The Livingstons on the Far Side of the World: Back to Batroun

Yesterday, Tim and I decided we'd be "adults" and left the kids at home to do a little adventuring with some other staff members. We went north to Batroun and did some wine tasting just outside of Batroun at two wineries.

On our way there, our bus had a mishap. Should we worry? NO! Should we enjoy the scenery and friends while our awesome bus driver is repairing the bus? Of course!

Couldn't resist taking a picture of this pomegranate that had just burst open on the tree.

Our new friend, Shannon, enjoying the weather and the view.

and the rest of the crew on the steps

Tim found this aqueduct on the side of the road.

Another picture of the aqueduct.

Yes, the view was beautiful.

Once the bus was fixed we were off again to Chateau Musar, a winery that sends its wine out across the world.

The view from the winery.

We had a nice introduction to their wines and how they made them. All organic. We tasted small amounts of four of their wines. While some people liked and purchased some, Tim and I chose not to.

We got to go on a quick tour of the winery. This was the top floor where they labeled the bottles.

What was really neat was that they allowed us to go deep into their cellars underground. This was the first floor down.

It was quite full of barrels.

The next level down was pretty rocky. Here is Andrea giving a perspective.

We then hopped into an elevator and went two more floors down to the true cellar.

Not the best place if you don't like spiders.

The bottles seemed to go on forever and ever.

and ever. They even had bottles from when the winery opened in the 1930's.

We then traveled back up to the top floor and headed out to the bus to go into Batroun.

Next to the bus was this nut tree. Our colleague said you eat these nuts with wine but she didn't know the name in English.

Here is a closer look. Looks like some sort of acorn.

Then we went off to Batroun to see the Phoenician Wall. Tim and I thought we had seen it before (See Spring Break blog from last year) but we didn't see this part so it was a nice surprise. We also went into Saint Stephen's Church which was quite beautiful.

Truly stunning. They were bringing in flowers for some sort of event.

Here is the outside with the hills behind.

On the wall itself there are salt deposits from the Mediterranean. As you can see, someone made a pile of salt next to the pool of water.

Tim and I enjoying the sun.

It was difficult to walk on. I'm glad I wasn't wearing sandals like some of our colleagues.

They built the harbor wall on the inside of the Phoenician wall.

This handsome man was nearby reminding us of how Batroun is famous for it's diving.

This anchor was next to him.

We then went up into the hills to have lunch and go to the Adyar Monastery Vineyards.

Yes, we got lost but since Tim and I hadn't been in this area before it was nice to look around.

the meating point....hmm...

This beautiful Mosque was on the top of a hill. We waited here until someone from the Monastery came and guided us to where we should be.

Once we arrived, we tried some of the Monasteries wines. This lovely lady, Rita, explained how the monestery was one of nine that had vineyards across Lebanon. They always hire local people to work for them and they are currently helping Christian refugees from places east of Lebanon by giving them rooms to stay in and work.

Me, Lolita and the wonderful Philippe who was wearing Kristi's hat and being funny.

We then had a very wonderful traditional Lebanese mezze or late lunch. There were at least 10 courses to this meal and we ate for about 3 hours!

Tabbouleh, Lebanese style. Mostly parsley.

This is raw kibbe. I'm not sure what it's called. On the left is lamb, on the right is beef. Served with onion and something called toom (a garlic paste). No, Tim and I haven't tried it....I guess we aren't daring enough yet.

Not sure what these are called here in Lebanon but they are stuffed grape leaves.

These beef sausages were really tasty.

We put the 7up next to this for some perspective. These were on the table on platters with huge heads of lettuce, hot peppers, cucumbers and other vegetables.

By the time the kabobs had come we were almost done for. Served with toom as well as bread, these were beef, chicken and something they call doner which is a mix of lamb and beef ground up, all quite yummy!

As you can see, they table was quite full. This is towards the end of the meal, right before dessert and Arabic coffee was served.

Tim and I decided we were WWAYYY too full to eat dessert and went for a walk around the monastery instead. The monks were singing as well. It was truly relaxing, contemplative and beautiful!