First published: 29/11/18.

Martina Rúčková 3.0

Byblos

Byblos (Inscribed)

Byblos by Martina Rúčková

Byblos is one of the towns that, along with likes of Jericho, Damascus, Plovdiv and Athens claim to be the oldest continously inhabited cities of the world. As far as Lebanon goes, it's the easiest one to visit, a chilled under-an-hour drive up north from Beirut. Well, as long as you won't get stuck in traffic jams, that are especially painful in the evenings (we enjoyed them on our way back). The town is very touristy and milking its potential to the last drop. There's a free parking spot that's well signposted, or, if you fancy yourself very lazy, you can make use of the vallet parking right by the entrance, we spent about 3 euros on that.

The site itself is pretty, but a bit of a mishmash of everything: a crusader castle with lovely views from the top and then Roman ruins. Including one of the smallest theatres I've seen. The site is quite extensive, you can choose which parts to explore. There are signposts in multiple languages around. The castle doubles as the museum with some excavated exhibits. It's the most touristy of Lebanese WHSs, many people around, so visit early to beat the crowds. We visited en route from Qadisha valley, used the offline maps as the highway exit and the whole road is not that well signposted. Oh and if you want to stock up on souvenirs, this is the place to do so.

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