Weekend Outing II

Sunday we went hiking in Hasbaya, a UN controlled area in the far southeast of the country. We had to submit copies of our passports in advance.

Syria to the east, Palestine (Israel, on your map) to the west, Malaysian and India UNIFIL troop encampment across the way. Rather a long ride to get here--more than two hours from Beirut.

And a fairly long hike--five hours--along the Lebanon Mountain Trail, the 200+ kilometer trail running pretty much the length of the country. Here is an LMT trail marker.

We passed pomegranate trees, cactus fruit, grapes, quince, persimmons trees with fruit so large you could barely fit them in your hand, and lots of olive trees along the way. It started to rain as we reached the persimmon tree. What to do but stand there under the tree, eating persimmons. Here is friend Buchara, searching for some good ones.

The land here is a little dryer, a little less steep, less green than in the north. There is a statue of St. George slaying the dragon, next to his footsteps supposedly preserved in the stone.

In Beittedine castle just yesterday we had seen "St. George" standing above the dragon with a decidedly Muslim headdress. We will have to research that a bit.