This is a little village on a narrow promontory in
the shape of a nose – hence its name –
some 500 meters long and 50 wide. It lies 70 kilometers
from Beirut to the north of Shekka el-Hereh and 15
short of Tripoli, just five kilometers from the monastery
of Balamand, the Bel Mont or Beautiful Mountain of
the Crusaders. Close by, the high road follows the
coastal way.
This village, so typical and characteristic and yet
so special, is carved out of the rock and is the only
one all along the Lebanese coastline to be distinguished
by such a cape given by Nature.
Reservoirs, canalizations, presses, stairways, depots,
urns, trenches and much else, all are hewn out of
the living rock, and to these one should add the salt-pans
also cut out of the rock.
Infeh, as a cell or a hive sculptured out of the ground,
is surrounded by walls and fortifications of enormous
stones hauled from the nearby quarries. The Phoenicians
used the place as a shipyard for the construction
of their vessels. Several waves of conquerors have
passed over Infeh, Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Crusaders,
Mamlouks, Ottomans and the like, each leaving their
traces after profiting from the strategic situation
of the place on the one coastal road.
Infeh was the stronghold of a fief vassal of the Count
of Tripoli during the time of the crusades, and the
Franks dug a ditch there one hundred meters long by
thirty, crossing the rock at sea level between the
shore and the promontory. A few walls of the Crusader
castle are still visible. At the present day, Infeh
is a Christian village scattered about with monasteries
and churches, in particular:
Our Lady el-Rih, Our Lady of the Winds.
St. Simon’s and St. Michael’s(Byzantine).
Our Lady el-Natour, Our Lady of the Watchman, and
St. Catherine’s date from the crusades.
Our Lady of the Winds was the first church in all
the East to be dedicated to the Holy Virgin Mary.
There are also some historic ancient dwellings in
Infeh, long famous for its salt pans. These are no
ordinary salt pans but ones which are both historical
and typical, hewn out of the rock and fed by wind
pumps that raise and distribute the salt sea-water,
their whirling vanes breaking the horizon as they
stand above the shoreline and the lapping waves. Their
names are typical: Ras el-Natour, the Cape (headland)
of the Watchman; Taht el-Rih, Under the Wind; Ras
el-Kala’a, the Cape of the Citadel; the inlet
Nuheyrah, The Riverlet – Nuheyrah is the diminutive
of nahr, river.
On an entirely rocky piece of shoreline, a maritime
public garden encloses a fishing and pleasure harbor.
Several projects are under study for Infeh and the
monastery Deir el-Natour. One is for a model pilot
village with a cultural and tourist center, and a
marine park for the preservation of certain submarine
species of plants and animals. Also under consideration
is the ecological exploitation of the environment,
in view of the oil slicks and pollution caused by
coastal factories and passing ships. >From time
to time a festival is organized. There are exhibitions,
cultural activities, crafts shows and sporting events.
Recently there was a “Sea Salt Exhibition”,
where one could see the “flower of the salt”
– “gemme salt”, “big crystal”,
“fine salt”, salt crystals, untreated
salt to be refined and purified, and so on. The various
stages of production were shown, from the evaporation
of the water to consumption. Is it not said in the
Gospels, “You are the salt of the earth and
if the salt loses its savor with what shall it be
salted?” (Matthew 5: 11)
On the southern side, not far from Infeh, there is
another reminder of the crusades overlooking the coast,
Deir el-Natour, the Monastery of the Watchman, attached
to Balamand, monastery of the Greek Orthodox patriarchate.
Deir el-Natour has an attractive interior cloister
and the church has recently been decorated with paintings
and frescoes executed in Byzantine style by artists
from Odessa.
The building stands on a promontory facing Infeh and
is surrounded by a forest of bilberry, behind which
are stretches of olive and oak trees. Taht el-Rih,
“Under the Wind”, is a rock-strewn beach
marking this historic region where local fishermen
and sailors can meet. One sees ancient habitations
several times restored. There is an inscription on
the pediment of the door of the first church, named
after the Virgin Mary Our Lady of the Wind, which
says, “Save us, O Our Lady of the Wind.”
Are these pathetic words on behalf of sailors in distress
beyond the distant horizon? The church is in a pitiful
state, with crumbling walls and icons barely visible.
The submarine archeologist-explorer Zareh Amadouny
has found on the sea bottom around Infeh a large number
of stone anchors and amphora that once contained wine,
oil or grain, as well as the remains of ships that
were wrecked during the violent storms. A visit to
this district leaves us with enduring emotions and
indescribable nostalgia.
Joseph Matar
- Our Lady El Natour,
Enfé: >> View
Movie << (2005-04-01)
- Swimming in Enfeh: >> View
Movie << (2015-08-01)
- Crusader Castle: >> View
Movie << (2015-08-01)
- The ditch sculpture in Enfeh: >> View
Movie << (2015-08-01)
