A red-roofed town set among the eastern foothills of Mount Sannine, Zahle enjoys a prime location in the Beqaa valley. Snowcapped mountains tower above it in winter, while in summer its 945-meter elevation keeps the air light and dry.
The city center spreads along both banks of the Berdawni River, with the older section of town on the upper elevations of the west bank and the shopping district on the east bank.
At the northern end of town is the Berdawni river valley known as Wadi el-Aarayesh (Grape Vine Valley) - the site of Zahle's famous outdoor restaurants. Zahle styles itself "The City of Wine and Poetry", and with good reason. In this century alone some 50 poets and writers were born here and almost as many excellent wines and araks have been produced in the area.
The romance of wine and poetry is balanced by Zahle's more businesslike position as the administrative and commercial capital of the Beqaa valley (42.27% of Lebanon's territory) as well as its rank as the country's third largest city (population 150,000).
Zahle is also an agricultural town, which produces vegetables, fruit, grains and most importantly, grapes.
Zahle was founded about 300 years ago in an area whose past reaches back some five millennia. In the early 18th century the new town was divided into three separate quarters, each of which had its own governor.
The city enjoyed a brief period as the region's first independent state in the 19th century when it had its own flag and anthem.
Zahle was burned in 1777 and 1791, and it was burned and plundered in 1860.
But during the rule of the Mutasarrifiah, Zahle began to regain its prosperity. The railroad line, which came through in 1885, improved commerce and the town became the internal "port" of the Beqaa and Syria. It was also the center of agriculture and trade between Beirut and Damascus, Mosul and Baghdad.
Considered the birthplace of the Lebanese army, Zahle has played a major role in the political life of the country.
Zahle's association with the grape is pervasive, for it lies at the heart of an area that has been making wine since early antiquity. At the city's southern entrance the statue of a graceful female personifies wine and poetry, but you don't have to look far to see evidence of the real thing. The hills north of town with names like Wadi Hadi, Harqat, Bir Ghazour and Tell Zeina are covered with the neat rows of vineyards that supply Zahle's wine and arak industries.
Many of the wines have been formally recognized abroad for their fine quality-equal to some of the best in Europe such as Ksara wine, Chateau Musar and many others.
Each year between the 10th and 20th of September Zahle mounts its weeklong " Festival of the Vine", a celebration shared with the city's " Flower Festival". In a carnival-like atmosphere "Miss Vine" is elected and cars are decorated with flowers representing national symbols.
Zahle is also famous for its Corpus-Christi festival, which dates back to 1825 when the town was spared the ravages of a contagious disease. Corpus-Christi is celebrated on the first The Serail Thursday of June with a torchlight parade held on the eve of the festival. The next morning a mass takes place at Our Lady of Najat Church, followed by a procession of townspeople carrying the "Holy Bread" through the streets.
The Geha House - a good example of Zahle's local architecture.
The Serail or government house in the old part of town dates from 1885. This beautiful building, whose architecture reflects the European and Arab influences of the Ottoman period, will soon house the offices of the municipality and a museum illustrating Zahle's history.
The Serail or government house in the old part of town dates from 1885. This beautiful building, whose architecture reflects the European and Arab influences of the Ottoman period, will soon house the offices of the municipality and a museum illustrating Zahle's history.
The Souk al-Blatt, or "tiled market" is a market street leading to one of the oldest parts of the city. A large part of Zahle's history was written in this souk, where in former times travelers to and from Syria, Baghdad and Palestine bought and sold their goods.
Housh El-Zarani or market area located near the post office on the east side of the river was in past centuries a conglomerate of khans (caravansaries), craft center and shops. Here shoemakers, woodworker's weavers, copper workers and saddle makers plied their trades. It was also an important commercial center where vendors sold agricultural and industrial products.
Sayedit Zalzaly is Zahle's oldest church. Built in 1700, it originally stood at the center of the city.
The Church of St. Elias is the second church built in Zahle (1720). This impressive structure is also known as Al-Moukhallasiah.
The Monastery of Our Lady of Najat (1720) has the largest bell tower in Lebanon. The monastery is known as well for a beautiful icon of the Virgin Mary, a gift from the King of Prussia.
Our Lady of Zahle and the Beqaa: For the most spectacular view, go to the 54-meter-high hill-top tower of Our Lady of Zahle and the Beqaa located east of town. Here an elevator takes you up to a viewing platform overlooking the city and the extending plain.
The structure is crowned with a ten-meter-high bronze statue of the Virgin, the work of the Italian artist, Pierroti. The base houses a small chapel seating about 100 people.
A tour of Zahle's Ksara winery is a good way to see how wine and arak are made. Of special interest here are the extensive underground caves built around a natural grotto known and enlarged by the Romans.
Built during the Roman period then covered by sand for centuries, the Ksara caves were found by mistake in 1898 by the Jesuits who were looking for a wolf that was eating their chickens every night and was using the caves as a refuge.
It served during the First World War as a refuge for the young Lebanese men who did not want to be enrolled in the Ottoman army. It is now a refuge of the well Known Ksara wine where thousand of the old wine bottles are preserved. A tasting of the best wines is done during the visit.
