Byblos

We finally have internet!* Yipee! Instead of 20 minutes per picture to upload, it now only takes 5....what an improvement! Anyway, we have been to two interesting places in the last few weeks. The first was Byblos, a quaint (and beautiful) little city approximately 40 km north of Beirut. According to Wikipedia, Byblos is thought to be the oldest continuosly-inhabited city in the world founded between 7000 and 5000 BC. Isn`t that incredible?!

There is a large area of extensive excavations showing the remains of the ancient city, the Crusader castle, the church of John the Baptist, and the old market area. It was truly amazing to walk through it all if not a tad confusing! There are so many remains from different periods and different civilizations that it was hard to get a grasp of what you were seeing!

The castle:


The church:


Some cool pillars in the distance:


Beautiful arch:


Market Area:


TG and TB near the open air theatre:


A couple of cute statues:



We also went to a Byblos Fossil Museum. This museum has a collection of fossilized fish, sharks, eel, flying fish and plants that are millions of years old. We met the proprietor of the museum and he offered to take us out to his land to chisel the rocks and search for fossils in October. Needless to say, the kids were very excited by this prospect! Tigerpapa purchased them each a little fossilized fish and we were on our way back to Beirut.



*I have been using internet cafes for the last 5 weeks which really limited my online time. Not to mention how slow the connection is there!

Miss Yummy Yummy

Giving Miss Oooolala a run for her money:

Rubberband

Something made for Tigergirl:

She had a blast!

Sidon

A couple of weeks ago we drove south of Beirut to Sidon (Saida) and enjoyed a day of sightseeing. Sidon is an ancient city inhabited since 4000 BC and conquered many times over by many different Empires. It is mentioned in the bible and it`s said that Jesus and St. Paul preached there. Isn`t that amazing!? One of the biggest attractions is the Crusader`s Castle, built in the 13th century and located near the port.






After checking out the castle, we walked through the souks (markets) to go to the Soap museum which traces the history of soap making in Lebanon and also shows you how it was manufactured. Apparently the only change to soap-making over thousands of years is that there is now a motor that turns the "stirring" mechanism. The soap is made of olive oil and laurel and very very good for your skin. Many of Tigerpapa`s coworkers sing it`s praises and say that the eczema that plagued them (and their kids) throughout their lives disappeared after using this soap. I bought a bar made with Jasmine and it`s heavenly! Here is a tower of soap as it dries before being packaged:


The Market:




There was a lovely family with 3 little boys sitting at the table behind us (you can see them in the background of the following pictures). One of the little boys kept trying to talk to Tigerboy. :) Anyway, the father gave our kids a piece of corn that he had purchased from the vendor pictured above. I must say that people here are very friendly especially to the kids. They are often given a pinch on the cheek or a pat on the head.




Tigerpapa gets a weeks holiday in August and we were thinking of going to Europe but, with all of the moving expenses (we have to buy furniture!), we have decided to stay in Lebanon this time. Luckily, there is no shortage of great places to explore. We will go to Baalbeck and explore the Roman ruins located there and then stay at a mountain resort with a pool. There may even be time to tour another vineyard.

Oh, and we found an apartment (Sept. 1st move in date). I will post pictures as soon as I can get in and take some. :)