This post sees me a drive from Baalbek to Zefta via: Chateau Ksara Winery, Beiteddine Palace, Moussa Castle and Deir El Qamar village. From Zefta I visited Tyre and Sidon on the Mediterranean coast.
Château Ksara was founded in 1857 by Jesuit Priests who produced the country's first dry red wine. Chateau Ksara Winery is world class, now producing 3 million bottles annually with worldwide exports to 40 countries – a true success story when you consider the trials and tribulations of Lebanon. Ksara grows its own grapes and there are only two white varieties that are unique to the area. Château Ksara is Lebanon's oldest, largest and most visited winery, attracting some 70,000 visitors per year. Château Ksara also has a 2 kilometres of underground Roman caves to store its wines giving perfect climatic conditions for aging.
Emir Bashir II of the Shihab dynasty, who later became the ruler of the Mount Lebanon Emirate, built the Beiteddine Palace between 1788 and 1818 at the site of the Druze hermitage. After 1840, the palace was used by the Ottomans as a government building. During the French Mandate it served as a local administrative office. In 1943, the palace was declared the president's official summer residence. During the Lebanese Civil War it was heavily damaged. Parts of the palace are today open to the public while the rest is still the president's summer residence.
Moussa Castle the life work of a Lebanese visionary, requiring 60 years of dedicated hard work to finish. Moussa's castle was built on a hill between Deir El Kamar and Beiteddine - Lebanon, with the beliefs and ideas of its builder engraved on its stones. The castle was built by Moussa Abdel Karim Al Maamari who was born on July 27, 1931, in the village of Harat Al Saraya - Lebanon and died January 31, 2018, in the village Deir El Qamar. His idea of building a castle began when he was only 14 years old, inspired by the Middle Ages. Ridiculed by his teacher "Anwar" and mocked by his classmates, he left school and travelled to Saida on foot where he worked with his uncle on restoring Saida's fortress. He was later assigned by the Emir Maurice Chehab to renovate the castles and to excavate for archaeological discoveries to be exhibited in the National Museum of Beirut in 1947. He continued working in the same field gaining enough experience from his work in restoring castles. He was then transferred to Beiteddine palace, where he restored the museum of Emir Bashir Chehabi II; he supervised the work as well as the placing of the Emir's weapons collection, clothes and jewellery, and the sword offered to him by Napoleon in the museum that was inaugurated under the rule of late president Beshara Khalil Al Khoury in September 1951. It was then that he began work on his own construction and bought a suitable piece of land. The foundation stone was laid in 1962, and completed with the help of his wife. It was opened to the public in 1969. A true labour of love.
Deir El Qamar (Pop 4,371, Elev 800m, Founded 1257) is a quaint mountainside village only 50km from the Mediterranean cost near Sidon. It is famous as the official summer residence of Lebanese Presidents though it dates back to before the Middle Ages.
Enjoy the sites of my drive from the Mountains to the Mediterranean of Lebanon…
The more I drive around Lebanon, especially through coastal areas, the more I dislike it. It is definitely third world. Grubby streets, beggars everywhere, uncontrolled traffic, dead rats, stray animals, people selling stuff in the middle of the road, a currency that keeps changing, electricity and internet that keeps failing. Many parts of Africa are better. Despite this, the interior and mountain regions are better and the archaeological ruins are good but not looked after well enough. Today I ventured to Tyre and Sidon, the former for Roman ruins and the latter for local mainly Muslim history.
Tyre or Tyr or Sour (Pop 60,000, Sea Level, Founded 2750BC) is one of the oldest continually inhabited cities in the world, though in medieval times for some centuries by just a tiny population. The city has a famous ancient Roman site that features one of few excavated Hippodromes and Necropolis complete with bone fragments and was added as a whole to UNESCO's list of World Heritage Sites in 1984. It was one of the earliest Phoenician settlements now buried underneath the Roman ruins. The site is easy to walk and visit but like many archaeological sites in Lebanon not protected or supervised. I could walk on any of the ruins and even take Roman bone fragments dating back to the 1st Century BC without anyone noticing. If it were not for the Roman ruins there would be no other reason to visit this city. It is dirty, overrun with people and traffic and quite simply ugly and a big mess.
Sidon or Saida (Pop 80,000, Sea Level, Founded around 3000BC) is a city at the crossroads of historical conflict and occupation. In the years before Christianity, Sidon had many conquerors: Assyrians, Babylonians, Egyptians, Persians, Greeks, and finally Romans. Herod the Great visited Sidon. Both Jesus and Saint Paul are said to have visited it. The city was eventually conquered by the Arabs and then by the Ottoman Turks. In the Book of Genesis, Sidon was the first-born son of Canaan, who was a son of Ham, thereby making Sidon a great-grandson of Noah. Sidon was one of the most important Phoenician cities, and it may have been the oldest. From there and other ports, a great Mediterranean commercial empire was founded. Homer praised the skill of its craftsmen in producing glass, purple dyes, and its women's skill at the art of embroidery. Now it is a shadow of its former ancient glory. Overrun, unkept, dirty, crowded, and full of crazy traffic. It is a shame. Add 35C 90% humidity to this equation and it is literally “hell on earth” or more precisely “hell on the Mediterranean”.
I have done my best to bring to you the best bits of both cities…
I did not realise just how ARAB Lebanon is. Not that there is anything wrong with that. In all honesty, before I came here I always imagined Lebanon has more European, especially with the relatively more recent French influence. I clear my eyes when driving and I think I am in Morocco or Egypt !!!
Lebanon needs a miracle to bring it into the modern world... I pray this happens because it is in a beautiful spot on the planet and has much antiquity to offer.
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