Dr. Myriam- The Dental Aesthetic Clinic

Category: Personal blog

10 days in Lebanon (day 5) Beqaa Valley to Baalbek Roman Ruins

June 16, 2018 Beqaa – Bekaa

ladies just wanna have fun 🙂

Wow! This is the 5th day, imagine waking up early morning everyday, thinking what to wear ? hahaha True!

Believe me…I see you’re smiling, with my madame malou huh! Wearing same clothes for two consecutive day is a NO! Period! Funny, I was told that Lebanese women are very fashionable, like to wear high heels etc. So , I packed a reasonable clothes, kind of middle, not too formal, not too rugged , a wedge shoes and a rubber shoes. Oh! I’m glad I also packed a jogging pants, just in case 🙂 If I knew beforehand, we will be hiking and walking everyday, I will bring a more appropriate clothing and foot wear.

Beqaa is fertile valley in the eastern region, located about 30 km east of Beirut. It is situated between Mt. Lebanon to the west and Anti -Lebanon mountains to the east.

The water that flows came from the Valley. It’s a beautiful place with lots of trees. And as we drive forward, in a middle of nowhere, a spectacular view of a man-made lake (not sure actually) awaits us. Awesome view, my photos were taken while I am inside the bus.

The elongated plateau is known for its warm and dry summer and on winter the mountains were covered by snow.

During Lebanese civil war, cannabis cultivation was a major source of income, but it seems, it continues until now. Fields were planted with figs, apples and cannabis as well.

We went down and took photos, and of course ladies, we had a fun-filled photo shoot 🙂

June 16, 2018 – Baalbek Roman Ruins

Ba’albek or Baalbek is an ancient Phoenician city in Anti – Lebanon foothills east of Beqaa Valley. ( the name “Baalbek” means Lord Baal of Beqaa Valley). It’s fascinating to note that Baalbek inhabited as early as 9000BCE. Alexander the great conquered Baalbek and renamed it as “Heliopolis” City of the sun.

normal houses can be seen around the roman ruins

I know, in my high school year, hmmm pardon me, I only remembered some words in my History book like Ottoman empire, Alexander the Great, Heliopolis City 🙂 Not in my wildest dream that one day, I will be standing at the ruins of Ancient Roman Empire. I wonder how these massive tons of stones were moved ,placed and arranged.

look at me 🙂 nope look at the stones, so huge! how they were able to moved it? Fascinating.. right?

Another wonder of all wonder is the giant stone called “Stone of the Pregnant Woman”

Stone of the South -is a Roman Monolith

Pregnant stone? does it deliver stone? hahaha nope! There were many stories behind the given name. One says, the monolith is named after a pregnant woman who tricked the people into believing that she knew how to moved the huge stone, if only they would feed her until she gave birth. While other say, the name reflects the belief that any woman who touches the stone will increase the chance of getting pregnant.

Ladies, whatever the story is, Baalbek should be in your bucket list!

Cheers,

Jamilamimi@beautybeyondfifty

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June 28, 2018
10 days in Lebanon (day 4) Nabatieh Beaufort Castle

June 15, 2018 Nabatieh

It’s the first day of Eid, we thought that tour buses were not operating but to our surprise it did! So off we went 🙂 we did not waste time, didn’t we?

We woke up at 5:30 in the morning, excited to go on our first trip, we were told if were on the bus at 7 am, we would have the first seat for us, the view would be beautiful than seating at the back, but the bus driver said otherwise. He preferred that we sit at the second row to pass the border checkpoint easily. The tour guide doesn’t speak english well, but I have a very good interpreter Nabil, my friend 🙂 who did a good job! I think he was historian of the past!

We passed Saida and I got a quick shot of 13th century fortress built by crusaders – Sidon sea castle. We had breakfast along the shore, I forgot the name of the restaurant because I remembered the sweet smell of Kanafeh and could not resist not to eat it.

kanafeh grilled cheese sandwich

Nabatieh is the city of the Nabatieh Governorate, in southern Lebanon.

Bellfort or Beaufort Castle known to arab travelers as Sheqif Arnon. located about 1 kilometer to the south-south-east village of Arnoun. “High rock of Arnon”

The castle strategic location got a good view of the southern Lebanon and Israel. The walls were all thick and there were small windows which probably used by sniper. There was also like a basement which my friend think used for prisoners. It was dark and scary to walk through.

After the Beaufort castle we proceeded to the Palestinian border, along the way we saw graffiti walls which tell stories of people and the conflict that was and still going.We can actually see the houses on the other border.

After wondering at the beautiful scenery, we have reached our lunch destination. Who would have thought that at the oasis (alwazzani river) Hosn Al Wazzani resort can be found against the backdrop of barb wire and enemy troops? You can actually see the peacekeeping troops on the top of the border.

