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Welcome to one of the most beautiful countries in the world, a country with a rich and deep history
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culture, some of the best cuisine in the world, and of course, hospitality
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Of course, I'm here in Lebanon. Over the recent years, Lebanon hasn't received the best press
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You have the explosion, you have the economic crisis, but this is not what that's about
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Over the next four episodes, I'm going to take you from north to south, east to west to show you the beautiful diversity, history, cuisine, and culture you can find here
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So, welcome to Lebanon. Thank you
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So of course I can't start my day here in Beirut without an incredible Lebanese breakfast
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Lebanese cuisine is actually some of the best in the world. Abed, where are we? Our first stop is in the Hamra Street, Temar Buta
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It's a nice Lebanese restaurant. And here you have the Lebanese, fatteh, kakeh of course
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This is really nice. And the balila and hummus full and of course the omelette
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Okay first up I have to go straight in for the bali laki. I love lemon. I'm pretty much addicted to it and the smell of this is just incredible. Let's try it
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The lemon is amazing. Wow this is a mix of bread, chickpeas, hummus and lelnut
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This is the best one so far. Wow it's amazing. I love the spices on top too
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Has lemon inside? Yep. Amazing. So after a beautiful Lebanese breakfast over in the historic district of Hamra, I've just
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arrived here to Martyr Square. As you can see behind me, the Muhammad Al Amin Mosque
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which was opened up in 2008 Incredible Ottoman style architecture And as you can see all around me signs of what been happening in lebanon over the past i would say 10 years even dates back to the civil war over in the 1970s i going to show you around this beautiful place now so this right behind me is
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called the egg or the dome started work in 1965 and never actually opened due to the civil war
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but what most people don't know is lebanon and actually beirut in particular was the hub of
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cinema in the region so they were showing egyptian films hollywood films actually some of the highest
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quality films in the world. In Hamra alone, the place where we just came from, they had over 14
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cinemas, which was incredible. I wish I could have been there, especially in the 1960s, 1970s
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to have seen this beautiful, beautiful place. okay so i'm now walking across one of my favorite areas here in beirut this is actually downtown
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you have beautiful beautiful buildings incredible coffee shops back burner just behind me is actually
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one of my favorites here in the area beautiful churches beautiful buildings and on a day like
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today by the weather is amazing. It's incredible. Hey good morning everybody, it's Abil Khair. I've just woken up in beautiful Batrun which
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is an incredible coastal city here in Lebanon. I've just made it to Furan Mushak. This is
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an incredibly famous place here in Batrun. Opened in 1868. Originally many years ago the
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the French used to be here and there was actually a railway just outside and they actually used to
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make baguettes for the French people but now over time it turned into Manousheh which is a traditional breakfast here in Lebanon So one of the first traditional ones is akewa with spinach and this one is cheese with chili Let try it
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Okay guys, after an incredible drive across Lebanon's beautiful mountains, I've just arrived
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to Balua Balah, also known as Batara Gorge Waterfall, a beautiful waterfall which falls
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over 250 meters, roughly about 830 feet down the valley. There's an incredible three natural
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bridges too. I'm going to take you down there and show you what incredible natural landscapes lie here in beautiful Lebanon. So we just arrived down after a beautiful hike. This waterfall is just
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incredible. In just a few seconds I'll take the drone up and you can see underneath there's a
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beautiful rainbow just here and so much water racing down the valley. 250 meters plus is racing
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down and because there was a lot of snowfall recently it's just beautiful take a look at this
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Okay, so I just arrived here in the beautiful cedars of God here in the north of Lebanon
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Cedars are so important here in Lebanon. Actually, they're represented on the flag
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I will put the flag on the screen so you can see it. The cedar is the main image on the flag
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The cedar actually represents longevity, immortality, strength here in Lebanon, which is so, so beautiful
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This tree behind me actually spans back to 6,000 years and the roots go all the way back to a valley five kilometers away
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So this cedar behind me is the exact same cedar which is represented on the flag of Lebanon, as I said, dating back to 6,000 years
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This guy's stool behind me, his name is Samir. His family's business goes back over 240 years and he is the last of the line of generation here
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Let's take a look inside the forest and I'll show you the beautiful cedars here in Lebanon. a half kilo. One kilogram is $420. $420. $120. $120. Yes. And then the half kilo is $60
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$120. $20. $20. Okay. $420 to $120 to $20
