After we got our feet wet visiting Saida in Southern Lebanon, our next step was further south towards the city of Tyre. Our goal was to reach the Khiam Prison, which is about an hour inland from the Tyre. The prison was formerly used by the Southern Lebanese Army, a Lebanese militia supported by Israel, and was at the time of our visit used as a museum by Hezbollah symbolizing their stated victory in liberating Southern Lebanon from Israeli occupation in 2000. At the time of our visit Hezbollah was still in control of Southern Lebanon, which gave me a bit of apprehension. Our journey to Khiam included a number of other stops, including Qana, Tyre and Buaffort Castle from which you could see into Northern Israel/Palestine and Syria. It was an amazing day with experiences that would impact my understanding of the Middle East like none other.

A Hezbollah billboard welcomes you to "Liberated Territory" along the road to Khiam.

The best way to get to Khiam is via Tyre, which is about 30 minutes south of Saida. Therefore our journey again began by taking a local bus from West Beirut to Cola where we found a private bus to Tyre. This time the bus took the highway, which was a typical freeway like you might find anywhere in the U.S. The journey took about 1 1/2 hours with amazing views of the mountains and sea. When we arrived in Tyre we found ourselves in a small intersection surrouned by a couple of cafes and buildings in various states of disrepair. It was dusty. After grabbing some bread and a snack, we fumbled around a bit to find a taxi. We heard it would cost about $50 to have a private taxi drive us around for the day, we just needed to find one. We asked a man in the cafe where we could find a taxi to take us to Khiam, he asked someone else and that someone else walked out to the street and found a man who agreed to take us. The man's name was Ali and after some quick bargaining, we agreed to pay Ali $50 for the day and got into his brown Mercedes Benz. Soon after getting in the man asked us in Arabic if it was okay if he brought his wife along with us. We had no problem with that and figured the more the merrier so we quickly agreed. He drove us into his neighborhood where he picked her up and after a quick greeting and an exchange of smiles we set off out of town towards Qana, our first stop.

Billboards memorializing people killed during the war with Israel, the SLA and others are seen throughout the streets of Tyre. Throughout many countries in the Middle East, people who die in defense of their religion, homeland, nation or country are considered martyrs.

Qana (قـانـا) is a small town about 10 km Southeast of Tyre and 12 km North of the Israeli/Palestine border. It is famous for a cave where it is said Jesus had visited and spent some time. The cave itself resides on the side of a valley that weaves between hillsides dotted with houses with a stream running down the center. The hills in this part of the country are green and nearly all strewn with rocks. There appeared to be little usable farmland. Geologically the landscape was very similar to what we saw around Jerusalem and Bethlehem. Inside the valley near the cave is a carving of Jesus and his disciples, which is also said to be from the time of Christ. As you might expect, Qana is a place of pilgrimage for Christians and many busses come here. Due to that, the area around the cave was quite well presented with a paved parking lot, well maintained restrooms and wooden railings all around. It felt sort of like a state park back home. My fondest memory of the cave of the apostles was simply looking out over the landscape and imagining it hundreds of years earlier. It is easy to contemplate that aside from some changes in building materials for the nearby homes, it is probably not much different now than it was then.

A valley in which the cave that Jesus was said to have performed a miracle resides.	Jesus's apostles carved into the stone in Qana.

After seeing the cave we returned to the car and passed through the village of Qana. In 2006 Qana was heavily bombed by Israel and many civilians were killed. Visiting Qana and then seeing images of it destroyed on television was a surreal experience as it really drove home the human side of war. Southern Lebanon was not the Hezbollah controlled no go zone it was portrayed as on TV, but a place where people lived their lives, raised their children and went to work. We witnessed streets lined with fruit stalls, cellular phone shops, restaurants and auto repair shops, just like in any other town in any other place. It is frightening to imagine that this same place with these same people was later a place of bloodshed, fear and devastation. The impact that war has on people's lives can never be overstated.

Jesus's apostles carved into the stone in Qana.	The cave where Jesus is said to have stayed.

The highway to Khiam leaves from Tyre, so afer leaving Qana we backtracked a bit and were soon on the road East towards Khiam. Aside from the hilly landscape, the most obvious attraction along the highway was the endless photographs of those who died in the war against Israel and the South Lebanese Army. Martyrs who died in defense of their homeland are held in high regard, their photos adorn the walls of buildings, appear in the back windows of cars and are displayed on lamp posts on the highway. At first the whole thought of putting these photos up seemed strange to me. Then I thought about how I might react if a U.S. Marine was killed in Iraq and someone put up a billboard on the side of the road saying something like "Peace be with you Tom", would I think that odd? Well, perhaps it would be controversial here too. I'm not sure what any of these people did, what their intentions were or what ideology they followed, but I imagine they have families and if putting up their photos gives them some way to share their sacrifice, who am I to judge it. Whether they are called terrorists or martyrs only depends on whose side you are on, but seeing the faces of all these dead men (boys) definitely had an affect on me. Their deaths are impossible to ignore. Like everything in Lebanon, the issue is complex and can be analyzed in myriad ways.