The sumptuous lunch ended with a dance. what a nice way to end the day.

Nice tour, nice people, nice lunch and nice dance too 🙂

Cheers,

Jamilamimi@beautybeyondfifty

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June 27, 2018
10 days in Lebanon (day 3) Teleferique from Jounieh to Harissa and a walk to Byblos

June 14, 2018 – Teleferique from Jounieh to Harissa

Harissa village is 20 km north of Beirut.

On the 3rd day we went back to Jounieh looking for teleferique. I was wondering what is teleferique?

Teleferique dubbed as “Terorrifique” is a cable car 🙂

I am afraid of heights let alone the cable car, but I am 59 years old.. so let’s go! Life is too short not to see the Shrine of Our Lady of Lebanon. Soaring high nearly 650 meters above the sea level, at the speed of 3.15 meters per second. Did you hear my scream? hahaha

Actually that’s an awesome 9 minutes ride and after reaching the top, I guess we were overwhelmed that instead of riding the funicular to take the remaining distance to the statue of Our Lady of Lebanon, we walked up few more stairs, I ‘m glad my knees are in good condition (I think) at my age. 🙂 A less than hundred few steps and were up, just to look back and realized we could have taken the funicular ride instead of walking hahaha.

Spectacular view!

Oh ! The steps we took was nothing when we saw the 13 ton statue of Our Lady of Lebanon, it is made of bronze painted white – The Virgin Mary.

This is a pilgrimage site in Lebanon. I would keep it as a major accomplishment for me, facing my fear of heights and offering my prayers for my love ones especially the early demise of my dear jun.

There was also an exhibition of ancient Russian icons, a display of absolute beauty.

June 14, 2018 – Byblos

After eating the most tastiest felafel sandwich , we headed to Byblos, the oldest city in the world that is continuously inhabited.Located 42 km north of Beirut. On our way to see the ancient ruins from stone age, we passed by the old souk of Byblos. In here you can see small shops selling souvenirs, local cafe, literally the chairs are in the middle of the small shops, we were tempted to sit but no time to drink because our tummy was still full of felafel. 🙂

At the right end of the souk, we went to see the Byblos castle. Apparently the local pays less than the tourist because we were asked at the entrance what country we came from.

Byblos castle or castle of giblet built by the crusaders in the 12th century from indigenous limestone and the remains of Roman structures.

the ruins consist of Roman Colonnade

a small Roman amphitheater

There’s a lot more to see in Byblos but we opted to end the day satisfied seeing the Neolithic, Chalcolithic, Greek and Roman ruins.

Cheers,

Jamilamimi@beautybeyondfifty

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June 26, 2018
10 days in Lebanon (day 2/2) en route to Jeita – just for fun

June 13, 2018

En route to the magical Jeita grotto 18 Km north of Lebanon, the road leading to the caverns is carved into the mountains and surrounded with trees. There lived a family enchanted by the cool swept of the air and the smell of nature.

The ALjeji family 🙂

A family of four

a daughter and a son

a happy servant

but one day,when the son was away, the wife and the daughter got mad and would like to leave the mountain, but the father refused.

I’ll shoot if you say no!

axe if she doesn’t succeed 🙂

but the father triumphed. the wife and daughter agreed to stay.

and they lived happily ever after 🙂

the end… just for fun, the story is not real. 🙂

Photography @ Jeita

Cheers,

Jamilamimi@beautybeyondfifty

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June 25, 2018
10 days in Lebanon (day 2/1) Dog river to Jeita cave to Jounieh

June 13, 2018 – Dog River

Nahr al -Kalb (Dog River) runs 31 km from a spring coming from Jeita to the Mediterranean sea.

There are about 20 commemorative inscriptions (stelae) on the rocks at the mouth of the river. It sum up the history of Lebanon, from high antiquity to the present. It includes Egyptian inscriptions,Assyrian and Babylonians inscriptions,Classical antiquity inscription, Islamic inscription, Colonial and Lebanese inscriptions.

June 13,2018 – Jeita Cave

From Dog River , we headed forward to Jeita Cave. Camera and Cellphones were not permitted inside. This is the most amazing cave I ever seen. So clean, has an access tunnel and walkway for tourist to have safe passage without disturbing the natural landscape.There’s also cableway to transport tourist to the Jeita grotto and a small train on the ground to exit the area. The Cave is divided into two level, the upper level which has the walkway access of around 750 meters. The actual length of the cave is around 2, 130 meters. It has the longest stalactite in the world measuring 8.2 meters long. Gigantic! The Lower level can be access only by electric boat for a distance of 500 meters.

Unique Statue outside the Jeita grotto.

The Guardian of Time Statue

The Phoenician garden at Jeita.

