Walking Through the Holy Valley: Qadisha, Lebanon ????????
This is not simply a hike. This is a journey through centuries of Lebanese history, faith, resilience and survival.
We enter the Qadisha Valley, one of Lebanon’s most extraordinary landscapes and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, walking through steep trails, ancient monasteries, caves, hermitages and agricultural terraces carved into the mountains.
Our journey takes us through the valley from Hadchit, discovering places that tell the story of generations who chose to live, pray, farm and survive in one of Lebanon’s most challenging environments.
We visit the incredible Deir El Salib, a monastery dating back to the 12th century, built into the rock and preserving remarkable frescoes, icons and inscriptions in Arabic, Greek and Syriac.
We discover the fascinating world of the hermits who once inhabited these mountains. Some lived completely isolated inside tiny caves, dedicating their days to prayer, contemplation and working the land. At one point, hundreds of hermits are said to have lived throughout the valley, lighting incense at sunset as a sign that they were still alive and praying.
We also explore Saydet Hawqa, learning about the extraordinary educational and spiritual role these monasteries played. Hidden deep inside the mountains, schools were teaching multiple languages centuries ago, preparing generations of priests, bishops, patriarchs and scholars.
Along the way, Marc introduces us to the valley’s remarkable biodiversity, Lebanese oak trees, native plants, seeds and the traditional knowledge our ancestors developed by observing nature.
But Qadisha is also a story of resilience.
Standing on these impossible slopes, surrounded by terraces, olive trees and stone walls, you begin to understand how generations of Lebanese transformed rock into agricultural land and built communities where life seemed almost impossible.
After kilometers of walking, climbing and discovering, the perfect ending awaits us: a home-cooked meal with 95-year-old Tantoura, who has spent almost her entire life among these mountains.
Potatoes fried over a wood fire, traditional tabbouleh, eggplant, chicken and rice — simple Lebanese food prepared with generosity, surrounded by nature and stories of another time.
This episode is a tribute to Wadi Qadisha, Wadi Hadchit, Lebanon’s Maronite heritage, its biodiversity and, above all, the extraordinary people who refused to abandon these mountains.
Thousands of years of history are hidden inside this valley. We have a responsibility to discover it, protect it and leave it clean for the generations coming after us. ????????❤️
