Lebanon - Jeita Cave and Byblos!

Christmas Day.....in Lebanon....on my way to see one of the most beautiful caves in the world. Excited? Heck yes I was!!!

We woke up bright and early on Christmas Day to head off to Jeita Cave (Grotto). We drove into the mountainous area north of Beirut to the bottom of the ravine the caves are located in. After buying our tickets, we rode the teleferique (cable car) up to the top cave.

Riding inside the teleferique....Christmas Day! :)

The teleferique....apparently that's what they call cable cars over here!

Sadly they didn't allow photos inside, but we tried to sneak a few anyways. LOL Because the cave is so immense and the lighting so specific, they didn't really turn out. I tried to find some from off their website so you can get an idea of what we saw. It truly felt like I was in the Jules Verne's book "Journey to the Centre of the Earth"! It was beautiful and so crazy! The stalactities and stalagmites were so unique and at times looked like magical creatures. The air was damp and warm and the cave almost felt alive as it was still dripping. The did a fantastic job with lighting it and making sure it still looked untouched. If ever you are in Lebanon, you HAVE to go to the Jeita Grotto!!!

If you look towards the top right, you can see the walkway attached to the side of the cave wall....this cavern is huge!!

Once we had walked as far as we were able to in this upper cave, we walked down to the lower cave entrance and were excited to find that it was still open for the boat ride into the inner cavern on the subterranean lake. We had been told it was probably closed due to the higher water levels in the winter months, but this year the water level was still low enough for us to go! :) Again, BEAUTIFUL and surreal. It felt like we were in another world!

If you click on the link below, it takes you to a Facebook page with great pics of both the upper and lower caves. :)

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=43009&id=21462737525

From here we drove another hour to Byblos....

Byblos, also known as Jbeil.....another very ancient site in Lebanon. There have been artifacts and hut foundations found here that date back over 6,000 years. It's an interesting archaeological site to explore as it is full of VERY old stones and foundations mixed in with more modern ones from the times of the Crusaders 1104AD. All of these ancient sites in this part of the world seem to be built over year after year so you end up getting to see structures from all time periods!

The Crusader Castle....

Old Roman outdoor theater...

I love how the city has been built right up to the edge of the ruins.

Kim standing on an old oil/wine press!

The ruins of ancient Byblos overlook the beautiful Mediterranean Sea!

Ahhhh........the water looked so inviting! :)

Modern day Byblos has a pretty sweet stretch of beach!

From Byblos, we went to Harissa.......the Lady of Lebanon, some famous statue way up on the mountain where people go to pray. The view from up there was awesome! :) We had to ride another teleferique to get up there, but that was cool too as we passed by apartment buildings and could see into them where families were sitting down to eat their big Christmas dinners!

Slight moment of homesickness, but as the cable car climbed it passed quickly! LOL ;)

The teleferique up to Harissa! It passes ridiculously close to the apartment buildings....

This would be Harissa.......a famous bronze statue of Mary that's been there for over 100 years. We climbed all the way up to the base of it even though that meant we had to squeeze past people because the tiny path was maybe 12 inches wide at parts!

The view from Harissa......looking down on the town of Jounieh.

The sun started setting quickly as we were up there.

Yup, we love these dorky "self portrait" pics.....:)

The sun dipping down into the Mediterranean.....

Riding back down.....

Dusk on Christmas Day

After getting back down, we drove straight to the airport and flew home to Kuwait, concluding our whirlwind Christmas weekend trip to Lebanon! A beautiful country with so much more to explore.....if ever you have the chance to visit, make sure you do!!! :)