Day 4 Photo Album

Heading south from Beirut along the coastal highway, we turn inland south of Ed Damour and are soon climbing up in to the mountains.

Our first stop is the mountain village of Deir el Qamar. We thought this was Beit ed Dine, but soon found that this was the site of Palace of Fakhreddine. Here we mistakenly paid to visit a wax museum & were able to view a likeness of President Bush Sr. among other historical figures.

Here our driver gazes upward as we try to find more of interest here. It was a beautiful village and the mountain air was clear and cool. Our guide book tells us that this village is "one of the best preserved examples of 17th & 18th century provincial architecture in the country."

The next stop seemed to us to be Lebanon's answer to Disneyland, the Castle Moussa. While we did not want to stop, our driver insisted. This "monument to kitsch" is a castle replica filled with animated mannequins depicting Lebanese life & also a weapons museum.

While a popular attractions for locals, Castle Moussa was not our favorite stop. Looking across the valley from the Castle grounds, we think we see the village and palace of Beiteddine & expect this will be more to our liking.

Arriving at the Beiteddine Palace, we are not disappointed. Here Patrick & our driver walk across the Outer Courtyard. This is a beautiful palace complex. It was built over a period of 30 years starting around 1788. It received great losses during the Israeli invasion, but has now been restored & has been declared to be the "Palace of the People."

Entering the Central Courtyard, we are struck with the beauty of what our book tells us is "the greatest surviving achievement of 19th-century Lebanese architecture."

The detail surrounding this doorway is breathtaking.

Check out PATRICK'S PANORAMA of the Central Courtyard.

(Another Beiteddine web site.)

Even more breathtaking is what we find inside - most of the rooms we visited were richly decorated with marble, mosaics and marquetry - many had interior fountains.

This is the Reception Room

After taking the previous photo, Keith turns his camera to the Reception Room doorway where Patrick is standing.

Another beautifully appointed meeting room. The walls & ceiling here are of carved & painted wood.

Another interior fountain, this one against the wall with water running over the flat ornate marble surface.

Yet another interior fountain in another beautiful room.

We now enter the Hamman (or bathhouse) area where we find more beautiful stone & marble.

Here, in one of the several ornate bath rooms, Patrick takes a photo of Keith taking a photo.

Dropping down to a lower level we find chambers where there is a fantastic collection of Byzantine mosaics. So impressed were we, that we took many photos of these archeological treasures & too many to do justice here. We have made a separate album for these ancient works of art.

With one of the outside mosaics showing in the center of this lawn, we walk across this lower terrace and prepare to leave this most beautiful and fascinating place.

Thinking that we are going to visit the Chouf Cedar Reserve, we are soon horribly lost & find ourselves heading the wrong way. We finally convince our driver that this is okay & we continue heading south through the often terraced mountains.

We near the summer resort town of Jezzine perched here on this high cliff. We will have lunch at the blue & white restaurant shown on the left here. Not many years ago this was one of the "hot spots" of the war - now it seems to have returned to a tourist haven.

From our table in the covered open-air part of the Al Shallal Restaurant we can view the "Cascade" here on the right (not much water running at the end of a hot dry summer). More photos!

With the distant valley & mountain views in the background, we enjoy a rather late lunch. Our driver is to the left - Patrick on right.

On the crest of the mountains between Jezzine and the coast, Keith takes this photo of the interesting pine trees with Jezzine in the background.

Arriving at the coastal city of Sidon or Saida, we only have time to visit the famous Sea Castle or Qasr al-Bahr. Patrick stands on the causeway to the castle.

This island castle was originally the site of a Phoenician temple, but most of what we find here today was built by the Crusaders.

This view of contrasts shows the modern city of Sidon in the distance. Roman columns were used horizontally to reinforce the walls.

Here is a view from the castle of the mosque & the harbor area where we saw fishing & tour boats coming & going.

This view back towards the city captures the famous Rest House Restaurant prominently in the foreground. This restored Ottoman khan is considered the "culinary highlight" of the city. We checked it out but it was not dinner time. (Rotary & Lions both meet here.) More photos!

Just across from the Sea Castle is this beautiful old building, still showing the traditional Mediterranean architecture.

Now quickly driving back up the coastal highway towards Beirut, Patrick takes this photo of several unfinished buildings. We saw many modern buildings, many unoccupied or only partially built. We were told that there was much spec building going on with few controls.

Day 4 - Sept. 14 - Chouf Mountains: Deir al-Qamar, Moussa, Beiteddine, Jezzine, Sidon (Saida)