Located in the mountains southeast of Beirut, we saw another amazing town called Beitedine. We were able to tour it twice: by day with the kids and by night for a concert with the Iraqi singer Kazem Al Saher at the Beiteddine Arts Festival.
For the concert, we had an amazing drive up the mountains with a full moon, stars and a steep climb up to an outdoor amphitheater adjacent to the Beiteddine Palace. The weather was perfect and the crowd enthusiastic. People sang along, clapped and danced. The singer was the winner of a "Lebanese Idol" type show years ago and has adopted Lebanon as his second home. He sings poems and along with his nephew on piano, he also has an orchestra and big band.
Kadim Al Sahir's Music is the soundtrack to this Beiteddine video
After the show, we drove to downtown Beirut, Martyrs' Square and the refurbished pedestrian only zone where we ate dinner at midnight! There were so many people still out and enjoying the night. We had great Lebanese food and shisha; then we walked around the area, saw the famous clubs and left a very crowded downtown at 2AM!
The next day, we saw Beiteddine by day and it was spectacular. After a breezy, perfect morning on the balcony with zatar croissant breakfast, drove back up to Beiteddine in the day time, with the full views in daytime visibility even more spectacular than our full moon ride the previous evening. We visited Moussa's Castle first and then went to the Beitiddine Palace. At Moussa's Castle, we saw one man's vision come to life as the entire castle, and everything in it, was built by Moussa to show a history of Lebanese life. The collection and construction were incredible to see. Afterward we toured the Beitiddine Palace and took in the history and architecture.
It was another incredible part of our journey throughout Lebanon.
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