Green white and blue

In the 19th century, Emir Bechir II built a palace in Lebanon, approximately 9km from Beirut. The palace, now called Beit El-Din, rests cozily in the hills surrounding the city. I ventured outside of the city today with a group from AUB and took a bus from Beirut to Beit El-Din, one of the most magnificent buildings I have seen.

Word of advice: do not go in a van on a swerving and bumpy car ride if you are sick.

Another word of advice: go see Beit El-Din no matter what.

After an hour of an adventurous car ride (…), passing small villages, and a camel along the way, we reach Beit El-Din. We clearly were not the only ones there: among other tourist groups, workers were setting up the courtyard for a concert, and two newly-wed couples were separately getting pictures taken. I can’t blame them though – nothing could beat the breathtaking site of the palace or the view overlooking Lebanon’s mountains from it. The palace is still in great condition, well kept, except that there are now bulbs in the places of candles in their (beautiful) lanterns, and glass cases showcasing 2000 year old clothes (women had a sense of fashion; you had to see their shoes. Heels were atleast five inches high), and weaponry. [Princesses had to wear the high heels so their status was easily identifiable].

Among other things, some of the highlights included large Ottoman seals, the first Lebanese national flag, a knight’s armour from the crusades, swords!, and secret rooms. The architecture is superb – their “air conditioning”, which was basically water falling into the rooms through a fountaion from high up in the mountains – actually worked. Apparently when the ministers wanted to have secret meetings, they would keep the water running so no one could hear them. We also saw a gorgeous room that was reserved for guests and political meetings, the walls and ceilings of which was covered with cedar from Lebanon, and designed by I believe artists from Syria. I’m amazed people don’t make as big a deal of the designs in that room as they do of the Sisteen Chapel. The marble on the floor, the guide told us, was the only “foreign import” – from Italy.

Speaking of Italy – interesting fact: the bath rooms have holes in the ceilings to act as windows. One of the bath rooms, designed by an Italian architect, has the holes designed in a way to look like a cross when the sun shines through. Apparently he wanted to leave a mark without the Turks knowing. Pretty clever.

I can talk about Beit El-Din for a while, but it is definitely a trip worth taking to see. I will hopefully upload pics soon. Btw, we ended up eating at a resteraunt near there – we found one of the wedding receptions!

Next we went to the cedar reserves in Lebanon, which represent a quarter of all the cedar trees remaining in the country. We started on a mini-hike and saw the oldest tree in the country – 2000 years old. The view from up there was absolutely incredible – I finally got to experience Lebanon without its excruciating heat, the mist covered most of what we had left behind and really all we could see was the cedars.

On our way back, we stopped by Dier al-Qamar, an old Druze town that is not without tourists. Stalls are lined up against one side of the courtyard as soon as you enter, and there are signs pointing to resteraunts and souvenirs. Despite that, the village has a lot of history to offer. It was the site Fakhr al-Din II’s palace. There was also a small mosque with a minaret, and a little further on, a church. It was the first time I had seen an Arabic Bible, Arabic sayings when entering a church and Christianity depicted in forms other than the catholic images I’d been introduced to in Coalinga, CA.

Definitely a full Sunday. Saturday was not so touristy, but I did end up shopping with N. We went to two malls, and if it hadn’t been for random French stores or Arabic, I could’ve easily been in a mall in the U.S. I successfully dissuaded N from going into Starbucks or Haagen-Diaz…but we did go to Claire’s =/ The malls are pretty large (even though one of them had the smallest apple store I had seen). It would be one of the best places to do people watching – it’s amazing the types of people that come and go.

Ended up eating an amazing Lebanese meal (fettoush and Kebabs, complete with spiced pita and charred onions and tomatoes) at a resteraunt that overlooked the Mediterranean. We were sitting at the edge, and I think N and I both agreed that nothing could have been more perfect at that moment. The sky was clear, and if we just turend to one side, all we could see was the sea. Mm, sea and food, that’s all I need.

Update: tried my third mango juice today. My favorite so far but still going to find more.
Even more exciting, discovering chocolate eggs with the prizes inside that my sisters and I used to buy almost every day in Dubai. My prize was a top.

Long post, updates coming.