Becharre travel guide

Bsharri (also spelled Becharre, Bcharre, Bsharre; بشري), is a Lebanese city at 1,650 m of altitude, near the Kadisha Valley. It is located at around in the Bsharri District of the North Governorate. Bsharri is just under the Cedar forest and is the birthplace of the famous poet, painter and sculptor Khalil Gibran.
Bsharri was the site of a Phoenician settlement in ancient times. Maronite Christians fleeing persecution sought refuge in its mountainous terrain in the 7th Century AD. The Kadisha Valley, below the town, became the spiritual center of the Maronite Church. The town was known as Buissera by the Crusades.
In Lebanon, Bsharri natives are characterized as very courageous and fiercely feudal. They are especially known for their distinct accent when they speak Arabic. Unlike other parts of Lebanon, Aramaic was spoken in Bsharri well into the 1800s. As a result, Bsharri natives developed an unmistakably strong accent which lasts to this day and which they are very proud of.
During the Lebanese civil war (1975-1990), Bsharri was a bastion of Christian resistance against Islamists, Syrians, and leftists. In 1986 Samir Geagea, a Bsharri native, became head of the Christian Lebanese Forces (LF) movement. Many LF militiamen were drawn from the town during the civil war.
In 1999 a reformist coalition was born in this region, the movement of reform and environment program MOREP headed by Dr Cheikh Majid Abi Saab became the leading reformist movement of the country with its main concern saving the environment and planning for environmental and political reform. (...) more....