ما وراء الحدودألقرىExplore 75 Villages of Aley District - Mount Lebanon
عاليه
Located in the Governorate of Mount Lebanon, the City of Aley administers 75 villages. “The Bride of Summer” (عروس المصايف), Aley was known as the most popular summer tourist destination in Lebanon, attracting international acclaim, from as early as the late 1800s.
The village of Abey is an historian’s treasure trove – an architectural bastion with ruins dating back to the eighth century AD, art and culture from the 1500s, and a beacon of knowledge and education from the 1800s.
The picturesque village of Baissour hosts some of Lebanon’s most ancient ruins, and is also home to one of the country’s most eclectic modern art galleries – Jamil Molaeb Museum.
Known for its wine heritage and famous for its grapes and “terroir”, the village of Bhamdoun was once a thriving summer tourist resort, situated midway between Aley and Sofar.
The village of Kfar Matta is home to ruins of the Phoenicians, Crusaders and Tanoukhians, and one of Lebanon’s oldest and largest silk factories, built in 1860. It is also famous for its magnificent rock formations – “Al Fuzer”.
Sofar is a village like no other, of four splendid seasons, attracting visitors all year round, whether for its cool, refreshing summer breezes, or the sheer beauty of fluffy white snow flakes on its tree-lined streets and icicles dripping from turn-of-the-century eaves.
Archaelogical evidence indicates that Souk el Gharb was inhabited BC and also by the Crusaders in the 12-13 centuries, but the village later became well-known because of its church – the Saint George Abbey Church and Monastery, founded in 1575.