Nobody knows when wine was first made in Lebanon, although the Phoenician ancestors of today's Lebanese were certainly among the earliest winemakers. Later, in the Greco-Roman era, a wine cult flourished,as the ruins of the Temple of Bacchus at Baalbeck in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley bear eloquent witness.
In the heart of the Bekaa, near Baalbeck, lies the KSARA estate, so named because it was the site of a ksar, or fortress, at the time of the Crusades. The property was acquired by the Jesuit Fathers in 1857 when it was already famed as a vineyard and they perpetuated the tradition of winemaking.
In particular, they pioneered the introduction of high-quality vines in Lebanon. New varieties, enjoying the exceptional climatic conditions in the Bekaa, were cultivated at KSARA and later at Tanail, an estate of 240 hectares (600 acres) which also belonged to the Jesuit Fathers and which sent all its grapes to KSARA's cellars.
KSARA's natural wine cellar was a grotto discovered by the Romans who consolidated part of the vault and dug several narrow tunnels from the cave into the surrounding chalk. These tunnels were enlarged to their present size during World War I when the Jesuit Fathers sought to alleviate famine in Lebanon by creating employment.
One hundred men toiled with picks and shovels for four years to complete an underground network of tunnels stretching for almost two kilometers (about 2,000 yards). The temperature in the tunnels is ideal for wine, varying throughout the year from 11 to 13?C. KSARA came into the hands of its present owners when the Jesuit Fathers decided to sell the estate in conformity with the directives of the Vatican II synod.
Today, KSARA produces wines with strong personalities, achieving rare conditions of dry fruitiness, delicacy and robustness, wines that leave an imprint on the memory, which is as long as their history.
Aanjar, 8 kilometers from Zahle, is completely different from any other archaeological experience you'll have in Lebanon. At other historical sites in the country, different epochs and civilizations are superimposed one on top of the other.
Aanjar is exclusively one period, the Umayyad.
The stones and carvings were brought to this spot by decree of the Omayyad Calipha Al Walid in the early 8th century A.D. The ruins of the restored palaces, souks bath, colonnaded streets and walls recall the days of the 1st Muslim suzerains who spread their influence from Damascuc to Spain and India. Aanjar
Lebanon's other sites were founded millennia ago, but Aanjar is a relative new-comer, going back to the early 8th century A.D. Unlike Tyre and Byblos, which claim continuous habitation since the day they were founded, Aanjar flourished for only a few decades.
Other than a small Umayyad mosque in Baalbeck, we have few other remnants from this important period of Arab History.
Aanjar also stands unique as the only historic example of an inland commercial center. The city benefited from its strategic position on intersecting trade routes leading to Damascus, Homs, Baalbeck and the south. This almost perfect quadrilateral of ruins lies in the midst of the richest agricultural land in Lebanon. It is only a short distance from gushing springs and one of the important sources of the Litani River. Today's name, Aanjar, comes from the Arabic Ain Gerrha, "the source of Gerrha", the name of an ancient city founded in this area during Hellenistic times. Aanjar has a special beauty. The city's slender columns and fragile arches stand in contrast to the massive bulk of the nearby Anti-Lebanon mountains--an eerie background for Aanjar extensive ruins and the memories of its short but energetic moment in history.
Aanjar Today
Aanjar is open daily. Close to the ruins of Aanjar are a number of restaurants, which offer fresh trout, plus a full array of Lebanese and Armenian dishes. Some of the restaurants are literally built over the trout ponds. If you have time, visit: Ain Gerrha. Aanjar's major spring is located 3 kilometers northeast of the ruins. Majdal Aanjar. A Roman period temple sits on a hilltop overlooking this village, which is one kilometer from Aanjar. The Mausoleum of El-Wali Zawur is the burial spot of a religious personage from medieval times. Until the early 1980s fertility rites were held here. Kfar Zabad. Roman temple ruins and a cave with stalactites and stalagmites. Special equipment needed for the cave
The Acropolis of Baalbeck, in the Bekaa valley, 45 km from Zahle, is the largest and best-preserved corpus of Roman architecture left to us. Its temples, dedicated to Jupiter, Venus and Bacchus, were built in the 2nd and 3rd centuries A.D. The ruins present a majestic ensemble: two temples, two courtyards preceded by propylea (ceremonial entrances) and a boundary wall upon which Arab architecture has left its traces. Six huge columns still soar upwards from the holy place where the Temple of Jupiter once stood. Baalbeck
Baalbeck, Lebanon's greatest Roman treasure, can be counted among the wonders of the ancient world. The largest and most noble Roman temples ever built, they are also among the best preserved.
Towering high above the Beqaa plain, their monumental proportions proclaimed the power and wealth of Imperial Rome.
The gods worshipped here, the Triad of Jupiter, Venus and Mercury, were grafted onto the indigenous deities of Hadad, Atargatis and a young male god of fertility. Local influences are also seen in the planning and layout of the temples, which vary from the classic Roman design. Over the centuries Baalbeck's monuments suffered from theft, war and earthquakes, as well as from numerous medieval additions.
