Saida/Saidon

The first two images here are actually from several weeks ago.  Erin's dad put us in touch with a family he works with out here, and their lovely daughter Salwa, a student at AUB, took us out for lunch one afternoon, and for a stroll on the beach afterwards.  Fast-forward to this past weekend, Salwa took Erin and I down south about 40km to a city called Saida (or Saidon to some), while Josh and Marika took a 3 1/2hr bus ride to the Quadisha Valley to the town of Bcharre (where poet Khalil Gibran is from).  When you ask where to go to a nice beach in Lebanon, everyone says Saida.  What they don't always add, it that in the off season, the beaches are allowed to accumulate with trash galore, so it's not entirely appealing.  Also, in Saida, our hostess pointed out "mount Saida" - a ginormous mountain of trash that sits right next to the sea, which gets partially washed in to the water during the winter storms.

Other than those minor details, the old city and souk are so beautiful and you feel transported back in time, with stone houses and arches crossing over the narrow paths, and the sound of children playing around every corner.  After having lunch, we set off for the fortress on the sea.  Although they were technically closed, we flashed our lovely smiles and were allowed in for a quick visit.  It's built on a rocky island 80m away from the coast and it is connected to the main land by a stone bridge built of nine arches, and the entrance is decorated with stone lions built in to the stone.  The fortress was built in 1228 by the Crusaders, on the remains of a Phoenician shrine dedicated to the God Melkart. Later, in 1253, King Louis IX of France added a main hall to the fortress, and it's considered to be one of the most beautiful fortresses on the Mediterranean coast.  One of the security guards led us to the top, up a dark narrow stone stairway, where we had great views of the city and the sea.

We came across a soap museum in Saida, which doesn't sound like the most exciting place, but it was fascinating.  Inside an underground stone walled "factory," you get to see how soap was made centuries back, what a labor intensive process went in to making these sweet smelling olive-oil cubes.  They must have had thousands of bars of soap displayed in creative patterns throughout the path of the naturally cool underground museum, as you can see in the photo above.  While trying to find our way back to the main road to catch the bus home, we came across a stage that was being set up for a celebration in honor of a sheikh (local Islamic scholar) who was killed by the Israeli army last year.

One final stop we made, actually a detour on the way to the bus station after I asked about an enormous church I noticed on top of an adjacent hillside, was at a Maronite church.  We were getting there just as the sun was starting to set, which cast gorgeous rays of light on the golden mosaic on the church front.  Inside there was another beautiful mosaic that had such vibrant hues that it reflected some of the colors on to the surrounding church walls.   That's one thing I didn't mention above that is special to Saida, is the mosaics that you can find throughout the old city.  Some are in better condition than others, but even the aging ones with missing tiles that reminded me of the many of the toothless smiles of the local elders, were stunning.

There are so many more places in Lebanon that I wish I had time to explore, I'm really sad to leave when I feel like I'm just getting my feet wet here.  I decided to stay in Beirut for the last 3 days instead of taking any more day trips, so that I can explore other pockets of the city that I haven't made it to yet.