From Baalbeck to Byblos

Lebanon lies at the crossroads of the three great continents with many eminent figures from history having left their imprint – Ramses II, Darius, Alexander, the Caesars, Saladin, Tamburlaine and Napoleon.

At Baalbeck, ‘City of the Sun’, the acropolis is the largest and best-preserved corpus of Roman architecture left to us with temples from the Christian era. Once the commercial and religious capital of the Phoenician coast, it is to Byblos that we owe our instrument of communication as here the alphabet was first laid out; it is also the city that gave its name to the Bible. In Beirut itself, the city that ‘died and was reborn a thousand times’ we witness, the Herculean efforts of reconstruction.

The central ‘Solidere’ area is reborn and reflects the strong French influence with its outdoor cafés, restaurants and elegant shops. South of Beirut lies Sidon, a Phoenician city of biblical fame with the ruins of a 13th-century Crusader castle overlooking the harbour.

The National Museum although lying on the ‘green line’ was restored after the troubles and reveals Lebanon’s ancient heritage. The Mouawad Museum is an elegant former European private residence in Arabic style with a fine decorative arts collection.