EMYR 2011–and on to Israel..

It was last in, first out when we came to leave our cosy cattle pen at Jounieh marina, which meant that we were amongst the last to leave, and it was gone 6.00pm before we set sail for Israel. We had been given strict instructions to say that we were heading for Cyprus if any Lebanese officials asked, as they won’t allow you to sail straight to Israel from there. We were given a waypoint 12 miles out at right angles to the coast and warned not to turn left until after we had reached it and hence were in international waters. These waters are policed by the Lebanese coastguard, with the UN also present, and as soon as you are out, the Israeli navy is ready to pick you up and monitor your actions. Inevitably, some of the rally didn’t understand the instructions – or chose not to as it added quite a few miles to an already long passage, and they turned to head for Israel well before they reached the waypoint. It was quite disconcerting to hear on the radio the exchanges between the Lebanese coastguard, the UN warships and one or two errant rally boats, as they were threatened with arrest and an armed escort into Beirut if they didn’t alter course immediately. Of course, by this time it was pitch dark, and seeing it all unfold on the radar only added to the excitement. We fully expected to be a couple of boats short by the time daylight came, but it seems that the naughty boats decided to obey the rules just in the nick of time. We all arrived safely at the next way points, effectively a gate for us to sail through, just as dawn was breaking, and dutifully called up the Israeli navy to politely inform them that we were about to enter their waters. As it turned out this call was a bit surplus to requirements, as two gunships were waiting at the gate to see us through, and they visually and verbally identified each boat and then tracked us as we headed in to Haifa. It seemed a bit threatening at first, but we soon got used to seeing these boats, and they were impeccably polite and professional at all times.

We had been warned that if we thought mooring in Jounieh was tight, Haifa was going to be even worse, and they were right. If you imagine two pontoons with boats moored stern to, we had to fit nose to tail in the gap in the middle, and tie to each other and the bows of the boats on the pontoons. Thankfully there was no wind, and everyone helped each other as soon as they were tied up, so it all went remarkably smoothly. Again, we were amongst the first to arrive, so we only had to climb over two boats to get ashore, but some of the later boats had 14 boats to climb over. It made for an entertaining sight after they had all had a skinful at the cocktail party!

Haifa Carmel Yacht Club, our host, is situated about 1mile up the Kishon river, and is heavily industrialised, and a bit smelly. The water was a disgusting shade of brown from a semi permanent algal bloom which occurs because of the nitrates being pumped into the water from the surrounding factories. There is a campaign to clean up the river, and there is already some success as there seems to be plenty of bird life and fish around, but apparently they need 60million dollars to clean over 1 metre of pollution lying on the river bed from the oil refineries that have been there for years. They clearly have their problems like any other industrial city, but they sure no how to throw a good party – one of the best yet, with food, drink and dancing into the small hours. We got chatting to a guy who told us he was ex SAS or equivalent, and he was telling us all sorts of tales about is distinguished career, but he was now working as a security guard for the marina – it didn’t quite add up, and we think he was full of BS, but it made for an entertaining half hour.

Next morning was an early start and a trip to Nazareth, the Sea of Galilee, the Jordan River, and the Golan Heights. We were very lucky with our guide, who was an ex university lecturer, and was prepared to talk about any and all contentious issues, and even came prepared with maps and diagrams to show the original state of Israel, and the now Israeli occupied territories. He also had a wicked sense of humour and a very dirty laugh!

First stop was Nazareth where Jesus is supposed to have grown up, and the church of Annunciation, which is built around the cave where Mary was supposed to have lived. The church is very modern, and built out of a lot of concrete which has been distressed to make it look old. In the cloisters are wall mosaics which have been donated from the catholic churches of many countries, and are mostly very beautiful, but some are quite grotesque. The guide asked Justin to read a passage from the Bible here, one which he has read to the children at school many times, so it was quite moving. Of course, he read it beautifully! We then walked a short distance to the church which has been built around the cave that was supposed to have been Joseph’s workshop. Quite how they know these things I’m not sure, but judging by the amount of people praying, some obviously believe it. Outside the church were some street sellers selling Arab headdresses, and Justin bought a red one as a souvenir, only to be told that the red signified Hamas supporter and he should be careful where he wore it – whoops!

After that it was all back on the coach, and off to yet another church. This time it was the one built around the rock on which Jesus is supposed to have laid the two loaves and five fishes at the feeding of the five thousand. I’m afraid if the other two sites required a leap of faith for us to believe their accuracy, this one left us nothing short of incredulous – but hey, it was a pretty church, and the rock looked – well like a rock! To show willing we bought a pretty little dish for olives with 2 loaves and 5 fishes on it in the souvenir shop.

Thankfully, the next stop was lunch, but not before we stopped for a photo opportunity of the Sea of Galilee, which is actually a lake fed by the Jordan River, and overlooked by the Golan Heights which were taken from the Syrians during the 6 day war. Lunch was in a Kibbutz on the shore of the lake, and was absolutely fantastic.

Lunch was followed by a visit to the River Jordan to the site where John baptised Jesus ( well, not actually the site, as that was too close to a conflict zone, so the Israelis have thoughtfully set up a replica some where else on the river; mustn’t disappoint the rich believers or their money!)We paddled in the river, which was actually very peaceful, and even watched some people going for total emersion. There were photos on the wall of the famous people who had been immersed in the waters, and I was slightly surprised to see Trinny and Suzannah’s photo there! We managed to resist buying a small bottle of river water for $5, and clambered back on the coach.

