TAKING THE LONG WAY ROUND IN LEBANON

The idyllic coastal city of Byblos where ancient Roman Ruins lie scattered close to the shoreline.

T plus 114 - Lebanon

This has got to be the perfect country to take a drive in.  Lebanon is only about 200km long and 50km wide.  And it is blessed with over 220km of gorgeous Mediterranean coastline to the West, and a gently sloping mountain range to the East.  So I abandoned my long-standing principle of sticking to public transport and splashed out for a car for three days.  It wasn't as expensive as I thought it would be - the car was only USD29 a day, for a brand new Kia Rio, and petrol's about USD 0.80 per litre.

I took the coastal road from Beirut to Tripoli in the North, stopping by the natural phenomenon of Jeita Grotto and the ancient Phoenician-Greek-Roman city of Byblos.  Then I turned inland, towards the mountains where I wound my way through the Garden-of-Eden-esque Qadisha Valley, ending up in Baalbek which is home to the remains of the monumental Temple of Jupiter from the Roman era.  On the last day I drove right across the country to the Hezbollah stronghold in the South where a combination of refugee camps and Roman constructions co-exist side-by-side.

At no point did I feel unsafe, even though there's a long-standing perception that some parts of Lebanon are "no-go" areas.  The reality is that there are enough troops stationed across numerous checkpoints in these areas to halt a medium-scale invasion.  Add to this the reassuring presence of 10,000 United Nations Interim Force troops stationed in South Lebanon (UNIFIL) and you've got yourself a pretty secure situation.  As secure as an area hosting the game of military brinkmanship played by Israel and Hezbollah can be I suppose.  

Some photos from my drive-abouts:

The truly staggering stalactites and stalagmites of the limestone caves of Jeita. The calcite formations here grow at a rate of 1cm every 100 years, so the history of this place goes all the way back to the last Ice Age, 3 million ages ago!  Stalagmites are formed when drops of bicarbonate-rich water drip down onto a surface, depositing microscopic layers of calcite which build up over millions of years.  Stalactites form on the "ceiling" directly above the stalagmite, also from the same chemical mechanism, so they are usually found in pairs.

The terms "stalacite" and "stalagmite" are based on the Greek word "stalassein" which means "to drip".  The chemical explanation is quite straightforward:  water comes into contact with the calcium carbonate (calcite) found in rocks;  the calcium carbonate dissolves in the water along with atmospheric carbon dioxide, forming calcium bicarbonate.  Some of the calcium carbonate precipitates out, forming deposits on the surface which the water drips onto.  The chemical equation is H2O + CO2 + CaCO3 = CaH(CO3)2.

You really have to forgive the appalling quality of the photos here.  Absolutely no photography allowed and they enforce this with military levels of rigour.  

Here's a proper photo from this website where there are more to be marveled at.  
Better still, visit for yourself!

Byblos:  the view of ancient Roman ruins from 2nd and 3rd centuries BC (top 2 pics) from the Crusader Castle built in the 12th century.  There's not much left of the Roman-era buildings, but the seaside location is nothing short of spectacular.  Before the Romans, this city was ruled by the Greeks.  

And way before the Greeks, it was inhabited by the Phoenicians who developed the foundations of the Roman alphabet we use today.  They were also a great sea-faring nation and some say their boats reached the shores of America 2,000 years before Christopher Columbus! 

Sunset from the fishing harbour of Byblos.  Today the boats carry more tourists than fish.

This was the roadtrip's real highlight for me - the epic beauty of Lebanon's mountain range.  The top two pics are of the Qadisha Valley and the charming Maronite Christian town of Bcharre.

Along the way you can check out the cedar trees at the Bcherri Grove, one of the few remaining collections of Lebanon's most famous tree.  Yes, this is the same tree on their flag (see pic in Byblos series for sample).  One reason for their scarcity is the tree's lengthy growth cycle which is hundreds of years long.  Some of the trees at Bcherri are over a thousand years old.  The bottom pic is of the inside of a hollowed-out tree.

The famed Roman Ruins of Baalbek.  The top two pics are of the six remaining columns (out of 54 originally) of the Temple of Jupiter (the largest Roman temple ever built) and the third and fourth pics are of the Temple of Bacchus (the world's best-preserved Roman temple); although it was later discovered that the temple was actually dedicated to Venus, not Bacchus.  

It's hard to describe how monumentally large these structures are.  For a frame of reference, see if you can spot the red van in the bottom pic.  Basically each of the building blocks is as large as a car.  The columns of these structures are 20m tall, and the blocks which go on top of them weigh 60 tonnes each.

Night shot of the entire complex at Baalbek.  It's pretty massive.  You can just about spot the 6 columns of the Temple of Jupiter in the rear.

The Hippodrome of Tyre, in the south of Lebanon.  The rectangular arena sat 20,000 spectators and was used for games like chariot racing.  This is the largest and best-preserved Roman hippodrome in the world.  Although I suppose "best preserved" is a bit of an over-sell seeing as how much of it has disappeared since it was built in the second century.

The bottom pic is taken from one of its entrance portals.  Only two sets of stands remain in decent condition.  The first is clearly visible in the centre of the frame.  The second set is far away in the distance, illustrating how large the arena is.

The Roman mosaic street of Al-Mina in Tyre, south of Lebanon.  It's amazing how much of the mosaic has survived after 2,000 years.  The (green) columns are said to have been imported all the way from Greece, a pretty hardcore journey back in the day.  

Are they green?  I can't tell - most of you know about my issue with colours.

The ubiquitous UNIFIL troops stationed in the south of Lebanon.  
Just to reassure everyone that it's pretty safe here.