Day Trip from Beirut - Byblos & Baalbek - Private Tour

Itinerary
This is a typical itinerary for this product

Stop At: Byblos Castle, Byblos Lebanon

Byblos Castle is a Crusader castle in Byblos, Lebanon. In Crusader times it was known as the castle of Gibelet or Giblet. The castle was built by the Crusaders in the 12th century from indigenous limestone and the remains of Roman structures. The finished structure was surrounded by a moat. It belonged to the Genoese Embriaco family, whose members were the Lords of Giblet. Saladin captured the town and castle in 1188 and partially dismantled the walls in 1190. Later, the Crusaders recaptured Byblos and rebuilt the fortifications of the castle in 1197. In 1369, the castle had to fend off an attack from Cypriot vessels from Famagusta.

The Byblos Castle has distinguished historical buildings for neighbours. Nearby stand a few Egyptian temples, the Phoenician royal necropolis and the Roman amphitheatre

Duration: 1 hour

Stop At: Byblos Port, Byblos Lebanon

Byblos Port is an ancient port in Byblos, Lebanon and is believed by the Lebanese to be the oldest port in the world. Around 3000 BC, Byblos Port was the most important timber shipping centre in the eastern Mediterranean. It was used by the Phoenicians to ship their local wine, Cedars of Lebanon and other wood to the Pharaohs of Ancient Egypt to be used in tomb construction and shipbuilding.

Duration: 15 minutes

Stop At: Old Souk, Byblos Lebanon

Built during the Ottoman reign, the market is a show of their economic spirit. It was made up of several khans (inns), shops and horse stables.

Duration: 15 minutes

Stop At: Baalbek Roman Ruins, Baalbeck Lebanon

The city of Baalbek is a major city in the Northern Beqaa valley, approximately 85 kilometres from Beirut. This vibrant city is famed for its Roman remains of a large temple complex. It was known as Heliopolis in the Roman period. The image of six standing columns from the peristyle of the temple of Jupiter has become the icon of cultural tourism in Lebanon. The original temple complex included four monumental temples, those of Jupiter, Bacchus, Venus and Mercury; the last of which did not survive. It also includes enormous propylaea and vast courtyards.
Baalbek has been occupied by successive civilizations. Recent excavation dates some of its finds to the Bronze Age, however the Romans gave particular attention to this site because of its geographic location as an end of a series of cities in the eastern Mediterranean which was caravan stops for the commercial routes from Central Asia, India and China, among these cities is Palmyra in Syria. The city was also important for the successive Muslim dynasties that ruled the eastern Mediterranean especially for the Umayyads, the Ayyubids and the Mamluks.


Duration: 1 hour 30 minutes

Stop At: Temples of Baalbek, Baalbeck Lebanon

Baalbeck, also called the city of Baal or Heliopolis, is known for having one of the largest temples of the Roman Empire. In Baalbeck, Romans worshipped the gods Jupiter, Venus and Bacchus – gods that may also have been related to the Canaanite deities Haddad and Astarte.
Though the Temple of Bacchus is the site’s largest ruin, there are actually three ancient temples at the Baalbeck Archaeological Site—the Temple of Venus, Jupiter, and Bacchus. The Temple of Jupiter originally featured 54 of the largest such columns in the world, some of which can still be seen today. The Temple of Bacchus is easily one of the best-preserved remains of a Roman temple in the world, and it is rumoured that its halls were once used for human sacrifice. The mammoth structure took 120 years and 100,000 slaves to construct, and today, its glory is a reminder of the history buried deep within Lebanon’s past.
The sheer size of the Baalbeck Temple is enough to astound visitors. It ancient columns loom high overhead and support an intricately decorated roof. The carving throughout the temple depicts Roman scenes and history-buffs will enjoy recognizing famous gods and goddesses in the artwork.


Duration: 1 hour 30 minutes