Quel esprit peut te saisir?

Discovering Lebanon every minute of the day


In every little gap in our timetable - before, between, and after the numerous youth meetings we have, and on Sundays, our friends take us to incredibly beautiful places all over the country. We are estonished by the beauty of landscapes, churches, and monuments, but almost equally amazed by the sheer number of wonderful places that we get so see every day. Because often, their beauty makes us remain speechless, and because our full schedule wouldn't allow us to describe all of them in detail, we do not want to make a lot of words here, but just share some picture from every visit. Enjoy! And come to Lebanon!

Joun: Couvent Saint Saveur

The Couvent Saint Sauveur, a monastery within an incredibly beautiful landscape just next to Joun






In this church, a brother of the Greek-Catholic order living here sang byzantine liturgical chants especially for us.


Abu _______, a very famous brother who has lived in the monastery ...
... in this room
This is resurrection! The bishops' and priests' tombs under the church of the convent, and the icon of Jesus raising them up.
After having visited the convent, we went to other monasteries and little churches in the area of Joun that are all located in very beautiful landscapes.


For example, here you can see the church of the convent's novices' monastery and the fantastic view that one has outside of it.

Sour
On the way to Sour (Tyr) ...

...in the south of Lebanon



In Roman times, Sour suffered from a heavy earthquake and half of the city center sank into the see, ...

... this is why you can see pillars and other Roman architecture not only in Sour's center, ...


... but also under the water. You can swim on top of Roman buildings, or dive for pieces of history.

Chouf: Maaser el Chouf and Deir al Qamar



In the region of Chouf, you find some of the oldest trees of the county.

The cedar you see on the right side is more than 3000 years old. It did not only survive all World Wars, but was already old when Christ was born! Cedars are characteristic for Lebanon's nature: You will find the cedars of Lebanon in the psalms and on the national flag.













Jezzine and Bisri


Jezzine at night

Jezzine's famous statue of Mary, a sight which is being visited by people from many different denominations in Lebanon, at night, ...




... and during the feast of Assumption.


She has an incredible view over the mountains, by the way, ...

... and is not far from this water fall.



A wonderful little church in Bisri

Saida

City center




 



 

S. Nicolas' cathedral: Peter and Paul

It says that Peter and Paul were hiding from their persecutors ...

... exactly here.

Castle


 Museum of Soap


Saida, but also Lebanon in general, have a long tradition of soap production. The museum of soap is a very impressive place showing well how soap is being produced in the traditional oriental way.
 

Castle at the harbour

One of Saida's most beautiful places, the castle at the harbour






 Jaita
On our way to the grotto of Jeita which has been a candidate to be one of the new seven World Wonders. Unfortunately, we were not allowed take pictures, so you have two options: Get informed, or better: go yourself. It's worth it!


Harissa and Junieh

In Harissa, which is located just in the middle of Lebanon's coast line, both Maronites and Greek-Catholics have built big and impressive churches:

Here, you see ...

the Maronite one.

View over Junieh's bay




The Greek-Catholic church, one of the most beautiful ones we have ever seen in the world.






On the way down from Harissa to Junieh by cable car ...


... passing by quite close to people's homes.

Annaya

In Jubayl, Saint Charbel has lived for long years. This is the place where he lived alone as a Hermit.


Big church of the Convent in Annaya

Jubayl


Jubayl has a wonderful little old town which we cannot describe well with words... Just look!




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