Natural Wonder

I was a child again, kneeling on the seat at the end of the bus and staring outside the back window wide-eyed. I put off blinking, afraid that I would miss something. I wanted to fix every single detail of the scenery in my mind forever. I knew my words would not do it justice, and that my pictures would only show the setting but not the feeling.

With a simple left-turn off the highway from Beirut to Tripoli, you find yourself driving up a beautiful road, your eyes set on the green hills in front of you. The hills quickly become cliffs of all shades of yellow, oranges and beige. They’re adorned by monasteries, caves and spectacular waterfalls. Below is a luxuriant valley, so deep you cannot even see the bottom of it, you can only dream it. In the background are striking snow-capped mountains with small stone houses and orange tile rooftops villages at their feet. It never occurs to you to wonder what is behind those mountains, since what is in front of it is so breathtaking.

I just could not wait to get off the bus, stand atop the cliff and loose myself in the panorama. I did, in Bcharre, one of the main towns of the Valley, home of the famed Lebanese author and artist Khalil Gibran.

The village breeds peacefulness. It makes you want to sit down, savour ice cream cones and fresh strawberries. It makes you smile at everyone you cross paths with and engage in seemingly futile conversations. It makes you laugh at the charming ridicule of the fifties car carcasses locals drive around. With now windows, no mirrors, no roof, and a whole lot of rust it is amazing that they’re still functioning.

Standing on the edge of the cliff trying to count the number of cascades, you are driven to start hiking down, trying to find the bottom of the valley and discover what it hides. I unfortunately could not follow that impulse, my obligations dragging me back to Beirut. I probably won’t have time to go revisit the Qadisha Valley before I have to leave the country. But it’ll be one of my many excuses to come back.