Fortunately, the modern visitor can see the site in something close to its original form thanks to work in the past hundred years by German, French and Lebanese archaeologists.
Baalbeck is located on two main historic trade routes, one between the Mediterranean coast and the Syrian interior and the other between northern Syria and northern Palestine. Today the city, 45 kilometers from Zahle, is an important administrative and economic center in the northern Beqaa valley.
One kilometer beyond north Zahle is the 'tomb of Noah" found in the village mosque. Although Noah's tomb is 42 meters long and 2.5 meters wide, tradition says that he still had to be buried with his knees bent. There is an ancient Arabic inscription on the walls of the mosque, which was apparently constructed of reused Roman stones.
In nearby Furzol you can see the scant remains of a Roman temple just off the central roundabout. Beyond the upper end of the town is the Wadi el-Habis (Valley of the Hermit) with tombs and rock-cut sanctuaries from Roman and Byzantine times. A fascinating places to explore, hikers can also venture 20 minutes up the rocks above the site. At the base of the caves is a café with paved terraces.
Located in Niha village, this restored temple of the Syro-Phoenician god Hadaranes is imposing in its size and beauty. A much smaller temple nearby, perhaps dedicated to a divinity related to water, has not been restored. Upper temples: From Niha a steep rural roadway, usually traveled by foot, takes you up 300 meters to Husn Niha, or the "fortress of Niha". Here you will find two partially preserved Roman temples. Niha is 10 km away from Zahle.
This estate, now a farm, is located on the main road just south of Chtaura 5 km away from Zahle and is identified by a large sign. A visit to Tannayal, owned by the Jesuit fathers since 1860, is a good introduction to agriculture in the Beqaa valley. In addition to the usual farm animals you can see a large collection of exotic fowl including peacock and doves. A teaching facility for the Faculty of Agriculture at Saint Joseph University, Tannayel also has vineyards and fruit orchards. An artificial lake adds to the beauty of the site. Locally produced dairy products are for sale there too.
A steep footpath from this village leads to the remains of two Roman temples located on a high hill. Northeast of the lower temple is a rock-cut relief of Venus locally known as "Bint el Malik" or the king's daughter.
For those interested in spelunking, a beautiful little cave, explored to 125 meters, can be entered with the use of ropes. Drive about a kilometer along a dirt road from Kfar Zabad towards the Anti-Lebanon Mountains. A mountain footpath (30 minutes-walk) brings you to the entrance.
An artificial lake of eleven square kilometers, Qaraoun was created by the Litani River Dam in 1959. The Litani is Lebanon's largest river, rising near Baalbeck and flowing for 160 kilometers through the Beqaa Valley to the coast north of Tyre.
The dam holding back this major river is 60 meters high and 1,350 meters in length.
A gallery of 6,503 meters carries the water to the underground hydroelectric station where transformers produce a maximum of 185 megawatts.
The dam will eventually provide irrigation for 31,000 hectares of farmland in South Lebanon and 8,000 hectares in the Beqaa Valley. Visitors are welcome to the Litani Dam. The office is at the southern (dam) end of the lake on the left side. The lake area has a hotel and a number of restaurants specializing in fresh trout.
From Chtaura drive two kilometers to the west (towards Beirut), then turn left to the village of Qab Elias. This town has a landmark medieval castle ruin and a mysterious rock-cut altar. The ruin of a guardian fortress, probably dating from the 12th century or later, may have been a Druze feudal castle. Just south of Qab Elias is a rock carving high on a cliff. Although it has no identifying inscriptions, it is thought to be a monumental altar, perhaps from late Hellenistic or early Roman times (about the first century BC). Qab Elias is a large village with a full complement of shops, souvenirs and handicrafts, including sheepskins.
Take the road to Baalbeck and just before the town turn left toward Chlifa (along this road is the isolated column of Iaat). About two kilometers past Chlifa you will have to park the car and climb up to the Roman temple, situated on a rocky tableland. Look for the site of a new church from where a passable track goes up the hill. At the end of the track you can hike along the path for about twenty minutes. The top of the hill is full of cisterns, tanks, platforms, rooms and steps, all hewn from solid rock in Greco-Roman times or earlier. This solid-looking temple structure was used as a fortress long after Roman days.
A Latin inscription can be seen inside, although it is almost impossible to read. About a hundred meters before the temple and a little to the southeast are two circular high places of ancient Semitic worship.
Take the Rashaya road from Masnaa and continue four kilometers on to Aiha, parking near the pond at the center of the village. Aiha is built on the foundations of numerous Roman temples and structures. In some cases Roman walls have been reused in present-day houses and once-visible temple foundations have disappeared into modern structures as basements. At one household, a stone relief carving of a robed figure sits in the yard. Alongside it is ancient stone well and temple debris. Numerous column drums, moldings and dressed stones have been incorporated into the walls in the village's northwest section, and massive retaining walls of the Roman enclosure terrace can still be seen-now as part of modern houses. Aiha's residents will gladly show you around their intriguing town.
