Paintings and Poetry at the Khalil Gibran museum in Lebanon

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In some ways this story is more about words than pictures, or is it more pictures than words? for it’s about the American-Lebanese poet and painter, Khalil Gibran whose museum and last resting place at Bcharre I visited on my visit to Lebanon.

You may not have heard of Khalil Gibran, but you have probably heard his poetry even though you don’t realise it. It’s that brand of spiritual wisdom that twangs the emotional chords and touches the heart, although the sceptic in you may find it a little cheesy and say ‘is life really so simple?’ Gibran’s most famous work is The Prophet, the story of a wise man about to leave his home country, who before he leaves is asked by his followers to give them the benefit of his wisdom on subjects of life, love, death and everything in between. These qotations from The Prophet will give you the flavour.

On marriage;

Love one another, but make not a bond of love:
Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.
Fill each other’s cup but drink not from one cup.
Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf
Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone,
Even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music.

I visited the museum with a friend on our mini road trip around Lebanon, having driven north from Beirut, inland through the Quadisha valley and up towards the high pass over the Mt Lebanon. We stopped at Bcharre, high up on the side of a valley with fantastic views. With roses blooming on the terrace of the museum, it was easy to see why Khalil Gibran chose to return to Lebanon after emigrating as a child to America and requested this former monastery as his final resting place.

Khalil Gibran on children from the Prophet;

Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.

The museum brings home that Gibran was as much a painter as a writer and poet and he studied art in Paris in 1908 under Auguste Rodin. At the museum you’ll find a large collection of Gibran’s paintings and drawings housed in a series of small gallery rooms that lead from one to another on different levels until you reach the former monastery chapel where Gibran’s casket was placed along with some of his favourite posessions. There’s also a small shop on the way out to buy postcards and books about Khalil Gibran’s work.

khalil Gibran on joy and sorrow from The Prophet;

Your joy is your sorrow unmasked.
And the selfsame well from which your laughter rises was oftentimes filled with your tears.
And how else can it be?
The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain

Khalil Gibran museum at Bchare in Lebanon

The Khalil Gibran museum in Lebanon

After our visit to the Museum, my friend and I had lunch at a cafe beneath a waterfall overlooking the valley then continued on our way over the snowline on Mt Lebanon and down into the Bekaa valley beyond. If you enjoy the poetry of the Prophet and want to read more of the wisdom you can find it here.

Do tell me whether you find Khalil Gibran’s poetry cheesy or heart warming?

This article is posted as part of Photo Friday over at Delicious Baby - head over to see all the other Friday photos.

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Empty splendour at the Residenz Palace in Munich

The Residenz is the palace in the heart of Munich, formerly home to the Bavarian kings, queens,electors and the ruling Wittelbach dynasty. Large parts of the palace were destroyed in World War II but were restored after the war. We visited Munich in mid December for a long weekend and on our first afternoon it was raining, so we decided to get out of the damp and take a look around the Residenz.

We went through the archway to the inner courtyard and ticket office and picked up an audio-guide which can be used for both the Treasury and the main palace itself. We decided to see the Treasury or Schatzkammer first as it was the shorter of the two, taking about 30 mins to look around. We left our coats and larger bags in the free cloakroom - nothing larger than a handbag is allowed around the palace which may cause problems if you have a lot of camera equipment to carry.

The Treasury is a series of rooms with the crown jewels of Bavaria, from crowns, swords and tiaras, to altar pieces, decorative plates and tablewear. There was everything a royal family or court could want to impress and display their wealth, and the audio-guide did a good job at explaining it all.

Next we walked around the palace itself which takes over an hour. There are some rooms from the Renaissance period, such as the magnificent Antiquarium, a hall with a decorative vaulted ceiling that was used for banquets and receiving guests, and an interesting shell grotto, to one side of an inner courtyard. Most of the rooms are in the decorative Rococo style from the 18th century, with plenty of damask, gilding and painted ceilings, with furniture, portraits and porcelein of the period on display.

As there were not many visitors on a Friday afternoon in December, we practically had the place to ourselves and it felt a little sterile and empty. The palace is also rather large and after wandering from one room to another, I started to get a bit weary with gorgeous rococo room after gorgeous rococo room and was getting a bit desperate to be let out from the gilded cage.

I thought about the stately homes and palaces in England, where so much effort is put into bringing the experience to life, with seasonal events, opening up the domestic areas such as the kitchens, actors in period costume, and special activities for children. I couldn’t see any of this happening here, and wondered why - perhaps there are so many lovely palaces in Southern Germany that people become a bit weary of them. There just seemed to be too much splendour and not enough life in the Residenz - it was was difficult to imagine that it was once full of people, activity and the excitement of the Bavarian court.

After we’d spent a couple of hours in the Residenz, we were ready to sit down and found a rather nice coffee shop just round the corner, where we relaxed for an hour with our Kaffee und Kuchen, and admired all the Chrismas chocolates, stollen and iced gingerbread on sale in the shop.

After that we took a look at the famous Cuvilliés Court Theatre, also created in the 1750s, which was also included in the ticket and was tucked away in the courtyards of the Residenz. The best thing about tour, was that we discovered a lovely, atmospheric Christmas market in the courtyard of the Residenz, that we went back to the next day.

If you love beautiful palaces, portraits and decoration, you’ll enjoy seeing the Residenz, but it did feel more of a museum than a former home of kings - perhaps it would have more atmosphere in the summer that it did on a rainy afternoon in December.