June 13, 2018 – Jounieh

After the awesome trip to Jeita, we headed to Jounieh looking for the best shawerma 🙂 I was hungry and my friend kept on driving, I told him, this shawerma must be worth the trip, indeed it was! And not only the shawerma but the scenery along the shore was fantastic. Jounieh is a costal city about 16 km north of Beirut.

Cheers,

jamilamimi@beautybeyondfifty

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June 24, 2018
10 days in Lebanon (day 1) Pigeon rock Beirut

June 12, 2018 – Day 1

My best friend of 28 years and her family left Jeddah for good so I took the Eid holiday with them in Lebanon. I arrived in the afternoon of June 12, 2018. There was no big fuss at the airport. It was like coming home to my own family. His sister, mom and brother were very accommodating. On landing Beirut,I noticed immediately the beautiful houses on the mountain, the narrow road with up and down hills and yet the cars were all double parked on the streets.You must be a very good driver to reach your home alive 🙂

After 15 year-long civil war,It’s amazing to see the houses that withstand the time, along the newer buildings. The house in front of my friends’ house was built 100 years ago. Wow! Bullet holed building near the newer modern building.I was not able to take photos of the downtown center.

The mosque and churches were also standing side by side. Veiled ladies along side women with crop top. This is just awesome multicultural differences in reality.

Our first destination is Raouché rock (pigeon rock) as tourist, you never been in Beirut if you don’t have the mandatory photo of the rock 🙂

This is a natural landmark which is also known as Sabah Nassar’s rock.

On June 8, 2014, Michael Haddad, paralyzed from chest down climbed the pigeon rock and planted the Lebanese flag on top, as a part “defying disability to the top” raising awareness on water pollution and marine life threats. If you like to read more about him, pls click here

It’s a beautiful sunset for the first day minus the mosquitoes bites that I got from going down to the place 🙂

cheers,

jamilamimi@beautybeyondfifty

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June 23, 2018
flowers for you

It’s been a month since you have passed away…

You said…

No flowers on your grave…

instead..

Flowers are for me…for my smile and my photography…

So, here’s my flowers from Lebanon..every photos I took, it reminded me, how patient you were, waiting to finish my photos, scrutinizing every details , commenting on how I took the shot. Appreciating the moment, though at times, you told me to stop!

you said…

Stop taking pictures…

Feel the moment, smell the flower, appreciate the nature, see the colors…

and I said…

I like to take photos for other people to see the beauty of nature

you said..

They will appreciate your photos not the flowers..they cannot hold and smell it.

And yet, as the days passed you also took photos of every flowers on the streets or shops and sent it to me.

I guess you just want me to be happy 🙂

” no rains..no flowers”

Photos were taken from the mountain of Lebanon by jamilamimi@beautybeyondfifty.(2018 June)

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June 22, 2018
eid break in lebanon

soon…

Ba albek Roman Ruins

will blog later

Happy eid everyone!

cheers,

jamilamimi@beautybeyondfifty

June 16, 2018
will always remember

“the only way to overcome grief is to move with and through it daily as the feelings ebb and flow.”

If I die and not have travelled,

even to those places I wouldn’t mind going,

I’ll still be at peace..

If I die and not take you to places you badly wanted to go,

I’ll be stirring in my grave,

for not providing for your passion..

-jun

(July 9,1957 – May 20,2018)

I will always remember you…

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June 11, 2018
lost

“Ever has it been that love knows not its own depth until the hour of separation”

-Khalil Gibran

It was many and many a year ago,

   In a kingdom by the sea,

That a maiden there lived whom you may know

   By the name of Annabel Lee;

And this maiden she lived with no other thought

   Than to love and be loved by me.

I was a child and she was a child,

   In this kingdom by the sea,

But we loved with a love that was more than love—

   I and my Annabel Lee—

With a love that the wingèd seraphs of Heaven

   Coveted her and me.

And this was the reason that, long ago,

   In this kingdom by the sea,

A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling

   My beautiful Annabel Lee;

So that her highborn kinsmen came

   And bore her away from me,

To shut her up in a sepulchre

   In this kingdom by the sea.

The angels, not half so happy in Heaven,

   Went envying her and me—

Yes!—that was the reason (as all men know,

   In this kingdom by the sea)

That the wind came out of the cloud by night,

   Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.

But our love it was stronger by far than the love

   Of those who were older than we—

   Of many far wiser than we—

And neither the angels in Heaven above

   Nor the demons down under the sea

Can ever dissever my soul from the soul

   Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;

For the moon never beams, without bringing me dreams

   Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;

And the stars never rise, but I feel the bright eyes

   Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;

And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side

   Of my darling—my darling—my life and my bride,

   In her sepulchre there by the sea—

   In her tomb by the sounding sea.

-Edgar Allan Poe

We love old soul, old stuff, nature and all.. gone too soon but will be in our heart forever…

June 5, 2018