One of the two days I stayed in Byblos, I decided to take a bus and explore a bit more the North, arriving to the city of Tripoli. Before this, I stopped for a while in Batroun, other historic Phoenician city in the Lebanese coast, very popular in summer, when many tourists landing there. In winter, however, it is a very quiet place, with almost no one in the streets. At times and in some concrete areas, I felts as the only wayfarer in that day.
The main points of interest in Batroun are near the old harbor, such as the Phoenician wall and the Maronite Cathedral of St Stephen. It is also worthy to follow the coast line and stop at the small Orthodox church of Our Lady of the Seas and watching the views from its terrace.
As an anecdote of the day, I have to say that I found a restaurant called “Córdoba”, the name of my hometown in Spain, and I couldn’t avoid stopping there and investigate a bit. When I asked the waiter about why that name, he said that the owner was in my city and he liked so much, so he decided to put its distinguished name to his businesss.
After Batroun, I took another bus to Tripoli, 30 kilometers away from Syrian border. This close distance can be worrying, but, contrary to what I was told, Tripoli didn’t seem an unsafe place for me. Till few years ago, the violence of the war reached here and people say that there are still jihadists hiding in this place. However, the inconveniences are minimum for the visitors walking around in this interesting city..
A good spot to start the visit in Tripoli is the citadel of Raymond de Saint-Gilles, old crusader castle, renewed in several posterior periods by the Mamluks and Ottomans. From here you can enjoy some extraordinary views of the city. Walking down to the old souk, it is possible to discover several “khan”(which could be translated as “inn”), which was allocated to a concrete guild in the past. A good example is the Khan Al Khayyatin (khan of the tailors).
I really enjoyed this part of my trip, probably one of the most intense, especially in Tripoli. Here I discovered other side of this country, closer to my expectations when I think about Middle East, with more hustle in the street, people who spontaneously come to you to ask where you are from, odors of spices, etc. Nothing to do with Beirut, much more like any western city.
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