Other Munich articles to enjoy

Visiting the Munich Christmas Markets - Podcast
Postcard from the Christmas Markets in Munich
A chilly welcome at Michaelkirche in Berg am Laim, Munich

Munich Resources

• Website of the Munich Residenz
• We stayed in Munich at Hotel Falkenturm, a comfortable, 2 star hotel which is well-located for sightseeing
• The guidebook I used on this trip was the pocket sized Dorling Kindersley, Eyewitness Top 10 guide to Munich, which I found ideal for sightseeing if you are there for a short time.
• Official Munich Tourism Website

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My Top Three Travel Secrets - and a game of tag

I’ve been tagged. Not once but twice! Both Liz from Travelogged and Barbara from Holeinthedonut were kind enough to nominate me in this travel blogger’s game of tag, where I have to let you into my top three travel secrets and then nominate a few more willing victims to continue the game. The idea started at Tripbase.com to build up a whole range of great tips from blogger throughout the blogsphere.

But firstly I’d better start with a caveat, which is that no-where in the world is really secret (especially not if you live there) and for every tip I give for getting more from your travels, someone will say “But I’ve known that for years”. Anyhow, here goes with some things I’ve enjoyed and would like to pass on to you.

Tip 1 - Use a social networking sites to meet the locals.

For over a year I’ve been a member of Hospitality Club, a network of travellers who enjoy meeting other travellers and can offer free accommodation or advice. There are other well known sites like Couchsurfing that offer a similar service. It’s no secret really that using these websites is a great way to find free accommodation when you’re travelling on a budget. But the thing I believe is less well known is that you can join Hospitality Club, even if you don’t plan to use it to find accommodation but just as a means of meeting the locals.

I’m happy to have people to stay for a couple of days in my spare room, but to be honest, I’d rather find a nice hotel or pension to stay in comfort. But what I love is to be able to e-mail someone and say - “Hey I’ll be in your city next weekend, can we meet up for drinks or dinner”. That’s how I met up with Sergio and Marco on our recent weekend in Lisbon - we’d visited the Castelo of São Jorge and then went for tea at their appartment nearby and talked about the things they love to do in Lisbon, how the city is changing and even got a tour of a little flat above theirs that we could rent if we wanted to come again.

And as well as using Hospitality Club to meet the locals, when you’ve hosted a few people, you’ll have a long list of invites from friends you’ve made, who can’t wait to show you their city. I now have to find ways to visit Cologne, Malaga and Cagliari next year, and that’s just from the folks I’ve met in the last couple of months.

Tip 2 - Stay in a Monastery, Convent or Religious Guest House

In many places of interest in Europe and further afield, you’ll find convents and monasteries that provide excellent accommodation at budget prices. This is not a secret among those with religious affiliations who are visiting as part of a pilgrimage, but others may not realise they can stay in accommodation that is so central, well priced and often in beautiful. historic buildings.

Two examples of this are the Residenza Madri Pie where I stayed in Rome, which is a stone’s throw from St Peter’s Square, and professionally run, with excellent facilities such as a lovely garden and parking. You can find other religious accommodation in Rome and other Italian cities listed on the Santa Susanna website here.

Another was the Monastery of St Anthony of Qozhaya where I stayed for a night in June, while touring Lebanon with a friend. The Monastery is one of the places of interest in the UNESCO World Heritage Quadisha Valley, a rocky gorge with rock hewn churches, and grottos. This is a most beautiful place to stay and one that wasn’t featured in my guidebook, but you can easily contact the monastery directly to book into their guest house.

Of course, as a Catholic I feel at home staying in this kind of accommodation, and if you’re looking for a party time on that backpacking round the world trip, then this won’t be for you, but otherwise if you want simple, homely and moderately priced accommodation then give it a try. I’ve just ordered the Good Night, God Bless book that I saw reviewed on HoleintheDonut, with details of this kind of accommodation throughout Europe where I hope to find a few more hidden gems like these.

Tip 3 - A couple of less known museums in London

For places to visit in London, I’d hesitate to suggest that these are secret, but they are things I really enjoyed and are missed by most travellers if they’re only visiting London for a few days. If you have more time, or regularly get to London, then do seek them out, as they’ll give you a real insight into London life and English society and culture.

The Geffrye Museum in East London

The Geffrye Museum is set in an old Almshouse in East London, and you’ll find room sets, each filled with the domestic interior of English homes through the ages, giving a glimpse into the society of the time. There’s a wonderful cafe in a modern glass annex and at the back there are a series of gardens with the style and plants of different eras. And it’s all free, although there’s a small charge for the audioguide.

The Denis Severs House in Shoreditch

At the Denis Severs House in Shoreditch, you can step into a townhouse, owned by an 18th century family of prosperous silk weavers. Everything is just as they might have left it - you’re in a stage set for a costume drama, where the characters have just left the room. You’ll breathe the air, take in the smells and sounds of life at the time as you tour the house in silence and by candle-light. The house is open only at certain times and days, but worth planning a visit if you can - check their website for details.

So there’s my Top three travel secrets, do share yours in the comments. I’m now passing the challenge to some other bloggers, who I hope will be able to add to the list. They are;

Rosalind at Farsighted Flygirl
Monna at Monna McD
Abi at Cheap Weekend Breaks

P.S. For another moneysaving travel tip, although not so secret, do check out my post on discounts and money-saving vouchers at Vouchercodes and you could win a $50 Amazon Voucher.

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