Arts and Crafts of Lebanon

Trip Description

Accomodation

Stay program

• day 1

  Beirut

  

  Arrival at Beirut airport, transfer to the hotel and overnight in Beirut.

• day 2

  Beirut

  

  Visit the splendid Sursock Museum, dedicated to contemporary art. Discover Beirut's art scene: visit contemporary art galleries, as well as boutiques of Lebanese designers in the Mar Mikhael and Gemmayze districts. In the afternoon, visit the National Museum of Beirut, where you will discover a collection of Lebanese archaeological objects and a collection of artifacts by Lebanese craftsmen. Stop in front of the Pigeon Grotto on the Beirut corniche, then take a walk in the city center to discover the architecture from the French mandate, places of worship, and archaeological remains. Overnight in Beirut.

• day 3

  Ouzaï, Tyre, Sidon

  

  The route will cross southern Lebanon, passing through Ouzville, where street artists have transformed the privileged Ouzaï neighborhood, located in the suburbs of Beirut, into a place rich in vibrant colors. Route to Tyre, the queen of the seas during the Phoenician era, today a city rich in archaeological remains recounting its glorious past. Visit the southern port of the Barbour workshop, which still displays boats as in the time of the Phoenicians. Upon leaving Tyre, stop at the Tyre Workshops where the ancestral know-how of artisans is showcased: blown glass, pottery... In Sidon, in the old city, visit the soap museum set up in the former soap factory, the carpenters' and mattress makers' souks, with their craft shops, as well as the Debbané Palace. Overnight in Beirut.

• day 4

  Baalbeck, the Chouf

  

  Departure to discover the fertile plain of the Bekaa. Visit of Baalbeck: the largest Roman treasure in Lebanon, listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site. The most important Roman temples are built there; they are considered as preservative elements, dedicated to the Heliopolitan triad. Route to the Chouf mountain: visit of the Beiteddine palace, built in the 19th century, with Ottoman-style ornaments and woodwork. Stroll through the picturesque streets of Deir el Kamar, the city of the emirs. Overnight in Byblos.

• day 5

  Byblos, Alita, Tripoli, Qalamoun

  

  In the morning, visit of Byblos: visit the archaeological site of a city continuously inhabited since the 6th millennium! From the Adonis valley, in Alita, visit the MACAM museum of modern and contemporary art. Continuation to Tripoli: visit the old souks, the Ezzeddine hammam, the soap khan, the mosques and madrasas with characteristic Mamluk and Ottoman art decor. On the way back to Byblos, stop at a coppersmith in Qalamoun. Overnight in Byblos.

• day 6

  Sunday, Gibran Museum, the Cedars and the Qadicha.

  

  Visit the church of the Maronite Patriarchal See in Diman, with its ceiling painted by Saliba Doueihy. Visit the Khalil Gibran Museum and discover the works of the most famous painter, poet, writer, and essayist of the Land of the Cedars. Short hike in the Forest of the Cedars of the Lord and admiration of the cedars sculpted by Rudy Rahmé. From the Saint Anthony Qadicha Valley, visit the Saint Anthony Qozhaya Monastery, where the first printing press of the Arab world was opened in the 17th century. Overnight in Byblos.

• day 7

  Free time and departure

  

  Transfer to Beirut airport for departure.