Forgot to mention a few things about Jordan in my last entry - mainly that the food was fab (and so fresh) and the people were great and really friendly - often going out of their way to do something to be helpful.

And so onto Lebanon. I flew into Beirut late afternoon and was pleasantly surprised with what I saw from the air (and the taxi from the airport). I was expecting a crumbling old dump but instead Beirut is a modern, built-up, sprawling city with flashy glass and concrete high-rise buildings. I was a day early before joining the group so had a wander around the following day and really liked the city. It's pretty much been rebuilt after all of the troubles over the years, although some original buildings are still standing but riddled with bullet holes. The number of military around was a bit disconcerting and in one spot I saw about 50 of them, all brandishing machine guns. When you're on your own and there are no other tourists around, you start to wonder what everyone else knows and are you about to step into some kind of coup or something!!

Anyway, Lebanon - 'The gem of the Mediterranean', dates back more than 7,000 years and more recently gained independence from the French in 1943. In its heydey, Lebanon was known as the 'Switzerland of the East', due to its successful tourism, agriculture and banking and Beirut was the 'Paris on the Middle East'. Then the civil war occurred and lasted 15 years from 1975 until 1990. It was then relatively stable until the month-long war in 2006 between Israel and Hezbollah which caused significant civilian deaths and heavy damage to Lebanon's infrastructure. There has been conflict almost every year since then and then in January of this year the government collapsed which plunged Lebanon into its worst political crisis since 2008. Going back to 2005, a tragic event acted as a catalyst for a major historical upheaval. The former and popular prime minister, Rafiq Hariri, was killed in a car bomb, along with a number of his bodyguards in Beirut. Although Damascus denied any involvement, the Syrians were largely blamed and huge anti-Syrian demonstrations ensued.

Anyhooo, I met some of our group on my 2nd night in Beirut and the rest the following morning, when I was marked as the troublemaker for not having a print out of my insurance details. I was travelling with Explore who are the 1st company I ever did an 'adventure' holiday with when I went to Egypt with Ian and we freaked out at having to sleep outside and not shower for a day. Oh how things have changed! I haven't really travelled with them since and it'sreally noticeable now how the people on these trips think they are 'travellers', when actually they are basically on a glorified coach trip where they are ferried from a to b, stay in reasonable hotels and molly coddled. Ha ha, nothing wrong with that if it's your thing but it just shows how far I have come on!! Anyway, I was the youngest in my group with a few others in their early 40s and most of the rest in their 60s - all very nice though.

On our first day we drove to Sidon (where it poured down!) to see the 13th century Crusader sea castle guarding then mouth of the harbour after which we wandered through the souqs, went to a soap museum (odd!) and visited the caravanserai which was a kind of meeting and trading place, back in the day! We then carried on to the Chauf mountains where we had lunch with a local family in Baadarane before heading to the Beittedine Palace which was pretty impressive with fabulous Byzantine mosaics and artwork. We stayed overnight in the hillside town of Deir El Qamar.

The next day was great, if not a wee bit exhausting! We visited Baalbeck which is a gigantic complex of Roman temples, possibly one of the largest ever built. The city was known to the Greeks as Heliopolis - the city of the sun - as the Phoenicians worshipped the sun god Baal here. It really was impressive, moreso than Jerash in Jrdan which is supposed to be one of the best-preserved Roman cities. Baalbeck beat it just on sheer scale. After a falafel lunch we went to the Ksara winery to taste 6 local wines which were pretty good. Feeling sleepy after the wine we continued on to Anjar which is a fortified town inhabited during the 7th and 8th centuries. As it was located on the East-West trade route, around 600 shops existed here and you can see a whole street where the shops must have been.

We then headed back to Beirut for a city tour and a visit to the national museum which I have to say was fantastic. It was severely damaged during the civil war and reopened in 1999 and houses some great artifacts. When we came out of the museum there was a protest forming, evidently something to do with religion and politics so we forced our way through the crowds to the bus and were guided out by a soldier!! Our city tour was somewhat cut short. The old town was full of military and they were expecting the protests to spread so they wouldn't let us down most of the streets as they were roadblocked. So, we headed to the blue mosque where we ladies weren't allowed in as the men were praying - sod this bloody 2nd class citizenship lark - bloody ridiculous. I often wonder what would have happened if I had moved to Abu Dhabi a few years ago as planned - I'm not sure how long I would have lasted without voicing my opinions (very loudly!) and slapping a few people!! So backward and suppressive.

