Round The World by Bike: Lebanon (24 November 2001)

Lebanon

What do you know of Lebanon and Beirut? Let’s be honest: you’ve probably

only read this far because you thought the title was ‘Lesbians’. What I knew

(or thought I knew) was a place ripped apart by fighting – tanks and rubble

in the streets, concrete shells of buildings Emmental-ed with bullet holes.

Fanatics draped with AK-47s. And if you should be foolish enough to enter

the country… well you are sure to be taken hostage a la Terry Waite and

John McCarthy. More like Front Page than Travel Page. A travel page should

be telling you about places like this:

A tiny nation combining natural beauty with some of the juiciest history in

the world. The best food in the Middle East. A buzzing, invigorated capital

city. Skiing, sunshine and the ocean…

The history of Lebanon is jaw-dropping. Byblos is the oldest continuously

inhabited city in the world (over 5000 years old). A beautifully preserved

Roman street runs alongside relaxed cafes and restaurants in the heart of

Beirut. In a nearby square are 2000 year old Roman baths, the under-floor

heating system clear to see. The baths were built, in turn, on the site of

Phoenician baths 4000 years old. Today they are smack bang in the middle of

Beirut city centre.

And then there is Baalbek, a site for which the superlative must have been

invented. Its construction was a startlingly ambitious political statement

made by the Romans at the heart of the vital Fertile Crescent between the

Nile and the Euphrates. The largest Roman temple ever constructed, far

bigger than anything in Rome or Athens. The temple of Bacchus is the best

preserved temple on the planet. The mightiest building block ever cut lies

nearby. Measuring 20x5x4 metres it weighs 1500 tonnes. The ‘vast monoliths’

of Stonehenge are a mere 50 tonnes. 40,000 people would have been needed to

shift the ‘Rock of Fertility’.

The Lebanese are proud people. They are proud of their hospitality and proud

of their food and rightly so. Pepe’s ‘Fishing Club’ restaurant in Byblos is

legendary, a frequent haunt of the likes of Brigitte Bardot, Frank Sinatra

and Marlon Brando in the 1960’s. Hundreds of photographs testify to its

glamorous clientele. In restaurants you are bombarded with endless plates of

mezze (starters): hummus, tabouleh and fatoush salads, spinach and cheese

pastries, flat hot bread and the fabulous baba ghanouj – a smoky blend of

aubergines, tahini, lemon and olive oil. And then they bring the main

courses! Ouch. A cornucopia of decadently sweet pastries and cakes to finish

with.

The wines of Lebanon are a hidden jewel. The vines of Chateau

Kefraya, Chateau Musar and Ksara are beginning now to be praised

internationally, for Lebanon has an ideal climate: both Mediterranean

sunshine and 3000 metre mountains gathering snow and keeping the land

fertile.

How about this for a day in a holiday? A morning’s skiing at Faraya or The

Cedars, the afternoon at one of the most exquisite and important ancient

sites in the world, sunset in a café watching the sun slide into the ocean

before strolling around beautiful and friendly downtown Beirut as you select

the restaurant of your choice from the myriad of high quality options

available.

And then, when your friends boast of Rome’s history or Greek sunshine or

skiing in Austria or Parisian cuisine, allow yourself a little smug smile at

having found all that rolled into one special little country. Welcome to

the horrors of Lebanon!

Daily flights from London to Beirut. 4½ hours. Major carriers including BA.

Flights approx £450. Trailfinders 0207 938 3366

Car hire available (though Lebanese driving is rather crazy!), including Avis,

Hertz, Europcar etc. Europcar $180 per week upwards. International Driving

License needed.

Many tour companies to Lebanon, including:

Cox and Kings (0207 8735003)

Jasmin Tours (01628 531121)

Bales Tours (01306 885 923)