A semi walk rondonnee #16 to monasteries of Mar Elias Shalita in district of Metn Lebanon
Posted on: December 24, 2025
Friday. December 18, 2025
It is a sunny, clear sky, and chilly
As usual, Doudou arrived 10 minutes earlier at 10:20 am. The day was an invitation for lunch at the new dispensary in the monastery of Youhanna (John) in Khonshara. This dispensary can be turned into a hospital in 2 vast floors that used to be a school.
The lunch event was from 11 to 2 pm. I suggested to my guide that we do not need to be there at 11 and thus we can hike someplace, return and change. Doudou was adamant: we cannot arrive there that late.
Thus, Doudou took me to visit the monasteries of St. Elias in Shalita. One is for the Orthodox (Roum) and the second one for the Maronite Maryamiyyin, attached to the Orthodox monastery.
the Maronite monastery was being repaired (actually rebuilt) from the ground up and good progress was seen according to the guide who visited this place a couple months ago.
We knocked at the Orthodox monastery and a monk opened and we came in. Beautiful monastery with a patio and many flowerpots along the corridors and many balconies that allow open sceneries to the mountain, the sea and the surrounding villages. As usual, the second floor is for the monks dwelling.
Under the orthodox monastery there is a vast residence that could be used as restaurant or meeting place for conferences.
Doudou showed me the Regis (national cigarette factory of Cedar) and the plot of Fayrouz cemetery where her son Ziad is buried. We could see the country club of Delb perched on a hill.
We drove to the lunch event. A guy leisurely took his time showing us how he prepares and organizes green platforms for the Christmas tree.
I was hungry and visited the open adjacent kitchen and told how hungry I was. They said there will be a bingo arrangement before lunch is opened. The main lady gave me a tiny bouche of chicken to tie me up. I thought it tasted like tune.
While bingo was played, I stepped outside for a smoke and encountered a dozen older ladies already smoking and each one carrying a box of cigarette, like lighting the next cigarette from the previous one.
I felt at home there and we chatted and they told me their stories and how they endured during the civil war and their displacement, especially after the Syrian army occupied Dhour Chouweir.... They were from the neighboring towns of Jouwar, Bteghrin, Khonshara...
The food was good. Rice with chicken, tabouli, warak arish (grape leaves), chicken bouche, and 3ayran as substitute to yogurt.
Then we had an assortment of sweets and Buche (chocolate cake in form of branches).
I met 2 young and pretty girl. The shorter one asked me to guess which one is the older one. I said you are the older one. She retorted: my sister is 3 years older, and she finished pharmacy and work at a pharmacy of St. Charles in Mtaileb.
The name of the shorter one is Romy and study animal care. She prefers dogs to cats. I never allow pets at home but I figured out cats do not need much maintenance. If a cat is hungry, it can visit the next-door neighbors. The older girl’s name is Rawan. I said these are unisex names like mine Adonis: My mother was attached to a schoolgirl by the name Adonis.
Romy showed me a dog she adopted with a black snout. I grabbed my clown nose from my rear pocket. She said: “Mahdoum”. Sure, I can be funny.
By 1:30 we stepped out. I purchased 2 kilos of goat laban and a bottle of arak from their store. Doudou entered to salute an Italian young monk, who had been a resident for 2 years now and calling himself Theophile and who learned to understand Arabic.
I opposed his knowledge that Jesus was Jewish and told him that Jesus was from south Lebanon, as well as Marie and all her family… The discussion dragged on and his short and corpulent mentor arrived and told us to resume our discussion insides. We liked being outside in the sun.
We drove to the Message of Paix on the assumption of having fish. We were fooled and the substitute was two pieces of chicken pane.
I arrived at about 3 pm. My sister had brought me 4 koussa me7shi. I begged Doudou to take two of them, on account that Raymonde has been bringing me koussa for 2 days in a raw. I convinced her this a good treat with some of the yogurt I had purchased.
Adonis Diaries 
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