Lebanon · LB

Baskinta

Baskinta (بسكنتا) is a high mountain village in the Metn district of Mount Lebanon, roughly a 43–45 km drive northeast of Beirut. Set at about 1,250–1,350 metres and climbing to some 1,800 metres on the Qanat Bakish plateau, it is one of the country's highest villages and sits at the foot of the great bulk of Mount Sannine. In Syriac the name means "house of serenity," and the first view of it makes the meaning obvious: a scatter of stone houses with red-tiled roofs tucked among oaks and pine, ringed by orchards that burst into pink and white blossom in spring. For Lebanese families this has long been a summer escape from the coastal heat, with a moderate Mediterranean climate and cool evenings on the heights. But Baskinta gives a visitor far more than mountain air: a colossal illuminated cross on a high plateau, a literary heritage that produced some of Lebanon's best-known writers, dozens of old churches and convents, apple and cherry orchards, marked hiking trails into pine forests and river gorges, and skiing on nearby slopes come winter.