Byblos

Daytrippin' to Byblos or, Jbael just North of Beirut was a great opportunity for a change of scenery. Byblos, the longest continuously-inhabited town (earliest occupation is 5th millennium B.C.), was the papyrus-making center for Egypt (hence, Byblos -- from biblios) and thought to be the birthplace of the first linear alphabet (Phoenecian). It was amazing to see the layers of history laid out for all of God and everyone to see -- tombs of Kings, peasants, Crusader castle built with a hodgepodge of materials on hand. And now, a small port for fishermen and rowdy tourists who want to go out on the water for $2 a person. Among the nine of us, six nations were represented (Germany, Palestine, Armenia, Kuwait, Kenya, United States), seven if you include the confused Kenyan wearing the French flag t-shirt (apparently he likes their football team).

After lunch, we split up; a few wanting to return to Beirut and the rest of us wandering around a bit more. We managed to procure keys to St. John the Baptist Church from the caretaker monks, thanks to our charming friend Ashraf. Inside, we sat on the pews and tried to absorb the history of this little house of worship. It's pretty hard to fathom but you sit there, gazing around in wonderment, thinking about the seeming endless string of Sundays that this old stone building had borne witness to, not to mention Monday through Saturday outside of its walls.

From there, we made our way to the beach on the Mediterranean shore. What a gorgeous site. The water was warm and only one of us thought to bring a swimsuit, so the rest of us frolicked on the beach. After awhile, we noticed large black splotches on the soles of our feet. Ashraf explained to us that these were clumps of oil left over from last summer's war with Hezbollah. I swear, if we don't kill each other first, we'll kill ourselves through our blatant disregard for the soil that has been so generous to our ungrateful souls.

We watched a spectacular sunset as we waited for the bus on the highway. We returned back just in time for dinner and everyone agreed: it had been a good day.