Jeita, Harissa, Byblos

What an overdue post! Two Saturdays ago, everyone in the program took a trip to Jeita, Harissa, and Byblos. It was a VERY long day, but it was really great to get out of the city and see more of the country. Our first stop, Jeita, is a cave that is gorgeous and huge, but you're not allowed to take pictures inside it. :( But it was really breathtaking. In the upper grotto you walk into the cave, and keep going into rooms that are each different and gorgeous. It seems endless upward and downward. In the lower grotto, you take a boat ride that's shorter, but just as amazing. Apparently Jeita is being considered to be one of the "New Seven Wonders of the World", and it definitely has my vote. I had no idea caves could be like this! It made me actually think I SHOULD go to Mammoth Cave sometime...

Funny thing... While we were at Jeita, there were a bunch of tourists from rural India there. They had never seen Amerians before, so they were all shamelessly taking pictures and videos of us! It was really weird. Mainly just because they weren't trying to be discreet at all. They even asked some of us (including myself) to be in pictures with them. Kind of hilarious, but a little strange that we'll be in the photos of random Indians. Here is my attempt to photograph them photographing us.

From BEIRUT!

Anyway, our next stop was Harissa, which is this church on top of a hill that overlooks the town of Jounieh. The view is gorgeous, and sadly, my digital camera just couldn't capture the beauty, especially because it was a bit cloudy that day. We took this ride up that terrified Mom once she found out about it. But we did get a great view of the town on the sea!

From BEIRUT!

Anyway, Harissa was beautiful. There is a large statue of Mary that overlooks the town below and you can walk up the spiral to the top for the best view. Here is a picture of me on my way up to the top of the statue (you can see the rest of my pictures here, of course!)

From BEIRUT!

Our final stop was Byblos. By this time in the afternoon, we were all starved because we had only eaten breakfast and it was about 4:00. We went to this restaurant right on the water for "lunch" (The Lebanese do lunch at usually about 2ish or 3 and dinner at like 9 or 10. Lunch is the big meal in the day, and you just eat something small for dinner usually.) and it was going to be a feat to feed us to satiety. But, of course, this was a Lebanese restaurant. We began lunch with salad and mezza -- all the good things: fatoush, tabouli, hommous, spinach/meat pies (fatayer), kibbi (oooh the kibbi....), grape leaves, everything you can imagine! It was perfect. Everything was delicious, and it was cool with the breeze and beautiful view right on the sea. Perfect pace. So we ate and ate and ate, and by the end, I was stuffed... and then the waiters began to take away our plates, to uncover yet another plate. I was confused -- surely there wasn't MORE food? And then they brought out the meat! It was so delicious, but I really could only have a few pieces because I had already eaten so much. Then came the fresh fruit for dessert and, of course, coffee. What a lunch!

After that, we were all ready to go to bed, but we took a boat ride as the sun was beginning to set over Byblos. We rode around with Arabic pop music playing and just enjoying the sea and the view.

From BEIRUT!

One of my favorite things about Lebanon is the mountains, and they extend all the way to the coast. So all the cities right along the coast are built on the mountainside, and the buildings overlook the sea and the houses and roads roll up and down the hills. It makes a gorgeous sight at sunset. It was how I saw Beirut first from the plane... when I didn't have a window seat even though I was supposed to. Otherwise I would have taken a picture then, but here's one now!

From BEIRUT!

And then my parents came!!!!!