Another quick visit

People i met here who contributed to, and improved my trip: Julia (Russia)

For me, Byblos kind of typified Lebanon; a coastal location, Phoenician routes, Roman ruins, Crusader Castle and small Souq, none of which will live in the memory, although pleasant enough to spend an afternoon there. Thankfully the ticket office to the archaelogical site in the City agreed to store our bags for a few hours whilst we looked around, which made the experience more rewarding and less tiring for sure!

Our first point of interest came in the shape of the Church of St John The Baptist, although like almost every other Church in Lebanon, it was closed. Thus we returned to the main ruins, which cost 1500LL ($1) to enter with our student cards. The site was comprised of a Crusader Castle, an Obelisk Temple, an Ottoman era House and several other small curiosities. The setting was pretty nice, with the mountains on one side and the sea on the other, but the ruins themselves were rather mediocre.

Our trip to Byblos concluded with a walk down to the harbour and then through the touristy Souq. After this we headed up to the main road to catch a bus to Tripoli and on the way had the chance for another dickhead taxi driver to try and rip us off. This time he told us that it was impossible to cross the highway, so he would run us across to the opposite side for 3,000LL ($2). This was a blatant lie as there was a bridge spanning the motoway and it took all of 2 minutes to get where we needed to go by foot. On a positive note, a very nice old guy was stood waiting for the bus with us and insisted that he pay the fare for us, even though we had barely spoken to him!