Beqaa Valley

The Beqaa Valley (Arabic: وادي البقاع; Lebanese: [bʔaːʕ]; also transliterated as Bekaa, Biqâ‘ or Becaa) is a fertile valley in east Lebanon. For the Romans, the Beqaa Valley was a major agricultural source, and today it remains Lebanon’s most important farming region.[1] Industry also flourishes in Bekaa, especially that related to agriculture.

Geography

The Beqaa is a fertile valley in Lebanon, located about 30 km (19 miles) east of Beirut. The valley is situated between the Mount Lebanon to the west and the Anti-Lebanon Mountains to the east. It forms the northeasternmost extension of the Great Rift Valley, which stretches from Syria through the Red Sea into Africa. Beqaa Valley is about 120 km (about 75 miles) in length and has an average width of about 16 km (about 10 miles). It has a Mediterranean climate of wet, often snowy winters and dry, warm summers. The region receives limited rainfall, particularly in the north, because Mount Lebanon creates a rain shadow that blocks precipitation coming from the sea. The northern section has an average annual rainfall of 230 mm (9 inches), compared to 610 mm (24 inches) in the central valley. Two rivers originate in the valley: the Orontes (Asi), which flows north into Syria and Turkey, and the Litani, which flows south and then west to the Mediterranean Sea.

From the 1st century BC, when the region was part of the Roman Empire, the Beqaa Valley served as a source of grain for the Roman provinces of the Levant. Today the valley makes up 40 percent of Lebanon's arable land. The northern end of the valley, with its scarce rainfall and less fertile soils, is used primarily as grazing land by pastoral nomads, mostly migrants from the Syrian Desert. Farther south, more fertile soils support crops of wheat, corn, cotton, and vegetables, with vineyards and orchards centered around Zahlé. The valley also produces hashish and cultivates opium poppies, which are exported as part of the illegal drug trade. Since 1957 the Litani hydroelectricity project—a series of canals and a dam located at Lake Qaraoun in the southern end of the valley—has improved irrigation to farms in Beqaa Valley.

Districts and towns

Zahlé is the largest city and the administrative capital of the Beqaa Governorate. It lies just north of the main Beirut–Damascus highway, which bisects the valley. The majority of Zahli's residents are Lebanese Christian, including those belonging to the Melkite Greek Catholic Church, Maronite Church, and members of the Greek Orthodox Church. The town of Anjar, situated in the eastern part of the valley, has a predominately Armenian Lebanese population and is also famous for its 8th-century Arab ruins. The majority of the inhabitants of the northern districts of Beqaa, Baalbeck and Hermel, are Lebanese Shia & Sunni, with the exception of the town of Deir el Ahmar, whose inhabitants are Christians. The western and southern districts of the valley have a mixed population of Muslim, Christian, and Druze Lebanese. The town of Jib Janine with a population of about 9,000, is situated midway in the valley, and its population is Sunni. Jib Janine is a governmental center of the region known as Western Bekaa, with municipal services like the emergency medical services (Red Cross), a fire department, and a courthouse.

Due to wars, poverty, unstable economic and political conditions Lebanon faced in the past, and some failures within the agricultural sector, many previous inhabitants of the valley left for the coastal cities of Lebanon or emigrated from the country altogether.

Landmarks

• The ancient Roman ruins of Baalbek, an ancient city named for the Canaanite god Baal. The Romans renamed Baalbek "Heliopolis" and built an impressive temple complex, including temples to Bacchus, Jupiter, Venus, and the Sun. Today, the ruins are the site of the Baalbeck International Festival, which attracts artists and performance groups from around the world.
• The Umayyad ruins of Anjar
• Our Lady of Bekaa, a Marian shrine located in Zahlé, with panoramic views of the valley.
• Lebanon's tallest minaret, located in the town of Kherbet Rouha
• The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Bechouat
• Pheonician Ruins, located in the village of Kamid El-Laouz
• Roman Ruins, located in the town of Qab Elias
• The Aammiq Wetland habitat for a myriad of migrating and resident birds and butterflies
• The Pyramid tower of Hermel at the northern end of the valley
• The famous Wadi Arayesh area of Zahle, consisting of beautiful open air restaurants, cafes and arcades located on the river side of the Berdaouni river, a stream linking to the Litani

Wines

If you’re arriving in Zahlé after some temple-gazing in quiet, conservative Baalbek, you’ll probably find it a sharp and extremely pleasant contrast. Lively, bustling and even quite glitzy, this attractive resort town, enjoying a cool altitude of 945m, shares more in common with Beirut than with Baalbek. Known locally as Arousat al-Beqa’a (Bride of the Bekaa), it’s set along the steep banks of the Birdawni River (locally known as ‘Bardouni’), which tumbles through a gorge, cutting a burbling channel through the centre of town, down from Jebel Sannine to the north.

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Zahlé is a predominantly Greek Catholic town, with the highest concentration of this denomination in the entire country, and its beautiful, ornate Ottoman-era houses, lining the riverside Rue Brazil, survived heavy bombardment during the civil war. The town is probably most famous for its open-air restaurants, known as the Cafés du Bardouni, that jostle along the river on the town’s edge. During summer weekends and evenings, these are packed with locals and Beirutis enjoying some of the finest Lebanese mezze in the country, washed down with generous quantities of arak.
The town’s merry modern aspect, however, belies a darker past. In the 19th century, Zahlé was hard hit by communal fighting between Druze and Christians and many of its inhabitants were killed in the 1860 massacre. Some 25 years later, the opening of a railway line between Beirut and Damascus (which is no longer in operation) brought some prosperity to the town. At around the same time, more than half the town migrated to Brazil (after which the main street is named), from where they sent remittances, further increasing the town’s prosperity. Zahlé’s gracious stone houses date from this time.

In 1981, Zahlé came under fire again, bombarded by Syria after the Phalangist party attempted to build a road linking the town to the ski resort of Faraya. Since, by that point, the Phalangists were closely aligned with Israel, the road represented a serious threat to Syria, whose troops were stationed in large numbers throughout the Bekaa Valley. Like the rest of Lebanon, however, Zahlé proved resilient to the damage, which was quickly repaired, and no traces are evident today.

Keep in mind when planning a visit that from November to April most of the restaurants are closed and the town is relatively quiet, except at weekends and Christmas. In summer, it makes a pleasant lunch stop en route from Beirut to Baalbek, and is an ideal place to stay if you intend to spend a few days exploring the valley.