Hiking in Jabal Moussa!

Last Sunday we went to Jabal Moussa Reserve. 

It is a mountainous area situated beyond Nahr Ibrahim at an altitude of 350-1700m

The trip was organized by the Lebanese scouts, i.e. great atmosphere, kids, parents, grandparents, a combination of many ages. 

We were accompanied by 5 guides who encouraged us to go on and introduced us to the many treasures found in this mountain.

 It started well, we were all enthusiastic and ready to go!

 and of course, the most enthusiastic guys to the left with hands up ARE my company!

We left Meiruba hills and started to climb around 50m steep hill leading to the heart of Jabal Moussa. 

After a nice walk we took a break, the guide showed us the the rare “Peonia” flower, found only in this reserve and in few other Mediterranean reserves (it's the red flower under the tree trunk, known also as "Kaff el Debb" flower)

Then to the ancient “well” arranged by shepherds who used to cross these mountains hundreds of years ago.

and the remains of old "Byut" (houses) built of natural stone  

leading us up to the summit to see a magnificent view of wadi quadisha- yahshoush- Ibrahim river

Then we went all the way down… to the roman inscriptions dated back to Adrian IV who ordered to engrave these letters on this used-to-be commerce passage to forbid people from cutting four types of trees found in this area, a.o. Cedars & Shou7

Then all the way down to the bottom of the valley, to a village called “el mshete” through narrow passage called "the roman stairs", carved in this mountain since ages...it took us around 1 hour to reach the main road... and it was like a treatment to all stress, physical troubles and to the mind. a time for meditation and relax, watching the animals run away at the sound of our feet, hearing the leaves under our steps and the hidden birds above... (did i mention that i saw an eagle hovering above us at one of our break times? that was breathtaking!)

We ended up at “yahshoush” village at a cozy place and we had an amazing dinner prepared by the local community! (yes, tannour bread- keshek-labneh-zaatar/Beid bil awarma-yummy!-/salad and grilled potatos!)

On the way back, sitting hardly awake in the bus, the little scouts – still full of energy – amused us with their 
cheerful rhymes!

I would love to call this trip: A Journey to the heart of Spring!- after Jules Vernes :) -

the spring is there, present with all its manifestations...

the camera lens is too minor to capture all the beauty, sounds and scents...we could smell the garlic, thymes, shoumar... herbs I only see at the grocery (not having same natural smell of course)! I also took advantage during our breaks to experiment with my really-old-camera...The results impressed me…

It's alive!

both in macro, and micro!

nd the last couple photos are a Big "thank you" to my lovely company who made this adventure tastier :)