FESTIVALS AND EVENTS

Festivals and events in lebanon 2015

AL Bustan international festival of music and the arts
Date still to be confirmed
February - March 2015
Musical festival which runs for five weeks in February and March through various locations in Beirut
the festival also promotes music from all around the world including orchestral music concerts, choral music puppets opera and dance.

Location Emile Bustani Auditorium
Address: Beirut, lebanon
Web address: http://www.albustanfestival.com/
Category: music

Emile Bustani Auditorium

Beiteddine fortress

Baalbek Ruins

Byblos festival

Byblos festival
Date to be confirmed
July 2015 throughout all of July
The event celebrates  a music festival from the end of June and  July featuring a diverse set of styles of music and both local and international stars from around the world.

Location: different locations in Byblos
Address: Byblos, Lebanon
event cost: different ticket prices
Web address:  http://www.byblosfestival.org/
category: music


Baalbek International festival
Date to be confirmed
7 July 
The international festival has grown to become one of the most popular festivals in the middleast
the types of music include jazz an performances from international stars and homegrown artists and musicians

Location: Baalbek ruins
Address: Baalbek, Lebanon
Event cost : different ticket ticket prices
Web address: http://www.baalbek.org.lb/
category: music

Tyre festival
Date to be confirmed
7 July 
The event is held every year in July the Tyre festival is a celebration of lebanese culture and artistic influences set up in various places  from musical performances to poetry readings and lectures.

Location: different places around the city
Address: Lebanon , Lebanon
Event cost: different ticket prices
Web address: http://www.tyrefestival.com/indexflash.html
Category: Art and literature

Beiteddine Arts festival
Date to be confirmed
8 July
July 2015-August 2015

the festival is held at the historical 19th century castle it was first established in 1997 and is held throughout June July and August.
The events features musical dramatical and artistic performances
Location: Beiteddine fortress
Address: Beiteddine, Lebanon
Event cost: different ticket prices
web address: http://beiteddine.org/
category: Art and literature

Byblos festival (as above)
Date to be confirmed
9 July
July 2015 

WILDLIFE

Wildlife in Lebanon

animals

There is a huge variety of birds in lebanon as lebanon is considered a resting place for many species to settle while they migrate from europe africa or asia.
 135 species of birds  have been observed off the lebanese coast while  at the palm island reserve over 300 have been seen.
many species of birds make their nesting homes on the islands which include the mistle thrush  tern broadbilled sandpiper osprey and many types of finch.
other migratory places for birds are the bekka valley which is a extremely important place for millions of birds to rest before they migrate such types  include storks  which are known to  pass through every April. Storks, Hoopoes, Red rumped swallows, buzzards, golden eagles and kestrels mainly pass through this region of lebanon.

Hunting and pollution is a major problem for lebanon's wildlife but fortunately due to conservation efforts species such as wolves wild boar ibexes and gazelles have returned but they remain an endangered species.These creatures have been sighted in the chouf region along with  Porcupines, wild cats and Badgers.
with the palm island reserve marine life has increased for such species such as the sea turtle enabling them to nest and settle on the island recently.



plants

Lebanons most famous species of plant is the cedar tree that can now only be sighted in a few mountain top regions such as bcharr'e and Barouk in the chouf mountains.
Unfortunately the cedar tree has become extinct in most places due to deforestation forcing the government to prohibit anyone from cutting down any cedar trees.
 Lebanon is considered the most popular country to have a diverse range of plants and trees out of all of the middleast.
Pine incuding  Aleppo pine,together with  juniper, oak, beech and cypress have grown on the mountains.
wild flowers including the indigenous Lebanon violet  grow on the hills and mountains in Lebanon in spring.

National parks and reserves

The Chouf Cedar Reserve

Lebanons largest nature reserve which covers 50,000 hectares 5% of the country's whole region.
The reserve is considered the ever 1996 as the most productive and managed reserve in all of the country.
types of plants and endangered species are found at this reserve.
The reserve contains resting places for migratory birds.

Horsh Ehden Forest Nature Reserve

The reserve is located 35km from Tripoli and 100km Beirut in the northern stretch of mt Lebanon 3km from the summer resort of Ehden.
it provides a habitat for indigenous trees and plants as well as for rare birds and butterflies and lebanon's ancient forests

Palm Island Reserve
the following areas incorporated are the palm island sanani island and Ramkine island the reserve lies  5 km off the coastal city of Tripoli.
It is a place for marine wildlife such as sea turtles and mediterranean monk seals as well as birds.

Aamiq Marsh
Another reserve that supports wildlife

LEBANON'S ORIGINS

The small region known as Lebanon is connected to both Israel and Syria. Israel being down the bottom and syria up the top.
Lebanon before it was given the name lebanon seven thousand years ago was known as phoenicia named after the phoenicians a semetic tribe known as the caananites an ancient civilization centred in the north of canaan present in Israel lebanon and syria. These tribes were popular for their skills in trading they were situated from the west coastal region also known as the fertile crescent which was a combination of western asia the nile valley and nile delta northeast africa and asia minor also known as Anotolia the  region joined between the black sea situated in the north and the mediteranian sea in the south.
The word semetic referred to  many languages native to west asia this whole region being now referred to as the middle east.
without having multi languages the phoenicians as well as other traders would be unable to sucessfully  trade and market their products around the continent and the region.
Phoenicians were popular between 1550-539BC for working with metal goods and other trades.
Their rise in wealth came between the 7th and 8th century with trade in ceramics and pottery.
the phoenician were known for creating the phoenician alphabet also known as the phonetic alphabet which was adopted by the Greeks during the 8th century.
throughout history lebanon became part of many empires among the Egyptian, empire Persian Assyrian, Hellenistic, Roman, Armenian, Eastern Roman, Arab which were a combination Umayyad, Abbasid, Fatimid. then seljuk mamluk.
Lebanon began a massive change due to the rise and fall of these empires that brought along many religions such as christianity with the rise of the roman empire during the crusades that brought along the greek orthodox and maronite however during the 7th century with the rise of the ottoman empire which brought the rise of islam.
Many years later lebanon became a french republic under the french during the french revolution.
in 1943 lebanon became independant of the french after the french occupied Germany.
many years later a civil war broke out due to sectarian divisions in 1975.

