Qadisha Valley - weekend trip (part 1)

A couple of friends visited Beirut last week. They decided to go on a trip to the Qadisha Valley and Byblos. Since it was the weekend, I decided to tag along.

I had done no research about the trip, leaving everything to my friends (who in turn were relying on a pamphlet they picked up at the airport). My knowledge of the valley came primarily from a TV programme I saw the night before leaving for Lebanon, plus bits and pieces picked up from friends.

According to Wikipedia, 'Qadisha' means 'Holy' in Aramaic. I have also seen it called the Sacred Valley. Geographically, the valley is a deep gorge and the road traverses the mountains on either side of the valley (altitude markers I saw went from 600 to 1200m above sea level). Historically, the valley sheltered Maronite Christians fleeing persecution. It has also been a refuge for monastic groups and hermits. Many little hermitage settlements and monasteries ('deir' is Arabic for monastery) dot the valley. The valley itself is stunningly beautiful.

I was still half dozing, half awake when we reached the Qadisha Valley. By the time I came fully awake, we were in Ehden, one of the villages at the Qadisha Valley. Our driver was not familiar with the area, so he stopped to ask for directions. My travelling companions were a vegan and a vegetarian, so it was to some amusement of mine that we stopped at a butcher's with lamb carcasses hanging prominently outside.

After lots of discussion and gestulating, none of which we passengers understood, it was unclear if the driver really knew where to go. To be honest, I wasn't sure what we were looking for as I was asleep when my friend was discussing directions/location with the driver. In the end, we decided to stop at the village of Ehden itself to stroll around.

Ehden is home to St George's Church, from which grand views of the valley can be found. Unfortunately, some ugly buildings partially obstruct the view so we actually got nicer photos of the valley elsewhere (the ones you see above are from near Blawza village).Still, the church was a pretty one with a magnificent cedar tree growing in front and the view was a first taste of what was to come.

A cedar and status of local hero, Youssef Karam (opponent of Ottoman rule)

Inside the St George's Church

European-like village centre

After Ehden, we proceeded to the village of Houqa. We stopped along the way to take some photos and had a chat with a lady who lived right there. Turns out she has relatives in Australia, so she was pretty excited to hear we were from New Zealand.

See the Australian flag flying below the Lebanese one!

Photo session done, off we went again. At Houqa, we left the car and went off on what we thought would be a peaceful mountain hike, only to run straight into a party of French-speaking boy scouts. As the boys passed us, a couple shook my hand and wished me a happy "Bonjour". Thankfully, they didn't stick with us the whole way and we got to experience the peaceful, contemplative nature of the valley.

There go the scouts

The trail was a steep one heading deep into the valley. I was sure glad that I don't have bad knees. Going down was tricky enough and even at this point, I was dreading the climb back up. But the scenary was nothing short of spectacular. I'll say at this point that despite knowing a bit about teh valley's history, I had not expected it to be quite so Christian. There were so many crosses and shrines that Stations of the Cross came to mind. At other stretches of the trail, when we were walking along the valley wall rather than downwards, I felt like I was walking through history and in Biblical lands.
 

Our Lady of Houqa Church

Steep!

See how far down we've come

Sans boy scouts, I can't think of a better place for a hermit to retreat from the world

Heading to the Hermitage of Houqa

Access to the Hermitage

Inside one of the cave rooms

St Marina Sanctuary

 

St Marina Sanctuary

Inside St Marina Sanctuary

Our Lady of Qannubin Monastery - former See of the Maronite Patria

Our Lady of Qannubin Monastery

We were stranded in a cave at Qannubin Monastery for a bit because the heavens opened and rain came bucketing down. When it eased off enough that we wouldn't be completely soaked, we further into the valley looking for the resaturant promised by the pamphlet. We found it soon enough and sat down to a well-deserved meal. Just in time too cos the rain started again. 

After lunch, we hiked back up the mountain towards the village of Blauza. This was a steep switchback climb - uphill the entire war to 1200m, with no flat stretches. It took us about an hour to reach the top (would have been faster if I hadn't had to take breaks). The scenery was as spectacular as before. We got the driver to meet us at the Blauza rather than hiking back to Houqa.

We decided we'd had enough so instead of going towards Becharre, we decided to head back. We took a slight detour to visit Mar Antonios of Qozhaya Monastery - the largest in the valley.

Mar Antonios of Qozhaya Monastery

Cave chapel.
Somehow this reminded me of the Buddhist cave temples in Ipoh.

There were services going on at both Qannubin and Mar Antonios Monasteries when we were there. While it meant that we didn't have the oppostunity to look inside, I found that the sounds of the lithurgy and hymns added another dimension to the experience. Also interesting to me - even though I couldn't understand the language, I would be willing to be that at one point I was listening to the Apostles' Creed being said. There was something about the rhythm/form of the recitation that was basically identical to how I've always heard it in English.

I feel incredibly privileged to have had the opportunity to visit this beautiful and religiously/culturally rich valley. So far, it's been the highlight of my experiences in Lebanon and I'll gladly return if I can.