Saturday we went to Saida (Sidon in English) in the south and to Beiteddine Palace in the Shouf mountains, with two elemenetary school teacher friends. We had wanted to rent a car, but a one day rental is hard to find, so we went the car and driver route. Salim ferried us around in his US-made minivan.
Photos show a palace doorway, and one of the rooms in the hamam (bath) in the palace.
Saida is about 30 minutes' drive south of Beirut. We visited the very nice souk (= bazaar, market) there, and the beautifully done soap museum. Soap used to be made from ash and olive oil and laurel, and handmade soap with can still be bought by the kilo in Lebanese grocery stores. Here is a rack of drying bars.
After the museum we stopped for coffee and "white coffee"--hot water with orange bloosom essence. Well, the teachers all went caf--I went floral. The orange essence was distilled on site.
Then we drove to Beiteddine in the Shouf mountains, Druze country. The p
alace was built in 1788--not considered old in these parts. But it was designed by Italian architects and has lovely Ottoman touches. And it houses the best collection of Byzantine mosaics perhaps in the world--better than we have seen in museums dedicated to the mosaics in both Cyrus and Syria. Better--well, they are all amazing! There are lots here, and very well preserved--below is a photo of a smaller one. They were unearthed in 1982 in the middle of the Civil War, in an area under control of Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, who had them taken to Beiteddine to preserve them out of harm's way. Well done!
alace was built in 1788--not considered old in these parts. But it was designed by Italian architects and has lovely Ottoman touches. And it houses the best collection of Byzantine mosaics perhaps in the world--better than we have seen in museums dedicated to the mosaics in both Cyrus and Syria. Better--well, they are all amazing! There are lots here, and very well preserved--below is a photo of a smaller one. They were unearthed in 1982 in the middle of the Civil War, in an area under control of Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, who had them taken to Beiteddine to preserve them out of harm's way. Well done!
Photos show a palace doorway, and one of the rooms in the hamam (bath) in the palace.
No comments:
Post a Comment