Island Life

Ancient Tyre used to be an island until Alexander the Great decided he had to conquer it.  He built a bridge from the mainland and laid siege to the city for several months.  In the following decades, the land bridge grew into a peninsula and today you would never know that the city used to be an island.  Modern Tyre has sprawled up into the foothills nearby.  If the island still existed today, our hotel would be underwater (or at least have an ocean-side view on the mainland).

Yesterday we walked (a lot) and explored what would have been the sea-side of the island city.  There's some old ruins, a fishing harbor and old churches in the Christian part of the city.  Ryan spent too much time trying to convince me that the houses below were actually the first ever fish hatchery.

Tons of people were out fishing - young, old, male, female. I was impressed by how clear the water is in this part of Lebanon.

Looking back towards the modern city.

New and old.