The name Lebanon brings to mind the images of some of the troubled regions of the world with check posts and troops on the streets. It is a small country on the Mediterranean coast bordering Jordan, Israel and Syria. Though we had agreed to go there for a short vacation (on a friend’s suggestion), we were quite apprehensive till we reached there. We flew to Lebanon from UAE during the time I was working there. The flight duration is approximately 3 1/2 hours.
The streets of Beirut were buzzing with activity. Our driver Paul was busy chatting to us and kept us entertained all along the way to “Faraya”, a mountain resort which was our final destination and a comfortable 3 hours drive from Beirut.
Lebanon is at the crossroads of Europe and the Middle East and is an eclectic mix of various ethnicities, sects and religions consisting of Marounite Christians, Muslims, Druze and various other sects. The people here are more at ease speaking Eastern Arabic and French. English too is spoken widely. Beirut is a curious mix of various influences with a bit of Middle Eastern influence and lot of local Phoenician and Mediterranean influences and appears to be more of a Greek or Southern European city. The city is rightly called the Paris of the East. The Lebanese people are the ancient Phoenicians who gave us one of the first organized alphabets from which the modern Roman alphabet originated.
Lebanon can be divided into the coastal areas, the mountainous range of Mount Lebanon where it snows in winter, the cooler areas on the lower parts of mountains which are ideal for fruit orchards and some arid and dusty areas. For such a small country it has got an amazing variety of climate. Imagine our surprise when we saw Faraya blanketed in snow with a steady drizzle. Down in Beirut it was cool and people were wearing light and comfortable clothing.
Lebanon has a bit for everybody; with the fashion and the nightlife of Beirut, the snow ski resort of Faraya, the history and museums of the ancient city of Byblos, the vineyards and the fruit gardens on the mountains. Other highlights include the giant limestone caves a few hours from Beirut and the Roman Ruins.
There are some good restaurants where you can get a good variety of food. For vegetarians the choice is a bit limited and you have to look around. We were there for 4 days and stayed in Faraya to enjoy the snow and have a bit of fun. We also visited Byblos, Jbail and Beirut. We found the people to be warm and friendly – ever ready to strike a conversation; the amount of conversation you can carry in English is limited though. At the end we certainly got the feeling that we discovered only a small bit of this amazing country and promised ourselves to return to discover more.
Please go ahead and visit this beautiful country if ever an opportunity presents itself. Admittedly, there are a few sporadic incidents but peace is slowly and steadily gaining an upper hand.
Let me tell you that the opinions formed about a country from television and newspapers can be quite far from reality !
