Sunday 18th February – Beirut, Lebanon – Jounieh

Morning

• Arrive at your convenience into Beirut – the capital city and most populated city in Lebanon which is well connected from many countries. Group members also arriving in from our Saudi Spring tour.
• Pre-tour meeting will be held at the lobby of Mozart Hotel at 8:30am to discuss tour itinerary and to meet your fellow travellers and YPT guide.
• Begin the tour with a walk downtown to learn more about the politics, financial crisis, civil war, and the mass protests that brought down the government (Lebanese Revolution).
• Explore the port where the blast occurred on August 4th 2020. It was caused by a fire on a storage facility containing ammonium nitrate and resulted in one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in the world.
• Take a stroll down Zeituna Bay and Ain Mraisseh to visit the most expensive district in Lebanon and talk civil war, politics, and view the assassination spot of Prime Minister Rafic Hariri on Feb 14th 2005.

Afternoon

• We’ll have a lunch break downtown nearby
• Visit the Shatilla Palestinian refugee camp – it is still the largest Palestinian refugee camp in the world. It can only be done with special permission prior.
• Visit the small charming village of Deir El Kammar where the Ottoman ruling princes ruled Lebanon.
• Explore the Beiteddine Palace – a masterpiece of 19^th century Lebanese architecture, it was home to one of the latest ruling princes. Today it is Lebanese tradition that the president goes and stays there a couple of nights annually as a summer vacation.
• Enjoy a 1 hour hike around Al-chouf cedar reserve – the largest nature reserve in Lebanon making it 5% of all Lebanese territory. The Lebanese cedar is an import symbol and is featured on the Lebanese national flag. The importance of cedar wood goes back to the Phoenician times, where they used cedar wood to build the best fleet of trading ships.
• We then head to the coastal city of Jounieh – also known as the party capital of Lebanon.
• Arrive and check into the Bel Azur Hotel – ideally if the weather is nice we will head to the beach for some swimming and a nice sunset
• Dinner, drinks and overnight in Jounieh

Monday 19th February – Jeita – Harissa – Byblos

Morning

• Breakfast in hotel
• We will start our day with the Mystical Jeita grottos. The caves were discovered in 1836 by an American missionary while on a hunting expedition looking for wild boars. His discovery of the lower cave lead to the subsequent discovery of the upper caves approximately 100 years later. The caves were voted as a finalist in the new seven world wonders of nature competition. You’ll explore the upper caves by foot and lower caves by boat.
• We’ll then head to Jounieh where you’ll take the cable car to Harissa – here the statue of Our Lady of Lebanon sits. Religious stuff aside, there you will be able to find one of the nicest views in Lebanon. To add a little adventure to your journey you will have the option to pay on the spot and paraglide back down.

Afternoon

• Local lunch in Jounieh overlooking the sea
• Begin making our way to Byblos which claims to be one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world – over 9000 years. Here you will see the Byblos Crusader Castle, the surrounding Phoenician archaeological sites, Roman archaeological sites, the old souk which has been modernized, and finally the Phoenician Harbor.
• Check into the Ariram Hotel
• Head to Finiqia for dinner – one of the best restaurants in Lebanon in our humble opinion.
• Byblos is famous for its relaxed vibes and cool beach side bar culture, so we will go check it out!
• Overnight at Ariram Hotel

Tuesday 20th February – Baalbek – Anjar – Chateau Rayak

Morning

• Breakfast in hotel
• We now head for a true trip highlight and one of the more difficult places to get to in Lebanon – Baalbek
• Explore Baalbek where you’ll see the Stone of the pregnant woman – one of many gigantic stones used in building the temples of Baalbek. Situated inside a Roman quarry a few kilometres away from the temples of Baalbek, the stone of the pregnant woman weighs a whopping 1,000 tons and held the title as the world’s largest hand carved limestone block up until 2014; when a second stone behind it was discovered. The weight of the new stone which is partly excavated is 1,673 tons!
• After viewing the megaliths in the quarry and comprehending the effort that went into building the three Roman temples: the temples of Venus (Goddess of Love Beauty and Fertility), Bacchus (the God of wine and parties), and Jupiter (God of all Gods). The Temple of Jupiter is the world’s largest ever-built Roman temple, with the world’s largest Roman Columns – only 6 Columns remain standing today.

Afternoon

• Lunch and feast on the famous lamb meat pies of Baalbek.
• We’ll meet with the local wine maker Elias of Chateau Rayak – this will give you the chance to taste 7 different wines and Arak (the national drink of the levant).
• Visit the Ruins of Anjar – These ruins belong to Umayyad Caliphate with its development started at the beginning of the 8^th century. The Umayyads were headquartered in Damascus and wanted to expand their sphere of influence into the Bekaa Valley by building this new city on the crossroads of an important trade route. Since then the city became deserted and fell to ruins.
• Check into the St Jean Hotel at Zahle city.
• Dinner at Berdawanui Restaurant – named after the river, and serves incredible seafood.
• This is another vibrant city with an eclectic bar and café scene, so we head out to enjoy the evening.
• Overnight in Zahle.

Wednesday 21st February – Tyre – Mleeta – Sidon – Beirut

Morning

• Breakfast in hotel and make our way to Tyre to explore the beautiful port area and enjoy breathtaking coastal views of the Mediterranean Sea.
• Whilst here we’ll check out two different Roman sites – the Roman Hippodrome and necropolis.
• Explore the Beautiful columned roads, aqueducts and water reservoirs, and the remains of roman baths.
• Trip highlight: We visit the Mleeta Touristic Landmark – an open air museum dedicated to the commemoration of the fallen Hezbollah militants during the Lebanese Israeli War in 2006. You will meet a member of Hezbollah and he will share with you a local view of the conflict and politics of the militia in Lebanon, a view often times ignored over the Israeli narrative – also known as the Hezbollah Disneyland.
• We then carry on driving to the coastal city of Sidon

Afternoon

• Lunch at the best felafel restaurant by the sea in Sidon!
• Head to the Sidon Sea Castle – a 13^th century crusader castle, one of many crusader castles in Lebanon that served as military outposts during in the attempted conquest of the holy city of Jerusalem. The Mamluks were ex-slaves freed under Islamic rule and fought on behalf of the Islamic faith.
• Visit the Souks of Sidon – one of the last remaining traditional and historical marketplaces in Lebanon. The rise of real-estate prices has caused many of these historical markets to be closed down. We’ll stop by a soap museum to learn about the importance of soap in Lebanese history, followed by a traditional palace; the Debbane Palace.
• Make our return to Beirut which will take just over an hour where we check into the Beirut Gems Hotel.
• Seeing as we are in the legendary Hamra part of Beirut we will make the last night extremely special
• Our first port of call will be dinner at the T-Marabouta Restaurant, not only with great dishes, but also local Lebanese wine.
• We then do a trip highlight, the best bar in Beirut – it’s not just a communist “themed” pub, but literally an actual communist one. More Soviet kitsch and AK 47’s than you can shake a stick at!
• For those inclined we will hit a few more bars, or head back to the hotel, which is in walking distance.
• Overnight in Beirut

Thursday 22nd February

• Breakfast at hotel
• Tour concludes – YPT is also able to arrange post-tour accommodation or advice for flights.
• Group members for our Syria Spring tour begin the drive to the Syrian border, which will take about two hours. We’ll stop on the way for breaks and road snacks consisting of croissants and various other Lebanese snacks.

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