Lebanon - Harissa

Pilgrimage

There is no official single religion in Lebanon, there are myriad unofficial ones: christian, maronite, druze, shia, sunni, eastern orthodox and more.  Some of my tour group were proudly christian - speaking about it as one would the weather.  They were excited to ascend to the village of Harissa, to see the 15 ton bronze statue of the virgin Mary.

Not all of us chose to climb via the Telepherique, a cable car with claustrophobic pods that is pulled almost vertically up a 1,600 foot cliff face.  It would be fun to report that the most religious of us opted for the safer bus ride, but that would be a convenient fiction.

I shared a pod with an American documentary film maker.  He was annoyingly more well-traveled than I and I silently suffered through the retelling of his adventures.  Yes, you've sped through the swamps of Nigeria on a speed boat, filming rebels fight with oil company thugs, but have you ever tried to get a seat on a Singapore bus filled with old ladies?  Exactly, I didn't think so.

At the top of the mountain, the virgin was standing with her hands open as if to prove there was nothing to hide before performing a magic trick.

Like any other pilgrim, I climbed the circular stairway to the top, hoping for a great view.

To the immediate west was a newly built cathedral which is closed to the public except on Sundays.

The view was as good as expected.  Looking north towards Byblos and beyond.

Looking south in the general direction of Beirut.