The Nahas Family Sunday Adventure
Faraya, Lebanon
We are spending the summer up in Faraya in a town called Mzaar. It is a beautiful mountain region. This is also where we ski in the winter. I love being up here. The weather is perfect, no ac required and it provides a great launching point for Nahas family adventures.
When we can, we like to go on adventures. These are generally ill planned, spur of the moment car trips to destinations we know nothing about. Most of our adventures turn out pretty surprising. This past Sunday we decided we wanted to hike in some trees. A friend had told us if we go out the back exit of Farqa Club and follow the road to Qanat Bakish we could find nice hiking trails with beautiful trees. Sounded great to us. We put on our hiking boots, got in the car and took off for our tree hike destination.
The roads in Lebanon can be awful. They are pothole ridden, at times nonexistent, turn into dirt and then maybe back into a road types of roads and this one was no exception. The area of Farqa Club near the town of Faraya is also very arid. Not many trees. After a half-hour of driving, several bottom outs of the car and not a forest in sight we got a bit skeptical of our decision. The children started to whine and were hungry and thirsty and bored. Just as the whining in the car reached an unbearable point a large sign appeared offering the promise of several restaurants. So we took a left, down a road that became worse than the one we had been on, and found a traditional Lebanese restaurant with a ton of cars parked outside. It had to be good if so many people drove out to the middle of nowhere on these types of roads.
The restaurant is perched on the side of a mountain and overlooks a beautiful valley and the town of Baskinta. The view is fantastic. The children found a playground and my husband and I ordered a traditional mezza. There were 2 couples sitting at the table next to ours. They looked amused and puzzled and asked, “Where are you from?” I replied, “AUB”. “No where are you really from?” I said, “The US.” They looked at each other; one of the men asked, “But how did you find this place?” I just laughed because it was an excellent question.
We had a wonderful meal that included hummus, tabbouleh, mixed grill, kibbe and of course a bottle of Ksara Blanc de Blanc. When our meal was over we sat back and enjoyed the amazing view as well as, of course, people watching. Unexpectedly, traditional Lebanese music began to play. I sent my children to investigate. When they didn’t come back I got a little worried and went to find them. They were in front of a traditional saj mesmerized by a man making Lebanese cloth bread. We had eaten some of the bread with our meal, it was pretty awesome.
Soon after, when enough wine had been drunk and food had been eaten, a singer started to sing traditional Arabic songs. People got up from their tables and danced the Debke, a traditional dance that is a requirement to know if you plan to live in Lebanon. The scene was amazing.
All in all it was a wonderful adventure with unexpected surprises. However, we didn’t hike in the forest among the trees. We did however hike down a dirt road that gave us a great view of the restaurant from below.
Photos & Video of Our Adventure
The Good Portion of the Road We Traveled
View of the Valley overlooking the town of Baskinta
