Lebanon - Nature: Mountains and Valleys
Date: 25 February 2012 03:35:14
In my last post on Lebanon, I looked at the sea, the Cedars and caves. This post I look at the beautiful mountains and valleys that run throughout the length of the country. While I stuck to cities, towns and accessible locations on this trip, hikers can hike all or part, there are 26 sections each of which can be done in a day, along the Lebanon Mountain trail, a trail covering 440 km that transects more than 75 towns and villages at altitudes ranging from 600 to 2,000 metres.
The first mountains I saw were those to the east of Beirut, the Metn, as the plane landed; easily accessible by bus from Beirut, assuming you had better luck than I and could find the bus. I did not seem to be able to find the road on which the Lebanese Commuting Company No 7 bus left from, despite me asking all and sundry who were unfortunate enough to pass by me, hence a day excursion I'd planned to escape the heat was transferred to rambling around other parts of Beirut I had not seen. Next time, I hope. On the subject of buses, and while I will speak about my travelling experiences later, in Lebanon while buses have defined start and end places, and a defined route, there are no dedicated 'bus stops' in between: you hail the bus from wherever you want to stand and ask to get off wherever you want. A common experience was a bus picking up a passenger or two, trundling 10 metres or so, sometimes at little as 5 metres, and then picking up someone else. I never really took to this; if I saw others waiting I instinctively moved towards them -- no doubt committing some social faux pax in the process.
Any disappointment at not seeing the nature, towns and history of the Metn was forgotten as I entered the Chouf Mountains, south-east of Beirut, heartland of the Lebanese Druze, an 11th century off-shoot from the Ismailism branch of Shia Islam, though also one of the most religiously diverse regions in Lebanon; and one that historically saw good co-operation and Druze and Christians living together, though there were violent clashes in 1848, 1860 and most recently in 1983/84 as part of the Lebanese Civil War. The Chouf district is home to the Al Shouf Cedar Nature Reserve which I posted about previously, and is an area with many towns and villages, a fascinating history, and beautiful scenery. And tilled land, for growing produce, each field enclosed with stone, climbs each of the hills from the valley below the towns, as per the photo below from the shortcut road that winds down and then up the valley between the towns of Beit ed Dine and Deir al Qamar.
However, the highlight of my trip was the Qadisha Valley, the Holy Valley, the heartland of the Maronite Christian Church and as my guidebook in a super understatement said, "one of the most beautiful regions in the country". I will speak about the monasteries, religious history, and even the 'spiritual feel' of the Qadisha Valley, at least those places I visited, but for now I will focus on its beauty.
Picture it. I am coming from Baalbek, courtesy of a taxi, past the hashish fields ('tabak' as my taxi driver said with a wink), then up a winding mountain road with bends and turns, and no safety rails in sight. As we are driving I have a beautiful view back east to Baalbek and the plain it is on. As it appears we are reaching the top of the mountain range, perhaps after an hour or so of driving, the taxi driver pulls over, tells me he needs a break given the dizzying climb; I look west and see this:
Yes, given the season it was dry and brown around me, but the view, the amazing view: I seem above the clouds, and below me a beautiful green valley, with towns dotted around the jagged cliffs. Hard to see from the above photo, but once I was in the Qadisha Valley, below are the views that greeted me every day.
The sheer beauty, and 'rawness'; seemingly God had placed in hands in the middle of a mountain range and tore the land apart to form a beautiful valley and towering, jagged cliffs on which towns and villages were perched.
And as I made my way into the floor of the valley, to hike as well as visit monasteries, the views were just as awe-inspiring.
And, after 4pm each day, yes, each day, the fog rolled in:
An amazingly beautiful, peaceful, and spiritual place. And I will turn to monasteries and churches in my next post on Lebanon.