The lack of shade and water compelled us to set out very early. Natch, five minutes into our course, we met a wide stream rushing beside turfy flatland and under a dense forest canopy. The trail soon veered onto the road that entered the region’s principal town.
Tannourine consisted of age-old, gracious stone houses and narrow, declivitous stair pathways winding among them. A voluminous, elegant church stood in its midst. Faint chants echoed out of its wide entrance. And from its lofty steeples, intermittent rhythmic chimes summoned the devout Maronites to Sunday mass.
Thankfully, the grocer across the street disregarded the fourth commandment. The store was large and stocked an ample variety of comestibles. We shopped, sat on the ledge opposite the church, and had the breakfast we had skipped in our dehydrated morning haste while watching the dressed-to-impress flock pouring into their god’s house and a company of ragged Muslim Syrian refugees sitting beside us together with their belongings, apparently waiting for a bus to a new home.
This story is an excerpt from my book "Backpacking Lebanon", wherein I recount my one-month journey around this fascinating country. Check it out if you like what you're reading.
Resuming our way and striving towards the upper end of the town, we encountered a senior couple. They had just locked their house door and were leaving for the church, but, genially, they reopened it to invite us in for a quick homemade lemonade and a spoon sweet. They lived and worked as doctors in Paris, where they had raised several kids and grandkids. This was the first time they were visiting their hometown and relatives in many years. The husband’s father turned out to be the owner of the shop by the church, still working at 92.
Past the last houses of Tannourine, we proceeded through a confined plateau dotted with scanty farms and a single irrigation pond at its head. Forward, there was only wilderness for a considerable distance.
The only humans we saw were a pair of North American hikers. They were doing the entire Lebanon Trail in the opposite direction from us. We asked them about water along the way, and they described a nifty location with a shaded picnic table by a broken irrigation pipe coming up. It sounded like the perfect place for lunch.
Passing over a wind-battered col, we entered a broad, sequestered valley encompassed by mighty, craggy peaks. We kept walking into the afternoon without meeting the spot those guys had talked about. But we discovered a better one.
At the head of a tributary gorge that branched off the valley, a pellucid stream ran through a grove, forming a series of little waterfalls and pools. It was quite early, and we were planning to carry on further. But the place was too appealing to resist.
We pitched the tent, took advantage of the abundant water to wash ourselves and our clothes, and spent the rest of the day enjoying the serenity and the allure of the evening mists.
Photos
View (and if you want use) all my photographs from Tannourine.
Accommodation and Activities in Lebanon
Affiliation disclosure: By purchasing goods or services via the links contained in this post, I may be earning a small commission from the seller's profit, without you being charged any extra penny. You will be thus greatly helping me to maintain and keep enriching this website. Thanks!
Stay22 is a handy tool that lets you search for and compare stays and experiences across multiple platforms on the same neat, interactive map. Hover over the listings to see the details. Click on the top-right settings icon to adjust your preferences; switch between hotels, experiences, or restaurants; and activate clever map overlays displaying information like transit lines or concentrations of sights. Click on the Show List button for the listings to appear in a list format. Booking via this map, I will be earning a small cut of the platform's profit without you being charged any extra penny. You will be thus greatly helping me to maintain and keep enriching this website. Thanks!
