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After a hiatus of more than two years between 2019 and 2022, the social committee of the Romaïan Cultural Association resumed its program of cultural and recreational trips. On November 12, 2022, it organized a trip to the Lebanese coast north of Beirut, targeting the cities of Jounieh and Byblos, as well as some natural and archaeological sites located between them. The journey began, as usual, at seven am, and the luxurious, air-conditioned bus departed from Mother Mary Geahchan’s Street near the Zahrat El-Ihsan School, heading first to the town of Sarba where the shrine of Saint George Al-Batiye is located.
In the first phase of the trip, the delegation, consisting of about forty people, visited the shrine of Saint George Al Batiye, which is located by the seaside and beneath the Batiye cliff. It is believed that the name ” Batiye” is a local distortion of the Greek word for baptism, because, at the bottom of the sea cliff, there is a natural cave called Al-Batiya, and in its center, there is a pool filled with seawater. Local residents visit the site and offer vows to Saint George to heal children from incurable diseases and women from infertility problems. To this day, the customs of seeking blessings from the healing waters continue. Those wishing for healing must immerse themselves in the cave’s water three times, and then throw a piece of their clothing into the sea. The delegation visited this site, well maintained by the municipality, and including a small church, a statue of Saint George, and a large pool.
The visitors then headed to the Monastery of Christ the Redeemer, which is located above the Batiye cliff and is connected to it by an ancient underground tunnel dating back to ancient times. The delegation toured the vast courtyards of the monastery, visited the monastery’s church, which was built in 1884, and participated in the Divine Liturgy that was held there that morning. After the liturgy, the visitors headed to the reception hall and toured its museum. The abbot of the monastery, Reverend Father Ilia (Battikha), hosted them, explaining to them the history of the monastery and its contents. It is the headquarter of the Aleppine Salvatorian Order (Romaian Catholic) that split from the Shuwayrite Order in the early 19th century and made this monastery its main convent. This monastery is built on the ruins of a Mamluk castle, which was itself built on the site of an ancient Roman temple dedicated to the god Serapis.
At around 9 am, the delegation moved to the Shamsin restaurant on the Halat highway for breakfast, then headed to the old Nahr Ibrahim Bridge where commemorative photos were taken, and to the Fidar Tower, which is located a few kilometers from the city of Byblos. The Nahr Ibrahim Bridge was built in the seventh century, before the Arab conquest of Phoenicia. It withstood natural disasters and earthquakes, and was restored during the Ottoman era. The bridge crosses over the Nahr Ibrahim River, the latter named after the seventh prince of the Mardaites, Ibrahim, or after the hermit Ibrahim al-Qurashi, a follower of Saint Maron, who lived in the highlands of Byblos at the river’s source in Afqa. The river also symbolizes the god Adonis, who was killed by the war god Ares, taking the form of a boar and called Mars in Latin. Adonis’s blood flowed at the river’s mouth, the reason for which it was also named the Adonis River.
The visitors then stopped at the Fidar Tower called the Mhaysh Tower, which is one of the seven towers built by the Crusaders along the Phoenician coast. Its mission was to protect the Lebanese coast from enemies coming from the sea. The tower is built in two stores, and it has narrow military openings. Its carved sculptures prove that its builder is the same person who built the Crusader Cathedral of St. John Mark in Byblos.
In the next phase of the journey, the delegation toured the city of Byblos. The old historical churches of Byblos were the first destination. The visitors set off from the Byblos harbor, ascending to the Saydet El Najat church, the only Romaïan Orthodox church in Byblos, which historically dates back to the romaïan era (between the 4th and 6th centuries). The current church is a Crusader building from the twelfth century, which has been recently restored and adorned with Romaïan icons. From the inside of the church, the visitors descended to the ruins of the old temple, containing the oldest altar in the city. In the church garden, are placed remnants of stones from the Roman era. The delegation then visited the Cathedral of Saint John Mark, the apostle, founder of the episcopal see of Byblos in the first century. The church is now in the custody of the Maronite Church after it was handed over to the Maronite patriarchate, in 1763, by Prince Yusef Chehab, who occupied the city during the Ottoman era. The building is a Crusader structure built on the ruins of the ancient Romaïan church that was destroyed by the great earthquake of 555. To the northeast side of the Church of St. John Mark, the ancient Romaïan cathedral mosaic is located.
These two churches are located near the city’s harbor, where two important crusader towers rise, tasked with protecting the harbor. The harbor has a high pier that extends into the sea, from which about 500 meters of the old city wall built by the Crusaders can be seen. The delegation moved, after visiting the churches, to the old markets of Byblos, and wandered extensively in them, heading towards the wax museum, the Barbar soap factory, and the rock fossils museum (Mémoire du Temps). The visitors spent wonderful moments wandering inside the wax museum, where the statues of famous political and artistic figures are placed. In the soap factory, they learned about the ancient techniques of production of all kinds of wax with their various scents and colors. The fossils museum owned by the Abu Saad brothers is condensed with hundreds of fish fossils that are millions of years old, extracted from the mountains of the Jbeil region, especially in the town of Hayel. The explorers have confirmed that the fossils of Lebanon include 450 species of fish.
The tour ended in Byblos with a visit to the Aram Bezikian Armenian museum, called the Nest of Birds, which was established in an old house that sheltered hundreds of orphaned Armenian children who fled to Lebanon after 1915, the year of the massacres committed by the Turkish state. Maria Jacobsen, a Danish lady, took care of this orphanage established in the city of Byblos, and was commemorated with a statue erected next to the museum. The latter includes many photos and documents that narrate the history of the Armenian genocide and the fate of the children who survived the massacres. The visiting delegation felt great pain and sorrow upon seeing the images of those tragedies while listening to the explanations of the museum curators.
The trip ended at the Saniour restaurant in the Maameltein area, where the participants had lunch. This restaurant has a beautiful view of Jounieh Bay, crowned by a breathtaking sunset around 5 pm.