TRAVELLING

Travelling to Lebanon

Safety and security

Before travelling to lebanon to ensure your safety due to ongoing terrorist attacks which occur in the country check the smart traveller at the following website www.smartraveller.gov.au
reason being is because most tourist commercial public areas are sometimes targeted by political assasinations and car bombings and retaliation attacks this is the reason why lebanon has a highly visible armed security presence throughout the region which means travellers must carry documents which identify themselves and obey instructions of security personel everywhere they travel.

Money
lebanons currency is the lebanese lira (LL) known as the lebanese pound
these notes are mainly 50, 100, 250, 500, 1000, 5000, 10,000, 20,000, 50,000 and 100,000 but you are more likely to need anything less under 1000L.
some coins are also in ciculation such as the LL250 and LL500.
us dollars are also accepted almost everywhere and they are both virtually interchangeable.

Changing money

The banks will exchange british pounds and us dollars  there are also atms throughout the region that dispense us dollars and lebanese pounds and credit cards are also accepted in some areas.

Destination facts about lebanon
population :4,400,000
area: 10452 sqkm
(4,036 sqmi)
Languages:L Arabic French English
Religion 60% muslim
35% christian

Government: republic
president:  Tammam Saeb-Salam

The markets in lebanon

Best buys
Beirut has the largest selection of shops in the country with cutting edge designer outlets at the Rue Verdun and the Dunes shopping center mall.

Buyers beware

There are fraudsters that claim to sell antiquities in popular tourist places such as fake roman golden coins and other fake artifacts.
it is also illegal to export antiquities from overseas.

TOP SHOPS

Beirut                                             

shopping markets                  

Artisans du Liban et d'Orient
the corniche, Ain al-Mreisse
PH 998 811
  This store sells highly quality oriental souveniers from around the middleast such as phoenician figures, ceramics satin slippers and other artifacts.

Al-Badia
78 Rue Makdissi, Hamra
ph 746 430
sells embroidered traditional dresses cushion covers shawls carves made by Palestinian women

Art Deco
79 Rue Trabaud, achrafiye
Ph 338 785
 furniture and small portable and decorative gifts

CD-Theque
ave elias sarkis achrafiye
321 485
books on middleeastern culture photography visual culture as well as cds dvds and video from the region

Tripoli

Khan al- Khayyatin
known as a crusader hospital   but now a  a 14th century tailor shop lined with workshops.

Souq as -Sayyaghi   
Sells golden jewellery such as bracelets anklets earrings and other gems.

Souq an - Nahhassin
Sells souveniers you can also see metal workers making things with their hands like they did centuries ago.

Khan As- saboun
 A soap industry which took off  in the 18th century and is highly popular in creating scented soaps
the place is now occupied with five shops which still make soaps the way they did many years ago.

LEBANESE HISTORICAL SITES

There are many historical sites in lebanon that are in the north ansd south of the region

here are the names of the sites  in the north and south

byblos 
was actually a caananite city called gubal or gebal also translated jbeil the city was known as the port for trading and marketing goods for the phoenicians the name jbeil derived from gbl meant  'well' or 'origin' or 'district'.
the region was inscribed as a world heritage site in 1984.
The name byblos is derived from the word bible.

castle of the crusaders

Roman pillars

Temple of obelisks on the phoenician port city gebal

Annjar
was considered a world heritage site in 1984 and was a advertised site centre for levantine trading ports the site is  1,300 years old and is lebanon's most recent archaeological sites.
it was discovered in the beginning of the 8th century by a muslim political leader caliphal-walid ibn abdel malek.
the cities avenues are lined with mosques palaces baths store houses and residences.
the name means the 'source of gerrah'.

Battle ruin sites of the crusades

Ruins of the Umaayad city

Umaayad city lebanese tourist site

baalbek
also known as heliopolis was a small village inhabited by the phoenicians which was later ruled by the romans during the roman empire in 64 bc. The romans built the city and named the temples under their pagan gods.
the sites are colossal and are one of the most popular tourist sites in the north of lebanon.

Temple of jupiter

The Palace of jupiter

Baalbek city gates

Baalbek bekka valley -great north court

Tyre also known as sour  by the phoenicians is located in the south of lebanon. the name means 'rock'.
tyre in the past was popular for it's purple dye also known as tyrian purple, 'tyrian red', 'royal purple', 'imperial purple' or 'imperial dye.'
many civillizations from the phoenicians , greeks romans crusaders ottoman turks. ruled the city and till today their are still remains of roman artifacts from the time of the roman era.

Ruins of the temple of Echmoun in sidon

Sidon sea castle

sidon sea castle tourist attraction

mount lebanon  known as the 'cedars of lebanon' near the quadisha valley.
 is a place where christian monastacism grew  it was a place that sheltered many christians throughout the centuries during the times of persecution in the 7th century by the ottoman empire.
Such mystics such as jacobites(syrian orthodox), melchites (greek orthodox) nestorians armenians ethiopians and the maronites, are religious group who occupy the region till this day have remained in the mountainous regions till this day .
The place was also a place for muslim mystics and sufis who practised meditation in the mountain areas.

The cedars of lebanon (mount lebanon)

Mount lebanon in winter

The Chouf region covered with cedars and snow
                        Mount Lebanon