Lebanon – Sunday 1 June 2008
It takes a while (several months actually) to feel able to complete our blog of our experiences in Lebanon. We hit the ground running in Beirut and do 2 straight days of sightseeing to the most amazing places, from early in the morning until well into the afternoon, party hard at night and then leave for our next overnight passage.
It is so difficult to understand why this ancient and lovely country is so shot up. From the bombed out railways and bridges, to the bullet ridden abandoned buildings everywhere, the empty premises in downtown Beirut and then the local people who welcome us with a level of warmth and pleasure we have not seen in many other places; it is immensely confusing and overwhelming.
Having recently read Gwynne Dyer’s book “The Mess They Made”, I have more of an overview and realise it is not just about Lebanon, but the Middle East as a whole but it is still very difficult to come to grips with the destruction and damage we see.
Beirut’s history dates back to 1500 BC as part of the Phoenician Empire. One of the results of the destruction of parts of the city is that new archeological sites have been discovered, and these are now being investigated.
We are all very keyed up when we sail into Jounieh just south of Beirut around 2.00pm on 1 June 2008. We are aware that the fighting has just stopped and that we have waited until the last minute before knowing for sure if we are able to go to Lebanon. Hasan has had a difficult night on the cell phone and has had to split the fleet and send some boats to downtown Beirut, due to a shortage of space at Jounieh Yacht Club. It has been a busy overnight passage where we have been under more than strict orders to stay outside the 12 mile zone all the way. We have seen gun boats.
On arrival I go with Hasan to the office to start the formalities. He is greeted like a long lost brother by the marina staff. We clear our documents through quite quickly and pay all the appropriate ‘fees’. It is a short time later back on the marina that I am accosted by a soldier dressed in battle fatigues who demands I “go with him now!...” It appears we still have $50 to pay and humour is not part of the scene until the cameras come out and I tell him it must be my lucky day! He cracks a small grin and off we go back across the water to the office.
Jounieh is a luxurious marina – described as one of the most exclusive marinas in the Eastern Med - with several swimming pools in the immediate vicinity and some trendy shops just down the road. Without exception all the EMYR people are soon up by the pool enjoying a cold beer and a long cool swim. However, soon the word goes out that there is a bus trip going into Beirut leaving around 7.00pm and we all race to get there so we don’t miss out. The atmosphere is one of disbelief that we are actually here. Going into Beirut this Sunday night is an experience nobody wants to miss. It is a bit spooky in places as we walk through some quiet, deserted, dark pockets of destruction and war damaged buildings from where the bus has dropped us. (We are not sure from which war as there has been fighting here until this past week, and prior to that in 2006 an attempted Israeli invasion and prior to that more conflict, civil war etc….since 1975.)
There are groups of soldiers on the streets, mostly at intersections. They welcome us to Lebanon as we walk by – everyone does. We obviously stand out as being tourists, not local citizens. It is easy to get lost in the almost deserted semi darkness and for a while we nervously think we might have taken a wrong turning but eventually find our destination, right in the very centre of the city, monitored by checkpoints where our bags are searched by friendly soldiers on the way in.
Like walking from night into day, we find ourselves in a wide boulevard of festive restaurants and malls running into a large roundabout with a statue in the middle. All the restaurants are open for business and crowded, with an air of complete normality that we would find in any city. It is a very sophisticated atmosphere with some fab looking shops, all closed, but is like a bright oasis in the middle of something else. We enjoy a good meal and then realise we have to run for our 1100 pm rendezvous with our bus as we have taken too long over it. We are surprised at our ability to sprint after weeks on the boat, as we make our way back to the bus stop through the dark deserted streets.
Monday 2 June
We are on the bus early for our day tour of Byblos, Jeita Grotto and Harissa. The bus takes us past steep terrain which is lush, green and beautiful. We have not seen anything like this so far in the Rally.
Jeita Grotto is first on the list, normally closed on a Monday, but open today especially for our group. We are lucky as we have the caves to ourselves, beginning with a short film showing the Jeita Grotto’s history when it was closed during the early civil war and used as an ammunition storage facility, more pictures of when it was almost totally bombed and levelled and now the present day tourist destination. We are incredibly impressed by the Grotto which is 6 kilometres of underground river and limestone deposits. We walk the upper level and then proceed down to the 650 meter deep lower level for a boat ride through the cathedral like caverns. Later on in our travels in other parts of Europe we are to visit caves, but are never as moved by them as we are on this day, by this unspoilt wonder. We are not allowed to take any photographs inside, so are limited to a photo of the tourist train which ferries up hill to the cave entrance.
Soon we are on the bus again and on our way to Byblos dating back to 5000 BC and before, it is a World Heritage Site – one of several we are to visit during the Rally. It is here that the early Phoenicians were the first to develop syllabic writing and where our alphabet and Arabic and Hebrew alphabets of today originate. We walk around the site, hardly able to take in the antiquity. We see where simple fishing folk have been living in one room cottages with crushed limestone floors dating back to 5,000 BC - the massive early bronze age city walls of 2800 BC, and the remains of temples to Rah the Egyptian God of Sun, Venus, Adonis, Shef, Isis, Zeuss, amongst intensely pink flourishing Oleander trees. There is a prehistoric quarter dating back to the 4th millennium BC – my notes from that day seem to say a “chalcolithic house”. There is a very small Roman Theatre from 3rd century AD. All this on a rocky outcrop of land with the blue Mediterranean Sea and sky as a backdrop.
We are catered for with delicious Lebanese food in the nearby village, and because there is some mixup in the time our coach is supposed to arrive and it is late, we have an unexpected bonus and time to explore the village.
From here we travel to Harissa and visit the Church at the top of the mountain overlooking Beirut. It is a stunning piece of architecture set high above the city. At the end of a fulfilling day we look down over Beirut and Jouneih Yacht Club and wonder at the beauty of this amazing place.
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