Enroute to Byblos we stopped at the Stele of Nar el Kaleb or the 'Dog River' where legend has it that every time an enemy approached, a dog would bark at the mouth of the river. All a bit weird. We then went to Jeitta Caves which I was a bit skeptical about as a cave is generally a cave but this was very impressive I have to admit, spanning an overall length of almost 9km. The upper gallery was amazing and we took a boat across a lake in the lower gallery. The caves are finalists in the 7 new wonders of the world competition (sorry but Iguassu Falls still wins in my view!). Our final stop was Harissa or the 'Lady of Lebanon' where there are fairly stunning views of the Bay of Jounieh.

We arrived in Byblos where we were staying for 2 nights. Byblos claims to be the oldest continuously inhabited town in the world. It used to trade cedarwood with Egypt in exchange for papyrus and its name derives from the word for sheets of paper 'biblos' from which we get the word 'bible'. It was pretty small and the weather was quite miserable and cold so after a tour of a couple of hours we were left on our own, to do what we weren't sure. Myself and 2 other girls decided to get some lunch and then have a mooch around, during which I decided it was high time I got a pedicure so they both got manicures. We then went for a cocktail down in the harbour followed by a spot of shopping! It ended up being a really girly afternoon and good fun.

On Tuesday we were due to visit the Tannourine Cedar Reserve, considered one of the most important in Lebanon. Throughout history, cedar trees were valued by royalty and conquerors for the durability and fragrance of their wood. Some of the cedars in this reserve date back to 1,500 years. Because of the n of the trees and wood in Lebanon, they are now the national emblem and appear on the flag. All very n ice if you can bloody get to see them. As we climbed the hills in the bus, it got wetter and wetter and then the rain and fog turned to snow and blizzards - bloody great - nobody told us it was going to be cold here at this time of year! We ended up having lunch at 11am at a family home while we waited for the snow to subside - even the people who owned the house were wearing earmuffs and woolly hats - indoors!!! Some people still went out to brave the cold but I stayed in the house we had lunch at and shivered til they came back! Not pleasant. The rest of the day wasn't much better as it was cold and damp. We went to the Gibran Museum in Bcharreh but not knowing who he was, it was of no interest to me and full of paintings of naked women (and not nice ones either!). Apparently he is one of the most famous poets in the world and wrote something called 'The Prophet' which comes a close 2nd or 3rd to a lot of Shakespeare's writings in terms of popularity. Really?!!

Our next stop was overnight in St Antonio's monastery in Qadisha Valley which was different and in a great setting on the edge of a cliff overlooking a lovely terraced valley. Our final day involved a 5-hour walk through the valley which was really quite pretty although I was a bit monastery'ed out by the end of it. The area is a rugged remote area that used to provide protection for the early Maronite Sect who were sheltering and hiding from Christian persecution. The Maronites originated in Syria and were believed to have avoided subjugation by mainstream Christians by seeking refuge in the mountains. Now the valley cliffs are strewn with red-roofed villages built precariously on the cliff sides. We actually visited a hermitage which is still inhabited by a Colombian hermit (no less!) who was sitting quietly in the corner of the chapel and looked like he's been sitting there for the last 125 years, with his long beard. In fact, he didn't move a muscle when we all crammed ourselves into the chapel and almost knocked him over!!

So, that was Lebanon. Similar to Jordan, it didn't blow me away and I would probably recommend a long weekend, based in Beirut and doing day trips to a few sites. The country is so small you can be virtually anywhere in a couple of hours. Anyway, I'm in the process of uploading my final pics so they'll be on picasa in the next day or so.

And so, here I sit in Beirut airport, feeling a bit odd to say the least. It's the final day of my 18 month journey, having passed through 40 countries (31 of them for the 1st time) taking my grand total up to 79. I've now visited 41% of the world's internationally recognised states (39% if you include the 10 countries with de facto sovereignty). Not bad going but still so far to go!! I've had a fabulous time, met some wonderful people (and some absolute f***wits!!) and learnt a lot, intellectually and emotionally. The problem with travel and trying to tick off your list, is that as soon as you finish one list, you compile another so watch this space for my next adventure as I'm sure it won't be long before I'm off to another far-flung place!

In the meantime, I'm starting the next phase of my life, the first part of which is a week staying with Viv in sunny Romford, Essex!! It's going to be strange being in one place for a while, trying to integrate back into normal life and routine - how on earth will I cope with that? My immediate priority is getting a job back in Asia so if anyone hears of anything, please let me know!

And so, I leave you now with some very apt quotes:

"Like all great travellers, I have seen more than I remember, and remember more than I have seen"; Benjamin Disraeli

"The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only one page"; St Augustine

Hasta la vista amigos!!