JEZZINE

Jezzine's Grotto of Fakhreddin

After Fakhreddin the Great was forced to abandon the impregnable cave castle of Shaqif Tiron Niha because of the posisoning of its underground water supply, in 1635, the Prince made his way over dangerous mountain paths along the cliffside, in the dead of the night, to the foot of the famous waterfall of Jezzine, some 6 kilometers to the south..

Here a local guide was procured to conduct the small party of faithful retainers, who did not abondon the great prince in the days of his adversity, up an even more difficult path that led north along the face of the cliff to the fateful grotto where the sovereign's father, the Emir Qorqmas ibn Fakhreddin, had met his unhappy end, also hunted by the Turks, in the late 16th Century.

At the end of this path, no less difficult and dangerous today than it was three centuries ago, is a narrow ledge overgrown with brambles and infested with serpents, who emerged from the entrance of the gloomy cavern to sun themselves amid the limestone crevices.

This text is from Bruce Condès "See Lebanon - Over 100 Selected Trips, With History and Pictures". Harab Bijjani Press, Beirut, Lebanon 1960