Lebanon Day 5
North Lebanon
Today was an adventure day around the North of Lebanon. We rented a private taxi to take so that Ismat could enjoy the trip and not have to drive. Our main destinations were the cedars and Tripoli. On the way to The Cedars we visited a couple mountain top monasteries. The first was the more modern monastery. There was a ceremony in progress when we arrived so we were able to speak with some of the monks afterwards. The second monastery was the much older Mar Lichaa monastery. It was built right into the mountain wall. The trip to both monasteries was along a very winding road along the mountains edge.
Cedars
After the monastery visits we made our way to the Cedars of God, an ancient old growth forest of cedar trees. The cedar is very important to Lebanon and is featured on their national flag. It is the only flag in the world with a tree. The timbers from the Lebanese cedars was used by the Phoenicians, Israelites, Egyptians, Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Romans, and Turks. The wood was prized by Egyptians for shipbuilding; the Ottoman Empire used the cedars in railway construction. The oldest tree still existing in the forest is 3,200 years old. That means it has seen the birth of Moses, Jesus, and Mohammed. We had lunch there at the cedars. Ismat tried the “I have Americans from America” trick. The waiter was not impressed and responded with, “So, I am from Canada.”
Tripoli
Next it was down the mountain to Tripoli, Lebanon’s second largest city. In Tripoli we visited the following sites.
- Old souk
- Soap factory
- Crusaders Castle
As is the tradition of this trip we had an early evening lemonade. It took awhile to find the place. We would stop and ask someone on the street and they would tell it was right up the road and to stop up there an ask someone else. I think we asked 15 people before we found the place. It was worth the trip. This lemonade was a very flavorful frozen ice. Tripoli is also known for their Arabian Sweets. We had to stop to grab a few treats, plus some extra for those that could not make the trip with us.
