Byblos or Jbail

Zahra at the doorway to the Phoenician castle.

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Byblos is a short drive up the coast from Beirut and well worth the trip.  Its a beautiful drive anyway.  We hired a driver who took us first to the Jeita Grotto, which is probably the largest cavern in the world.  The formations inside were stupendous, and the main cavern is possibly 100 feet tall.  The lower cavern is partially filled with water, so you take a boat tour around in it.  For the kids, there's also a telepherique (gondola) ride and a "train" ride.  Sorry, they wouldn't allow any photos!

Then on to Byblos, the main Phoenician headquarters.  There's a grouping of ruins there that document human habitation for 7,000 years.  Starting with Neolithic man, Canaanites, then Phoenician dwellings (did you know they were only four feet high on average?  Their houses had no doors, entered through roofs?  They invented phonics?  They traded extensively with the Egyptians, giving them the cedars of Lebanon to construct coffins, olives and wine, and getting Egyptian stone, culture and religion in return).  This was followed by Greek empire (the ubiquitous Greek theater), Roman empire, Umayyad empire, then ending with the Medieval Crusader Castle. 

The Phoenician temple of obelisks (Egyptian influence)

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And of course modern-day Byblos, which is a really nice little town.  There's an Arab souk along the main Roman road.  We had great lunch at Loser's Pizza.  Then continued back to Beirut along the coast, stopping at Jounia to take the Telepherique up to Our Lady of Lebanon, Greek Orthodox Church with an awesome view (but the ride was pretty scary, going right next to towering high-rise buildings).