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Well this was my final week in Lebanon and it was certainly busy !
Returning back from Switzerland, Lebanon no longer seemed as cold! It was amazing stepping off the MEA flight from Geneva and smelling the ocean spray from the Mediterranean!





So we hired a car again, and made our way up to the Cedars in north Lebanon. The traffic on the way up to the ski slopes was a nightmare as there was only a narrow road for cars to come both ways. It was like everyone was freaking out because they hadn't seen snow before and didnt know how to drive! Once we arrived to the Cedars pists, there where only two runs open, which was unfortunate, but okay, as we had our skiing fix from Switzerland. We then explored the local shops which sell great trinkets made out Cedars wood... though im not entirely convinced all the ornaments on sale where Cedars wood, as theres has been extensive deforestation, with only small remnants of the original Cedars forests surviving. Alas, after buying some off these wooden trinkets, we asked the sales man where was the entrance to the Cedars forest? He informed us that it was "officially closed" for the winter as snow was too deep for the paths to be opened, but none the less, he showed us the way to jump the fence and go exploring in the forest! It was magical! Ive never seen the Cedars in winter and being the only two exploring the actual forest, away from the beeping two way traffic, knee deep in snow, was amazing!



We also went skiing to Faraya Mzaar. Its real close to Beirut, only taking a little over an hour to get up there! But out of the whole mountain, only TWO runs where open on the day we chose to go, apparently due to "bad wind". We both lost our patience after lining up for a good 20minutes for a chair lift to take you to the top of a run that took less then a minute to skii down! But at least we can now say we have skied in the middle east! In all honestly, how amazing is it, being able to Skii in the mountains of Lebanon! Anyone thats been to the middle east knows how hot it gets in summer, taking that into consideration, Faraya is a really nice Skii Resort, its well planed, with a decent car park (unlike the Cedars) and has extensive runs though it was just unfortunate on the day we chose to go skiing they were all closed. So we sat around till lunch time, drinking coffee on the slopes and watching the glamorous Lebanese Faraya frolic in the snow!



The trip down to Tyre was also amazing. Ive never been that far south of Lebanon before, its a fantastic city with a great ancient Hypodromme! The city itself had a real relaxed vibe to it, it was a real beachy kind of city! I reckon it would be fantastic in the summer! (thats if the south stays stable for the coming summer...?)



(Im running out of energy to blogg right now, maybe because ill be home soon.)



One last highlight was shooting glocks at the Spring Hills Country Club in Mansourieh! Get this right, we rocked up to the country club, went to the shooting range, told the man we'd like to do some shooting. He took us into the range, handed over the gun and a box of bullets, then closed the door and walked out! No demonstration, no safety, no paper work, no id, nothing! Obviously, being novice glock shooters, we had to ask for some help as for the right way of loading the gun. Then after that the box of bullet just seemed to disappear! It was so much fun! very exhilarating, id highly recommend it, its a must for all travellers to Beirut! ;)


So in all...this blog will conclude my trip. Ive had an amazing experience, and now am ready to return to the land down under!

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