A gate on the highway adorned with flags and images of martyrs.	Islamic resistance leaders. I know that the image of man on he bottom left is Nasrallah, but I cannot identify the other two. Anyone know?

Along the highway we passed a number of checkpoints. I am not sure whether these were Hezbollah or Lebanese Military, but I don't think they were Lebanese Military because there were no Lebanon flags and it wasn't until after the 2006 invasion of Israel that the Lebanese Military was put in control of the region. At each checkpoint we would slow down, the guard would peak into the car and wave us by. When we reached the third checkpoint, the guard had just started to wave us by when he saw my face, told us to stop and asked the driver what I assume was "who is that?". At this point we realized we were going to be held up a bit and were really concerned we wouldn’t be let past. They asked the driver to pull over and he spent about 5-10 minutes trying his best to get us through without anymore problems. The guards took our passports and started making phone calls. After a few minutes they handed us back our passports and told the driver to take us to another location. A few miles up the highway in the opposite direction we arrived at what could be described as a concrete building next to a parking lot on the side of the road. When we arrived a few men came over, took our passports and asked a few questions about what we were doing there. We explained that we were going to visit Khiam, were staying in Beirut and were students. It's funny that even though we were in Southern Lebanon being interrogated by a few unknown men with guns, it really wasn't that frightening, they just asked us questions and we answered, nothing particularly mean about their demeanor or anything to put us on edge. While we stood there for about 20 minutes waiting for their superiors to get done making their phone calls and researching who we were, our biggest concern was not being able to visit Khiam and being turned away as we didn't make a journey all the way around the world to not see something when it was only a few miles down the road. Soon a few men came out of the brick building, returned our passports and said what could be interpreted as "sorry about the inconvenience, you can go ahead". The demeanor of the men we were talking to while waiting immediately changed and they welcomed us to Lebanon and joked a bit. They were just young guys and I guess once you are cleared, you might as well be greeted as guests and made to feel welcome, I can honestly say that they did make me feel welcome there. The story of the whole experience actually makes the 30 minute delay and short lived anxiety so worth it!

Standing at the top of Beaufort Castle. Hezbollah flags are seen all over the area.	Sheep grazing the fields around Southern Lebanon.

Not to long after leaving the checkpoint we caught sight of the Beaufort Castle in the distance. The castle was built in the 12th century by the crusaders and has a truly amazing history. Due to its location at the top of a hill, it is strategic military high ground, and as such control of it has shifted back and forth with each conquest. This same spot was under Israeli control only a few years earlier and was now clearly in the hands of Hezbollah as demonstrated by the massive Hezbollah flag that was flying above it. The castle is in fairly decent condition considering it is 800+ years old, however much of it was blown up by the retreating Israeli army in 2000. I should point out that Israel isn't responsible for destroying the whole thing, many other armies have taken their toll on this place, and nature has had a hand in its condition as well. Nonetheless, it seems a bit stupid to blow up a historic landmark for no good reason. From the castle you can see all the way to Syria and Northern Israel/Palestine. Around the castle are hills of fields, and on those fields are sheep, grass and land mines. Along the roadside are numerous signs warning you not to walk around out there, that is unless you have always dreamed of only having one leg. If you're lucky you might be spared a single testicle as well. The scars of war are never absent here. We took a lot of photos at the castle, including some of our hosts, Ali and his wife.

Looking south towards the border of Israel/Palestine and Syria.	Villages nearby Beaufort castle.

About 15 minutes beyond the castle is the town of Khiam and the prison that is situated on the hilltop above it. The prison itself is worthy of another post, where I will describe it in more detail.

After the prison we began our journey back towards Tyre to catch a mini-bus back to Beirut. By this time we were really hungry. During the drive Ali stopped on the side of the road, went to a food stall and bought what I believe was a shawarma. It looked really good with hot lamb, tomatoes and tahini dripping from it. He shared it with his wife and they both indulged, satisfying their bellies and licking their fingers as we drove back into traffic. We were both starving and we couldn't figure out if he had told us he was stopping or mentioned food, but we did know that it looked really good and were perplexed at how we could have stopped without us getting a chance to eat as well. After a few minutes of talking back and forth and having a few laughs about our near rabbid hunger, we finally asked Ali to pull over so we could buy some oranges at a fruit stand. We bought about 10 oranges, which ended up costing about 10 cents! After I found out how much it cost I could understand why the woman at the fruit stand looked at me like I was handicapped when I asked for so few oranges, at that cost, who the hell buys only 10?

Enjoying our oranges, we waved past the guards at the same checkpoints we passed earlier and made our way back to Tyre. By the time we arrived it was approaching sunset and we were eager to find a bus back. We chose the express bus, which cost a bit more than a standard mini-bus, but was more comfortable and still cheap at about $2.5. Soon we were back at Cola to switch to a public bus and then back to our hotel ready for a well-deserved meal and time to contemplate everything we experienced.