I was warmly welcomed by my couchsurfing hosts Jen and Pat when arriving in the Worlds second oldest city, Byblos. They were also so kind to introduce me to the Lebanese cooking and introduced me to the history, politics and situation in their country.
On the second evening thousands of people had shown up to see the Christmas tree being lit. Even with only forty thousand inhabitants the city had won the prize for the worlds second most beautiful christmas tree and this year they were aiming for number one. At the same time the Christmas lights covering the whole city were lit while a band was playing at the stage.
The next morning Pat took me to a waterfall an hour drive away from Byblos. The place was well hidden outside a small mountain village and the picture underneath do not at all make justice for how beautiful the waterfall really was.
My last day in Byblos I was left to do some exploring in my own so I headed straight to the Jeita Grottos, which are some huge caves that I got to explore by foot and by boat.
On the way back I stopped at Harissa, where there was a cable car going up to a church and a Maria statue in similar style to the Jesus statue looking out over Rio. All in all I had a great start in Lebanon with my visit to Byblos.
