Lebanon
When
April to June | Sept to Oct
Price
From 1 900€ excl. flights
(based on 2 people sharing)
How long
4 nights
Ideal length
Byblos, on the Mediterranean coast about thirty kilometres from Beirut, claims the title of one of the world's oldest continuously inhabited cities, occupied without interruption for over seven thousand years. A Phoenician port that once exported Egyptian papyrus across the Mediterranean, giving the word "bible" its name, the city today layers Phoenician, Roman, Crusader, and Ottoman remains around a small, still-active fishing harbour.
Archaeological excavations at Byblos reveal traces of continuous human occupation since the Neolithic, over seven thousand years ago, making the city one of the strongest candidates for the title of oldest continuously inhabited city in the world. The site layers Phoenician, Hellenistic, Roman, and Crusader remains, including a castle built by the Crusaders in the 12th century using recycled Roman columns, offering a striking shortcut through several millennia of Mediterranean history.
Byblos owes its Greek name to the trade in Egyptian papyrus that passed through its port to the whole Mediterranean, an activity so closely tied to the city that the Greek word for "book," biblion, derives directly from it, giving rise to the word "bible." It was also at Byblos that the sarcophagus of King Ahiram was discovered, bearing one of the oldest known inscriptions of the Phoenician alphabet, a direct ancestor of the Greek and Latin alphabets and thus of most modern Western writing systems.
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A Byblos Harbour Guesthouse
A charming guesthouse overlooking Byblos's small fishing harbour, within walking distance of the archaeological site and the medieval souk's lanes.
A Phoenician Coast Boutique Hotel
A boutique hotel housed in a former coastal residence, a garden overlooking the Mediterranean, a short drive from Byblos and Jbeil.
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