This post sees me a hire a local car and drive in the craziest place of all from Paul’s place in Kfar Abeida to An Nakhlah via Tripoli.
Today is the day I quickly realised just how troubled Lebanon has become. Paul explained it to me but today I experienced it for myself. Lebanon is a third world country. It has no reliable electricity grid or internet. Shame. The Balkans were USA compared to this. The nation uses diesel and coal powered generators to power the country. These are always failing. People use solar and diesel generators and even car batteries to prop up the system when it fails. Internet is up and down like a yo yo. Inflation is rampant and jobs are scarce. Then there is Syria which literally surrounds Lebanon with only a small border with Israel in the South which is closed permanently to both countries because they do not get along.
Paul is a good gut with bad teeth. Lebanon has good dentists that are cheap compared with Australia so he planned to replace all his teeth with new-age ceramic technology. The only problem is that his dentist double-booked him and he had to go in for the next 5 days instead of next week. Bugger for us since he was going to drive me around Lebanon and I had booked and paid for accommodation for both of us. Paul helped me find a local car hire and that set me off for the next 5 days.
On my way to Tripoli I visited the Mseilha Fort, situated north of the village of Hamat in Lebanon. The current fort was built by Emir Fakhreddine II in the 17th century to guard the route from Tripoli to Beirut. It is impressive in that it is built on a pillar of marble that is literally impenetrable and unclimbable (a word I just invented).
Tripoli (Pop 227,857, Sea Level, Founded 14th Century AD) is literally a hell hole. Probably THE WORST CITY I have visited after 107 UN Countries. You know me. I always look for the best in the places I visit but I struggled big time to find anything good to say about this city except for its people – always courteous, always well dressed. There are millions of dirty decaying apartments, filthy streets, crazy drivers who do not know what a “road rule” is. To get anywhere in a car here you simply must aim for the car beside or behind you and just block their path. If you hesitate or even appear to give way you are toast. I sweated more from driving than I did in the outdoor 35C 90% humidity sun !!! If you want to loose weight fast and cheap then hire a local Lebanese car for $20-30USD a day and just drive around !!! Tripoli does have one thing worth seeing – The Al Mansouri Mosque. This is special since it was built in 1294 as a Church and was later converted to a Mosque under Ottoman occupation. I was welcomed into it to take footage and a kind old guy explained everything to me. This was good. The rest of the city was bad. The old guy explained to me that the city is awash with Syrian refugees. There are two types. The ones that a granted asylum do all the crap jobs and are OK. The ones that come in illegally rob and steal and vandalise everything in sight. There are more of the latter so the city has suffered immensely. It has such a bad reputation now that even Paul did not want to go there and he was born and raised in Lebanon. I realised this when I tried to book an apartment in the city and could not find one – I stayed in a hillside village 10km out of town. Peaceful and overlooking the great interior mountains of Lebanon, most over 2,500m with Mt Lebanon at 3,088m – now that’s a mountain and a good name too.
As usual my photos are designed to bring the BEST out of a place… Enjoy.
STOP PRESS: ABOUT LEBANON
The earliest evidence of civilization in Lebanon dates back over 7000 years, predating recorded history. Modern-day Lebanon was home to the Phoenicians, a maritime culture that flourished for almost 3000 years (c. 3200–539 BC). In 64 BC, the Roman Empire conquered the region, and it eventually became among the empire's leading centers of Christianity. The Mount Lebanon range saw the emergence of a monastic tradition known as the Maronite Church. Upon the region's conquest by the early Arab Muslims, the Maronites held onto their religion and identity. However, a new religious group known as the Druze eventually established themselves in Mount Lebanon as well, generating a religious divide that has lasted for centuries. During the Crusades, the Maronites re-established contact with the Roman Catholic Church and asserted their communion with Rome. The Maronite Catholic and the Druze founded modern Lebanon in the early eighteenth century, through the ruling and social system known as the "Maronite-Druze dualism" in Mount Lebanon Mutasarrifate.
Lebanon was conquered by the Ottoman Empire in the 16th century and remained under its rule for the next 400 years. Following the empire's collapse after World War I, the five Ottoman provinces constituting modern-day Lebanon came under the French Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon, under which its French-ruled predecessor state of Greater Lebanon was established. Following the invasion and occupation of the French Third Republic by Nazi Germany during World War II, French rule over the region weakened. Upon gaining its independence from Free France in 1943, Lebanon established a unique confessionalist form of government, with the state's major religious sects being apportioned specific political powers. Lebanon initially was relatively stable. This stability was short-lived and was ultimately shattered by the outbreak of large-scale fighting in the Lebanese Civil War (1975–1990) between various political and sectarian factions. During this period, Lebanon was also subjected to overlapping foreign military occupations by Syria from 1976 to 2005 and by Israel from 1985 to 2000. Since the end of the war, there have been extensive efforts to revive the economy and rebuild national infrastructure.
Lebanon is a developing country, ranking 112nd on the Human Development Index. It has been classified as an upper middle income state. However, the Lebanese liquidity crisis, corruption as well as recent events have precipitated the collapse of currency, political instability, widespread shortages, high unemployment and poverty, the World Bank defined the economic crisis in Lebanon as one of the worst in the world since the 19th century. Despite the country's small size, Lebanese culture is renowned both in the Middle East and globally, primarily powered by its extensive diaspora. Lebanon is a founding member of the United Nations and is a member of the Arab League, the Non-Aligned Movement, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, and the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie.
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