That Place

I do not know where to begin in describing a certain place we toured back in August. It is nestled in the mountains near Beiteddine and is one of the weirdest places I have ever been in my whole life. There was no theme, no discernible meaning to the displays that I could pinpoint but I do know the story behind it. The name of this place is "Castle Moussa"! Apparently, Mr. Moussa (an architect) had a dream to build a castle to impress (and win the heart of) the girl he loved. He built the castle by himself over a period of about 50 years using 6,500 hand carved tablets. None of the tablets are the same. If you look closely at the picture below, you can see the different carving on each stone. It`s really quite amazing:


There were displays. Many displays. Some were depicting Lebanese life at various times in history:


*Note the hands and feet on the floor at the front of the second display (more on that later).

Some more happy:


than others:


There were internationally famous scenes:


As well as guns. Lots and lots of guns. I`ve never seen so many guns in one place:



*There was also a marked interest in severed appendages:



Here are the kids at the end of the tour:

Tigerboy looks psychologically damaged and Tigergirl looks a bit worried but I`m sure they had a good time!