Discovering Sidon & Beaufort Castle: Journey Through Time &Beauty

Sidon, one of the oldest Phoenician cities, was founded in the 3rd millennium BC and became prosperous in the 2nd. Sidon was famous for its purple dyes and glassware and Jesus visited it. During the Crusades, Sidon changed hands several times and was destroyed and rebuilt.

The Sidon Sea Castle was built by the crusaders in the thirteenth century on a small island, connected to the mainland by a causeway, as a fortress of the holy land. It is one of the most prominent historical sites in the port city of Sidon, Lebanon. The castle was largely destroyed by the Mamluks in 1291 and was later restored by Fakhr el-Dine Maan II in the early 17th century.
Old prints of the fortress show it to be one of great beauty, but little remains of the embellishments that once decorated its ramparts.

Khan al-Franj is one of Sidon’s main attractions. It was built in the beginning of the 17th century by Emir Fakhreddine II to be a hotel for ambassadors and a center for commercial exchange between Lebanon and France.
The hotel soon became a center for literature, religion, history, industry and diplomacy. It became a home for culture and civilization.
This is a typical khan with a large rectangular courtyard and a central fountain surrounded by covered galleries.

The Soap Museum is a museum in Sidon specialized in Levantine soaps
The soap workshop was originally built in Sidon by the Hammoud family in the 17th century.
The Soap Museum traces the history of soap making in the region, its development and manufacturing techniques. Visitors can see a demonstration of how traditional olive oil soaps are made and learn about the history of the "hammam" (bath) traditions.
A historical section of the museum introduces artifacts which were found during onsite excavation and which include remains of clay pipe heads dating from the 17th to 19th century as well as pottery fragments. The Museum building is an old soap factory built in the 17th century, although containing parts thought to date back to the 13th century.

The souk of Sidon is the center of all the commercial activities of retail, as well as craft industry.
The souk is a maze of narrow alleyways with small kiosks, shops and cafes, street merchant, butchers, grocers, shoe-makers, tailors and jewelers.

Beaufort Castle stands on a rocky crest above soaring 300-meters, overlooking the Litany River in South Lebanon, and 100 kilometers from Beirut. Beaufort Castle, in Arabic Qalaat el-Shekif, is a mighty fortress standing on a strategic site on the roads of Tyre and the South, but is first and foremost a military stronghold defending the extreme north of the kingdom of Jerusalem.
Beaufort is part of the national heritage. Despite the exterior ruin and the damage caused throughout the long years, the inside is well preserved and in any case the view is superb. The castle is a storehouse of our history.