Final stop was the Mount of the Beatitudes where Jesus delivered the Sermon on the Mount. It is on the top of a hill overlooking the Sea of Galilee, and there is a beautiful octaganonal church which rather unfortunately was built with money donated from Musolini. The in the grounds, there is a hospice run by Nuns, and it really is a very peaceful place. Our coach broke down here, and we had to wait an hour after everyone else had left for a replacement, but it was no hardship, in fact it was the best part of the day for me.

EMYR 2011–Lebanon–Byblos and the Jeita Grotto

Next day was another early start for a trip to Jeita, a fabulous limestone grotto in 2 enormous caverns. The upper cavern has a walkway through it, and the stalagmites and stalactites are really breathtaking – it knocks Cheddar Gorge into a cocked hat! To visit the lower cavern you have to take a boat ride on a cold, clear subterranean river. Unfortunately, photography is not allowed inside the caverns, so we took these images off the webpage. The really great thing was that it was closed to the public on the day we visited, but they opened up just for us so we had a very exclusive tour, and could really appreciate the magnificence of it without any distractions.

On the way to Jeita we stopped off to visit Our Lady of Lebanon, a statue of the Virgin Mary on the top of the hill overlooking the bay. Apparently during the month of May, all good Lebanese Catholics have to make a pilgrimage and climb the hill to pray at the statue, so there were quite a few people there. There were also quite a few school parties’ all praying under the statue.

The view was spectacular, and if you look closely at the photos you can see the marina with Belle Helene in.

In the afternoon we visited a small town called Byblos, which is reported to be the oldest continuously inhabited town in the world, dating back to before the Phoenicians, at least 7000 years. It is also the place where the precursor to the modern alphabet was created, and is the source of the Greek word biblia meaning book or Bible. Today it is quite modern, but has a beautiful medieval centre. We had a great lunch in a restaurant overlooking the harbour, and then walked round to look at the various churches, Roman ruins, and a crusader castle. We sneaked off from the tour after a while (Justin was all rocked out!) and found a café for a crushed ice lemon and mint drink – delicious. We also visited a small museum exhibiting some amazing fish fossil dating from the time when the mountains above Byblos were under the sea.

In the evening we had a formal dinner hosted by Jounieh Yacht Club. It was a great night with excellent food, plenty of drink, and dancing into the small hours. Also present was the Minister for tourism for Lebanon, and the ambassadors of Turkey and Greece; apparently it was quite a coup to get them sitting at the same table.

Our guide for the 2 days had grown up in Lebanon during the war, and her little brother was developing lots of nervous ticks as a result of the strain of living in a war zone. Her parents were in the fortunate position of being able to escape to France for the final few years of the war, although her father remained in Lebanon to work. Her brother’s ticks resolved, and she was happy to return to Lebanon after completing her education in France. Interestingly, she still hates loud bangs, and has no desire to go on thrill seeking fairground rides etc., as she says she has had all of the life threatening experiences she could want. As a result of the war, the Lebanese people have a ‘live for today’ attitude, and all have really flashy cars, but don’t bother to buy their apartments. The driving is appalling, with no real regulation. The guide’s parents bought her a driving licence off the internet for her birthday, and she had never driven a car in her life before! Her observations of Lebanon were very insightful: biggest export, people; national sport, Sunday lunch!

EMYR 2011–Lebanon

After a good night’s sleep, we had an early start for  a coach trip to Baalbeck, Lebanon’s greatest Roman treasure, and supposedly one of the best preserved Roman temples ever as it was buried in metres of sand.

On the way to Baalbeck, we stopped at a village and had the speciality breakfast of cream cheese and honey wrapped in a pancake, made in the traditional way. Not quite sure whether we liked it or not, but the coffee was good!

After that it was all back on the bus, and next stop was an old quarry site where the largest hewn stone in the world lies where it was cut 2000 years ago. It makes you realise just how ambitious the Roman’s were with their building projects to think that they could move stones of this size, 21.5m x 4.8m x 4.2m – I suppose they had plenty of slaves, and they didn’t care how long it took because they thought that their civilisation was going to be around forever.

Next it was on to Baalbeck, and the site was all that the literature promised and more, very impressive. However, what we didn’t expect were the fairly aggressive street sellers outside the temples, pushing Hezbollah tee-shirts in our faces. Some friends thought about buying one as a gift for our Israeli hosts in the next port, but thankfully decided against it! It wasn’t until we returned to the marina that the girl in the office told us that normal Lebanese people consider the Baalbeck region to be unsafe as it is a Hezbollah stronghold. Oh well, we survived it, the only casualty of the trip was the coach, which lost the door to the boot in an altercation with a raised curb!

After lunch we were all trooped into a winery, where we were shown the cellars carved into the rock, and then invited to sample the produce. The stuff they gave us was of dubious quality, but we were assured that the more expensive wines were highly sought after. I think a few of the party fell for it, and the coach party chinked and clinked to the sound of rattling wine bottles all the way home!

Brian – not impressed with the Lebanese red (although he did manage to finish it!).