"I am against you, O Tyre, and I will bring many nations against you, like the sea casting up its waves. They will destroy the walls of Tyre and pull down her towers; I will scrape away her rubble and make her a bare rock. Out in the sea she will become a place to spread fishnets, for I have spoken, declares the Sovereign LORD." -Ez. 26
So I had a few days off of work for the Eid Celebrations that mark the end of Ramadan. They told me at the gym on Thursday that I had 9 days off before I have to return. So spur of the moment I asked my roommate if she felt like going over to a neighboring country. Sure enough she did and we booked our ticket a day later and flew out on Monday to Beirut, Lebanon.
As you flew in to the city the sights were breathtaking. Storm clouds of thick rain rolling in over high mountains on the edge of the Med. Sea. I haven't seen rain in a while. It felt good, sounded good, and was beautiful.
Day 1 consisted of biking along the Cornish. We rode over to Penguin Rock, a famous Lebanon landmark, got a little rained on, and enjoyed the oceanic scenery. Messed around the downtown area and ate some fabulous Lebanese food. (two thumbs up!).
Day 2 was one of my favorites. We drove down to Tyre Lebanon where we heard the good beaches were. We passed through a city where the crazy Queen Jezebel was from. Got out to take pictures. Passed several old Crusader castles from the
1500s and passed closed to where Elijah gave a widow some water.
But arriving in Tyre was awesome. The morning we went to see the largest recovered/found Hippodrome in the the world. We saw a full size field where gladiators once fought for deadly entertainment and the locker rooms for the home and "visiting" team.
Later, we are lunch of beef and hummus and then spent the day swimming over the ancient city of Tyre prophesied above to one day be underwater. It was incredible. You could snorkel over ancient columns of the city and see old pottery and rooms and Roman baths and find ancient Egyptian/Roman/Grecian/Tyre coins engraved with their respected carvings. It was breathtaking. Granted the current was really strong over the rocky ruins but it made for an adventurous swim. Not to mention the thrill of avoiding massive jelly fish that had swam over from Egypt.
Day 3 consisted of driving out to the Cedars of Lebanon. Crazy beautiful. You HAD to drive to
spectacular mountainous views to get there and once near the summit of one mighty mountain Cedars were abundant and beautiful. The air was cold but my favorite thing was the smell. It was heavenly! We saw one
tree dated back to be more than 3000 years old--sometime before Isaiah. Crazy to think these were the trees so demanded around the world and used for the building of the Temple Solomon would build.
After the Cedars we had to hurry or we'd miss our flight--- but man it was an amazing vacation!
