Byblos, Lebanon – Part 2

Day 3

On Saturday we slept in and then had another great breakfast down by the water. Then we hired a taxi to take us to Jeita Grotto which is a cave up in the mountains (about 45 minutes from Byblos) that is famous for its stalagmites.

Waiting in line for the Gondola that took us up to the upper Jeita Cave

Unfortunately, they were very picky about not letting anyone take any photos inside the cave. I tried to be sneaky and snap a few from my pocket, but they all turned out like this…

An example of my failed shots inside the cave

Jeita Upper Cave (photo from the internet)

Jeita has two caves, and upper and a lower. We walked through the upper and then took a little train down to the lower cave where they had boats to take you through that part. After we got back I was talking to M about it and she was surprised that the lower cave was even open because it is usually closed in the fall/winter because it is full with water!

Little train ride from the upper cave to the lower cave

Jeita Lower Cave (photo from the internet)

Jeita Lower Cave Boat Ride (photo from the internet)

After the lower cave, there was a little garden to walk through before we exited to the parking lot.  I enjoyed the fall colors of the leaves!  We don’t get that here in the UAE.

Garden area at Jeita

From Jeita we had the taxi take us to the gondola to Harissa which is on top of a mountain that looks out over the coast. It was a fun ride up and a beautiful view.

Harissa is the pointy building on top of the mountain

Riding up the gondola (Paul’s happy now that he’s got some caffeine to wake him up)

                         Paul pointing to the Lady of Lebanon                                                        Had to get a photo in front of some of Lebanon’s famous cedars!

Such a beautiful view!

That night we wanted some local Lebanese fare that wasn’t fancy and had Rock Restaurant recommended to us. It was sooo good. I had a shwarma which was amazing and Paul had a huge plate of various types of chicken and meat kabobs, hummus, etc.

Yummm!

Paul caught me a little off-guard after the first photo….

I was so happy that I got to wear the neck warmer that I had knitted a month ago---not sure that I’ll get another chance to wear it this “winter”

 

Day 4

We slept in on Sunday and then had our gourmet breakfast delivered to our room and ate out on our balcony which was heavenly.

What more could you ask for?!?!?!?

After breakfast we played some cards which always leads to some friendly competition and memorable comments…

Then it was time to pack up and head out. We wanted to see a bit of Beirut before we left, so we had a taxi take us into the town…unfortunately there was some miscommunication and we ended up just hanging out at a mall instead of making it to the old district to check out the sites. Oh well. From there we headed to the airport and made our way back to the UAE.

Riding around in our trusty “London Taxi”

Yes, those are reverse lights.  Just one of many cars that we saw reverse at 30+mph on the highway…

Overall a great trip—probably one of our favorites so far. I would definitely recommend Lebanon and really recommend that if you go you spend at least some time relaxing in enchanting Byblos.

Up close shot of the “Virgin of Lebanon” from Harissa