Phoenician coast.

Beirut survived a decade and a half of conflict and so has earned the right to call itself "the City that would not die". The Lebanese capital enjoys a vigorous press that publishes in Arabic, English, French and Armenian. Five Universities help keep ideas and innovations flowing.

The flourishing art scene, including theater, film making, music and plastic arts adds to the sense that is indeed a city on the move. Its many advantages also make Beirut a natural venue for international, regional or local conferences and conventions.

Beirut's Port, the largest in the eastern Mediterranean, is equipped to handle tens of freight and passenger vessels.

Further updating of its busy facilities will be made as part of Lebanon's general reconstruction plan. Beirut International Airport, which serves the national carrier Middle East Airlines and numerous foreign airlines, will have an annual capacity of six million passengers by the start of the 21st century.

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Aanjar

Aanjar, 58 kilometers from Beirut, is completely different from any other archaeological experience you'll have in Lebanon. At other historical sites in the country, different epochs and civilizations are superimposed one on top of the other. Aanjar is exclusively one period, the Umayyad.

Lebanon's other sites were founded millennia ago, but Aanjar is a relative newcomer, going back to the early 8th century A.D. Unlike Tyre and Byblos, which claim continuous habitation since the day they were founded, Aanjar flourished for only a few decades. Other than a small Umayyad mosque in Baalbeck, we have few other remnants from this important period of Arab history.

Aanjar also stands unique as the only historic example of an inland commercial center. The city benefited from its strategic position on intersecting trade routes leading to Damascus, Homs, Baalbeck and to the South. This almost perfect quadrilateral of ruins lies in the midst of some of the richest agricultural land in Lebanon. It is only a short distance from gushing springs and one of the important sources of the Litani River.

Today's name, Aanjar, comes from the Arabic Ain Gerrha, ''the source of Gerrha'', the name of an ancient city founded in this area by the Arab Ituraens during Hellenistic times. Aanjar has a special beauty. The city's slender columns and fragile arches stand in contrast to the massive bulk of the nearby Anti-Lebanon mountains, an eerie background for Aanjar's extensive ruins and the
memories of its short but energetic moment in history.

Aanjar is open daily. Close to the ruins of Aanjar are a number of restaurants which offer fresh trout plus a full array of Lebanese and Armenian dishes.

Some of the restaurants are literally built over the trout ponds. Aanjar has no hotels but lodging can be found in Chtaura 15 kilometers away.

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Saida

 

Sidon, on the coast 48 kilometers south of Beirut, is one of the famous names in ancient history. But of all of Lebanon's cities this is the most mysterious, for its past has been tragically scattered and plundered.

In the 19th century, treasure hunters and amateur archaeologists made off with many of its most beautiful and important objects, some of which can now be seen in foreign museums.

In this century too, ancient objects from Sidon (Saidoon is the Phoenician name, Saida in Arabic), have turned up on the world's antiquities markets.

Other traces of its history lie beneath the concrete of modern constructions, perhaps buried forever. The challenge for today's visitor to Sidon then is to recapture a sense of this city's ancient glory from the intriguing elements that still survive.

The largest city in south Lebanon, Sidon is a busy commercial center with the pleasant, conservative atmosphere of a small town. Since Persian times this was known as the City of Gardens and even today it is surrounded by citrus and banana plantations.