Byblos, Lebanon

Here's what makes driving in Lebanon so exciting.  No lanes, no rules, and no street signs!  Notice that the cars parked on the right are facing different directions.  While driving in Beirut, most of the traffic lights don't work and if they do, they are merely used as "suggestions" of what you should do.  We never saw an accident while we were there and everyone is very calm driving this way.  We never experienced a single aggressive driver.

So...the maps and the tour books all tell us that the name of the town is Byblos but the few signs that we saw on the highway say Jbeil (Byblos in Arabic).  No wonder why we were lost again!

Byblos is a pretty fishing village north of Beirut.  It is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world.  Modern scholars believe that the site of Byblos goes back at least 7000 years!

We spent most of the day exploring the ancient ruins.

There is a very modern souk in Byblos - it is nothing like the souks that we had visited in Tunisia, Morrocco or Dubai.  The souks here are more like little shops - glass windows, wooden doors, paved walkways and fixed prices on everything.